Wearable Computing & Fashion - Page 13

The Apple Watch has given the smartwatch sector and wearables industry a boost, but there is still plenty of work left to be done, according to a survey from UserTesting. In its survey, 38 percent of users said they would recommend it, while 35 percent were passive and 27 percent had negative experiences.

Watch owners seemed most frustrated by third-party apps that have proven to be rather clunky - and despite the Apple Watch showing great potential - there are significant performance problems that must be addressed.

"These survey results are not overwhelming," said Michael Mace, VP of mobile at UserTesting, in a statement published by Forbes. "If Apple wants people to get excited and recommend heavily, it needs to get additional hooks. Third-party apps will be the best way."

There are plenty of smartwatches and other wearables hitting the market, but most consumers just don't seem interested enough to buy them, according to a report from eMarketer. Industry forecasts look good, and consumer awareness of wearables is increasing, but trying to convince us to actually purchase a wearable remains difficult.

"Even though the Apple Watch has had early sales success, consumer survey data suggests manufacturers, specifically their marketing teams, have significant work to do in convincing the average person that a smartwatch is as worthy of their time and money as tablets proved to be," said Cathy Boyle, analyst at eMarketer, in the report.

Boyle also admitted that it's difficult trying to gauge the current wearables market, as more products hit the market - and what is categorized as a wearable also tends to change. Even with consumer doubt at the moment, it looks like the future still looks good for manufacturers creating wearables. In February, the Gartner research group said there was 38 percent year-over-year growth - and that trend will likely continue in the future.

Additional models of the Apple Watch will be available for purchase in retail stores starting on June 26, in a move that Apple hopes will increase sales at its retail stores. In addition, the Apple Watch will be released in Spain, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Switzerland and Taiwan on June 26.

"The response to Apple Watch has surpassed our expectations in every way," said Jeff Williams, SVP of operations at Apple. "We're also making great progress with the backlog of Apple Watch orders."

Even though Apple hasn't issued public numbers related to Watch units sold or shipped, company officials said the demand has outpaced current supply levels. S&P Capital IQ analyst Angelo Zino told Reuters that it'd be "plausible" for 30 million Apple Watch units to be shipped in 2016.

Do you want an affordable wearable? Forty percent of wearable devices are priced at less than $100, as the market quickly evolves.

The top five wearable manufacturers based on Q1 2015 market share: Fitbit (34.2 percent), Xiaomi (24.6 percent), Garmin (6.1 percent), Samsung (5.3 percent), and Jawbone (4.4 percent).

"As with any young market, price erosion has been quite drastic," said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst of Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers at IDC. "We now see over 40 percent of the devices priced under $100, and that's one reason why the top 5 vendors have been able to grow their dominance from two thirds of the market in the first quarter of last year to three quarters this quarter."

Computex 2015 - We haven't seen too much about smartwatches since CES Las Vegas back in January, but ASUS has been working on a new model since then - the ASUS VivoWatch.

Featuring a 128x128 resolution, low power consumption and Corning Gorilla Glass 3, the internals boast a 3-axis accelerometer, optical heart rate sensors with "ASUS VivoPulse technology," Bluetooth 4.0 and up to 10 days worth of battery life with 'normal operation' taking place - ASUS claims this beast will charge in only 1-2 hours.

Wrapping up the feature list is a water resistance rating of IP67, a standard 22mm strap size and a small 50g weight.

With Google I/O 2015 now over, one of the more interesting things that the Google ATAP team unveiled was Project Soli. Project Soli is a Kinect-like system that is also similar to Leap Motion, where it will eventually see gesture-based controls to Android wearables.

Project Soli uses a "broad beam radar to measure doppler image, IQ and spectrogram" reports Engadget. The chip itself recognizes movement, velocity and distance, which can all be programmed to change the input based on that distance. This will see gesture-based controls on mobile devices in the near future, with hand motions that would be quite natural, something that Technical Program Lead from ATAP, Ivan Poupyrev, explains as: "What we propose is that you use a hand motions vocabulary".

