MOTA turns to crowdfunding to build SmartRing, a smartwatch alternative for your finger

With the $75 burning a whole in your pocket right now you can support MOTA's alternative to smartwatches. The SmartRing will be build to be water and shock resistant, charge wirelessly and feature a touchscreen. The outfit hopes to have units shipping to consumers in April of 2015, if it collects the support it needs to build these things. The units will use Bluetooth 4.0 LE to link up to a smartphone and let you keep your finger on your notifications. The device will support email, call, SMS, Facebook and Twitter alerts. No word yet on battery life, but the SmartRing will come with a charging plate, so no cables or ports to worry about.

MOTA's idea is that smartwatches are too intrusive and a ring is a more natural form factor to diminish unwanted distractions. The ring will vibrate with notification- and person- specific vibrations so users will know what and who is reaching out just by tactile feedback. You won't have to glance away from any other people you are interacting with and the notification is both noticeable and subtle enough not to be disturbing. This is a smart idea, but we will reserve judgment until we try it.

For $150, you can get your device a month earlier and be part of an “alpha” testing team. With 29 days to go in their funding cycle on Indiegogo, they have collected 3% of their goal of $150,000. If this keeps up, and likely it will, they should be good to start production. Still, we hope there are no unexpected delays.