At Salesforce.com’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, American musician and entrepreneur Will.i.am unveiled a voice-controlled wristband smartphone named Puls, featuring special edition designs created by architect Zaha Hadid. This is Will.i.am’s first wearable technology product, which he insisted was not a watch but his own “smart cuff“. “I think watch is an overused word and it’s a very limited space to create in when it come to crossing genders,” he said.
“To expect a female to wear the same watch a guy does… It’s hard to try and consider. But I can wear a cuff and a girl can wear a cuff and the way it fits me is totally different to the way girls have been wearing cuffs forever.”
This standalone smartphone on a wristband will require its own SIM card and mobile connection, but lets you call and text – it sports GSM 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a pedometer and accelerometer.
Its main body, which looks like a chunky squared bracelet, is made from plastic and will be available in a number of colours.
“We welcome these collaborations that add something to our work and we always want to engage with things we don’t know much about,” said Hadid.
“We work on the idea of striation, and how it could also have deflections. From a very large object to a very small object, you can interpret this as a very nice piece to touch. But it also operates as a device.”
A range of clothing and accessories that can interact with the device are also being developed in the future grouped together under the header of “Fashionology”, including a jacket with inbuilt battery for charging, a backpack with speakers, shoes that count your steps for fitness tracking, and glasses that can take photos.
