With the help of Canadian tech firm Omsignal, Ralph Lauren has developed its first item of smart sportswear. Dubbed the “Polo Tech” shirt, it has built-in sensors that track the wearer’s heart rate and movement, with collected data synced with an iOS app. This is not the first time that wearable tech has teamed up with the fashion industry to normalize its still-novel products. And even though this shirt is currently in the prototype stage, it indicates a future where wearable tech is further integrated into sports and other realms of daily life.
Tag: Wearables
How Reflected Wi-Fi Could Help Wearables With Battery Life
Forget NFC and beacon technology. Future wearables could communicate via reflected Wi-Fi, according to researchers at UCLA. A team from Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the university has been developing a technology called ambient backscatter that allows small devices, like wearables, to communicate with Wi-Fi routers by reflecting the signals they send out. This new transmission protocol would cut down transfer rates, which means a longer battery life. Whether the technology is mature enough to be adopted by the industry remain to be tested.
Why HP’s New Smartwatch Is Good-looking But Problematic
HP has offered a sneak peek of its new smartwatch, and it actually looks pretty good. Following the current trend of marrying tech with fashion, this new gear, set for release later this fall, is born out of a collaborative effort of HP, fashion designer Michael Bastian, and digital retailer Gilt.
Looking past its well-designed good looks and charm, however, the fact that HP is self-developing a third-party companion app compatible with both iOS and Android to control the smartwatch seems potentially problematic. Primarily positioned as a wearable extension for easier access to notifications, a smartwatch may function best when it is seamlessly incorporated as a native part of the operating system. After all, trying to please everyone usually just ends up alienating everyone.
The Big Ambitions Of Little Rice (XIaomi)
By now, you have probably heard about Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi. Heralded as either “the Apple of China” or “Blatant Copycat”, depending on whom you ask, Xiaomi’s meteoric rise in recent years has caught the eyes of western media, even if its target market has been almost exclusively domestic so far. Popular as their products are in mainland China, even outperforming iPhone in a recent study on leading smartphones’ app usage in China, it is not until recently that a few new developments from the company indicate the big ambition of Little Rice (a literal translation of Xiaomi).
Earlier last week, Xiaomi launched Mi 4, its newest offering in smartphones. Boosting a steel frame, IR blaster, top-tier specs and an affordable $320 pricetag, it is a dazzling product that once again raises the bar on “made-in-China” budget phones. More importantly, the “one more thing” that Xiaomi revealed along with Mi 4 is a $13 sleep and fitness tracking wristband named Mi Band. It also promises a battery that lasts up to 30 days and a proximity-based function that unlocks linked Xiaomi phones without password. By introducing such an aggressively priced, multi-functional smart wearable, Xiaomi is not only gaining an unchallenged head-start in the wearable market in China, but also potentially upending the upscale positioning that most wearables seem to employ in the global consumer tech market.
Another indication of Xiaomi’s big ambition is its recent foray into the international market. By striking an exclusive partnership with India’s biggest e-commerce operator Flipkart, Xiaomi has launched its smartphones in the subcontinent, marking its first step in entering the Indian market where Samsung and native brands currently dominates. In addition, Xiaomi is starting sales in 10 new markets including Brazil and Russia, while also reaching out to local e-commerce operators for its expansion to the Philippines and Indonesia. Such an extensive roll-out has turned out fairly successful so far, with Xiaomi reportedly more than doubled its year-on-year sales since the international expansion began.
Formidable as Xiaomi’s rapid growth might seem, the big tech players in the western world don’t need to start worrying about Xiaomi just yet, as the company is still very much focused on markets in the developing countries. Whether its products are quality enough to conquer the global market also remains to be seen. And the company’s long-standing habit of unabashed appropriation of Apple could hinder it from entering the western market where the tech giants are litigious and have deep pockets. Nevertheless, one thing is clear to see: the little rice is aiming big, as the company starts shouting “Xiaomi the money” at the global market.
Could Smart Earphones Be The Next Big Thing In Wearables?
A company called FreeWavz is looking to Kickstart the funding for their new product—a wireless smart earphone with built-in fitness monitoring. With Google Glass being made available for consumers a couple months ago and Apple gearing up for iWatch launch, the wearable tech is slowly but surely gaining some momentum. From fitness wristbands to smart contact lens, from smart-headsets to now, smart-earpieces, it seems just about every tech accessory has the potential to become the next connected smart-device. With more players entering the arena, it’s shaping up to be an interesting ride for the burgeoning wearable market.
Now You Can Text On A Smartwatch, If You Want To
Unsatisfied with voice-to-text input currently available on Android Wearables, Minuum, among a variety of attempting tech companies, has become the first company to put out a working demo of type-input system designed for the tiny screens of smartwatches. The demo made the typing look smooth and effortless, if a bit slow, and the company claims that because the “keyboard design embraces the expectation of sloppy typing”, it totally works.
However, the company seems to be overlooking the extra effort that regular consumers have to put in to get used to this linear keyboard, not to mention the frustration it would no doubt evoke for users with even slightly chubby fingers. Wearable tech like smartwatches are great for notifications and data tracking, and definitely less so for texting. You can certainly text on your watch if you want to, but at that point, why don’t you just take out your phone?
More Reality TV To Incorporate Activity Tracker FitBit
CBS is integrating Fitbit Flex activity trackers into this season of “Big Brother,” letting viewers track the contestants’ indoor movement and other physical data. Although this is the first time a wearable technology will be incorporated into prime-time TV, several other reality shows, as suggested by the source, also seem eager to jump on the tracking bandwagon as well (curiously absent from the list, however, is CBS’s Emmy-winning global traveling competition show The Amazing Race). The jury is still out on whether, or rather, how fast would our voyeuristic demand of documenting surveillance in reality entertainment overflow into our personal daily life. Nonetheless, reality TV might just very well become the foreground for normalizing consumer wearable tech.
Pioneer of Google Glass Moving To Amazon
Babak Parviz, the man who helmed the Google X project that eventually led to Google Glass, has moved to work at Amazon. The optics expert announced the news on his Google+ page, saying that he is “super excited” but doesn’t disclose any details about what he’ll be doing next. One would assume that with Google Glass largely moved past the research stage, this move certainly signals Amazon’s interest in expanding the company’s effort around optical tech. Or at least, improving the “object-recognition Firefly feature on their new Fire Phone. Given the hot market trend of moving towards wearable techs, it looks like Mr. Parviz will keep busy for the foreseeable future.
Wearables You May Actually Want To Wear
Sometimes we get so caught up in wearable tech functions that we forget the form factor. You do need to actually wear these things at the end of the day. In an effort to push Glass into the mainstream, Google is pairing up with designer Diane von Furstenberg to design limited-edition frames. The cultural cache may provide some renewed excitement for the groundbreaking tech that has many turned off thus far.
To see great examples of tech meeting fashion, check out Netatmo’s June, an elegant UV sensing bracelet.
Barriers To Wearable Adoption
Wearables were undoubtedly one of the categories at CES with the most growth potential. With embedded sensors, these wearables can measure everything from calories consumed to steps taken and hours slept. As this Fast Co article points out, however, there are some serious roadblocks to mainstream adoption, chiefly battery life, technical limitations, and “aesthetic drawbacks.” Despite these issues, there are a few things that brands need to take note of in the wearable space concerning media. First and foremost, wearables require a glanceable UI that packages information in an immediately digestible and actionable way. Secondly, successful ones let data tell stories like Nike+ ability to share runs with friends or ZombieRun which marries fitness tracking with a Zombie adventure game.
