It was last September when Qualcomm announced the Toq smartwatch from their stable. They are certainly not the first ones to enter the smartwatch market but Toq, according to them, is an illustration of their innovative platform. As they claim, this technological platform can serve as a reference for making smartwatches in the future. However, it is compulsory for the critics to analyze whether this flagship model from Qualcomm lives up to expectations. As we continue to discuss, it is worth mentioning that this watch doesn’t feature any third party app. They also do not execute any of those exceptional marketing tactics as done by the likes of technology giants.

The Unique Selling Proposition

What makes this watch stand out in competition is its transflective screen – a type of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) that reflects light. This reflective display helps in viewing the screen under bright illumination while most typical LED and LCD screens are difficult to decipher under such circumstances. We also need to switch on the backlight during the night to see the screen contents and this triggers the drainage of battery. But reportedly, the battery life of Toq lasts almost a week long while many other smartwatches in the market die out in a day’s time. Their screen is called Mirasol and it effectively allows a color display with a much higher resolution and that has the battery life of e-Ink, i.e. it is always on but the power consumption is negligible for the fact.

As mentioned earlier, it is a prototype model and doesn’t come with third party apps but most basic tasks can be carried out by linking it to the device. We can control music, push alerts, weather etc. It effectively vibrates if it loses connection with the phone. It also provides updates like distance traveled, calories burnt etc. during exercise sessions. All this is indicative of the fact that the final version will be more refined in terms of apps. Another attraction is its two capacitive touch sensors in the wristband. This essentially negates the possibility of searching buttons in the dark as we would exactly know where to tap to activate the UI.

There are other built-in features like the airplane mode which aid in saving battery life. It handles notifications in a smart way, e.g. we can actually read Facebook message or notification without looking into the phone. One more remarkable feature is AllJoyn, which enables it to control SmartTV and Air Conditioners.

Special Edition

Upon the release of Toq, many were disappointed due to the non-availability of color options. There are buyers with a fancy taste of colors and they like their products to be colorful rather than just solid black. Well, the good news is Qualcomm Toq will come in White color but for a limited time making it a limited edition. The US based chip and semiconductor maker, Qualcomm still emphasizes that it is a smartwatch meant primarily for developers and not for regular users.