Gadgetory

this is Chris Sigler with the verge and this is the qualcomm talk you know tuck as in tick-tock this is a SmartWatch we're looking at it's also the first consumer product that Qualcomm a company better known for its smartphone chips has made in a long time actually calling it a consumer product is a bit of a stretch at $350 its price outstrips comparable devices like the pebble buy $200 and even the more functional galaxy gear by 50 instead the talk is more of a technology demonstrator for Mirasol the unique display technology that Qualcomm has been trying to figure out how to sell for a number of years Mirasol selling point is that it sips power and is extremely daylight readable like ink without needing a backlight but it refreshes much faster closer to the performance of an LCD it's about as close to no compromised display technology as exists right now while the display is great the rest of the talk feels very much like a first generation product Paul comes not really a consumer electronics maker much less a watch maker and it shows an odd interface paradigm employs both a capacitive touch screen to swipe through menus and make selections and also a touch sensitive watchband touch below the face to go home DoubleTap above the face to enable the backlight the idea appears to have been to eliminate traditional buttons from the side of the watch entirely but there are serious trade-offs I found myself inadvertently activating both the backlight and the home button on numerous occasions either from handling or simply by folding my arms and making skin contact with the band there aren't any markers or depressions on the band to indicate where to press either so it's not uncommon to fumble with it with a few misplaced taps before finding the sweet spot when you need to see the screen in a dark room for instance but the biggest downside to the talk might be that you can't swap in an off-the-shelf band of your choosing the watch's black plastic band makes no real effort to look good and it uses a cumbersome clasp that is difficult to open unless you've got some strong fingernails it also needs to be resized by physically cutting it with scissors you better get it right the first time and good luck lending it to a friend with a bigger wrist beyond a selection of attractive watch faces some of which include other information like your upcoming calendar entries or the current weather the talk ships within a selection of apps that will likely expand over time you can set stocks you want to track control your phone's music player see a call log or pull up your phone's notification lists feels like an appropriate scope of functionality for a glanceable gadget on your wrist it's not trying to do too much like the Galaxy gear and it isn't selling itself short like the citizen proximity pairing is easy too Qualcomm includes perhaps the best-looking best feeling easiest to use companion app for your smartphone of any SmartWatch I've tried where you download new firmware and select watch faces choose which calendars you want to show and so on there's no iOS app yet though its Android only at the moment so that'll be an instant deal-breaker for a good percentage of the population ultimately the talk isn't a SmartWatch I'd recommend someone buy but it is a device that makes me rave about what I want to SmartWatch to really be I can tell you I know I wanted to have one of these great Mirasol displays and really I think that's exactly what Qualcomm is going for