Of all the new gadgets introduced over the last few years, the Cicret Bracelet has to be one of the most unique tech thingies I’ve seen. One look at Cicret’s kickstarter-like campaign video made me think they are onto something here. The bracelet connects wirelessly to a smartphone and projects a live image of your smartphone screen on your arm with just a flick of the wrist. Not only that, but you can tap, swipe, pinch or do anything else on the projected image just as you would do on the phone’s screen itself. Whether all of this magic will happen seamlessly without glitches or other bugs remains to be seen.
Here is Cicret’s pitch:
We need 700,000 euros to finish the first prototype of the CICRET BRACELET. Feel free to donate an amount of your choice. If everyone gives us 1 euro, we will make it and release our product!
The donation campaign is headquartered in Europe, but the video has gone viral worldwide, so here’s hoping the US will get it if it gets produced.
Now, I don’t know if this bracelet will ever see the light of day and I don’t know if will work as advertised and I don’t know what smartphones it will or won’t work with, but man, oh man, I want one. Visit Circet for more info.
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This thing is WAY too futuristic for me to be optimistic about it being realistic to exist. At the moment it’s just a mock up image. They don’t even have a prototype.
But I’m starting to be extremely skeptical of any sort of crowdfunding products. I have backed three products on kickstarter.
One I got. Not exactly what I expected, but not bad.
The second had its funding suspended as a fake without any chance of being a real product. Thank goodness people got kickstarter to realize the product couldn’t exist and was a scam.
The third product came about three months later than promised. It did not have the support user manual and recipe book that were promised. Plus the product is a piece of junk that barely works as promised. It isn’t even as good as the Ronco products advertised in the 70s.
Real backers of new products get personal visits from the developers where they can correctly evaluate the chances of success. And they earn income. Not a chance to receive their product at a price over what the eventual retail price will be.
Sandee,
Yeah, I have real concerns, also. But if it could work… wow.
I would use it but since human’s arms are not uniform, I can’t imagine how they could shine a square image onto an irregular shaped surface and make a legible image. Not to mention interference from body hair and clothing. This is Vaporware.
Yeah, I don’t believe it either. No details whatsoever that show any consideration of what kind of technical and engineering challenges that would go into a product like this, just a “hey, wouldn’t this be cool” mockup and a request for money.
Frankly, even taking as given the possibility that the projector and touch sensor can actually work as intended (which I have my doubts about), it seems completely impossible just based on battery constraints in a device the size of a fitness band. And then I start wondering whether Bluetooth has enough bandwidth to do screen mirroring especially when you’re also trying to conserve power at the same time. And after that I start thinking about how it’s going to hook into the OS to completely take over the UI, especially if they will claim to support platforms other than Android…
I’d love it if this thing was real, but i just can’t believe it, sorry.
Tony,
It may be vaporware, but there’s always hope.
Plus, I’m a good part native American. I have no arm hair. But I wondered that also.
I’m all for crowdfunding cool new tech but this one just screams scam. Not to mention they stopped (or were shut down) their Indiegogo campaign and went ‘direct’:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/campaign-closed–9#home
The Titantic video is a nice ominous touch.
I’m not suggesting anyone give money to support this (I’m not), but I am hoping it becomes a reality. Time will tell.
Did any one notice that on the screenshot of the video the fingers did not block the projection. How is that possible?
And there is my skepticism comes in. I don’t think you can project an image at that angle on to the skin well. And even if you manage that, there is no getting around your pointing fingers getting in the way of the projection and creating a shadow. The tiny projection lenses mean all it takes is a finger to fully obscure the whole thing.
meistervu,
The video example is obviously a simulation. It’s hard to show legitimate video without simulation for demos and photos. I’m sure the product is not a working unit yet. I can hope, though!
@Bill Henderson,
Yes, I understand it’s a simulation. However my concerns remain. If the projection comes from the bracelet at that angle, then of course your finger will block the projection. That’s just the law of physics which will apply regardless it’s a real product or a simulation.
We can debate whether the product is still useful with such limitation, but the fact of the matter is your finger will block the projection.
I see what you’re saying. I misunderstood you.
Good Point. Some of it seems too good to be true. But I’m glad there are people who are willing to take on problems and solutions.
I know its a concept video, but for mi it’s scam. The finger as already said will shadow the image and be useless. Also it’s near impossible to project in that angle and to keep steady enough the arm. And the worst of it… Hey… Black projection? It’s light! It will only project something brighter over the already illuminated skin. I see black text on the skin? Please! Be serious!
I got it. Early backing gives you a free dark rectangular tattoo on your wrist for better projection. All you need then is a glass stylus to not block the projection then you are set.
The tittle said it all “The future is now only skin deep.”
Skin deep it is.
This device will never have the display resolution, touch sensitivity, or low latency pictured in the “demo”. Touch will be sketchy because the device senses fingers via proximity sensors. No way of knowing whether your finger is hovering or touching, hence touch will be unpredictable. Also, fingers close to the wristband will “shadow” fingers behind them from the proximity sensor. Getting the display to be as clear and as low-latency as the demo will require a feat of science and engineering, if not at least a laughable battery life. I seen no hope for a working, usable product here.