Dozens of device makers have unveiled wearable gadgets at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress this week.
Downtrodden Taiwanese phone maker HTC is hoping a fitness device it is co-branding with Under Armour, the second-largest sport brand in the U.S., can help it grow again.
Korea’s LG has produced a round watch, following the lead of Motorola, which has drawn favorable reviews for its more fashion-conscious alternative to the dozens of bulky, square smartwatches that dominated the market before.
China’s Huawei launched the Huawei Watch, which uses Android Wear and has a bigger display made out of sapphire crystal.
It is able to recognize voices and enables the owner to reply to texts by dictating.
Its Talkband model is made of stainless steel and allows the owner to count calories burned throughout the day as well as count the steps the owner takes.
The Talkband has a detachable body, with an earpiece to take calls.
“It’s going to be the ability to interact with your smartphone, to make it easier. Once people can see the latest tweet and reply on it from their wrist rather than actually dig into their pocket to get the phone. I just think it is a usability piece as well. But also very much we are all consumers and it has got to be what looks good on your wrist as well. I think previously a lot of the wearable just haven’t been that good to look at when wearing them,” Huawei’s UK sales director said.
Barcelona based Be-On has developed a child-tracker, designed as a colorful watch that gives parents information on where their children are and allows them to listen in on them at any time.
The watch, aimed at children between three and ten years old, allows parents to send a text to the watch and as well as 10-second voice messages.
“So, if they for example are set to be in the safe zone from eight o’clock in the morning till 2pm in school and the kid is out of this safe zone within these hours you will get a message that the kid is out of the safe zone. And then the app will also show like a red alarm that the kid is out of the safe zone,” spokesman Ishay Shani said.
The watch could start shipping in the coming months, and is expected to sell for around 149 Euros.
“We tried to create a design that is fun for the kids. We made some kind of small letters that they can customize themselves, customize with their name. And also, we find that they like the communication. They like to have the ability communicate with their parents. At this age, as far as we studied, parents don’t want kids to have a smartphone. But the kids feel they have some kind of communication device, so it’s fun for them,” Shani added.
Most likely to survive are devices that go beyond normal watches or an app.
Some are already looking to the next frontier – the wearable device that does not need to be connected to a phone.
For that to happen, smaller and more affordable chips must be developed.
The technology exists, analysts say, but it is still expensive and it only makes sense to introduce such devices in a more mature market.
For uSwitch analyst Robert Kerr, phones will soon be made irrelevant by smartwatches.
“It’s already here. We already have watches with SIM cards built in. They need to become more than a fashion accessory more than technology focused. When it happens a person will start to wants and wear them more. They’ll be sold in more shops instead of gadget shops and within a least a couple of years it’ll be a choice between leaving your house with your phone or your watch. And your watch is more of an accessory, and that will be your main device,” he said.
A recent report by Forrester Research predicted that the number of people using a wearable device will triple in 2015, led by the expected arrival of Apple Watch, which it estimates will draw 10 million users next year.
(Reuters)