The Project Soli chip itself features a 60Hz radar spectrum, going nuts at 10,000 frames per second. The final chip will feature everything required to be plug and play, including the antennas. ATAP says that the device can be made to scale, and that they are still working on finalizing the board. The team has already gotten the device from the size of a pizza box, to around the size of an SD card in just 10 months time. Project Soli will hopefully be rolled out to developers later this year.

Computex 2015: We're just a few days away from Computex 2015, and the tech world will turn its focus towards Taipei. Traditionally used to show off PCs, mobile devices, and other consumer-centric devices, there could be a new focus at this year's show: wearables and products that connect to the Internet of Things (IoT).

As consumers become more comfortable with wearables, Computex could be a major launching pad for announcements - with Acer, ASUS, and other major Asian companies expected to announce new consumer wearable products. In addition, smaller companies could use the major tech trade show to announce and launch devices, especially if they can connect to smartphones and tablets.

Meanwhile, IoT should have a major presence at the show, and with more business partnerships being forged, consumers are looking ahead to the future. An estimated 30 billion to 50 billion Things will likely be on the market by 2020, and the emerging market will only accelerate higher.

The Apple Watch is expected to help propel smartwatches and the wearables to the next level, but it still seems to be nothing more than a want over an actual need, according to a recent survey.

Although 39 percent of Apple Watch owners report being "very satisfied," 36 percent are neutral on the device, and 25 percent of users reported being disappointed. However, the Wristly survey only asked 59 Apple Watch owners, so future studies will likely use significantly larger sample sizes.

One owner's comment stood out: "I think the watch is good, but I feel that it is not a technological need but a technological want. I feel like your life will be fine either way. It's fun to have, it's a conversation starter, it does make a few things a little bit easier, but it's not a necessary thing to own."

If you're not a celebrity or part of the 1%, you probably haven't received your Apple Watch Edition yet. Sure, you might have slapped down over $10,000 for Apple's first wearable, but consumers are only beginning to receive their expensive new Watch in the last few days.

Now that it's here, we have an unboxing video that you can check out above, which shows off the external packaging Apple has used. For $10,000+, the packaging is virtually identical to that of the stainless steel Apple Watch, except for the 18-karat gold casing and unique band on the side of the Watch.

Inside of the Apple Watch Edition box, we have the colored leather-covered box that features the MagSafe connector, with a color-matched cleaning cloth with the word 'Edition' embossed into the material. The very first time you boot up the Watch Edition, a description onf the Watch's hardware materials will appear, as you can see in the image above.

Chip manufacturer ARM and humanitarian aid group UNICEF are teaming up to deliver wearables in developing countries. ARM and UNICEF hope to increase education and improve health standards in countries that are in need of assistance.

As part of the Wearables for Good Challenge, manufacturers and designers have the chance to help create low-cost, efficient and sustainable wearables and sensors. Both ARM and UNICEF will work together to choose which countries should receive immediate help, with trials expected over the next year.

"It feels to me like the pace of innovation has increased, the cost of innovation has come down and we are in a world where people want to partner," said Simon Segars, CEO of ARM, in a statement to CNET. "So if some good comes from this, then that will be great."

It looks like Google is expanding its Google Glass team, which is now working on "smart eyewear and other related products". The Mountain View-based giant is hiring a slew of new people to expand its products and services.

With Google going on a hiring spree, we could expect Google Glass 2.0, or a totally new Glass to be unveiled at Google I/O at the end of the month. The company has been posting job listing ads for its Glass team, something that has included an Audio Hardware Manager, a Human Factors Designer, an RF Systems Engineer, and a Hardware Automation Engineer (Manufacturing).

