The Spectra is a brand new smartwatch designed from the bottom as much as be hackable and straightforward to restore. It was created by Pocuter, an organization that has spent the previous couple of years honing an experience in constructing small electronics like its tiny Pocuter One pc. What makes the Spectra distinctive is that it’s repairable, but with a design that mirrors the Apple Watch which is way tougher to get into.
The wearable is now obtainable for preorder via a Kickstarter crowdfunding marketing campaign with supply anticipated as early as July 2025. Early backers can preorder one discounted to round $209, whereas full pricing is nearer to round $272. The Spectra is the corporate’s seventh Kickstarter marketing campaign, but additionally seems to be one in all its most bold. Three years into growing the prototype it nonetheless hasn’t absolutely finalized the {hardware}, so whereas there could also be much less danger with backing this one, there’s nonetheless some.
Powered by an Espressif ESP32-S3 processor “maxed out with 8MB RAM and 32MB executable flash reminiscence,” the Spectra has a 368×448 AMOLED show, a digital crown, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, health monitoring and environmental sensors, and a microSD slot inside permitting storage to theoretically be boosted to half a terabyte with a reminiscence card. That’s all stuffed inside a CNC milled aluminum body that the corporate plans to promote upgrades for, together with a chrome steel different.
The Spectra’s inside design additionally prioritizes entry to the battery, iFixit found, with a mainboard that swings out of the way in which and the usage of spring contacts as an alternative of a cable that must be indifferent. Small gadgets like wearables and earbuds sometimes have batteries which are notoriously tough to swap, however like Fairphone’s Fairbuds, perhaps the Spectra will encourage different corporations to vary that.
The Pocuter staff “plans to supply alternative choices for each single half,” it instructed iFixit, which shared simply how simple an unassembled prototype of the smartwatch is to construct and later disassemble. (Pocuter hasn’t specified if the ultimate watch might be shipped pre-assembled.) Seven Phillips head screws maintain all of it collectively, as an alternative of glues and epoxies that always make repairs overly sophisticated or totally unattainable.
The wearable can even run a customized working system referred to as SpectraOS based mostly on JavaScript. Promised options embrace an interactive debugger streamlining app growth, safe software sandboxing, and assist for Linux, macOS, and Home windows. It gained’t have entry to Apple or Google’s sturdy app shops, so taking full benefit of the Spectra might profit from some coding expertise, not simply fundamental screwdriver expertise.
