A smartwatch that's powered by your body heat will be on sale later this month

One of the most annoying parts of owning a high-end smartwatch is having to charge it, so what if your watch was actually powered just by sitting on your wrist? That's the question Matrix has tried to answer with the new PowerWatch X.

The new watch - announced at CES 2018 - uses a proprietary thermometric energy converter to change your body heat into smartwatch battery.

It may sound futuristic, but it's not the first device to have the feature - Matrix released the PowerWatch back in 2016 that used the technology but had limited functionality.

Now the company has announced the PowerWatch X that uses this technology to power a fully fledged smartwatch that can show you notifications from your phone on your wrist.

No need to charge

It has a reasonably rugged design and the circle around the inside the bezel shows you how much battery is left on the watch, so it's always easy to spot if it's running out of charge.

When you take the watch off, it'll also go into a deep sleep mode that means you don't have to wear it every day. You can pick it up again a month later and it'll still have some leftover charge and it'll start working again

Exactly what software is running on the PowerWatch X is a little unclear at the moment, but it doesn't seem to be Android Wear from the marketing materials we've seen so far.

It'll be able to work with both Android and iOS devices and in the US it'll cost $249.99 (about $185, AU$320). Pre-orders are open now and Matrix claims the watch will begin shipping later this month too.

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James Peckham

James is Managing Editor for Android Police. Previously, he was Senior Phones Editor for TechRadar, and he has covered smartphones and the mobile space for the best part of a decade bringing you news on all the big announcements from top manufacturers making mobile phones and other portable gadgets. James is often testing out and reviewing the latest and greatest mobile phones, smartwatches, tablets, virtual reality headsets, fitness trackers and more. He once fell over.