14 DAY TRIAL // The new Apple Watch was announced and the first models are scheduled to appear sometime in 2015, but the truth is that they are really late to the party. If you really want something truly professional, Linux-based, and full of features, you can choose Leikr.
The Leikr smartwatch is a sport-oriented device, but that was the choice of its makers. It might have very well been built for the common user and the experience would have been very similar. Leikr is a watch that does pretty much whatever you want, and it was initially announced and released two years ago.
It's hard to believe all the PR that's coming from Apple's direction about their new watch when you know that there is a product out there that will surpass it, especially in any sport-related activity.
Why Linux for Leikr?
The makers of Leikr wanted an OS that would be reliable, need very little power to run, be extremely customizable, and basically free to implement and modify. All of these features make the Leikr watch more attractive and interesting.
Let's take a look at the specs. It comes with a 2-inch display, (2" TFT color 320×240 pixel 65K color with 11% reflectance), an 300MHz Arm Cortex A8 processor, a high-performance GPS with precision tracking, 8 GB of space for Data and maps, Wi-Fi and USB connectivity, vibrations, Lithium Polymer battery, 5 hours of continuous use with the GPS started, IPX-6 certified (water resistant), and weighs only 75 grams.
Most of the features that you can find on the watch are sports-oriented, so it's not really a 1 to 1 comparison that can be made with the Apple Watch, but this is just a glimpse of what someone can do with a Linux OS if they put their mind to it.
What the Leikr team is saying
"When we were concepting the Leikr Sports Watch, we had a vision of a GPS watch that never grew stale; a product whose features would keep evolving, directly based on what our users need and what we, as athletes, could see becoming relevant when practicing endurance sports. Looking at the steady stream of software updates, since product launch, it makes us proud to note that we are fulfilling our mission and delivering to our user the exciting experience of a product that grows over time," writes the team on the website.
It's just a matter of time until some company will make a complete Linux watch and the Leikr team has shown us that the open source software is still a force to be reckoned on.
