Skip to main content

Check your calendar with a glance at this smartwatch

There’s been a lot of talk about the direction smart wearables will take. The consensus is wearables need to blend into our lives instead of standing out like a sore thumb  – or a clunky watch with a split-second’s battery life and a thousand functions. The Calendar Watch by What? Watch Company takes a minimalist approach to smart gear by focusing on one thing: displaying your calendar. The public must approve, because the Calendar Watch Kickstarter campaign was just fully funded.

Calendar Watch focuses on doing one thing well, and helps its wearers do the same.

Recommended Videos

Calendar Watch is worth a nod for hiding smart tech in what seems at first glance like your grandfather’s watch — a classic, attractive timepiece. It has a traditional look that may appeal to people who are turned off by the modern one-dimensional touchscreens of most smartwatches.

So far, the watch and app work with Calendar, Google, Outlook, Facebook events, Yahoo, and Yandex. The user’s calendar, synced through the Calendar Watch app, is displayed by alternate shading on the e-paper watch face under analog hands and numbers. An appointment from 2-3 for example, would turn that hour dark on the watch’s face.

There are two display modes for Calendar Watch: fixed and flexible. Fixed mode only updates the display every twelve hours, and you set the update hour in the app. This works well to track the average work day. Flexible mode updates segments every 15 minutes, so the next 12 hours are always displayed. A double tap on the watch displays the next 12-24 hours for five seconds in both modes. A triple tap syncs the time and schedule with your phone. Calendar Watch confirms with vibrations, and an animation for the forced-sync. It will also vibrate for notification alarms set within the app.

Besides allowing users to sync their calendar and adjust the watch’s display settings, the app connection keeps the watch on local time, even when you travel to a different time zone. Since most of the functions are carried out through the app or by simply tapping the face, the result is a clear but subtle incorporation of modern technology into the time-honored aesthetic (pun-intended).

Calendar Watch’s iconic design, conceived by art director Masashi Kawamura and industrial designer Umberto Onza, features a stainless steel casing and domed sapphire. The bands are all leather quick-release with stitching to compliment the black, silver, or aqua blue faces. They’re close to adding a verdant green model – a 155,000 Euro stretch goal.

The battery lasts for about three weeks, so Calendar Watch provides a easy way to follow your calendar even if your phone dies or – heaven forbid — you leave it behind. When the watch is running low on battery, the second hand will slow its movement increments to five seconds at 10 percent, and to 15 seconds at five percent. It does come with a charging station that What? Watch will present on the Calendar Watch Kickstarter page.

Keep in mind, Calendar Watch is more of a mono-feature watch. It’s not a fitness tracker, or a remote for your smart phone. It focuses on doing one thing well, and helps its wearers do the same. One of the points on the Kickstarter campaign page is “Multitasking drops an average man’s IQ by 15 points.”

It’s set to retail for up to $550 post-campaign, but Calendar Watch is an attractive alternative to devices with more functional features in the same price bracket, at the sub-$300 price points offered as campaign rewards. Backers will get their Calendar Watches in September, 2016. You can read more here about the Calendar Watch Kickstarter campaign.

Aliya Barnwell
Former Contributor
Aliya Tyus-Barnwell is a writer, cyclist and gamer with an interest in technology. Also a fantasy fan, she's had fiction…
This new smartwatch has ruined all other wearables for me
The OnePlus Watch 3.

It's the worst kept secret of smartwatches: They may be smart, but my word, do their batteries tend to suck.

I've owned a number of smartwatches in my time, and no matter how much I love using them, eventually, I get tired of dealing with lackluster battery capacities. That's why, in the past, I've always found myself returning to fitness watches instead, or dabbling in smart rings. Smartwatches are ... well ... smart — but they lack the stamina to really go the distance. And it turns out, no matter how much I'm dazzled by smart tech, it's always a daily charge that kills the experience for me.

Read more
Oppo smartwatch may lead to the small OnePlus Watch 3 we’re craving
A promotional image showing the Oppo Watch X2 Mini.

One of the few downsides of the excellent OnePlus Watch 3 is that it only comes in a single case size, but if an Oppo smartwatch release in China is anything to go by, the company may now be in a position to change that. The Oppo Watch X2 Mini has been given an official April 10 launch date and is available for pre-order in China, and it may be the template for a OnePlus Watch 3 Mini.

Before we talk about the smartwatch, here’s some context. Oppo and OnePlus entered into a strategic partnership in 2021, with the two brands effectively sharing research, development, software, and even camera partners. While the two release separate and suitably different products, there are many similarities. The OnePlus Watch 3 just happens to have an Oppo sibling called the Oppo Watch X2, and the pair are practically identical.

Read more
Apple is finally fixing the alarm situation on its smartwatches
A person wearing the Apple Watch Series 3.

Apple is prepping the release of a thoughtful new feature that will bring some peace of mind to smartwatch users. The upcoming watchOS 11.4 update will give users an option to activate the alarm sound even when the Apple Watch is put on silent mode.
The change was first spotted in the update notes for watchOS 11.4 RC (Release Candidate) built, which means the stable update is right around the corner. “An option to allow Sleep Wake Up alarm to break through Silent Mode,” says the release document.
In its current shape, the Silent Mode only provides vibration-based haptic feedback for all kinds of alerts, including alarm rings. After all, the whole idea behind it is to keep audible distractions at bay.
https://x.com/aaronp613/status/1904223745662669099
There are, however, scenarios when a sound cue could come in handy. For example, if you’re charging your watch near your bed while silent mode is enabled, you would ideally want it to play the wake-up alarm.
An alarm should beep. Period.

A healthy few people aren’t comfortable with sleeping with a watch on their wrist, because it’s an uncomfortable experience to begin with. Moreover, a strong alarm vibration on the wrist isn’t always the most pleasant way to wake up each morning.
I fall into the latter category. From time to time, however, I keep my Apple Watch close to my headrest so that I can hear the alarm beep the next morning. So far, that has meant keeping the watch in general mode, but watchOS 11.4 will finally allow some much-needed flexibility.

Read more