MICA – Intel Smart Bracelet | Hacker News Reader

MICA – Intel Smart Bracelet

intel.com

35 pointscoreymgilmore27 comments

Open articleView on HN

This makes the Amazon Fire Phone look like a good idea...

The amount of hurdles this needs to overcome to be purchased include:

-Willing to sign up for a cellular plan with AT&T

-Being Female and also thinking Intel is a fashionable company

-Willing to spend $500 on a fashion product from a company who mainly sells computer chips

-Find the design appealing, I have a strong hunch that this won't appeal to everyone from 13-90.

-Can stop in to one of these 2 "exclusive" stores to actually see what this thing is

-Accept the many limitations vs competitors (no voice input nor keyboard?)

-Actually believe this software/hardware will be upgraded ever again

-Willing to accept its lifespan is 2 years before you have to start paying a monthly fee to use it

Well, that's about the first quarter of my list but I've run out of time..

I... I'm confused but I just don't know. There's a bit more info on the product in the video (note, the comments for the video are disabled, which is telling) [1], but the use cases aren't very compelling. It provides slightly less functionality than other smart watches, but does so in a 'pretty' package (I admit I can't tell if people would find this aesthetically pleasing or not).

The device comes with AT&T mobile service "for free" with purchase and this might be a slightly more seamless experience for people (e.g. leave your phone at home). However... I don't know if people really would leave their phone at home unless they're out of the house for a brief time, like for a run.

I guess I get the philosophy: stop making smart watches look dorky, but I feel like the this goal is impossible because the phone has a display which feels... dorky.

Sidenote, what does the app development look like for this? Is someone like Yelp using specific internal resources to get the graphics to look right on the screen? Is the company just approving an app that someone else develops?

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr9vLoK0_w0

Looks interesting except for:

"MICA is connected by AT&T’s mobile broadband network and includes two years of wireless service with the device purchase."

Well that's horrible. You need to pay for two cell phone bills with this? And you are locked in with AT&T?

(And did anyone else find "Opening Ceremony" to be a really confusing name? I initially thought, is that like some variation on designed by committee?)

Also, don't bracelets rotate? Won't the screen randomly be in different positions?

Well that's horrible. You need to pay for two cell phone bills with this? And you are locked in with AT&T?

It's ok. In two years these will all be forgotten in someone's sock drawer.

Seriously though, in two years the cell phone providers will have to come to grips with ancillary devices which use vanishingly small amounts of bandwidth. I suspect they just don't know how to bill them now.

Is it any different from tablets or e-readers that come with a hundred megs per month of included data? This isn't new. The 3G Kindles are the same, the Chromebook, basically any tablet bought from T-Mobile comes with a few hundred megs a month for free.

It's not like they're charging you $120/mo like they would with your iPhone. The part of this that gets paid to AT&T is probably incredibly tiny compared to the cost that gets paid to the high-price designers slathering a smartwatch in gold and gemstones.

$500, Chunky looking bracelet that can barely go for a couple of days with its battery, tied to AT&T and no Health tracking to speak of.

This is a Clumsy attempt at differentiation - DOA.

Dear Intel: Stick to CPUs, GPUs, chipsets and NUCs. Pretty please. Unless of course you are counting on AMD for the next advance in processing - a bad idea at this point.

Easy talk aside it really is going to be tough for Intel to figure out the next.

So... some exec woke up and thought "we should be in the smartwatch business"? Then 1 000 engineers were mobilized, based on a whim, and built a product with no vision whatsoever.

Sounds like every big-corp "me-too" product.

That video was awkward as hell. I feel like creating these "me too" products makes these big companies seem weaker rather than stronger. Maybe there's some financial reason for doing it, but I don't get it.

Perhaps it gives the appearance of keeping up with trends (e.g. wearables) to minimize buyer's remorse among unsophisticated shareholders. Definitely seems like an "optics" opportunity rather than something substantial enough to merit go to market efforts from Intel.

I know a certain[1] art and design school that probably won't be too happy about the name of this clunky looking thing.

[1]http://www.mica.edu/

It's probably named after the mineral.

yeah probably

Come on now, it's Intel, of course it's an acronym!

The first paragraph:

My Intelligent Communications Accessory (MICA) [...]

I love product names that include the "my", so you never risk becoming confused about something as basic as ownership. Gaaah.

Also, can somebody please fix the submission's typo? It's BracElet, now it sounds like some kind of cross between a chewing gum and I don't know what.

I'm calling DOA...

Maybe I'm biased but I feel like they're a little late to the party and this just isn't up to par. Too many restrictions, no ecosystem, weird design...

Beauty? I don't see any of that... unless these are sold at Claire's (yes, I do have daughters and I don't allow them in that junkyard).

I wonder why they didn't go with Android. It would be interesting to hear about the decision process.

'Discrete on wrist messaging, calendar, and event vibration-based notifications.'

/facepalm

I wasn't aware that Intel was in the consumer device business.

i saw a couple of early watch prototypes from them, running android. i never understood how they could compete.

> I wasn't aware that Intel was in the consumer device business.

Based on this product, I'll say that's because they really aren't.

Edit: It occurs to me that my (and that of likely most of the other folks here) perspective is a male one. Maybe there's women out there who'd like this.

They also acquired Basis (http://www.mybasis.com)

Welcome to your Zune moment! Like beet juice, it stains forever.

First SnapCash, now MICA, it feels like april fools day :-/

I wonder what chip they're using, Quark SoC perhaps?

"Discrete" should be "Discreet".

Well, the messaging is discrete too.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com