The TAG Heuer Connected smartwatch was all ready to carve a new niche in the Android Wear space that would have brought in those who stayed away from smartwatches because their normal preference was for high-end, well-designed timepieces. Sales of the device weren’t quite as TAG Heuer had predicted, however – they were higher. So much higher, in fact, that they had to step up production to meet demand and cut online sales so that stores would have the first shot at stock of the luxury timepiece. The watch was a surprise hit, unmatched in demand so far by any other smartwatch in the luxury or high-end segments, like the Huawei Watch. Starting today however, the watch is back up for grabs on TAG Heuer’s website.
The insane demand that drove the watch offline was far from misplaced, of course. Despite the high price and specs that TAG Heuer admitted will be outdated in two years’ time, the Android Wear piece sports a rap sheet of luxury features that certainly belong on a non-smart timepiece. The 46mm face and 12mm thickness convey a larger-than-life presence, which is helped along by raised lettering along the outer band, which is made of titanium. The titanium side buttons also sport a carbide outside, fine-brushed and blackened. The whole rig also happens to be IP67 approved for dust and water protection, though you’ll want to keep this timepiece out of the pool.
On the tech spec side, the luxury piece sports a 1.5 inch circular LCD at a resolution of 360 by 360 for a fairly decent pixel density of 240 pixels per inch. The crystal over this LCD is made of touch and scratch-resistant sapphire. A 1.6 GHz dual-core processor paired with 1GB of RAM and 4GB of storage makes this watch a step above some modern low-end Androids or even the more high-end models around the time of the Samsung Galaxy S2. A 410 mAh battery is said to keep the lights on for at least 25 hours with typical usage, though that means no always-on screen. Bluetooth 4.1 and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n are on board to connect the watch to any iDevice running iOS 8.2 and above or any Android device running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean or higher. A gyroscope, tilt sensor, haptic engine and microphone are all on board to power the normal smartwatch functions. To top it all off, the watch comes with a galvanized rubber band with titanium fittings, as well as a conductive charging dock. If you’ve had your eye on one but couldn’t get out to a store or found all your local outlets out of stock, then head through the source link to make a purchase.