The patent design shows what looks like both a tiny microphone and/or speaker as well as a USB port embedded in the wrist clasp. It also suggested a curved screen that would make up the watch’s main display.
GigaOM’s sources said Samsung had seeded various different designs to developers but with some common characteristics including a 2.5 inch OLED screen.
The watch will boast a built-in “accelerometer” that makes it possible to switch it on when it is moved up towards the eye, the sources said, adding that the screen would support the usual touch, swipe and select type gestures — but not text-input given the size constraints.
Phil Libin, the CEO of app developer Evernote, told GigaOM that smartwatch technology remained experimental despite its rapid development.
“None of this is going to be super mainstream in six or 12 months, but I think it’s going to be in the next two or three years,” Libin said. “It’s going to go faster than people expect.”
The idea of the connected watch has been around for at least a decade: Microsoft had one in 2003. And some devices are already on the market including from Sony, the crowd-funded maker Pebble and Italian-based firm i’m Watch.
Up to now, smartwatches have been able to connect to phones wirelessly to give users signals about new messages, and allow some limited Web access.
But analysts say once they gain traction, app developers can come up with new functions, possibly drawing on health and fitness monitoring devices now in use.
