On Thursday, Japanese peripheral maker Green House released a line of Hello Kitty smartwatches that are so adorable that I was annoyed by how boring most smartwatches look these days.
The budget smartwatches are themed around four iconic Sanrio characters: Kuromi, Cinnamoroll, Pompompurin, and Hello Kitty, who I recently found out is five apples tall and not a cat but a little girl. It’s a fact I still can’t quite over.
Notification sounds, and alerts are all made in the voices of each character; however, what’s really selling me are the cute watch straps with little faces on them.
Another surprising fact, according to the Green House press release, is that this is the first smartwatch in Japan for adults ever to feature Sanrio characters. Considering the incredible amount of Hello Kitty merchandise in existence since the character’s inception in 1974, I find that hard to believe.
As for the actual specs of the smartwatches, according to the store page and press release (both machine-translated), each sports a 1.83-inch TFT display at a 240×284 resolution. The watch will also track all your usual vitals, like heart rate, daily steps, and blood oxygen, across 20 different workout types. It’s rated IP68, which is pretty typical for an average fitness wearable, so it can handle some water and dust.
The Sanrio smartwatches work on iOS and Android phones, and you should be able to use some of your favorite apps, such as Instagram and WhatsApp.
Green House claims that the battery should last for about a week, which isn’t awful if it’s true. The dedicated CharaLife app allows you to track the device down if you lose it.
The watches cost 14,080 yen (around $93). Sadly, they are only available in Japan through the Green House store. However, since the device supports 13 languages, including English, nothing stops you from grabbing a Hello Kitty smartwatch off eBay and rocking a Kuromi watch for your next workout.