The increasingly crowding marketplace of wearable gadgets has a new entrant, the Puls from Will.i.am. The sturdy Puls is gearing for its launch and it is a good time to look at what it attempts to offer.
Will.i.am Puls is a sleek gadget. Despite being sturdy, it looks trendy. The clasp is magnetic which is impressive. It fits in with a nice click but the fit itself is a concern. There will obviously be various sizes but the fit is unsatisfactory. People with broader wrists, especially men, will find the fit to be a tad too compact. Hopefully, the company will roll out larger sizes at the time of the actual release.
Will.i.am is trying to compete with Motorola and Apple here. It is trying to place the device as a wearable gadget that can make phone calls without being plugged into or hooked with a smart phone. It is a unique feature because Apple Watch or Moto 360 doesn’t come with that feature. However, the Puls that had been presented for testing did not have a SIM card and the telephone features or functions could not be tested by anyone. Right now, no one knows if Will.i.am Puls actually works as claimed. The unique feature has not been tested and thus it is no more unique than any of the devices that it is trying to compete with. Without that feature, the Puls is simply not at par with either the 360 or Apple Watch.
Puls packs in some apps, some of which are preloaded and some of which can be installed later. But none of those apps or the entire experience is pulsating enough. The touch functions work well but there is a subtle lag. Everyone may not notice that the interface is little less responsive but ardent users will easily spot it and possibly not consider buying the gadget. Also the small interface doesn’t allow much space for fingers to be used for swiping. Mostly, you would have to use your nails for swiping on the icons. The displays can be and should be worked on. Most of the design elements inside the Puls are pretty ordinary. They don’t excite to an extent that one would want to buy this off the racks.
There are some tall claims that Will.i.am has made such as the Vibe app which is supposed to analyze your mood depending on the quality or sound of your voice. That app is a nonstarter since no tester has had a satisfactory analysis of their voice and mood.
