If you’re able to scratch below the super-sharp 4K surface of this year’s CES you’ll find another common theme that tech companies are collectively beating us over the head with ‘ wearables.
We’ve spent a lot of time in podcasts and features talking about how 2014 could be the year that this market gets into shape. Of course, we thought it would take its time, not suddenly just explode in the space of one trade show. Even we’re surprised by the amount of gadgets and gizmos that we can strap to ourselves at this year’s event.
So we thought we’d just try a little tab-keeping exercise (to keep our brains from melting over smartband stories). We’ve rounded up all the wearable tech we could find at this year’s show. Just in terms of quantity it’s a pretty astounding display.
We’ll be adding to the article as the show goes on, so let us know if anything’s missing.
What are you looking forward to?
Sony Core
Release: TBC
Price: TBC
At the very least, Sony gets points for originality. Rather than announcing yet another fitness-tracking wrist band, the company unveiled its miniscule Core device at its press conference this week. It’s a Lego brick-sized piece of kit that can be attached to clothing or inserted into the company’s own Smart Band (oh no, there’s the wrist band). It then tracks a range of fitness data along with other bits of daily info and displays it all on an Android app.
LG Lifeband Touch
Release: Q2 2014
Price: £110
LG’s offering is a fitness-tracking wristband with plenty of bells and whistles. It packs an OLED touch display which shows phone notifications and exercise goals. You’ll be able to track your progress on an LG-made fitness app. It even lets you control music from your phone while working out.
Razer Nabu
Release: March 2014
Price: TBC
Razer might not be the first company that jumps to mind when thinking of werables but that hasn’t stopped the company from annoucning the Nabu. This is a smartband with a few neat ideas, like an outward-facing display to quickly alert you to calls and texts while another on the back shows more personal information like caller ID or messages. A built-in accelerometer also knows when to display a message based on tilting. It will have its own app for all the usual fitness stats.
Garmin Vivofit
Release: Q1 2014
Price: £79
Not wanting to lose out on a potentially lucrative market, Garmin has announced its own fitness band contender. The Vivofit has an always-on curved display with a replaceable battery that’s said to last well over a year. It’s ANT+ compatible, which means it can be linked to heart rate monitors and display relevent information. It works through the Garmin Connect smartphone and PC app.
Epson Pulsense
Release: Summer 2014
Price: £79/ £121
Yes, we had a hard time believing this one as well. Epson, yes the printer manufacturer, has its own set of wrist bands to track your work outs. One is the Pulsense PS-100 with LED icons, while the bigger PS-500 boasts an LCD display. They can store about 480 hours of data before being wiped. We’re not sure we’re going to manage even half of that before next year’s show.
Jaybird Reign
Release:
Price: £121
Jaybird’s offering tries to set itself apart with a ‘Go-zone’ feature. It tracks sleep patterns and excersise data to tell you when your body ‘wants’ to excersise. It hasn’t provided specifics on just what the go-zone is or how you get into it but we might just follow on like sheep all the same. It’s compatible with an iOS and Android app.
Intel Smart Earbuds
Release: 2014
Price: TBC
An appreciated change of pace from Intel ‘ the company unveiled earbuds that measure heartrate when plugged into a smartphone. There was also a smartwatch to show off, though it was merely in the prototype stages.
