Emporio Armani, the company widely-known for its range of clothing, has decided to jump on the connected wristwatch bandwagon and has now announced a new line of watches it calls the ‘Emporio Armani Connected’ range. Although, the smartwatches cannot really be considered full-on smartwatches, due to their limited capabilities, hence the reason the company is calling this line – a group of hybrid smartwatches.
Now, although its uses are limited, it’s fair to say that the watches do come with the features that people are likely to find the most useful. All of the smartwatches in the line feature Bluetooth, which allows the watch to connect to the user’s smartphone. Thanks to this, the smartwatch can control a user’s music, along with the ability to wirelessly and remotely take photos via a smartphone’s camera, meaning a user could set their phone up and wirelessly take the photo from a distance without the need to rely on timers. As well as this, the watches can also monitor a user’s sleep pattern, be used as alarms, help find a user’s lost smartphone and also includes a feature that creates a vibration every time a notification appears on the connected smartphone. One last feature included, and perhaps one of the most important for a watch – is the fact that Armani claims the watches offer maximum precision when keeping time and also offer the ability to switch between two times zones. For those wondering about the battery life, Armani has included a quartz battery inside, which means it will last much longer than traditional smartwatches do.
Moving away from the features, the smartwatch line comes in a variety of colors, including rose gold, black, gunmetal and the traditional stainless steel along with either a typical three-piece link strap or a leather strap. For those wanting to get their hands on any of the smartwatches, the line will go on sale this week at select boutiques alongside becoming available online and start at $250, though the price increases to $400 depending on the model chosen. The fact that Armani has decided to enter the smartwatch market may seem odd to some, considering the declining sales and what seems to be a waning interest in the gadgets in general. Nonetheless, it appears Armani has more than just this line of watches up its sleeves, with the company confirming plans to launch a full-on smartwatch with a digital display sometime next year, as part of the company’s long-term plan.