It is a race for your wrist. The competition has moved from the traditional timepieces to electronic watches and now to smartwatches. If Swiss watches were the most sought-after wearable in the 19th and 20th centuries, technological giants are now taking over.
About 3 million smartwatches have been sold in 2013 compared to 0.3 million in 2012. Samsung alone says it sold about 800,000 smartwatches last year. According to reports, the market share of smartwatches is growing and by end-2014 it will constitute five per cent of the watch industry and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 115.2 per cent over the period 2014-2018.
The smartwatch industry kicked off with Sony introducing the Sony Smartwatch, followed by Pebble and a series of other players. The just-concluded Mobile World Congress saw several new announcements of both wearable devices and new smartwatches.
Here’s a look at the most popular brands and what they offer:
Samsung Gear 2 and Gear Fit
Samsung recently upgraded last year’s gear with the Gear 2 boasting increased connectivity, customisation and control as well as launched a new Gear Fit for fitness freaks.
The Gear 2 (and Gear 2 Neo) has a slim and lighter design with a 2-megapixel camera on the bezel. Users will be able to change the strap between charcoal black, gold brown and wild orange.
When paired with a Galaxy smartphone, the Gear 2 allows the user to receive or ignore incoming calls and messages, and provides instant notifications. You can also control a TV or set-top box via the WatchON Remote application and IrLED sensor, and listen to music via a Bluetooth headset.
Samsung Gear Fit is mainly aimed at providing fitness and health-related notifications and is aimed at users who lead a more active lifestyle. The device features a curved Super AMOLED display pushes notifications from a Galaxy smartphone. It is also dust and water resistant.
The device also has a speaker and a microphone. All the new Gear devices (Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit) come with a built-in heart rate sensor and real-time fitness coaching.
Sony Smartwatch 2
Sony was the first to introduce the Smartwatch and has now come out with the second edition of the wearable device. The watch connects to most latest Android phones and Sony has slightly improved the design elements of the latest device making it NFC enabled, better battery life and dust and water resistant.
Nike+Fuelband
Nike recently updated its Nike+Fuelband to make it more sturdy and comfortable. The fitness tracker monitors your daily activity in terms of steps and distance and calculates the calories burnt. It connects with your smartphone (iPhone) through Bluetooth. However, with no Android App the usability is limited.
Pebble
Pebble is in news again as it has now released its App on the Android App store. The smartwatch project emerged out of a Kickstarter fund raising millions through crowd funding.
The device went on a major partnership drive of late with players such as iControl that connects to smart homes, Mercedes-Benz that enables vibration alerts in case of road hazards, accidents and speed limits.
Fitbit Flex
Fitbit another activity tracking platform recently announced the Fitbit Force following the success of Fitbit Flex. Force has also been recalled following complaints of rashes.
With the Flex, meanwhile, users will be able to keep track of their daily activities and even sleep. The device monitors sleep pattern through an iPhone and Android App.