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The Unorthodox Neptune Duo Smartwatch

The Unorthodox Neptune Duo Smartwatch

The Unorthodox Neptune Duo Smartwatch
19 February 2015

Working out which organ you'll be selling to bag yourself an Apple Watch? This odd pairing (and a medical professional) might make you reconsider.

Just when we thought we'd got our heads around the smartwatch, Neptune has come up with a different, logical alternative. While most existing clever timepieces have the ability to track your fitness and daily rituals, they require the brains of a partnered smartphone to really come to life, buzzing with notifications and synchronised alerts.

The Neptune Duo reverses this relationship: rather than your smartwatch acting as a second, tiny screen from which to read your emails, the Neptune's wrist hub (the watch bit) acts as the central brain, while a partnered pocket screen allows you to interact with your digital world through its larger touch screen interface, doubling as a portable battery. 

This role reversal between screen and wrist carries some obvious benefits: rather than having to cart both your smartphone and smartwatch around to make full use of both, you can leave the screen section of the Neptune Duo at home and still make full use of the more-readily transported watch.

Powered by Android's Lolipop system, you'll be able to make calls, write emails and interact with apps from the hub, partnering with any compatible pocket screen you come across. Should you lose your pocket screen, which is far easier to put down than a watch, you won't lose any of your data or apps, as they're all stored in the wrist hub - which manages to squeeze in 4G, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and internal storage.

A different take on the increasingly-crowded battle for the wrist, you can place an order for the Neptune Duo via their website, with first models arriving "late 2015".