While most, if not all, smartphone manufacturers are looking to be a part of the smartwatch market, Kickstarter is definitely the best place in case you are not one of those big companies and Omate, with its TrueSmart watch, is certainly one that we will see and hear more about in future as its TrueSmart standalone water-resistant smartwatch has easily passed its US $100k goal and became a reality.

In case you missed it earlier when it went live on Kickstarter.com, Omate TrueSmart is the standalone water-resistant smartwatch, works independently from and with all smartphones and features 3G, voice, gestures, GPS, phone, camera, as well as many other features or in short, it combines smartphone and watch into a single device without the actual need for a smartphone.

Based on a dual-core 1.3GHZ Mediatek SoC and based on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS with access to Google Play store, the Omate TrueSmart packs enough punch for its 1.54-inch 240x240 resolution LG touchscreen. It also packs 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage expandable up to 32GB via microSD card slot. It features slot for microSIM in order to enable 2G/3G standalone functionality or you can simply pair it up with your smartphone. The rest of the features include 802.11bgn WiFi, Bluetooth, 5-megapixel camera, all the usual sensors as well as an integrated microphone and speaker. According to Omate, it will feature a 600mAh battery that should be good enough for up to 100 hours of standby time.

What makes it stand out from the crowd of Chinese based smartwatches that are recently flooding the market is the fact that this will not be yet another plastic watch but rather a quality product with a metal casing, something that even Sony Smartwatch did not manage to overcome due to its plastic "clip-on" wristband. The Omate TrueSmart is also IP67 certified which means that it is water- and dust-proof, something that you would not usually connect with a smartwatch, let alone a smartwatch that packs all those features.

While all Omate TrueSmart "Early Bird Special #1 and #2" pledges are gone the US $199 normal one that gets you a single Omate TrueSmart Standard Edition smartwatch is certainly still a good deal. Currently, Omate managed to score US $354,141 of funding and still has 25 days to go. It also offers a 1000 limited amount of Developers Edition Omate TrueSmart smartwatches that will delivered in October and be fully rooted, of course. Omate also announced its first "stretch goal" that will bring Sapphire Crystal Glass in case they reach US $500k in pledges.

Of course, we'll hold our judgment for once the final product actually ships and first reviews appear but for now, it definitely looks like an interesting device.











Source: Omate TrueSmart Kickstarter page.