Qualcomm Toq, a proof of concept Smartwatch from Qualcomm has been given a price tag and an availability date. It is priced at 349.99 USD and is slated to be available for order, starting December 2nd. The smartwatch, which is meant to be a show and tell of Qualcomm tech in the upcoming wearable computing era, uses several of its technologies like Mirasol and WiPower LE. We had taken a hands on look at this device at IFA, Berlin, you can watch the video here –
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhfcQKLuSQQ
In terms of the specs , the Toq features a 1.55 inch touch Mirasol color display. You can turn on front lighting if required by tapping on the watch which would come in handy in extremely low light situations. The device is completely buttonless and is operated only with the touchscreen and the sensors on the straps. Qualcomm has smartly moved the battery away to the strap and removed the bulk from the actual watch itself. Still the Toq is extremely light at 90.7g. The Toq talks to your smartphone using Bluetooth.
The Qualcomm Toq is to be exclusively used with Android devices, running 4.0.3 or above, using the Qualcomm AllJoyn APIs. But as we said earlier, this is a proof of concept device, and demands a high price tag naturally because of that exact reason. Qualcomm hopes this will hopefully resonate with its ecosystem partners so that they can start working on their own implementations, with this as a reference. If you are a smartwatch enthusiast though, the high price may be a bummer, but the technology is exciting enough we guess.
We also had a chat with Rob Chandok, SVP of Qualcomm Technologies and President of Qualcomm Internet Services. You can take a look at that video here –
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVCkXFSWNvM
It’s great that wearable computing is improving a lot, but we are still at the very start of the Smartwatch evolution. There is a lot more to come, and it’s safe to say that the technology inside the Qualcomm Toq might play a sizable role in that. Anyways, let us know what you think of this story in the comments section below, and do check out our detailed hands on with the Toq at IFA here.