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Posted By Simon Montford on Jan 20, 2015 Nixie, the wearable drone, was one of our favourite gadgets of 2014. After several months of intense development, the team demoed a working prototype at CES 2015. With a quick flick it flew off the wrist, and with a simple gesture to tell it where to fly, Nixie zoomed a few metres in the air and snapped a pic - no remote control was needed. The brief video of the demonstration is worth a look...
Posted By Simon Montford on Jan 12, 2015 Last year I wrote a guest blog for TechDrive about how I believe the auto industry will be transformed by artificial intelligence. As an addendum, I'd like to briefly explore how smart cars of the future may one day be controlled by us humans. Firstly, I have a hunch that within the next few years almost every major OEM will be selling us an autonomous vehicle, which means in-car systems will be used primary for two purposes - entertainment and productivity.
Posted By Simon Montford on Dec 22, 2014 The team at Zikto have developed a fitness tracker called Arki that is able to monitor your walking pattern to prevent poor posture. It measures all aspects of gait such as swing speed, stride length, limb rotation, and angle, and combines it with other data, to improve walking habit. If it detects that the wearer is slouching or doing something that leads to poor posture such as walking while viewing a phone, the device will vibrate.
Posted By Simon Montford on Dec 5 2014 Apparently Sony is behind this concept smart watch, called the "FES". It was posted on a Japanese crowdfunding website but was intentionally unbranded to gauge genuine consumer opinion without the influence of a big name. We think this trend will continue, whereby OEMs turn to crowdfunding platforms for market research objectives, as opposed to fund raising.
Posted By Simon Montford on Nov 27, 2014 There are well over a hundred fitness trackers on the market that monitor activity based on movement, and in some cases heartbeat. The problem is that keeping track of exercise, and its effect on the body, is a very complex process. As a gimmick, fitness trackers work just fine, but to be genuinely valuable, particularly to medical professionals, accuracy needs to be improved. Perhaps this is why over 50% of consumers in the States have ditched their trackers, myself included.
Posted By Simon Montford on Nov 27, 2014 It appears that adding an e-acute to the name of a smartwatch and designing it to look like a conventional watch is becoming all the rage. If you are in the market for a new smartwatch that has a little je ne sais quoi we recommend, in addition to checking out the Withings Activité, you also take a peek at the Névo.
Posted By Simon Montford on Nov 21, 2014 If you're a serious watch collector or aficionado of quality timepieces, chances are you would have been turned off by the design of the first batch of smart watches. This is because most look rather geeky and many are constructed with low-cost materials.
Posted By Simon Montford on Nov 13, 2014 Linkoo is both a GPS tracker and phone for kids. The watch has been designed to appeal to pre-teens, sporting several bright colour options. Linkoo can help anxious parents keep tabs on their young ones by tracking their whereabouts. They can also make calls directly to the device and if the child doesn't respond, the watch can be configured to automatically call back.
Posted By Simon Montford on Nov 7, 2014 According to Phandroid a champagne gold version of Motorola will be made available in 18mm and 23mm watchband sizes. The metal strap will cost around $300 and a leather band version, called "cognac", will cost around $50 less.
Posted By Simon Montford on Nov 5, 2014 Jawbone launches “second phase” of wearable fitness trackers. The company's flagship product is the Up3, which will go on sale in the US later this month for $180. It contains a heart rate monitor and can measure skin temperature. Next year Jawbone plans to use over-the-air updates to give Up3 the ability to gather data on respiration and hydration. The company's aim is to add the ability to track the signs of stress and fatigue (this feature is already offered by the forthcoming Olive).
Posted By Simon Montford on Nov 14, 2014 Only the Charge is available to purchase ($130). The HR and Surge will become available first quarter of 2015. The Charge is very similar to the Fitbit Force which was withdrawn from sale earlier this year due to some customers complaining that it caused a skin allergy.
Posted By Simon Montford on October 30, 2014 After months of speculation Microsoft finally released their new wearable device that is focused on helping its customers stay fit and healthy. The device is branded the 'Band' (must have taken their marketing department many sleepless nights to come up with that) and the RRP will be £199.
Posted By Simon Montford on Oct 27, 2014 The 'must-have' new feature for fitness trackers and most other wearables is that they have built-in capabilities such as GPS so you don't need to rely on your smartphone for connectivity. The Fitbit Surge will allow the wearer to track their progress and map their routes without the need to bring their smartphone with them. Expect the device to retail at around $250.
For Sale: Fitbit If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to our free newsletter? Lenovo just entered the heavily contested wearables sector. The OEM recently added the fitness wristband, called the Lenovo Smartband SW-B100, it will be available in any colour as long as it's blue or orange. It will do all the usual things you'd expect from a Fitness tracker so it looks very much like a 'me too' approach to product development.
Posted By Simon Montford on Oct 24, 2014 Google want to make wearables more 'connected' so owners don't need to carry their phone around with them. The new version of Google's Android Wear smartwatch platform will enable hardware OEMs such as Sony and app developers to build more features that do not rely on a phone to work.
Posted By Simon Montford on Oct 23, 2014 The average consumer's wrist is set to become even more crowded with this potential new entrant. The Tempest Smartband is a great looking 'smartband' that has a 180 degree display that takes up the entire top half of the band. The device runs its own operating system but promises to sync with all popular mobile operating systems.
Posted By Simon Montford on Oct 22, 2014  Microsoft's widely reported smart watch will include a heartbeat sensor and will be compatible with most mobile operating systems, in addition to Windows. It's very likely that the device will sync with MS Office, particularly MS Outlook.
Posted By Simon Montford on Oct 18, 2014 We're not sure if there is anything new here. The fitness watch/wearable is becoming increasingly competitive so this product will have to do something pretty special to compete against encumbants like Peak, FitBit, MisFit, Garmin and of course the forthcoming Apple Watch. The only featured that may appeal to one specific demographic are golfers. Posted By Simon Montford on Oct 17, 2014 The makers of Olive have made a very genuine attempt at making a bracelet that is more of a lifestyle product compared to existing, more functional looking, fitness trackers like Fuelband, FitBit, Jawbone etc. It is OliveLab's attempt to grab the attention of more fashion-conscious consumers.
Posted By Simon Montford on Oct 16, 2014 The .klatz is a smartwatch that doubles as a comfortable handset for your smartphone. The makers claim "futuristic LED screen with 384 LEDs that glows when it shows the time is one of the many features that set our smartwatch apart. .klatz achieves an exquisite balance between design and technology".
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Pebble, the smart watch pioneer, is probably feeling the heat from all four corners of the market. It seems everyone is jumping on the wearables bandwagon these days. In the States they will reduce the price of both the original Pebble (pictured below) and the Pebble Steel to $99 and $199 respectively. It is assumed this price drop will apply to European customers.
Posted By Simon Montford on Nov 27, 2014 Okay so the Apple Watch is getting all the attention right now but there are many other worthy contenders. In fact some of them are so sexy they really got our tickers ticking. Here's the best of the rest.
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