The world of smartwatches is crowded, but the watches found in the upper echelon are far superior to the rest of the competition. A few smartwatches released in recent years have reached the level of success achieved by the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch, but Spectra may give them a run for their money.
Spectra from Pocuter is a newcomer to the smartwatch scene and has just launched its campaign on Kickstarter. This watch features a futuristic vibe that makes it look like something out of an early Bond film, but there’s a reason it has a thicker aluminum casing than most watches: it’s fully repairable by the user.
That’s right – while every right to repair victory is cause for celebration, Spectra promises you the chance to access and fully repair your watch yourself. It’s truly incredibly impressive. The entire design of the smartwatch revolves around the right to repair, making every component easily accessible.
The craziest thing about it? There are only seven screws. After seeing what it takes to dismantle an Apple Watch, I’m thrilled to handle a handful of screws to fix the ridiculous complex issues it requires.
However, Spectra doesn’t skimp on power. It features plenty of interesting components and features you’d find in advanced smartwatches, including a 368 x 448 OLED display, built-in speaker and microphone, and a side crown for adjustments.
The watch has 8MB of RAM and 32MB of flash memory. While this may not seem like much, it has a trick up its sleeve: a microSD card slot that can expand the watch’s memory up to an impressive 512GB.
Unfortunately, the smartwatch will not work with the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. According to its Kickstarter page, the team has partnered with Moddable to develop SpectraOS, but it’s currently only 50% complete.
The team will need time to fill the app store, but there’s a possibility that some apps from Pocuter One, another successful project by Pocuter, may be transferred over. According to the development progress timeline, the app store is 50% complete.
The Spectra project looks promising, but it still has a long way to go. Android and iOS apps are only 20% complete, the SDK is 70% complete, and the development of the app store and first-party apps still need more time in the oven.
As with any Kickstarter project, backing is a risk, but Spectra is an exciting project that could encourage the right to repair on a larger scale. If you’re interested, Spectra is available on its Kickstarter page for €199 (US $217).
