Six months ago, Bloomberg reported that Meta’s dual-camera smartwatch project has been halted, but it seems to be back in development now. The watch has been in development for 3 years.
Features:
- A removable watch face with a gold-colored casing
- Powered by a Snapdragon SoC
- A custom version of Android and no app store (not Wear OS)
- Dual cameras: A 5 MP front camera and a 12 MP camera on the back
- WiFi, GPS, 4G/5G via eSIM.
- Notification center and Apps for Spotify, WhatsApp, Instagram Stories, daily activity tracking, workouts, the photo gallery, heart rate monitoring, calendar, settings, and breathing.
- 18 hours of battery life
You can remove the watch face from its strap to quickly take pictures with the second camera, but its presence caused issues for electromyography, a feature in the watch for translating nerve signals from the wrist into digital commands to be used for metaverse avatars.
Users would manage apps from their Facebook account and post details of their fitness activities/achievements directly to Facebook/Instagram using the watch. It was scheduled to be released in Spring 2023, but the release has been delayed and will be priced at 349$.
About half a year ago, Bloomberg has reported that the previously leaked dual-camera Meta smartwatch project has been cancelled. It appears, however, that Meta is still working on the project. https://t.co/3FrM7MGJ74
— Kuba Wojciechowski 🩷 (@Za_Raczke) January 31, 2023
While the “V1” has apparently been cancelled, Meta still wants to ship the device, so that users can start getting used to the form factor, which is supposed to eventually be used for other Metaverse-related devices. pic.twitter.com/rnUU7NScHS
— Kuba Wojciechowski 🩷 (@Za_Raczke) January 31, 2023
I have no information about when – and if – the device will ship.
— Kuba Wojciechowski 🩷 (@Za_Raczke) January 31, 2023