Bitcoin Forum

Design Principles of BitHD Watch Version and Card Version

Regarding the design of the BitHD, let’s start with the firmware. As a hardware wallet, BitHD is designed to be secure but not to run complex smart device systems, so its firmware’s safety is the highest priority. From the design point of view, the BitHD 2nd generation watch version and card version are not the same.

The watch version design purpose is:

1, low-key; 2: comfortable to wear (can be worn for a long time); 3, high reliability, including waterproof and a certain degree of outdoor environmental factors


It is a “watch”. Basically, even if it is a airport boarding security check, people will only think that this is a watch.

The 2nd generation is much more comfortable, lighter and thinner than the previous generation, and the material on the back is more sweat-free, and the 2nd generation shield is specially equipped with the high-performance fluoroelastomer (even if the cost is high). Although the band is not so fancy, the comfort of long-term wearing is very satisfying.


(Better material band)

The 2nd generation of BitHD has a more eye-catching update. For a higher sealing design, we have designed the 2nd generation of BitHD to be wireless-charged, so that it can be more waterproof, and you don’t have to worry while washing your hands. Although the waterproofness of the first batch of machine is much better than that of the 1st generation, it is still not as good as the 2nd batch of mass production machine.


(Convenient wireless charging)

The purpose of the watch version is to bring it on the wrist. Therefore, the principle of design is even if you are traveling in China for 10 days, the crypto-assets are still on your wrist.

Now let’s talk about the design of the card version. Through the first generation of BITHDs, we have accumulated a lot of hardware design and development experiences, so we can achieve today’s upgrade frequency in hardware. You will understand what we are saying by simply comparing the 1st and 2nd generation of the watch version. After all, within only a year’s time, there are already many card types in the industry, but there are a lot of problems on them.

First of all, don’t buy a hardware wallet that has no screen!

The security level of screenless wallets is the same as a mobile wallet. The problem with the card version is how to be thin and light enough, because since the user chooses the card version, it must be placed in a wallet or card package. The card version should be the same size and thickness as a credit card. If you have to be thin, you have to lower the configuration, basically you can only sign the bitcoin transaction. If you do not reduce the configuration, and do not reduce security, considering that it still has a screen, a battery and a CPU, it is almost impossible to make that thin(2.2mm). There are also some card versions, whose thickness is not uniform. For example: the charging port is thicker. This is actually a problem. Imagine if the credit card has a corner with a hard bump and how it feels like when it is in a real wallet.

In a nutshell, the card version of BITHD solves the abovementioned issues very well. Please bear in mind that: the purpose of hardware design is to meet the usage scenario. A watch is to be worn on wrist and a card is for putting it in the wallet like a credit card. Therefore, we will try our best to design it in this way.

Basically, we are inspired by the philosophy of Apple Inc., making a greater upgrade upon our hardware wallet each year.

For the photos, please refer to
https://medium.com/@Bitpie/design-principles-of-bithd-watch-version-and-card-version-46fb33114019

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