Kyocera Duo Smartwatch concept teased at CEATEC

This week is going to be all about the high-tech exhibitions we can find at CEATEC, short for Cutting Edge IT & Electronics Comprehensive Exhibition. We’ve already talked about the Opti-Myst electric fire and the Skeletonics exoskeleton, which are mostly outside the mobile and wearable domain. The time has come for wearables though, so the Kyocera Duo Smartwatch is up next in our CEATEC series.

While we already have dozens of choices in the ssmartwatch market, such as the Asus ZenWatch (coming very soon), the Moto 360, the LG G Watch R, the Samsung Gear S and a whole line of Pebble and Martian watches, the market is continually expanding and the massive Kyocera wants to be a part of it. Kyocera has exhibited a concept smartwatch called the Kyocera Duo at CEATEC and the device caught our eyes because it sports the most desired round watch face design.

Kyocera is known for creating extremely sturdy smartphones that can resist to drops from high altitude, as well as falling in the ocean, not to mention impacting cement at record speeds. We don’t know much about the Kyocera Duo smartwatch, but if the Kyocera Brigadier, Kyocera Hydro Vibe and Kyocera Torque are anything to go by, the Kyocera Duo smartwatch will surely become the most rugged smartwatch on the market. That is, if it will be launched in the near future.

At CEATEC, Kyocera showed off prototypes of the Kyocera Duo smartwatch, but oddly enough, you weren’t allowed to touch, just view, the watches being encased in plexi. The watches we’ve seen are purple and orange variations, and sport the same round design of the Moto 360 and LG G Watch R. There are thin bezels surrounding a pretty big display, and there’s no black bar at the bottom. Kyocera might have come across the perfect smartwatch, if the Duo watch becomes a reality. We don’t know how the company managed to overcome the bezel- and black bottom bar issues on the smartwatch, but the prototype looks wonderful. The colors might be a bit too cartoonish, but by the time the Kyocera Duo smartwatch reaches international markets, it will surely be available in more standard and sombre colors as well.

During the presentation at CEATEC, we found out that the Kyocera Duo will be using a touchscreen display as well as a bezel user interface. You will have to rotate the bezels around the watch in order to navigate and tap on the display in order to select items and objects on the screen. So far, Kyocera said that the Duo smartwatch will be dust- and waterproof, as well as shock resistant. You will be able to use the smartwatch as a mountable device, too, so that you can mount it on fitness equipment, bicycles or any other thing you can think of. The Kyocera Duo smartwatch will have an accelerometer, an internal GPS and most of the other sensor standard watches or fitness trackers feature.

Since the Kyocera Dyo smartwatch was only teased at CEATEC, we expect to see more and more features added to the watch over time. The company hasn’t said anything about pricing or availability, but it’s nice to know that such a “rugged” company has such a great idea for a smartwatch. Since Kyocera does emphasize usefulness over design, we do expect the company to implement 3G and other connectivity into the smartwatch. We hope to see the gadget on shelves by Spring 2015, but that’s just a hunch. It would be nice competition for the upcoming Apple Watch which will probably get delayed because of manufacturing issues.