The Runcible is one of the most intriguing and strangest devices we’ve seen at this year’s Mobile World Congress. It has a lot of the same features found on a smartphone but its design makes it look like it belongs in a vintage shop. Monohm, the creator of the device wants Runcible to challenge the common smartphones which constantly give the user streams of notifications. Here are our Runcible hands on impressions.
The founder and CEO of the company, Aubrey Anderson wants its device to be a lot “quieter” and hopes that it will be able to help people live the moment and relax, all while still remaining connected with others.
Runcible tries to simplify the overload of the Internet. Google Glass, smartwatches and other wearable devices try to make notifications a lot more manageable with just small glances of the bigger notifications on your smartphone. Runcible, however, is a standalone device. The smart device runs the Firefox OS from Mozilla and lets the user browse the Internet, ask for directions and make calls. So when you’re going out you don’t have to bring your smartphone along with you in order to avoid constantly checking on your Snapchat, Twitter or Facebook accounts.
The developers at Monohm have been working on the Runcible for 10 months, which means that the software on the device is still in the early stages. Aubrey Anderson didn’t really give a lot of details about the apps (Anderson calls them “faces”) available for the device but we can see where it is heading. One of the watch faces has colored bubbles that get bigger when there is a lot of activity on social networks and there is also a compass face that only gives you a direction and the distance to the destination you chose. While these faces aren’t as informative or as complex as the apps found on a normal smartphone, they are unique and help with the charm of the device.
It’s because of this simplicity that the device has such a distinctive shape. The developers at Monohm wanted to make a relaxing and quiet product and they drew their inspiration from compasses, old pocket watches and other round things that individuals carried at some point inside of their pockets. The device has a circular, flat display on its front side and a curved wooden back. Anderson said that only by holding the device you can see how calming it is.
The Runcible is a new category of products that is situated somewhere between smartphones and wearables. The device features all the connectivity found on modern handsets such as NFC, Bluetooth, WiFi and LTE and fits snuggly inside of your pocket. Monohm wants people to look at the Runcible as a pocket watch and pass it down in their families as a modern heirloom.
Because technology moves really fast, the Runcible has been designed in such a manner that it can be easily upgradeable and fixed. It’s not exactly project Ara, but the CEO hopes this is enough to make the Runcible useful and relevant for the future years to come. He said that just because the camera on the device gets a little old doesn’t mean that you will have to throw the entire thing out. You will be able to upgrade different parts of the new wearable.
It’s true that the Runcible is a very weird product but Monohm’s daring move should be admired. It’s a very different look on the modern smartphone and it’s very refreshing to see such a device on a market that’s currently being populated by a lot of flat, thin smartphones built from glass and metal.
The Japanese carrier KDDI is financially backing the company which means that the Runcible will probably see the light of day for the first time in Japan and won’t disappear from the surface of the planet like so many Indiegogo and Kickstarter projects. It’s true that this new device will be very difficult to market but it will definitely stand out in the crowd.
