If you’ve ever wanted a smart wearable which doubles as a smartwatch, the Rufus Cuff us definitely worth taking a look at.
Rufus Labs, the company behind the device, was founded by Gabe Grifroni, a computer engineer who also graduated with a BS in Business. The Rufus Cuff represents a completely new approach to wearables, as there’s no smartphone pairing needed whatsoever. The device will work entirely standalone, running its own version of the Android KitKat OS.
Looking it from an aesthetic point of view, the wearable quite literally eats your wrist alive. With a 3.2-inch screen and quite thick bezels, it’s an eyesore that definitely won’t blend in like a traditional smartwatch. Inside, it carries 1GB RAM and Texas Instrument variant of the Cortex A9, a popular chipset used by other vendors such as Apple, Nvidia and MediaTek. It’s getting a little bit dated by today’s standards, with the manufacturing process typically around 45nm and not really comparable to today’s smaller chips.
Inside, there’s plenty of other goodies that you wouldn’t find in a conventional wearable. This includes a large 1175mAh battery and front-facing camera for video calls, plus the usual things such as Bluetooth, WI-FI and an on-board microphone/speaker combo.
It all sounds very impressive on paper, though the practicality of it is definitely up for debate. The idea of having a fully functional smartphone on your wrist is very cool but the hardware seems suspiciously dated. For this to be an effective product, the company really needs to throw in a newer snapdragon model, preferably the models optimised for wearable use. Pair that with 2GB RAM and you would have a potent combination indeed.
The company successfully completed an Indiegogo campaign for the wearable, raising $490,983 and beating their target by 180%. It’s now up for pre-order with an introductory price of $299.
For more news, visit What Mobile’s dedicated news page.
