Heads up, early adopters: The world's first modular smartwatch and Kickstarter darling Blocks is now available for pre-order.
If you missed out on your chance to secure a Blocks smartwatch via Kickstarter, no worries, you can pre-order one now. Priced at $330, the watch comes in black, red, and white and includes four modules which will let you customize the wearable. Extra modules are $35 each.
For the uninitiated, the core Blocks watchface includes traditional smartwatch functionality (phone notifications, activity tracking, voice control, color touch screen, haptic feedback). To add other features, you snap in special modules for things like heart rate monitoring, GPS support, NFC, an extra battery, programmable button, flashlight, or an adventure mode that measures altitude, pressure, and temperature.
Pre-orders are slated to begin shipping in October 2016. You'll have to pay $11 for shipping to the US and $15 anywhere else in the world.
Compatible with iOS and Android devices, the watch, which we first saw at CES, boasts a Snapdragon 2100 chip, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, a 300 mAh battery, microphone, and support for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The round, 1.39-inch touch screen has a 400-by-400 resolution.
Blocks raked in $1.6 million last year on Kickstarter, where backers could pledge just $195 to secure the watchface and a generic strap sans modules.
Meanwhile, a number of big firms are experimenting with modular tech, from Acer to Google. OtterBox late last month, for instance, unveiled the uniVERSE Case System, which lets you swap out different accessory modules to enhance your iPhone with things like new camera lenses, an extra battery, speaker, payment processing hardware, and more.