In October 2021, when Facebook changed its name to Meta, the company was working on a smartwatch with integrated cameras. Now, according to Bloomberg, that project would die, leaving Zuckerberg’s company without a wearable on the market. Let’s go then to understand what really happened to the smartwatch the Meta.
Meta: the smartwatch suspended from the company’s projects
In these hours Bloomberg has revealed a series of interesting features of the future Meta smartwatch, which seems to no longer be part of the company’s projects. Yet, until recently there was fairly clear news on the wearable. In fact, a smartwatch was expected from the rounded dial with side guides similar to those of the iPhone 12/13, with oblong and circular buttons. In short, a traditional wrist device, were it not for the provision of a double fintegrated camera. More specifically, the smartwatch should have had one 5 MP camera positioned below the display it’s a and 12 MP allocated on the back, which is accessed by removing the watch from the frame to which the straps attach.
Credits: Bloomberg
As far as we know, the back of the wearable caused Meta some design problems, as the company was intent on using the devices as input for the AR glasses. In particular, it appears that the position of the second camera interfered with the watch’s ability to perform electromyography. “The second camera was designed so that users could remove the watch face from the strap to take pictures quickly,” the report reads. But the camera’s presence caused problems with another function for translating nerve signals from the wrist into digital commands, the person said. Having that technical skill, known as electromyography, is a top priority for Meta. “
Beyond that, Meta’s smartwatch should have been a wearable like others. Also according to Bloomberg, the device would have had a “lock screen” and a notification center. Among the functions and applications available, however, there would have been “Spotify, WhatsApp, Instagram Stories, daily activity monitoring, workouts, photo gallery, heart rate monitoring, calendar” and so on. As for the other details, we know that Meta would have launched its wearable in the Spring of 2023at a price of approx 349 $. Yet now everything seems to have changed. The smartwatch project, in fact, seems vague.