INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The PowerWatch 2, a smartwatch that draws enough body heat to never need recharging, is officially on sale in the US and UK - and it’s
shipping out to folks who preordered.The smartwatch - or more accurately, a robust fitness watch - is available on the PowerWatch online
The standard PowerWatch Series 2 comes in a black steel finish with silicone strap and costs $499 / £499, while the Series 2 Premium with
silver finish and stainless steel bracelet runs $599 / £599
At the top of the list is the Series 2 Luxe, which packs a titanium finish and stainless steel milanese bracelet for $699 / £699. The
startup Matrix Industries first revealed the smartwatch at CES 2019 as a successor to the original PowerWatch that uses the same
thermodynamic technology to stay on without the need to recharge
The new version refined the design to shore up deficiencies compared to other modern smartwatches, but given it doesn’t run watchOS or
Wear OS, it won’t come with the litany of apps available to those platforms.Otherwise, the improvements on the original PowerWatch are
very welcome: a sharper 1.2-inch display, removal of the clunky crown, addition of haptics and GPS/heart rate, and slimming the overall
width slightly from 50mm down to 47mm
It also has a solar strip on the outer rim as a redundant power source should the thermoelectric capabilities fail.That price tag is
certainly high - for the price of an Apple Watch 5, you’re getting a smartwatch that isn’t smart enough to display texts, emails or
It’s not nearly as sleek or attractive as an Apple smartwatch or, say, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2
But the PowerWatch 2 isn’t meant for beauty or multitasking. Instead, the PowerWatch 2 is for a third category of smartwatch owners:
fitness fans and outdoors folk
Its rugged setup with 200m water resistance, GPS location and activity tracking make it a promising solution for consumers who need
smartwatch functionality in active situations that would endanger other wearables.
