At the turn of the 2000s, before the ubiquity of smart phones, several companies tried to create devices that allowed people to stay connected, with their loved ones, even with their Twitter followers or their Facebook feed, but without combining all the functionalities of a Android or an iPhone. The Bond Touch, product of a startup of the same name, offers him to express his emotions with vibrations.
The idea seems relatively simple: a bracelet equipped with a small touch screen and a small motor makes it possible to send a series of “gestures”, which will in turn be transposed into vibrations. These gestures in question can be associated with a specific person; one can thus build one’s “network” of contacts, to whom it might be possible, with a few gestures of the finger, to send the equivalent of sweet messages or tender thoughts.
The first thought that comes to mind when configuring the Bonc Touch is that the touch screen is often off-putting. Normal, perhaps, for such a small area. But the fact remains that it quickly becomes annoying.
The second thought that comes to mind is, “Why? Why create a device that cannot send visual, vocal or even written content, but only vibrations? And why, even worse, do you still have to be connected by Bluetooth to your smartphone, on which you will have – of course – installed yet another application, to send and receive these “communications”?
Couldn’t we just – let’s make a wild guess here – use said phone and its myriad of pre-installed or easy-to-access applications to communicate, whether by chat, email, SMS, video, phone, or even by emojis?
What is more interesting to receive, following all? A message saying “I love you” or the equivalent of “bzzzt bzzzt bzzzt” on her wrist?
And the worst part of it all is that said bracelet sells for $200 a pair.
The company can talk regarding the growing popularity of emotional wearables, there is no situation where these wristbands would be more appropriate than using a smart phone. Smartphone which, in any case, will necessarily be at your side…
