Keen BlackBerry users will soon be spared the chore of having to fish the phone out of their pocket every time an e-mail arrives. The inPulse Smartwatch uses a wireless Bluetooth connection to the phone to grab those precious corporate messages and quarterly briefings and display them on its bright, 1.3in OLED screen.

The inPulse, due to launch in February, is not an official product from Research In Motion (RIM), the Canadian company behind BlackBerry phones. RIM closely guards the technology that powers its still unsurpassed mobile e-mail devices, which is why inPulse users need to own a suitable phone (it works with all current BlackBerrys, once users have downloaded a special free app). You will also need to use the phone to reply to any message.

The upside to this parasitism is that you can use the phone to set all the watch’s other functions, such as the clock, timers and multiple alarms — far easier than fiddling with tiny watch buttons. The inPulse also vibrates when you have an incoming call on the phone and shows caller ID; it works with texts, instant messages and Twitter feeds too, displaying the subject line or, at the press of a button, the message body.

Bluetooth is a power-hungry beast, however, and Allerta says the watch will need recharging (over USB) every four days with average use. So that’s yet another ritual to go through for CrackBerry addicts.

Allerta inPulse Smartwatch $149 (£90) from getinpulse.com