World’s First Solar-Powered Wearable
Tech startup Misfit Wearables and 120-year-old Austrian jewelry maker Swarovski have come together to put out the Swarovski Shine, a collection of accessories for women paired with two new fitness and sleep trackers. The trackers include a clear crystal face and a violet crystal face.
According to Forbes, the violet tracker is the one that is solar powered by making the crystal bend the light onto the tiny solar cell lying underneath the crystal. And the solar harvesting will only work with the violet crystal tracker because the violet color makes the light more intense, said Joan Ng, a senior vice president at Swarovski–the clear crystal doesn’t produce enough intensity. It takes 10-15 minutes of sun exposure to power the wearable for a few days.
Misfit’s wearable tech already has extremely low energy requirements. “We are looking obsessively at energy at Misfit,” said Misfit cofounder and CEO Sonny Vu in an interview. “We pushed the envelope to make Shine last six months on a single coin cell battery. We tried solar but it was very hard. You need direct sunlight. The crystal bends the light in the Swarovski Shine. That’s how we got it to work.”
The new trackers are being offered in a set along with different accessories, like a pendant or sports bracelet. Prices range from $169 to $249. All of the new accessories, which can be purchased separately, can also be used with the Shine tracker.
World’s First Solar-Powered Wearable,
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