And Finally Artist News

Will.i.am dials up new smartwatch

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 23 February 2016

Is that Puls smartwatch you’re wearing looking a bit tired? Well, it’s OK, Will.i.am has a new one coming out in April, called The Dial. Which is a shame, cos I always enjoyed saying Puls. Say it now. Puls. Pu like poo, not pu like pulse. Puls. What fun.

Will.i.am has been showing off the new wristwatch, which he may or may not still be insisting on calling a ‘smartband’, at Mobile World Congress this week. It seems he is now insisting that his Puls watch was just a beta version of the technology, which is why it wasn’t very good and no one bought it. This is the real one now. The Dial.

As with the Puls, The Dial will have its own sim card, meaning it’s not tethered to a phone. “The reason we built the platform this way is that it is for areas where you are truly mobile – in the gym, in a car, on a bike, on a hike, areas where the phone really isn’t meant for”, explained Will.i.am to The Telegraph. “The phone isn’t really meant for a bike in New York. It certainly isn’t meant for a gym where, you have a phone in your pocket, wires everywhere, as you are jump roping”.

The device has its own operating system, ANeedA, which he describes as “artificial intelligence that’s personal to you”, quite possibly misunderstanding the quite specific definition of artificial intelligence.

In the UK the new watch will be sold by Three, while, according to Bloomberg, on mainland Europe it’ll be hawked by Deutsche Telekom.

Is Will.i.am news still considered music news these days? Quick, let’s find a justification for this report. Well, the Puls had music pumped into it by 7digital. It is not yet known who will provide music services to The Dial. News!