Smart meets style in cool Barcelona
WEARABLE technology is finally coming of age. A few months ago, smartwatches, fitness bands and smartglasses were regarded as symbols of a fashion faux pas. This week, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, they came into their own as cool accessories.
The standout device came from the brand that, in September last year, showed us what wearable should not be. Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch was not only ugly but also expensive and, at the time, compatible with one single other device.
The stylish city of Barcelona was the appropriate venue to bring style into the smart game. Samsung unveiled the Gear Fit, a smartband that displays heartrate, speed, distance walked or run and, in an imminent update, sleep and stress patterns. It also provides notifications on a linked smartphone.
Its standout feature, in a category in which fitness bands have until now offered minimal text in LED lights, is a 1.84-inch Super AMOLED screen, which means bright colours and sharp text. More important, the elongated screen follows the curve of the wrist, making it elegant and truly wearable.
At the same time, the Gear watch has had a dramatic update — so soon after Samsung made its debut in the category that it is clear the protesting voice of the market was heard. The price will be slashed and it will initially be compatible with 20 Samsung smartphone models. The battery life has more than doubled.
Although its bulky look ensures it will appeal mainly to the techie, it offers colour and design variety in straps that can be swapped. It houses an autofocus camera and 4GB internal memory. Music can be transferred from a smartphone to the watch and stored so that wireless Bluetooth headphones allow it to be used as an MP3 music player.
It includes shopping, news and weather apps, among many others. The water-resistant watch comes in two models, the Gear 2 and the Gear 2 neo, the latter being a little lighter and expected to be cheaper.
The devices will be launched in South Africa on April 11, along with the new Samsung Galaxy S5 phone.
The other big new brand in wearables, the venerable old Sony, wowed the crowds in Barcelona with its SmartBand SWR10 fitness tracker. It will be launched in South Africa this week and is compatible with any Android phone, as is the Sony Smartwatch, now in its third generation. The SmartBand is fully waterproof.
It comes with a removable “core”, containing the real smarts of the SmartBand, which can be clipped to any item of clothing, making it the most “wearable” of the wearables.
The common key to all three new fitness bands is their stylishness
The most innovative aspect of the device is an app called Lifelog, which links it with activity on the smartphone, from books read and music played to photos, locations and other content stored on the smartphone.
A third big name in smartphones entered the wearable market in Barcelona. Huawei, best known for its mobile broadband modems and ultra-thin smartphones, launched the TalkBand B1, a fitness band with a bendable, curved 1.4-inch OLED display and Bluetooth earpiece that slots into the band when not in use. Described as a “hybrid talk and track mobile companion”, it links to most Android and iOS smartphones.
The common key to all three new fitness bands, aside from having big smartphone brands behind them, is their stylishness. No longer does “wearable” send the kind of signal no smartphone user wants to receive.
Arthur Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editorin-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter @art2gee