Waiting anxiously for Razer's Nabu smart band to go retail? Con artists are well aware of the anticipation and are setting up shop on eBay, Craigslist and more to score a little money before the product actually ships. Unfortunately, some customers are already taking the bait by pre-purchasing the device for $400 or more.
Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan jumped on Facebook on Monday to warn customers about the listings, saying that the Nabu smartband has not shipped. He advises against purchasing the product through these third-party resellers. Even more, he clarifies that the device will ship with a price tag of $100, not $400.
"Although you will definitely find scalpers that will resell the launch units for much higher prices (as with any Razer product that we launch) -- we highly discourage you from purchasing from them," he wrote on Facebook. "We know of companies that specialize in buying up Razer products to resell them for a huge profit at launch and we're doing everything we can to ensure this doesn't happen at the detriment of our customers."
The first units will go out to the "insider members" who helped shape the device. After that, Razer will release the device to the masses, he added.
The Razer Nabu was first introduced at CES 2014 back in January, and it just recently made an appearance at the FCC. There's now speculation that the device will finally ship this month, which is based on rumors that Razer is getting ready to unleash the review units. The company also launched two Nabu apps – Fitness and Utility – which seemingly confirm the speculation.
The Razer Nabu "social smartband" connects to a device via Bluetooth and provides messages on a 128 x 32 OLED screen. There's also a vibration motor, an accelerometer, and a lithium-polymer battery promising five to seven days of life. The device is water resistant and compatible with Windows Phone 8.1 or higher, Android 4.3 or higher, and the iPhone 5/5s/5c/6/6+.
So what does it do? In addition to serving as an activity tracker, the band can also display the time, monitor the user's sleep, retrieve SMS messages from the phone, and display email headings and caller information. The user can customize the device to receive the alerts he/she wants by using the Nabu Utility app for iOS, Android or Windows Phone.
Over on the Razer Insider site, the company teases that the Nabu is "shipping soon." There's still time to get into Razer's Insider program and possibly receive the Nabu earlier than the masses.
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