There's a good reason why HTC's first smartwatch could shine

Smartwatch

We love the design of HTC smartphones like the HTC One M9, so when the Taiwanese company was announced as an Android Wear partner way back at the launch of the wearable operating system, we were excited to see what it had in store – then a whole lot of nothing happened.

According to new rumours HTC is working on a new smartwatch codenamed 'halfbeak', and it will apparently come with a round display and a resolution of 360 x 360.

The rumours were reported by the Phandroid website, which claims its sources have previously provided accurate information.

Despite the lack of Android Wear devices, HTC clearly has an interest in wearable technology after showing off the HTC Grip earlier this year.

The Grip is a sports band and watch, though it has a rectangular screen and does not run Android Wear, so it's unlikely that 'halfbeak' refers to this wearable. We are, however, still waiting for HTC to properly launch the Grip.

Cooking something up for September 29?

The codename, halfbeak, is a type of fish, and other manufacturers have also taken a rather piscine approach to codenames of their Android Wear watches.

For example Motorola is said to be working on an Android Wear device codenamed 'smelt', while the Sony Smartwatch 3 went by the codename 'tetra'.

Given HTC's knack for building beautiful phones, we're particularly intrigued to see what the company could do with a wearable.

HTC also appears to be holding an event on September 29, and although the specifics of what the company could be showing at the event have not been revealed, the announcement of its first ever smartwatch could take some of the limelight away from Google. The Big G is also holding an event on that day, possibly to launch the Nexus 5 (2015) and Nexus 6 (2015).

Matt Hanson
Managing Editor, Core Tech

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there's no aspect of technology that Matt isn't passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. Ever since he got an Amiga A500+ for Christmas in 1991, he's loved using (and playing on) computers, and will talk endlessly about how The Secret of Monkey Island is the best game ever made.