Alcatel OneTouch’s Cross-Platform Smartwatch Opens Pre-Orders For $150

The Alcatel OneTouch Watch, which got its debut at CES this year, is officially going on sale today with pre-orders starting at $149.99 directly from the company’s U.S. website. The smartwatch is unique among those from larger OEMs in that it works with both iOS and Android smartphones, packing in support for health monitoring features, phone notifications and music controls on both kinds of devices.
Alcatel’s device has a circular face, and at launch will ship with a black sport band (with more options set to be made available later on this year). It uses Bluetooth LE to connect to your device, and has a 42 mm watch face, with a 1.22-inch 240×204 display. The device uses touch-based input, but depends on a tapping interface using the home area that takes up a small chunk of the bottom of the round screen, similar to the Moto 360’s bottom black bar. A printed exterior bezel with number markers at 12, 3, 6 and 9 helps hide the fact that it isn’t a full circle.

The watch has a hidden USB 2.0 port in the band that lets it charge to full capacity in just an hour, which is a nice change from the field of proprietary and induction chargers used by many manufacturers in terms of convenience. A full battery charge should provide between two and five days of use, according to the company, depending on your usage.

Alcatel’s device will have limitations in terms of function vs. the Apple Watch on iPhone, of course, as it’ll be limited to access privileges afforded accessories like the Pebble. That still means it’ll be able to control camera shutter functions, as well as music playback, however, and provide notifications. On Android, it should have more flexibility in terms of accessing system features. It also has a built-in heart rate sensor, electronic campus, gyroscope, altimeter and NFC tag, and is IP67 water- and dust-resistant.
The device works with smartphones running Android 4.3 or higher, and with iPhone 4S or newer with at least iOS 7 installed.