Posted on Jan 3 2015
2015年又会是智能手表大放异彩的一年。奢侈手表品牌万宝龙今年也涉身智能手表市场。推出其e-Strap，一款可以让传统‘傻瓜’手表智能化的电子腕带。此款腕带可通过无线与手表连接，实现消息接收，同时腕带会伴随震动提示。此外腕带配有一块显示屏，可通过蓝牙将用户的手表和手机相连，信息随即传到到腕带上的OLED触摸屏上。腕带还兼具健康监控功能，如记步，卡路里消耗等。e-Strap售价为300美元，比手表价格低廉很多。这样看来，e-Strap的到来将会给智能手表市场带来新一轮的竞争。
It will be the year of the smartwatch, if Apple has anything to say about it, and traditional watch manufacturers will face new competition from those looking to bring smart notifications, calendar alerts and even phone calls directly to your wrist.
Montblanc has an novel way for"dumb" watches to stay relevant, according to aBlogtoWatch: an e-Strap that turns your existing non-smart watch into one that can receive notifications and messages. The band will vibrate every time an alert comes in.
The strap, which is made of leather but has a screen that sits under your wrist, connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth 4.0 (a.k.a. Bluetooth Smart) and pulls in smart alerts directly to the OLED touchscreen display, which boasts a 128 x 36 pixel resolution. The e-Strap will also reportedly function as a fitness tracker, allowing users to forgo clunky Fitbits for a sleeker design that tracks steps, calories burned and syncs that data to a smart phone app.
The report notes that experts in the luxury watch industry believe many consumers don't actually want a high-end smartwatch and would, instead, prefer one with an opt-in smart component, like a band.
The e-Strap ($300) will be much cheaper than the watches it will support — many of Montblanc's time pieces cost as much as $3,000 — but run higher than some smartwatches like the Moto 360 ($249). The Apple Watch will start at $349, but it's rumored the luxury "Edition" model (like the 18-karat pink or yellow gold version) could cost up to $5,000.
Whether the e-Strap is a gimmick or something people would actually find useful (and a work around to have ahigh-tech watch without buying a brand new one) has yet to be seen.
