Diesel's first Android Wear smartwatch, On Full Guard, is now available
Diesel announced its "On" smartwatch collection,
and now the first in that collection is available to purchase.
The Diesel On Full Guard, which is the new name for at least
the first smartwatch, is now on sale at Macy's department stores for $325 and
also up for pre-sale online. The model is outfitted with a black case and brown
leather strap.
The rest of the collection of four Diesel On Android Wear
2.0 smartwatches will arrive on 25 September in the US, though much of the
difference will be cosmetic only. If you're in the UK, you'll be waiting till
14 October with prices starting at £329, up to £349.
As for the choice of model, there's a range of case finishes
- gray, black, gold, black with silver lugs, and bands - black leather, brown
leather, black metal band, gold metal band.
Internally, though, the watches all run on a Qualcomm 2100
Snapdragon processor, have a 48mm case, IP67 water resistance, and a 'high
resolution' AMOLED display.
The most interesting things about the Diesel On Full Guard
is the software enhancements the company is making via its Diesel T-ON-I
smartwatch app.
It stands for Time, Organising, Notification and
Intelligence and the first addition is 'filters,' watch face overlays that add
(slightly gimmicky) functionalities to the Android Wear experience. For
example, one of which takes over your display while in "Do Not Disturb"
mode and virtually cracks the screen when you get a notification. The more
notifications you get, the more cracks there are. The second one
"fogs" up the screen the longer you're inactive.
Yes, they're a bit wacky, but they're also creative ways of
visually giving you information. It's also nice to see someone in the fashion
world of Android Wear try to do something a little different with watch faces.
Plus, it's a good way to set the watch apart in an
ever-growing horde of Android Wear watches, which includes the Fossil Q Venture
and Explorer, Michael Kors Access Sofie and Grayson, Louis Vuitton Tambour
Horizon, and the Emporio Armani Connected.
We'll be getting hands on with the Diesel On Full Guard on
Thursday 31 August on the IFA show floor so check back for impressions of the
watches and the Diesel software.
