This smartwatch can project a tiny dancing man onto your hand

The nice thing about smartwatches is that they put information right on your wrist so it’s easy to check. But what if that information was even more visible? What if that information was right on the back of your hand?

That question, I can only assume, is what led to the creation of Haier’s Asu watch, an enormous smartwatch with a built-in projector. The projector allows the watch to display information on the back of your hand, essentially serving as a second screen.

Haier uses the projection to provide additional information. So when you’re running, the projection will display distance, time, and progress toward fitness goals, while the watch screen will have controls to pause and finish your workout. The projection actually supports gesture controls, too: you can double tap on your hand to change what’s on the screen. It didn’t work very well when I tried it, but Haier says the whole watch is still in development.

Unfortunately, the watch doesn’t actually do much with the projector right now. It’s almost exclusively used for the fitness app, and it doesn’t sound like there’s will be any kind of app store for the watch. So you end up with a primary feature that seems extremely underused.

It’s not that easy to read a projection that’s on the back of your constantly moving hand, either. The watch is also absolutely enormous, and it gets pretty warm. So while I applaud the creation of this absurd smartwatch, I’m quite certain that no one should buy it. It’s supposed to go on sale in China sometime next quarter.

Oh, there are two other uses for the projector I should tell you about. There’s a drawing app. And then there’s this:

A little man and a tentacle appear on-screen, and he briefly does a dance. For a few seconds, he also appears projected onto your hand. I have no idea why this is included on the watch, but there is an entire app dedicated to it. It is the watch’s best feature.

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