The almost forgotten HTC smartwatch finally makes an appearance online. We’ve seen a prototype in a behind-the-scenes video a couple of years ago, but it’s been a no-show from the company. What can HTC offer a market that’s already saturated with a plethora of offerings from Pebble, Samsung, Motorola, Apple and more.
Now, years later, five images of the alleged HTC Halfbeak watch have surfaced online (via9To5Google). The images reveal a round display and the watch might remind you of the Moto 360 and it seems to have been built in partnership with Under Armor. What you see is a non-removable silicon band with a matte black/red body. One will also find a heart rate monitor and three physical buttons on the sides. One of the images also reveals Android Wear support.
HTC had a great start in 2014 with the stellar One M8. Soon after, it released an
official video that lasted not more than 1.05 minutes showing a watch prototype. The video, named “HTC Design – Behind The Scenes,” showed some employees at a desk, probably testing the watch. The video also showed a 3D render of the watch on one of the computer displays. Check the table at 0:34 and the computer display at 0:43 for a peek at the alleged prototype.
Back then, Google had already launched Android Wear watches built by LG and Samsung. The then to-be launched and highly anticipated Moto 360 was in the pipeline, while Appleand Microsoft were said to be working on watches of their own. Today, these watches and their successors are out, and some have even decided to shut shop. Therefore, it is still hard to say if HTC, which isn’t doing great, will go ahead and release the watch or not.