10 Wearables To Watch At CES 2014
Smartwatches show their mobile mojo at the annual Las Vegas tech fest, but they're not the only promising wearables.
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Meet the wearable tech of CES 2014
Will 2014 be the year of the smartwatch? Or is the fledgling tech genre still searching for its killer app? Based on what tech giants and startups alike unveiled at the annual International CES tradeshow in Las Vegas, the latter seems more likely. Of course, there's no shortage of fitness trackers, health monitors, and message notifiers, but the elusive gotta-have-it feature hasn't arrived to convince the masses to buy.
Smartwatches aren't necessarily doomed, of course. In fact, early shipping and sales estimates show promise. Samsung in November said it had already shipped more than 800,000 of its Galaxy Gear watches just two months after the device's debut. Many critics quickly pointed out that shipments aren't sales, noting that the Gear's sell-through to consumers would reveal its true popularity. A more telling report card came a few days ago from startup Pebble, which said it has sold more than 300,000 of its smartwatches during the past year.
Today's wearable tech -- smartwatches, Google Glass-style eyewear, and niche gizmos like fitness trackers and health monitors -- have thus far lacked the widespread appeal of smartphones and tablets. Then again, many behind-the-scenes efforts are underway to make the gadgets more robust.
In an Intel press conference at CES, Mooly Eden, senior VP and general manager of the chipmaker's Perceptual Computing group, told reporters how the company is striving to bring "human-like senses" to a new class of hardware and software products known collectively as Intel RealSense technology.
One such example is the new Intel RealSense 3D camera, an integrated 3D depth and 2D camera module that helps devices "see" depth similar to the human eye, Eden said. The technology could enable more immersive applications with better gesture and facial recognition for understanding human emotions and movement. For camera-equipped wearables, this capability might enable education, gaming, and augmented reality capabilities that far exceed what we have today.
It's also conceivable that wearable technology will become inexpensive enough to be embedded in a variety of consumer products. Running shoes, for instance, might have sensors that track your distance, pace, and other exercise data. In fact, GPS shoes are already here for seniors with Alzheimer's and dementia. Similarly, performance-monitoring clothing like the Zephyr BioHarness 3 can track an athlete's heart rate and physiological data.
So what's it all mean? Even if you aren't a fan of the smartwatch, wearable computing has a bright future.
Click through the slideshow to see 10 noteworthy wearables from CES 2014.
Jeff Bertolucci is a technology journalist in Los Angeles who writes mostly for Kiplinger's Personal Finance, the Saturday Evening Post, and InformationWeek.
LG announced its new Lifeband Touch Activity Tracker, a $180 fitness band slated to ship this spring. The Bluetooth-enabled Lifeband features a scrolling OLED touch display that flips on when you turn your forearm to check the time, calories burned, distance traveled, and other sweaty essentials. Lifeband alerts you when calls and texts arrive, has music controls for playing, pausing, and skipping songs, and syncs data with LG's fitness app. Support for other popular fitness apps is in the works, the company says. LG's $180 HRM Earphone, which shares heart-rate data with the Lifeband, also ships this spring.
The Pebble smartwatch has won good reviews for its ability to answer phone calls, receive notifications, and control music playback. Its ability to run third-party iOS and Android apps is probably a good reason the company has sold more than 300,000 of the devices in just one year.
The company used CES 2014 to unveil the $249 Pebble Steel, a rugged edition with a stainless steel case and Gorilla Glass display. The Steel runs standard Pebble apps and will begin shipping on Jan. 28. Pebble is also launching its own curated app store, which users can access via their existing Pebble apps on iOS or Android.
Razer's Nabu, an innovative wristband device, combines health monitoring with social and phone notifications. Best known for its gaming laptops and peripherals, Razer brings some fresh ideas to the wearable category. Nabu has two small displays. The public screen on top of the device (and hence your wrist), alerts you when a message has arrived. But what if you don't want others to read your messages? The private screen on the bottom of the Nabu shows the contents of these communications.
