With the market buzzing over smartwatches, an entrepreneur is now marketing a smart ring that allows wearers to make phone calls, read texts, control their TV, and more.
The Smarty Ring was introduced with a fundraising campaign on crowdfunding site Indiegogo. At press time it had raised $300,000—several times its original $40,000 goal.
It is not clear who is behind the product, though its location is listed as Chennai, India. An email to the site from JCK was not returned.
The ring will begin shipping in April 2014, according to its Indiegogo page. The retail price is listed as $275 for the full-featured version, a little less than the price of some smartwatches.
However, like those products, the ring works mostly in tandem with the user’s smartphone, and according to its promoters, it can work with both Android and IOS phones.
“Ever missed a text or Facebook update because you didn’t notice your phone jingle?” the Indiegogo copy reads. “With the Smarty Ring those days are over! Remotely control your phone and never miss a call, text, alarm, tweet, you name it!”
“Smarty Ring frees you from searching in your bag for your phone, or from reaching into your back pocket, just to find no new notifications,” the copy continues. “Its Bluetooth 4.0 technology lets you always get real-time updates.”
It also includes “a clock capable of checking up to five time zones,” which includes a stopwatch and countdown timer.
“Not everyone likes watches, so a ring enabled with a clock and more is a fashionable option,” the site says.
The ring, said to be made from “surgical quality, allergy-free stainless steel,” has a unisex design.
The company also includes several less pricey models. A “tracker” ring, set to sell for $70, can be attached to wallets, key chains, pet’s collars, and even children—“anything you want to track.”
A clock version, set to retail for $120, includes both the clock and tracker functions, and a remote version, which will sell for $200, includes the remote, clock, and tracker functions.
At tech blogs, many were surprised by the product’s promise of 24-hour battery life. The ring can be charged only with a special charger.
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