Matrix’s PowerWatch 2 needs no charger, uses body heat and solar power

[editor]

This is more like it, although it'#s clearly got some way to go:

The PowerWatch 2’s LCD color display is always-on (although it can be turned off) and is also well-suited for the great outdoors, thanks to a scratch-resistant screen and water resistance to 200 meters. It has vibrant color reproduction with sharp text, making it a better-looking display than say, one of the defunct color Pebble watches from yesteryear, but it’s not nearly as colorful as a touchscreen Wear OS watch or Apple Watch

Some of the PowerWatch 2’s other useful features include GPS tracking, heart rate monitoring, a compass function, pace, and even cadence tracking. Most of these features are already present on other wearables, including the Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch. But once again the PowerWatch 2 has another trick up its sleeve, granted by the unique way that it stores power. Because the wearable is constantly calculating and tracking the body heat you produce (then converting it into thermoelectric power and storing it), it also has an energy production counter. Yes, the PowerWatch 2 can tell you how much energy it’s receiving from you.

Between a battery that lasts as long as you do and a rugged body that can take on the elements, it’s hard to tell if the PowerWatch 2 is even destructible. But you can be sure about one thing: this is an exciting development for self-powered wearables.

Matrix’s PowerWatch 2 needs no charger, uses body heat and solar power



Review:
This smartwatch harvests your body heat, the power of the sun to stay charged

 

[kropotkin]

I sqe that today, absolutely killer if they can make it work and smaller.

 

[NoXion]

We've had watches that self-wind using the wearer's movement since the late 18th century.

 

[kropotkin]

Few of them had a touchscreen, GPS or were able to SSH into my server, mind

 

[editor]

Few of them had a touchscreen, GPS or were able to SSH into my server, mind

EXACTLY!

 

[Saul Goodman]

I'm calling bullshit on it. Nobody is going to leave that monstrosity in public view long enough for it to receive any charge from solar, and peltier charging won't work without a cooler.

 

[editor]

I'm calling bullshit on it. Nobody is going to leave that monstrosity in public view long enough for it to receive any charge from solar, and peltier charging won't work without a cooler.

Your expert analysis is duly noted, although it should be noted that the first version of this watch, although not perfect, seemed to charge itself just fine.

I wore the PowerWatch X for nearly a week, and it was great that I never had to worry about charging it overnight. It just kept going and going, and I'm really interested to see how this technology develops as it becomes more efficient.
Matrix PowerWatch X Review: This Smartwatch Never Needs Charging

 

[Saul Goodman]

Your expert analysis is duly noted

Thanks, and you're welcome.

 

[editor]

Thanks, and you're welcome.

Seeing as you're just going to ignore the fact that your last statement was provably wrong and you think it's all a joke, I can only assume you're just trolling now, and the rules are pretty straightforward on that.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Seeing as you're just going to ignore the fact that your last statement was provably wrong and you think it's all a joke, I can only assume you're just trolling now, and the rules are pretty straightforward on that.

Your evidence is that a paid shill wore it for a few days. How much are they paying you to advertise it? Because surely nobody would take a paid shill's word that body heat alone will keep it charged.
And please bear in mind that my area of expertise is electronics, before accusing me of trolling.

 

[Saul Goodman]

And what are the rules on cross thread beefs? Because you're being a proper cunt to me since you made a fool of yourself on that usb c thread.

 

[8ball]

I'm calling bullshit on it. Nobody is going to leave that monstrosity in public view long enough for it to receive any charge from solar, and peltier charging won't work without a cooler.

I'm going to guess you may have a point that the peltier charging is only going to really be effective on cold days, and if there's any real luminosity to the screen then you're going to have trouble with solar (though maybe if you keep it on low light level and wear it a lot in the sun it will be ok).

I'm going to guess this just helps the battery last longer for most purposes, and that it will come with a charger.

edit: I see it's colour LCD rather than LED - that will help keep power requirements down.

 

[editor]

And what are the rules on cross thread beefs? Because you're being a proper cunt to me since you made a fool of yourself on that usb c thread.

Your evidence is that a paid shill wore it for a few days. How much are they paying you to advertise it? Because surely nobody would take a paid shill's word that body heat alone will keep it charged.
And please bear in mind that my area of expertise is electronics, before accusing me of trolling.

OK, that's another warning for that unwarranted cross-thread abuse and a bizarre accusation of being paid to talk about a product (which i've already described as not being perfect). I'd be careful what you post next because you are creating unacceptable levels of disruption now.

 

[8ball]

OK, that's another warning for that unwarranted cross-thread abuse and a bizarre accusation of being paid to talk about a product (which i've already described as not being perfect). I'd be careful what you post next because you are creating unacceptable levels of disruption now.

That was clearly not an accusation of being a paid shill, but an accusation of gullibility, given the source material.

Re: the watch - it's very much an "outdoorsy watch for people who do outdoorsy things" (from both nominal charging conditions and feature set), so I think it could well be successful, but just in a particular corner of the market.

 

[editor]

I'm going to guess you may have a point that the peltier charging is only going to really be effective on cold days, and if there's any real luminosity to the screen then you're going to have trouble with solar (though maybe if you keep it on low light level and wear it a lot in the sun it will be ok).

I'm going to guess this just helps the battery last longer for most purposes, and that it will come with a charger.

edit: I see it's colour LCD rather than LED - that will help keep power requirements down.

