The Runcible is both weird but a very compelling device, which offers many of the same capabilities as a smartphone, but it looks like a pocket watch. Its creator, Monohm, wants the circular device to challenge the traditional smartphone industry, both in design and function. Aubrey Anderson, the company’s founder and CEO, describes the Runcible as a quieter gadget, void of constant notifications, which can help people relax and live in the moment, while still staying connected online without internet overload.
Runcible- What is it?
Smartwatches and wearables promise to make notifications simpler to manage, with glanceable information available on your wrist. Runcible’s differential is that it’s a truly standalone device. It runs on Mozilla’s Firefox OS platform and lets you make calls, browse the web and ask for directions. You literally can leave your smartphone at home, and rely solely on the basics without the bombardment of social media and other burdening notifications.
Apps
While the Runcible hardware is built, the software is still in early development, so they’re still in prototype mode. Hints of individual apps, or “faces,” as Anderson calls them, hint at the company direction for the Runcible. One watchface has different colored bubbles that increase in size as your social networks become more active. Another app serves as a classic compass, giving just a single direction and the remaining distance to your destination. These apps seem extremely simple, useful and uncomplicated.
Shape, Design and Inspiration
Talking about the shape of the Runcible for a second, Anderson wanted a quiet, relaxing product and took inspiration from pocket watches, compasses and other circular objects that people used to carry in their pockets. The result is a flat, circular display on one side and a softly curved piece of wood on its rear.
See what the Verge has to say about it…
The Runcible device has created a new product category that falls in the middle of a smartphone and a wearable. It’s small enough to slip in a pocket like a pocket watch, but also boasts all of the connectivity of a modern handset, including Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth and LTE. The Runcible’s internals have been designed to make it easily fixable and upgradeable, keeping it useful for many years. For example, when the camera becomes out of date, you can replace the camera component.
Availability
The Runcible is a radical departure from anything we’ve seen in the smartphone or wearable categories. The company has financial backing from Japanese carrier KDDI, so the device is almost certainly hitting Japanese dirt first, with follow-up to the states shortly after. Stay tuned for updates on the Runcible, a strange but super-intriguing device.
