Goertek unveils a reference design for the AR-compatible smartwatch of the future

Goertek, an OEM with expertise in partnering with other OEMs such as Qualcomm to make reference designs for the projected XR/AR glasses revolution, hints that the device category is indeed ready to take over from smartphones or other mobile devices in the near future. Wearables, on the other hand, apparently have the potential to stick around.

They are backed to augment headset controls while retaining nearly the same amount of convenience and touch-responsive real-estate of mobile devices, without the potential loss of social grace involved in the use of voice commands in public.

The company also reasons that alternative such as controllers, "finger rings" or smartphones themselves are also potentially inferior due to lapses in their response to user motion or gestures. Goertek's new Link "smart bracelet reference design", on the other hand, is touted as having none of these issues.

The device looks a lot like certain pre-existing smartwatches, although this one has a 1.64-inch AMOLED display. It also integrates an "ultra-wideband (UWB)-based high-precision distance sensor" as well as Bluetooth and NFC to cover its specific AR glass-pairing and control use-cases, "intuitive" locking and unlocking features and AI-enhanced gesture-recognition included.

The Link is also rated to support health- and fitness-tracking, as well as typical smartwatch functions such as alarms, music controls and remote camera controls - some of which could also appear on a connected pair of glasses, of course. Accordingly, Goertek asserts that it demonstrates the potential role of smartwatches in the XR/AR-based tech-sphere of the future.

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