Gameband Smartwatch, Made for Gamers, Comes With Atari Classics

After a week’s worth of delay, Gameband has finally arrived on Kickstarter with its Atari wearable. And it’s a smartwatch. Calling it the first smartwatch for gamers, Gameband will be available in three variants – a simple one clad in black, a version in Atari’s signature red, and the last involving Terraria.

Depending on the one you buy, the games on offer might change. The standard black Gameband and the Atari version give you access to five classics, such as Asteroids, Pong, Breakout, Centipede, and Crystal Castles. The only difference is that you can get the Atari one in a red casing, and a strap with the Atari logo on it. Gameband is also working on an exclusive mini-game version of popular indie title Terraria, which will be available with the Terraria-themed version of the wearable.

The smartwatch is fitted with a 1.6-inch AMOLED display of 320x320 pixels resolution, a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, 512MB memory, and 4GB internal storage – which is expandable using a microSD card. On the connectivity end, it supports dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.2.

There’s a three-axis accelerometer, and gyro and light sensors in Gameband’s smartwatch, and a 400mAh battery to power the thing, with charging taking place through a USB Type-C port, which also helps you connect to a PC.

The last bit allows you to play your classic games on the big screen, so you can carry your titles on your wrist all the time. When you hook it up to a computer, you’ll rely on Gameband’s own PixelFurnace game software, which works and functions a bit like iTunes.

The smartwatch runs a customised version of Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, as opposed to the newly released Android Wear 2.0. Gameband is also touting a bunch of preloaded apps, such as a dialer, contacts, calendar, weather, alarm, music player, and even Alexa control.

As an incentive to Kickstarter backers, all three editions of the Gameband are available starting at $149, or about Rs. 10,000, with the $99 offer sold out across the board. The smartwatch will retail for $199, or about Rs. 13,300, after launch.