According to a source, Facebook parent firm Meta Platforms Inc. has paused the development of a dual-camera smartwatch and is instead focused on other wrist-worn devices.
The smartwatch, which has been under development for at least two years, was created with various capabilities found in other smartwatches, such as fitness monitoring, music playback, and messaging. Dual-cameras are a crucial distinction from market leaders like the Apple Watch in a prototype of the now-cancelled product. According to photographs and video of a prototype obtained by Bloomberg, one camera was situated below the display and another sat on the underside against the wearer’s wrist.
The second camera was created so that consumers may rapidly capture images by removing the watch face from its strap. However, the presence of the camera hampered another component that translated nerve signals from the wrist into computer orders, according to the source. Meta considers having such technical skill, known as electromyography, to be a key goal.
Electromyography has been promoted by Meta as a means of employing a person’s hands as a “controller” for other devices, especially ones aimed toward the metaverse. “This is about decoding those signals at the wrist that represent the actions you’ve already decided to take and turning them into digital commands for your device,” Meta said in a blog post earlier this year.
The potential of smartwatches has been considered by Meta executives as part of their vision for the so-called metaverse, an immersive version of the internet in which users interact with one other as digital avatars. Sensors in wrist devices might, for example, be used to let users manage their avatar or interact with what they see through augmented reality glasses.
Featured Image: Wikimedia Commons
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