The Spectra is a brand new smartwatch designed from the bottom as much as be hackable and straightforward to restore. It was created by Pocuter, an organization that has spent the previous few years honing an experience in constructing small electronics like its tiny Pocuter One laptop. What makes the Spectra distinctive is that it’s repairable, but with a design that mirrors the Apple Watch which is way more durable to get into.
The wearable is now out there for preorder by way of a Kickstarter crowdfunding marketing campaign with supply anticipated as early as July 2025. Early backers can preorder one discounted to round $209, whereas full pricing is nearer to round $272. The Spectra is the corporate’s seventh Kickstarter marketing campaign, but additionally seems to be certainly one of its most formidable. Three years into growing the prototype it nonetheless hasn’t absolutely finalized the {hardware}, so whereas there could also be much less threat with backing this one, there’s nonetheless some.
Powered by an Espressif ESP32-S3 processor “maxed out with 8MB RAM and 32MB executable flash reminiscence,” the Spectra has a 368×448 AMOLED show, a digital crown, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, health monitoring and environmental sensors, and a microSD slot inside permitting storage to theoretically be boosted to half a terabyte with a reminiscence card. That’s all stuffed inside a CNC milled aluminum body that the corporate plans to promote upgrades for, together with a stainless-steel different.
The Spectra’s inner design additionally prioritizes entry to the battery, iFixit found, with a mainboard that swings out of the way in which and using spring contacts as a substitute of a cable that must be indifferent. Small units like wearables and earbuds usually have batteries which can be notoriously troublesome to swap, however like Fairphone’s Fairbuds, possibly the Spectra will encourage different corporations to alter that.
The Pocuter staff “plans to offer alternative choices for each single half,” it advised iFixit, which shared simply how simple an unassembled prototype of the smartwatch is to construct and later disassemble. (Pocuter hasn’t specified if the ultimate watch will probably be shipped pre-assembled.) Seven Phillips head screws maintain all of it collectively, as a substitute of glues and epoxies that usually make repairs overly sophisticated or fully inconceivable.
The wearable may also run a customized working system referred to as SpectraOS primarily based on JavaScript. Promised options embody an interactive debugger streamlining app improvement, safe software sandboxing, and help for Linux, macOS, and Home windows. It received’t have entry to Apple or Google’s strong app shops, so taking full benefit of the Spectra could profit from some coding expertise, not simply fundamental screwdriver expertise.
