Kickstarter, financial and marketing backers of some brilliant tech inventions, is showcasing their latest winner, the Pebble ePaper Smartwatch. Allerta, the company that developed the product, posted their idea on a Kickstarter page less than a week ago and has already become the most funded project of all time on the site. If you’re not familiar with the way Kickstarter works, they allow users to make small and large donations toward projects they want to back. The company’s initial goal was to raise $100,000, however in the past six days, the project has accumulated a whopping $3.6 million.
Although not yet compatible with all prepaid cell phones, the Pebble Smartwatch is compatible with iOS 5 and Android 2.3 or higher. The device features a 1.26-inch 144 x 168-pixel black and white ePaper display with a backlight, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, four control buttons, a vibrating motor and a three-axis accelerometer. The Pebble is able to receive call, email and message notifications and can control music from Spotify, iTunes and Pandora on iOS and Android devices over Bluetooth. The watch’s capabilities can be expanded through a variety of apps, and users can even create their own apps using an SDK.
While the $99 “early bird” special is sold out, users can still pre-order a Pebble for as low as $115. Deliveries are expected sometime in September, at which point the watch will retail for $150.
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