Hey guys. I am the founder of BLOCKS Wearables. We have been working on BLOCKS for the past 2 years, with amazing partners like Qualcomm, ARM, and a couple of telecom carriers. We are ready to start production with one of the largest manufacturers in the world (Compal Electronics). I am here to answer any questions you have. We are now live on kickstarter
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@a_tahmaseb Why did you choose to work on this particular product? What does the future look like with a product like BLOCKS in it?
@schnelle It started from an idea of a gesture control wrist band for controlling the music, etc. on the phone with hand movements. We then asked a lot of people about the features and sensors in their ideal smart-band. This was 2 years ago. People wanted a variety of different features, and due to size, power consumption, and price constraint no company can fit all the sensors and features in one smartwatch and a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't lead to the ideal wearable for everyone. Therefore the users would always need to compromise on some of the features they want. We wanted to give the power of decision making back to the users. Embedding each sensor/feature in a module and then people can build their ideal smartwatch. As soon as we released our concept back in March 2014, we got approached by a lot of large tech companies that wanted to work on this with us. BLOCKS is a very big project, like Project ARA, and with our amazing partners we are now ready to start the manufacturing process.
The future of modular electronic devices is brilliant. Just look at what apps did to our phones, they made them essential parts of our lives. The same will happen with modules. Imagine a BLOCKStore, full of Modules from different companies, your bank, your car, you company, etc. Your smartwatch, would then become an essential part of your life and something actually useful. Your Watch, will be your identity.
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@a_tahmaseb great job so far. Can't wait to try the watch. What is the single most important reason Blocks will succeed?
@mossibat Mohsen, thanks a lot, great question. BLOCKS is on its way to succeed since it is an open-platform. It will be the only place in wearable technology, where the collective power of masses is gathered and the ideal wearable device is formed by combining the latest technology from powerful companies from around the world.
@mkaroumi we have spent a lot of time and effort and have worked with some experienced industrial designers to get to this current design that you see at the banner of this page and on the kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/proj... , The current design is much more robust, comfortable and in our eyes, more beautiful than our previous designs.
@a_tahmaseb@mkaroumi I understand that you couldn't make this design. It comes down to much more than just the look. Just want to see a smart watch like this. Great work though! 😌
@mkaroumi I would love to see a slim-faced smart watch that packed all the tech into the strap. They could have done it with this project! Until smart watch faces get slimmer I won't be buying one. I do like the functionality of this product though. A step forward.
@a_tahmaseb Congrats to your team and the hard work you guys put in.
And good luck trying to explain modular products to my mom or other normal consumers.
That don't care about how it works, but that it should work flawlessly!
@tristancelebi Hi Tristan. Yes, that's very true. The easiest way to describe modular technology is through upgrade cycles.
We are used to buy a new smartphone every other year. The same thing will happen if you start buying smartwatches. Modular technology enables devices that will last for a longer time and you just need to replace or add to their features. by changing Modules, rather than the whole device. Or in other words: it would be cheaper if you think long-term
Thanks Seys for the comment. Yes, it is a fully circular display with no flat-tire. The type of screen we are using in the final product allows us to do it. There is a good number of smartwatches with fully round screen
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This looks very interesting. I think the future of many of our tech devices is in modularity. I was laughed at when I started working on a modular cell phone years ago but now we have Google's Project Ara. (That is an independent project and I'm not affiliated with it)
I'd like to criticize your demo video, although it's minor. The music is too loud and the video is too short. Tell me more about the modules, don't just show them to me in a background graphic. For example, why tell me that it's "up to 1.5 days battery life", when what I really want to know is that I can swap out battery segments on my watch easily. Can I charge these in my house and my car? Then I really don't care how long the battery life is, because it's indefinite since I can take my watch off, swap out a "battery link" and keep going in just a few seconds.
*Edit: I realize now that the video on this page is a snippet of the Kickstarter video.
Best of luck you you all, I will be a supporter.
@schnelle Thanks Jared for your comment. Indeed, the future of technology is modular, personal, and upgradable devices. Project Ara is amazing, we have talked to those guys. Yes, this is just a teaser video, please watch the full video here https://www.kickstarter.com/proj...
Yeah, exactly, that's the great thing about modularity, infinite battery life. The core on its own can run to 1.5days, obviously the battery modules can keep it running longer.
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@schnelle Why do you think modularity is the future? Doesn't that cause relevant issues with developers having to account for all these differences? More just curious than anything.
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Looks cool. Can you talk about the fully circular display that is mentioned? As far as I know not a lot of smartwatches have this feature (eg Moto 360 has a small bezel on the bottom of the screen). Thanks.
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