Meta is preparing a smartwatch, a smart watch capable of connecting to its platform to make video calls with the integrated camera.
This leak, published by Bloomberg , shows that Meta will focus more on hardware development, after Facebook took its first steps with the Facebook Portal. Now called Meta, Zuckerberg’s company has done away with Oculus and will release all future devices under its new name.
According to Bloomberg, one of these devices will be a smart watch, which for now has the code name “Milan” ; therefore, Meta will go head-to-head with Apple with its Apple Watch and Samsung with its Galaxy Watch 4 .
The great advantage of the Meta watch will be in communications, thanks to the inclusion of a small front camera on the screen, like that of a smartphone; to host it, you had to put a ‘notch’ that takes away some space from the screen. Strikingly, it appears that the camera will not be at the top of the screen, but at the bottom.
This camera would allow us to make video calls using Meta apps, such as Messenger and WhatsApp, although for now, there is no official confirmation. What seems clear is that, with this watch, Meta wants to avoid the rules of Apple and Google; Zuckerberg called iOS and Android “closed platforms,” but with his own devices he would have more freedom to implement new technologies.
It remains to be seen when this device will be officially announced, although the leaked image seems to indicate that the design has already been finished, at least; The image has been obtained from the Facebook View app, used with the Ray-Ban camera glasses , so we can expect some kind of interaction, such as taking photos by pressing the watch instead of the glasses.
Although the idea of putting a camera in a smart watch is not new, it would be the first time that one of the great technology companies has dared to launch a similar commercial product; It is to be imagined that it will raise some controversy over the possible consequences for privacy , although yesterday Zuckerberg promised that he has several investigations underway to verify the impact of the cameras of his devices on privacy.