It's clearly early days for this tech and the watch is hardly attarctive, but several reviews seem to suggest that the charging tech does indeed work:

But first, does the thermoelectric technology work? Yes, and it’s impressive. We wore the watch for more than a week, and it never ran out of juice. We also didn’t wear the watch for a week, and it still didn’t die. If you leave the PowerWatch unattended for a long period of time, it will simply turn off before completely running out of power. You can turn it back on again and wear it to charge it back up.
If you're wearing it, it's charging. The Matrix PowerWatch runs on body heat

 

[Saul Goodman]

That was clearly not an accusation of being a paid shill, but an accusation of gullibility, given the source material.

Re: the watch - it's very much an "outdoorsy watch for people who do outdoorsy things" (from both nominal charging conditions and feature set), so I think it could well be successful, but just in a particular corner of the market.

He knows exactly what I was saying. He's just abusing his power over a cross thread beef he has against me.

 

[editor]

That was clearly not an accusation of being a paid shill, but an accusation of gullibility, given the source material.

What's wrong with Tom's Guide? is there any evidence that it's written by paid shills?

 

[Saul Goodman]

What's wrong with Tom's Guide? is there any evidence that it's written by paid shills?

People who get free tech and make money from reviewing it are by default paid shills

 

[editor]

People who get free tech and make money from reviewing it are by default paid shills

I'm sure some sites may knock out positive reviews in return for any free tech that comes their way, but to suggest that every single reviewer is a 'paid shill' is absolute fucking rubbish.

 

[8ball]

It's clearly early days for this tech and the watch is hardly attarctive, but several reviews seem to suggest that the charging tech does indeed work:

Yeah, I said that when I thought it had an LED screen and some real computing grunt.
I think with an LCD screen and that feature set it sounds about right if you're in good light conditions. I had a solar LCD watch as a kid, it hardly needed to be in bright light much at all, never ran down and I wore it everywhere til I broke it falling off my bike - I would expect the amount of energy harvested by solar cells is way higher, and I expect that does the lion's share of the charging, since you need a heat difference to make the body heat thing work (so if you were out skiing and had your clothing arranged right, that might be ideal conditions for it).

I do wonder whether it makes your wrist cold, though. I've never used such a thing...

I can't comment on Tom's guide - the contention wasn't mine.

 

[Saul Goodman]

I'm sure some sites may knock out positive reviews in return for any free tech that comes their way, but to suggest that every single reviewer is a 'paid shill' is absolute fucking rubbish.

And that warrants an abuse of your power with a totally unnecessary warning?

 

[8ball]

People who get free tech and make money from reviewing it are by default paid shills

My understanding is that a "paid shill" is someone who is compensated for a favourable review.

 

[Saul Goodman]

My understanding is that a "paid shill" is someone who is compensated for a favourable review.

When was the last time you saw an unfavourable review from someone who gets free tech to review and makes money from adverts on their review site?

 

[editor]

And that warrants an abuse of your power with a totally unnecessary warning?

You called me a "proper cunt" and then suggested I was being paid to write my (semi positive ) comments ("How much are they paying you to advertise it? ").

I suggest you get back to the topic of the watch and keep the ad hominems to yourself because my patience is wearing thin now.

 

[editor]

When was the last time you saw an unfavourable review from someone who gets free tech to review and makes money from adverts on their review site?

Notwithstanding the way you're now dishonestly trying to move the goalposts from anyone who gets "free tech and make money from reviewing it" to someone who makes money from adverts on tech sites, there are PLENTY of less than flattering reviews of sites that have adverts. It's not hard to find less than glowing reviews of this watch for starters.

Thing is, I've been a tech journalist and that's why I know you're talking bollocks. Sites that give out endless great reviews for shit products soon lose their credibility (and often their readership too).

 

[8ball]

When was the last time you saw an unfavourable review from someone who gets free tech to review and makes money from adverts on their review site?

Tech Radar gave it a cooler reception than the links in the OP.

And @editor’s point about the gushy sites rapidly losing cred is totally on point.

 

[Saul Goodman]

You called me a "proper cunt" and then suggested I was being paid to write my (semi positive ) comments ("How much are they paying you to advertise it? ").

I suggest you get back to the topic of the watch and keep the ad hominems to yourself because my patience is wearing thin now.

I didn't call you a proper cunt. I said you're being a proper cunt to me
I gave my opinion on the watch, and you replied with a smartarse answer.
And you've been a tech journalist Vs my electronic engineering background... Lol

 

[editor]

Tech Radar gave it a cooler reception than the links in the OP.

Stuff gave it just two stars.

The headline act for the PowerWatch is unquestionably the ability to thrive solely on your body heat. It was refreshing to not have to worry about a draining battery bar.

Otherwise, the positives stop there. The design is ugly and cumbersome, while the only worthwhile fitness features are step counting and sleep tracking – both of which you can get from the most basic of trackers.

The biggest kicker of all though is the price. At $199 it’s ridiculously pricey for what it offers. To put things in perspective the upcoming Fitbit Versa will retail for an almost-identical figure, yet features a heart-rate sensor, GPS, on-board music storage, NFC payments and smart notifications to boot. Side by side, the PowerWatch just looks embarrassing.

There’s no surprise, then, that we wouldn’t recommend you ditching your Fitbit or Garmin for this tracker. Still, as a concept to demonstrate its awesome thermoelectric powers, we can’t help but get excited.

Matrix PowerWatch

 

[8ball]

I didn't call you a proper cunt. I said you're being a proper cunt to me
I gave my opinion on the watch, and you replied with a smartarse answer.
And you've been a tech journalist Vs my electronic engineering background... Lol

So, will it make your wrist cold?

 

[Saul Goodman]

So, will it make your wrist cold?

I doubt it. The opposing heastink isn't sufficiently substantial.