iMCO's CoWatch Smartwatch Launches with Alexa Virtual Assistant

Fans of Amazon's Alexa will be happy to know that their favourite voice-controlled virtual assistant is now coming to a smartwatch. First announced back in April on crowdfunding site Indiegogo, iMCO's CoWatch is now ready to ship. It is available for buy from Amazon and is priced at $279 (roughly Rs. 18,700) for the Silver model and $299 (roughly Rs. 20,000) for the Black variant.

Up till now, Alexa has mainly been the voice-based virtual assistant platform for Amazon's Echo, Echo Dot, and Tap speakers. But now, you can take Amazon's virtual assistant out of the house and use it more personally, much like Apple's Siri, Google Now, or Microsoft's Cortana. CoWatch is the first smartwatch that brings Alexa to your wrist.

(Also see: Amazon Unveils New Echo Dot Speaker at Just $49.99)

The smartwatch brings mostly all of Alexa's functionality which include asking for the local weather, controlling your smart home, and looking up information like news or ordering online. CoWatch users will be able to activate Alexa by pressing down the crown button or by tapping the Alexa icon on the display. Unfortunately, Alexa will not listen if you yell out "Amazon" or "Alexa" as you would with the Echo.

While Amazon's Alexa is the main USP of the CoWatch, the smartwatch also comes with some decent features such as a 400x400 pixel Super Amoled display, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of inbuilt storage. The smartwatch runs on an Android-based OS called Cronologics, which is iMCO's own product, developed by former Google and Android developers.

While CoWatch's main USP is the software which integrates Alexa, iMCO has also given thought to the design. The smartwatch is made entirely of stainless steel barring the display and ceramic ring. A single button is present on the side that is used to turn the display on or off. The smartwatch also comes with basic fitness tracking sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and optical heart rate sensors. The watch delivers a standard battery life of up to 32 hours (with Always On Mode enabled).

The company believes its user interface is fast and responsive, providing quick access to all your apps and notifications. The smartwatch is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones. However, with Cronologics OS, all the computing happens either on the watch itself or in the cloud, which means the smartwatch is not reliant on a smartphone to work.