Have you ever wondered how great it would be to make better use of all that blank, unproductive space on the back of your hand? Apparently four guys in San Jose, California, have thought about that very question, so they’ve launched a crowdfunding project to bring a unique type of watch to the masses.
The Ritot is touting itself as the world’s first “projection watch.” More specifically, it’s a bracelet that looks sort of like a Fitbit Flex and uses a pico projector to display the time and various smartphone notifications on the back of your hand.
The functionality is straightforward: Tap the Ritot or shake your hand and see the current time displayed on your hand for 10 seconds. Sync it with your smartphone and you can see a variety of notifications on the back of your hand – a caller’s name, text messages, reminders, social media alerts, weather alerts and emails, among others. The Ritot can also be set to vibrate when notifications are received or when an alarm goes off.
A base pad is included with the Ritot. It acts as a wireless charger and an interface you can use to customize the color of the watch’s projections. The base can also act as an alarm clock.
The Ritot comes in two flavors: bracelet and sport. The bracelet version has a leather surface and is available in white, black and completely black. The sport version uses plastic and rubber and comes in black or white.
Its Indiegogo campaign (which has a page chock-full of interesting photos) began on July 7 and has already raised more than $114,200, or 229 percent of its $50,000 goal. The campaign closes on Aug. 21.
The Ritot will have 150 hours (6.25 days) of battery life in projection mode and one month in standby mode. Indiegogo backers can get a Ritot set (watch and free base charger) for $120, which is $40 below the $160 retail price. Shipments are expected to begin at the end of January 2015.
Smartwatches are all the rage right now, and it seems that the only way the Ritot will truly be able to compete in the long run is if future builds enable users to interact with projections, essentially turning a human hand into a touchscreen.