Wyze, the smart home company best known for its range of budget internet-connected security cameras, has announced its debut smartwatch. The Wyze Watch will be available in two sizes — 44mm and 47mm — when it ships in the US in February 2021, and like the rest of the company’s lineup, it’s priced affordably at $20. Wyze’s announcement follows the release of the company’s first fitness tracker, the $25 Wyze Band, earlier this year.
The watch will ship with a fairly standard selection of smartwatch features, including blood oxygen monitoring, heart rate tracking, an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, nine-day battery life, activity and sleep tracking, and integration with Google Fit and Apple Health. However, the watch will also integrate with Wyze’s other devices; the company promises that it’ll support shortcuts to let you control products like its smart bulbs. It can also display your notifications, allowing you to read email previews and texts, though Wyze’s press release doesn’t explicitly say which mobile operating systems the watch works with.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22129850/Six.png)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22129849/Three.png)
In terms of specs, the 44mm Wyze Watch has a 1.4-inch LCD display with a resolution of 320 x 320 and a 260mAh battery. The 47mm version has a 1.75-inch LCD display with a resolution of 320 x 385 and a 300mAh battery. Both have 16MB of storage. Neither offer GPS tracking, or support for voice assistants.
It’s hard to see Wyze beating out competition from the likes of Apple or Samsung when it’s pricing its debut smartwatch at just $20. But if it can deliver on its modest promises to offer a simple, functional experience, then the Wyze Watch could become an attractive first smartwatch.
The Wyze Watch is available to preorder starting today.
