Remember how hoverboard was declared a hazard overnight with retailers refusing to sell them and airlines banning them from their planes. Well, the same hoverboards are now coming in a more secure and standard package.
A new designer is on the block and his claim to fame is that the hoverboard he designed would never catch fire. Why?
He points out that he uses components from Samsung. Yes, the Galaxy phone maker known for its quality components such as batteries and memory chips will provide certain components for this hoverboard. The said components include a high capacity battery and circuitry that won’t fry itself.
This hoverboard is called as kiwano.
Its designer, Contreras, a former Vapor Shark engineer, has embedded the device with Samsung 18650 lithium Ion battery cell. This is the first time that the Korean technological giant is involved in a hoverboard project. A lot will be riding on this hoverboard as Samsung’s name has been attached to it.
“I created Kiwano because there wasn’t a fun all-terrain scooter available that I could hit South Beach with then sit back and enjoy some music,” he told me. “It was time to create the Jeep of self-balancing scooters. This is the first scooter that will be available for the US market that passes all safety regulations,” the designer said.
The hoverboards that are currently available have been cursed with a ban from the federal authorities and also face a lawsuit from Segway for infringing on its patents.
Involving Samsung has certainly helped kiwano. Samsung has not only secured the circuitry but also the safety of the user. There are certain hidden surprises in this device. The first is that this is a connected device. meaning you can monitor various parameters (speed, total distance travelled and battery life.) from your smartphone via an app and also manipulate certain features.
The second is the built in speaker. You can stream music via Bluetooth. The device is made from space grade aluminium and weighs 14kgs. It has a range of 15 kilometres and a top speed of 25 kmph.
All this doesn’t come cheap as this hoverboard cost $799 but is currently available for $399 for a very limited period of time.