George Igor
Are smart watches, fitness bands in your future? Here are some that you can buy today!
Fitness band meets smartwatch once again: the Gear Fit feels like it has its finger on the pulse of where wearables need to be next. (Credit: CNET) It's way too early to get excited about a product that was just announced, and that I've barely had much time to play with.
Its rubbery matte finish looks like a Livestrong bracelet, and its 100-dot LED display can easily be read in full daylight and is even faster to scroll through than the previous model. Its snap closure can be a little tricky — it sometimes pinched my skin — but it does come in three sizes so you can get the best fit for your wrist
The Jawbone UP24 has a lot going for it: it's the sleekest wristband tracker on the market, with a slim form factor that's appealing for both men and women. Trackers have developed a reputation for being rugged and masculine — not something you'd want to keep on for a fancy dinner — but the UP24, much like its predecessors, is stylish the UP24, much like its predecessors, is stylish. It can blend into both work and nighttime attire much easier than the rest. It comes in black (oynx) and orange (persimmon) and in three sizes (small, medium and large).
There's plenty of commotion surrounding the smartwatch space these days, but let's not forget that some of us have essentially been strapping tiny computers to our wrists for years now. GPS-enabled running watches are a serious tool in a runner's arsenal, and Garmin recently outed two new ones - the Forerunner 220 and 620 - to help runners get a better grip on their performance.
Launch media viewer The Fitbit Force went on sale in October 2013, costs $130 and comes in black and navy blue. Its matte finish makes it less conspicuous than other wristbands.
Cast your mind back to the period between August and October 2012, and there was barely a whisper about a smartwatch round these parts. Pebble was funded and well underway, and we discovered a curious Google patent -- but that was pretty much it.
A massively popular Kickstarter-funded smart watch, the Pebble uses Bluetooth to connect to a smartphone and receive notifications for calls, texts, email, as well as control music and run other applications.
The dawn of wearable smart technology is upon us and as usual Chinese tech start ups are jumping on board. Here our review of one of the first pieces of wearable tech, the Geak W1 smartwatch.
While Samsung Electronics unveiled its new Gear 2 smartwatch to much fanfare, China's Huawei Technologies also made its own foray into the wearable device market this weekend. Huawei's TalkBand B1, unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Spain, is similar to most other smart bands worn around the wrist, keeping time and offering health-tracking features.
