Will.i.am’s standalone smartwatch, the Dial, is now available to preorder in the UK. The device is an updated version of the Puls — a smartwatch we described as the “worst product we’ve touched all year” — and works without a tethered smartphone. This means you need to buy your own contract for it, though, and UK mobile operator Three is offering the Dial on a two-year contract from £24 a month with a £49 upfront payment. That’s a total cost £625, or $911, which includes 500MB of data and 100 minutes of talk time each month.
Will.i.am’s smartphone-free smartwatch is available to preorder in the UK
The Dial includes its own ad-free music streaming service
The Dial has a 2 megapixel front-facing camera, 32GB of internal storage, and a 1.63-inch touch screen. Buyers will also get access to an ad-free music streaming service. This is powered by UK company 7Digital, reports Engadget, and doesn’t eat into user’s data allowance. There are no subscription costs, and no adverts — which is actually a pretty good bundle for this sort of device. However, the service isn’t likely to be the most well stocked, and only offers 20 million tracks compared to the 30 million+ of Spotify and Apple Music.
The Dial also has its own built-in voice-activated digital assistant, a Siri and Alexa competitor named “AneedA.” Users can sends texts, play music, call friends, and set alarms using the assistant, with will.i.am’s company, i.am+, claiming that AneedA learns about the users’ preferences and tailors its responses over time. We’ve not seen much of AneedA in action, although a promo video from i.am+ shows the assistant responding to the command “I’m lonely talk dirty to me,” with: “What the fuck would you like me to say?”
“Swearier than Siri” is definitely one way to make your digital assistant stand out.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
