News & Reviews:   Goophone Smartwatch

For the most part, smartwatches and smartbands today are just companion Bluetooth remote control devices you wear on your wrist. You actually need your smartphone around for the smartwatch to work. However, there are some smartwatches that let you do away with the smartphone like the Neptune Pine and Goophone smartwatch, but the latest one is the Exetech XS-3. Following the slab of touchscreen school of design, the Exetech XS-3 is a fairly thick smartwatch that has no back cover for the battery underneath it. This battery comes in direct contact with your skin (and sweat) so we're a bit wary that you might short the smartwatch out (and yourself).

Quite a lot of people are still waiting for stand-alone smartwatch, or a smartwatch which doesn't need a smartphone to work. While there are other independant developers, Goophone looks to have come out with a stand-alone smartwatch in the form of the Goophone Smartwatch. Featuring a SIM card slot, the Goophone smartwatch comes in 2 versions, one with 3G and one with just 2G. Both are WiFi capable and run on a 1.2GHz dual-core MediaTek processor with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. Other tech specs include a 1.54-inch display with 240 x 240 pixel resolution along with a 2MP camera, GSM - 850/900/1800/1900 Mhz and WCDMA - 850/1900/2100. At 72 grams and 41.9 x 47.5 x 13.5mm the watch is quite large and follows the slab of touchscreen house of design. While it has windows phone like main interface, the smartwatch is running Android 4.0 and it looks like you can download apps with ease. Both versions are available for pre-order at $299.99 (RM960) for the 3G version and $249.99 (RM800) for the 2G version. According to Goophone the battery life should be about 48 hours on normal use. While there isn't any Malaysia release date, they do have shipping to Malaysia for $29.99 (RM96) with shipping within 5-7 days. Check out the video in the article.