Reporting by XinZhiyuan
Editor: David Yuan Xie
【New Wisdom Element Guide】The battle for the entrance to the meta-universe has begun, and Meta wants to make a smart watch! According to the exposed patented design drawings, this watch is equipped with multiple cameras and two dials are detachable. Can it beat apples?
After Facebook changed its name to Meta, it showed aggressiveness in a number of previously untouched areas.
In January 2022, Dutch tech blog LetsGoDigital broke the news on the official account of the Facebook website: the rumors of 2021 are true, and Facebook is really going to make a smartwatch.
Patented design exposure: multi-camera, dial detachable
According to LetsGoDigital' revelations, on June 24, 2021, Facebook had filed a patent application with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which was only officially made publicly accessible after approval on January 13, 2022.
The name of the patent is a very simple "removable camera module for wearable devices", from which only the most significant features that the Meta smartwatch wants to emphasize can be seen: the watch body can be removed from the shell and used alone, and the camera function can be used.
The smartwatch with a detachable body is not the first of its kind, and the Fitbit Blaze, which was launched in 2017, also adopts the same design. However, according to Meta's momentum, Meta smart watches will probably not repeat the mistakes of the Poor Response of the Fitbit Blaze market.
According to the patent document, the Meta smart watch has two models, one is a square dial, one is a round dial, and the two models of the watch body are fixed to the wristband using magnetic suction.
The square dial model is similar to the shape exposed by authoritative media such as Bloomberg in the summer and autumn of 2021. The front display has the usual style of front camera, the back will purportedly be equipped with a display with a 1080p autofocus camera, after the watch body is removed from the stainless steel base and wristband, the camera on the back can work alone.
The round dial model, in addition to the back display, features three cameras on the front. According to the patent documents, these cameras will have one or more functions such as macro, telephoto, light change, wide angle, and fisheye.
The round dial supports clockwise/counterclockwise rotation in the base, because of the limitations of the magnetic fixation method, the rotation position is only fixed by five. With a rotatable solid bezel similar to Samsung's similar design, users can choose a combination of different camera lenses and different viewing angle poses.
According to the body design and file content, the body of the Meta smart watch obviously has the function of universal interchange between the same devices. It is also mentioned in patent documents and various reports that the Meta smart watch is equipped with a series of sensors necessary for today's smart watches, including heart rate, body temperature, infrared, motion, and activity recognition.
Meta did not forget the company's focus when designing new products. In addition to the popular audio/video calling function, photos and videos taken by meta smartwatches will allegedly be able to be shared with one click on the company's own social networking apps such as Facebook and Instagram.
And various revelations suggest that the body of Meta watches is compatible with augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR), and can be used in conjunction with various devices corresponding to Meta's future hardware ecosystem, such as smart glasses or head-mounted displays (HMD) input devices, or external cameras for VR fitness monitoring applications with full body tracking functions.
Meta is said to be in talks with U.S. telecom service operators to make Meta smartwatches supported by LTE (Universal Mobile Communication Technology Standard) and run independently without a smartphone. The first generation of Meta smartwatches will run on a customized version of Android, but it is not compatible with Wear OS, Android's wearable operating system.
Start the Meta-Universe "Entrance Battle"
In fact, since changing its name to Meta a few months ago, a large number of the social media giant's business lines have been tweaking to the theme of "meta-universe".
In the current blueprint description of the metacosm, AR/VR technology may be the most closely related to the metacosm.
With the company's name change, the original Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Oculus and other software will also be unified transformation, all committed to the pursuit of the vision of building and perfecting the meta-universe. In addition, some hardware products of the auxiliary metaverse will be launched next year, including some devices such as VR and AR, as well as related platforms and development tools.
At last year's Connect 2021 conference, Meta showed user examples of smartwatch-like wearables in multiple scenarios in the "How to Build a Metacosm" section.
Previously, there have been rumors that Facebook is developing its own brand of smart watches.
Last June, Andrew Bosworth, Facebook's vice president of AR/VR, also responded to the "watchmaking" incident on Twitter. While he did not confirm his plans to release the smartwatch, he also did not completely deny the following details:
This is just a research project at Facebook Labs;
Facebook will develop both smartwatches and smart glasses, and both products will have the potential to connect;
When the time comes, the product will be launched in collaboration with a third party.
Facebook will focus on the interaction function of smart watches and smart glasses, in this regard, Andrew Bosworth mentioned that it is currently increasing investment in technology, including research on EMG (muscle electricity), haptic perception, adaptive interface, so that the interaction between the two wearable products is more natural and intuitive.
Hardware is an important foundation for building a "metaverse kingdom". If Facebook wants to truly build its own metaverse, if it does not have its own hardware, it is difficult to hold the initiative in its own hands.
In the past, Facebook has tried many times to build its own hardware, and the results have been mixed.
In 2013, the phone it produced in collaboration with HTC suffered a crushing defeat in the market. At present, the sales of its Oculus VR headsets have not yet been officially announced. In a recent interview, the company's executives said that Oculus Quest 2 headphones sold more than all previous Oculus headphones combined, but did not say the specific numbers.
And Facebook's interest in smartwatches dates back at least a few years. It had considered acquiring fitness wearables maker Fitbit in 2019, but ultimately failed to close. In January 2021, the company was acquired by Google.
Meta watchmaking, have you ever won an apple?
Apple's Apple Watch is one of the main competitors to the Meta SmartWatch, and the two companies have also been in dynamic competition. At present, Apple occupies an absolute dominant position in the high-end smart watch market.
Apple has positioned itself as a "privacy protector," and one of the big selling points of the Apple Watch is restricting apps like Facebook from collecting user data, while Meta has been plagued by its scandal of leaking user data for years.
According to statistics, Apple sold more than 34 million smart watches in 2020, selling more than the Swiss watch industry. At present, the smart watch market is basically controlled by Apple and Samsung, and Facebook will undoubtedly face fierce competition.
One of the key reasons Apple's Apple Watch market has performed so well is its excellent privacy policies. Because wearable devices often have to collect and access the user's personal and health information, this information is often relatively private. Facebook's record of user data and privacy protections isn't good.
It's clear that Facebook is working to develop hardware devices to reduce its reliance on giants like Apple and Google, and with the launch of facebook's smartwatch, the company will go to war with Apple on another front.
Only time will tell if Facebook can take its place in the Apple-dominated smartwatch market.
Resources:
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/facebook-meta-smartwatch
https://www.republicworld.com/technology-news/gadgets/facebook-meta-smartwatch-might-come-with-multiple-cameras-and-detachable-display-report-articleshow.html
https://www.techeblog.com/meta-facebook-watch-smartwatch-leak/
https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751702/facebook-meta-smartwatch-camera-notch-image-leak-glasses-wearables
https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/9/22526266/facebook-smartwatch-two-cameras-heart-rate-monitor
https://www.shenzhenware.com/articles/15316