To dismiss a call notification, simply shake your wrist. Also, two Nabu users can exchange data with a handshake, and the device offers fitness and sleep tracking as well. Nabu is now available for $49 to app developers. Retail units will be available by the end of Q1, the company says.
(image sources: Engadget and Digital Trends.)
The Magellan Echo smart sportswatch earned a CES Innovations 2014 Design and Engineering Award for its inventive design, including the ability to run for up to 11 months on a single CR2032 coin-cell battery. The Bluetooth-enabled Echo streams data from your smartphone and allows runners to see pace, heart rate, and distance in real-time. The device lets you pause, play, and skip music on your smartphone. It also supports popular sports apps including iSmoothRun, MapMyRun, Strava, and Wahoo Fitness. The Echo costs $150 and is available now.
Qualcomm didn't launch its sleek and pricey Toq smartwatch at CES 2014. In fact, the Android device has been shipping for a few months now. But the company did announce a temporary $50 price cut (to $300) through Jan. 11 when CES ends. Yep, that's still a bundle to shell out for a smartwatch, and it's doubtful the brief discount will give Toq's sales much of a boost. On the plus side, Qualcomm's smartwatch is one of the more innovative wearables, particularly its low-power Mirasol color touchscreen that's easier to read in bright sunlight than LCD and OLED screens, if not nearly as vibrant.
Yes, fashion can be pragmatic. June by Netatmo is a stylish sensor that can be worn as a bracelet (pictured) or brooch. It measures your sun exposure and sends the data to an accompanying smartphone app, which offers personalized skin-protection advice based on your skin type and sun-oriented activities. June notifies you when it's time to apply sunblock, don a hat, or put on shades. Priced at $99 and slated to ship in the second quarter, June comes in three colors: gold, platinum, and gunmetal.
Here's a wearable for your head. AcousticSheep's RunPhones are slim headphones tucked inside an athletic headband. The company's two new models earned a 2014 CES Innovations Design and Engineering award. The Bluetooth-enabled RunPhones Wireless ($100) headphones are a boon for tunes-loving runners who'd rather not fuss with wires from a smartphone or MP3 player. For those who'd rather leave the music player or phone at home, RunPhones Intensity ($150) includes a WAV music player with a 4-GB microSD card. It also has "pace-setting beats" and positive reinforcement by a personal trainer. The Wireless and Intensity models will ship in the March/April timeframe, the company says.
Sony's new SmartBand is a wristband with a removable sensor -- also known as the "Core" -- that's designed to fit inside other Sony wearables or perhaps even attach to clothing. Sony Mobile CEO Kunimasa Suzuki told CES attendees that the Core "could be the tiniest gadget" ever made by the consumer electronics giant.
When a call, message, or other notification arrives on your smartphone, SmartBand vibrates gently. SmartBand has music controls for pausing, playing, and skipping music tracks. It's also tightly linked with Sony's Lifelog Android app, which records your daily activities -- where you went, what pictures you took, who you spoke with, and so on. SmartBand will be available in the first quarter for about $135.
Atlas is a wearable fitness device that works extra hard to identify and track your exercises. It's so precise, the Austin, Texas-based startup claims, that Atlas can distinguish between pushups and triangle pushups, and squats versus dead lifts. Its sensors see motion in a 3D trajectory and spot the "specific motion fingerprint" of each exercise you do.
Atlas's display gives real-time feedback on the type, speed, and quality of your workouts. It logs this information with almost no user action, the company says. As you might expect, Atlas is targeted at the serious athlete seeking to maximize his or her training regimen. The device is slated to ship in the fourth quarter at a price south of $200.
Atlas is a wearable fitness device that works extra hard to identify and track your exercises. It's so precise, the Austin, Texas-based startup claims, that Atlas can distinguish between pushups and triangle pushups, and squats versus dead lifts. Its sensors see motion in a 3D trajectory and spot the "specific motion fingerprint" of each exercise you do.
Atlas's display gives real-time feedback on the type, speed, and quality of your workouts. It logs this information with almost no user action, the company says. As you might expect, Atlas is targeted at the serious athlete seeking to maximize his or her training regimen. The device is slated to ship in the fourth quarter at a price south of $200.
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