Gameband will bring us an Android gaming smartwatch this fall

If you really want to try to play a mobile game on a smartwatch, with such a small display, then the newest tech gadget seeking funds on Kickstarter may be to your liking. A company called FMTwo Game Inc. has started its campaign to raise money for the Gameband, an Android-based smartwatch specifically, as its name strongly suggests, for gaming.

The campaign states that the Gameband is using Android Marshmallow 6.0.1, rather than the smartwatch-based Android Wear OS. It will have a 1.6-inch AMOLED square display with a 320 x 320 resolution, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 2100 processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of on-board storage, with a microSD card slot to add up to 256GB of additional storage. It has Wi-Fi hardware but no support for cellular wireless networks.

https://ksr-video.imgix.net/projects/2817945/video-748378-h264_high.mp4

While there will be a number of basic preinstalled apps included on the Gameband, such as a calendar, alarm and others, it’s the game support that’s the main focus of the watch. In fact, in addition to the basic model, the company is also taking orders for two special versions of the Gameband. One is the Atari edition, which will come in “Atari Red” and have straps with the famous gaming publisher’s logo. It will also have mini-games based on Atari properties like Pong, Centipede and more. The other special version is the Terraria edition. Based on the popular indie sandbox action-adventure game, the Gameband version will come with an exclusive Terraria mini-game.

One interesting feature about the smartwatch is that it let users with a PC play full games from the Gameband, if they connect it via the microSD port with an adapter. This is due to the company’s own PixelFurnace software, which is also used to download and install specific Gameband titles.

With over 36 days to go before the campaign ends, the Gameband campaign on Kickstarter has already raised over half of its $70,000 goal, so it’s likely to reach that milestone with plenty of time to spare. You can order either the standard, Atari or Terraria versions of the smartwatch for $179. The Gameband is currently scheduled to start shipping to backers sometime in September 2017.