Barely a decade ago, it seemed like science fiction to imagine a watch which would not only tell time, but also make phone calls, connect with the internet and bring you the latest updates and information straight to your wrist. More fascinating still would have been a glass worn in front of your eyes that could deliver information right in front of your eyes.
Today, we are living in an age where anyone can buy a smart watch or a Google glass. What was fiction a decade ago is reality today. But what does this mean for our future?
The Present
When cell phones were launched, they were extremely expensive and outside the reach of the average buyer. But mass penetration and adoption have made mobile phones including Smartphones affordable. The segment of wearable gadgets is now following the same trend.
Today there aren’t too many wearables which are affordable for an average buyer, but soon there will be. Some popular ones today include the Samsung Gear series, Sony Smart watches, and a few more which are now available in the market. But not too many of them are really “smartphone-smart”. By smartphone-smart, I’m referring to gadgets which connect with your smartphone and offer various conveniences, like displaying your notifications, pulling in information, reading messages and controlling your Smartphone. Other bands are just fitness trackers and are limited to this functionality, while devices like the Samsung Gear are true smart wearables.
Fitness is one important area where these wearables and bands are really personalized. You can enter your health and fitness information into the tracking app and it will help you follow your favourite workout schedules, keep track of your workouts, calories consumed, etc.
Samsung is globally a leading player in the smart watch segment with their products like Gear Fit and Gear 2 which are more readily available across markets compared to other brands. We also have smart watches by Sony, LG and other brands that have showcased their wearable products and should be on the market soon. There is speculation that Microsoft is also about to enter the smart watch market to compete with Samsung. With time, these wearable will keep getting more and more affordable, much like we buy a good Bluetooth headset these days.
The Future
While we talk about the latest trends in technology today, we should also be prepared for more intrusive technologies. While it may seem like an overdose of technology, these devices are really useful when it comes to accessing information in a jiffy. Google Glass is one such radical wearable gadget which brings information right in front of your eyes. We have also heard rumours about the Samsung “Gear Blink,” which would also be a wearable glass-like solution.
The wearables of the future will definitely keep evolving in capability. The heart-rate monitor on the Gear series is one innovation we have seen recently. The wearables of future may also double up as gaming controllers for motion sensing gaming.
Besides being more capable than before, these wearables will also become trendier and gel better with our lifestyles, without looking absurd or attracting too much attention. Samsung Gear 2 is a fine example of this, since it looks well crafted and does not look much different in size and form factor than a usual wrist watch
Wish list
I will end this article with a small wish list; things I would want from a gadget which I can wear:
– It shouldn’t make me look like an alien (it should look natural).
– It should connect with other devices seamlessly.
– It should be affordable.
– It should focus more on functionality than underlying platforms.
This article has been contributed by Rohit Khurana, Editor and Founder of an online gadget and technology magazine Intellect Digest. He is a technology expert and has done some technology features with NDTV. Rohit also runs a youtube channel where he posts gadget review videos.