Nubia Wants to Wrap a Phone Around Your Wrist
Our devices have become part of our person. From laptops and iPads to smartphones and now smartwatches opening the frontier of wearables, we are our devices. Samsung has already promised flexible phone screens as early as the end of this year, and it looks like smartwatches are headed in the same direction, with Nubia’s Alpha smartwatch being the first of the species.
Sporting an Apple Watch-like silhouette without the traditional square display, the Alpha features a flexible OLED screen that curves around a metal band and molds to the curvature of the wrist. With a larger screen, the capabilities go beyond what’s available on the market now, with a charging port and front-facing camera for conferencing incorporated into the watch.
Unlike any smartwatch seen before, the design of the Alpha demonstrates the future of mobility and how we will engage with our devices in the near future. The smartphone watch features a number of functions available now but in a more practical and innovative package, including exercise tracking, heart rate monitoring, and music control.
While the Alpha has not hit the market yet, the new and improved Apple Watch was revealed recently and is the closest thing to the Alpha available now. Keeping its traditional square screen, the fourth iteration of the Apple Watch features the largest display yet and comes with a host of improvements including a new electrical heart sensor, automatic workout detection, new ways to use Siri and other built-in cellular functionalities, and improved battery life.
Nubia’s wearable smartphone is hitting China first – before year end – and will hopefully make its way to the U.S. soon after.
