14 DAY TRIAL // Back in February 2013, we told you the story of the Neptune Pine smartwatch which was trying to gather up funds to sustain its real-life existence through Kickstarter.
Anyway, a year ago the smartwatch ecosystem wasn't as extended as it is today and Samsung hadn't even introduced its original Galaxy Gear timepiece.
The first Samsung smartwatch saw the light of day a few months later in September, so the Neptune Pine could be considered one of the early products from this wearable category. At least, in concept.
The Neptune Pine might have been teased more than a year and a half ago, but the team behind the project surely took their sweet time before actually offering the product to their pledgers.
Some customers might have lost hope that they would ever see the smartwatch in real life or just lost interest altogether since the market now offers much more appealing products.
Well, surprisingly, the Neptune Pine has apparently returned from the dead and is in the process of shipping out to Kickstarter backers.
We should grand this to the Pine which, albeit being one year and a half old, still manages to offer something we are yet to see on the market – it can be used in concert with an Android phone or as a replacement of an Android smartphone.
Samsung has been rumored to be working on a standalone smartwatch, which has been dubbed the Gear Solo, but we are yet to see this device arrive on the market.
Anyway, if you are one of the original pledgers for the Neptune Pine, you’ll probably be glad to know that the device will finally reach your hands.
The team behind the product originally hoped to send the device out starting January, but their plan got derailed for some reason.
For those who forgot, the Pine comes with a 2.4-inch touchscreen with 320 x 240 pixel resolution. Under the hood lies a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor fitted with 512MB of RAM and up to 32GB of built-in storage. The list is completed by Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and front and rear cameras.
Since it supports both 2G and 3G cellular networks and takes advantage of a speaker and a microphone, it can also be used to make calls, send text message and run Android apps.
The Pine’s default operating system is Android and not the newer Android Wear. Even so, if everything we told you appeals to you, you should know you can still pre-order a Pine smartwatch for $349 / €260, which is quite expensive if you take a look at what Samsung, LG or Pebble have to offer.
Not to mention that the watch looks quite bulky and is more akin to a mini computer being strapped to your wrist. We're pretty sure that a lot of people won’t be happy with this look and will turn their attention to the sleek round Moto 360 instead.
