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Smartwatches/Bands

Tempest tempts with wraparound smartband color display

The smartband and smartwatch boom has seemingly died down a little bit now that the major players each have their products either on the market or ready for launch later next year. However, it’s arrogant to expect that nobody else can come up with a better idea to push this market forward.

The Tempest Smartband is a smooth, sleek wristband that also happens to have a crisp display over the entire top half of the band. Running its own operating system and syncing up with all major smartphones, the Tempest performs on all the levels that everyone expects from a smartwatch. Where it sets itself apart is in its customizable desktop, the stacking notifications that wrap around the band, and the computing power inside. In addition to controlling camera shutters and music players, the Tempest’s display and processor are strong enough to even handle wrist-based gaming, as strange as that sounds. The Tempest team want to crowdsource $100,000 worth of donations to handle the testing and production of this device. Getting one over a supporter’s hand and onto their wrist takes a pledge of $140 and should be out in May 2015.

The display on the Tempest looks gorgeous, and would almost certainly blow competitors out of the water if it hit the market on looks alone. Like the Moment’s wraparound display, the idea of using more than just a calculator watch’s worth of a display is appealing from a design aesthetic. The issue that arises is that with just a 20-second pitch and very few photos of the device itself actually in the wild, tempering anticipation with expectation makes this project seem like it’s just a little too far down the road to support at this point. If more information and demonstration could be shared, then this would absolutely be a great choice for wearable tech enthusiasts.