[NewsPoster]

HP has revealed its attempt to take on the smartphone market, with a device it collaborated on with designer Michael Bastian. The MB Chronowing attempts to bridge the style of luxury watches with the basic functionality of a smartwatch, with the main monochrome display split into a small round clock face area with digital hands, while the rest is used to provide extra information.

Unlike many other recent smartwatch launches, this device leaves off a touch-enabled display in favor of three large buttons, reports the Wall Street Journal. It does still provide alerts for texts, emails, and app notifications, along with some extra information displayed on the low-resolution screen for appointments and email subject lines, it can also be used to control music on a connected iOS or Android smartphone. Automatically synchronizing the time to any time zone, the watch is water resistant to 5 ATM, and has a claimed battery life of up to one week.

Designer Bastian suggests the MB Chronowing is "intended to make you more polite" by making the wearer less likely to look at the screen compared to more-capable devices. "I wanted to create a wearable device that looked like a cool watch, first and foremost," he claims, adding that his team apparently looked at the design of existing wearables and "walked away with a lot of 'what not to dos," in terms of the device's construction. "It needs to be a link, not a replacement, to your phone."

The MB Chronowing is set to go on sale from November 7th via Gilt, with the premium model including an alligator strap and sapphire protection priced at $649, while the base model with leather, rubber, and nylon straps, along with less refined construction materials will cost $349.

[Kees]

this is more like a feature watch than a smart watch. They might be onto something though, especially with the week battery life. But at the cost of a horrible display, apparently.
If the display really is as low res as in those pics, that would annoy me on such an expensive piece.
I guess the more I think about, the more I just don't really see the point of these watches.

[Charles Martin]

If the retro-Mac-Plus style graphics weren't a problem, or the "read your email ... three words at a time" misuse of the space, there's the incredible thickness of the watch. Jony Ive could hold this up as the exact example of why Apple made many of the choices it did in Apple Watch.

[azrich]

This watch does seem to have a similar approach to Apple's, considering style as well as function. Even more so than Apple's watch.
Can any of these devices take your temperature? That could help with the people who come back from west Africa monitor themselves.

[Malcolm Owen]

Given the cost of the Pebble and Pebble Steel at $99 and $199 respectively, I'd rather go for either of them if I want to have a monochrome display like that...