Google has said that it is working on a new version of Glass for consumers, but we haven't heard much about it lately, until now. The new description for the Glass team teases: "The Google Glass division is a world-class team focused on the cutting edge of hardware, software and industrial design. It is charged with pioneering, developing, building and launching smart eyewear and other related products in line with Google's ambitious and visionary objectives".

All eyes are currently on the Apple Watch, but it looks like Samsung could have an answer to the Digital Crown with its upcoming smartwatch dubbed 'Project Orbis'.

Samsung's new smartwatch will reportedly feature a 1.18-inch circular display with a resolution of 360x360 (305PPI), a 2G data connection and Samsung's own Tizen OS. Project Orbis will also include various sensors like GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, heartbeat sensor, pressure sensor and a magnetic sensor.

Project Orbis will have something that stands out however, with a metal bezel that can be turned to navigate throughout its operating system. The rotatable bezel can be used to not just navigate the UI, but adjust the volume, zoom in and out of photos, and much more. Samsung is expected to call Project Orbis the Gear A, which should be unveiled with the Galaxy Note 5 at IFA 2015 in September.

The growing activity tracking company Fitbit has today announced plans to float on the stock exchange, in a $100 million IPO.

In documents submitted to the New York Stock Exchange, via TechCrunch, the company has announced it's sold through 20.8 million devices since its inception in 2007. The company has also demonstrated significant growth with over half of its lifetime sales made in the last year, with revenue for 2014 at $745.4 million, a huge leap from $271.1 million in 2013.

Fitbit is upfront about the challenges it faces in a competitive environment, even naming the Apple Watch in it's registration statement, but noting that they "believe we compete favorably with our competitors on the basis of these factors as a result of our leading market position and global brand, advanced and proprietary sensor technologies, software-driven online dashboard and mobile apps, our motivational and social tools, and our premium software offerings" and kicks Apple with "our singular focus on building a connected health and fitness platform, coupled with a leading market share, has led to our brand becoming synonymous with the connected health and fitness category."

Consumers are expected to begin adopting wearable "smart" clothing at a rapid rate in the coming years, with the market topping 10 million units each year by 2020, according to the Tractica Research firm.

The sports market gets most of the attention related to smart clothing, with athletes wearing shirts, shorts, socks, and other apparel using embedded sensors to track physical data. However, a transition from sports material to street apparel is expected for smart clothing, as the necessary technology begins to drop in price.

"The ultimate wearable computer is a piece of smart clothing that one can wear as a garment or a body sensor that can track and measure specific vital signs," said Aditya Kaul, director of Tractica Research, in a statement published by VentureBeat. "Both of these device categories are designed to seamlessly integrate with users' daily lives."

The Apple Watch is currently the best smartwatch available to consumers, according to a recent Consumer Reports tested 11 different smartwatch models, including several different Apple Watch models. The results are based on various tests that include durability, water resistance, readability, ease of use, ease of interaction, and health functionality.

The Apple Watch tops the Apple Watch Sport and LG G Watch R (tied for No. 2), Pebble Steel, Moto 360, ASUS ZenWatch, Samsung Gear S, Martian Notifier, and Sony SmartWatch 3.

"In the end, our top-rated smartwatch is the stainless-steel Apple Watch," according to Consumer Reports. "Its performance on the scratch-resistance test and excellent scores for ease of pairing and ease of interaction make it our top choice. Not an iPhone user? Not to worry, several Android-compatible models and one multi-OS-compatible smartwatch got very good overall scores as well."

Apple might have just launched its Watch, but the wearable market has been here for quite sometime, and now ASUS wants to make its splash into the wearable game with the VivoWatch.

Where ASUS is going to stray from Apple is pricing, with Apple Watch starting at a huge $549, ASUS could really get some consumers on its side with its $149 price tag. At $149, ASUS has used Android Wear on the VivoWatch, but the long battery life is going to be another draw card, where it should be at around 10 days, which is damn impressive. Apple Watch on the other hand, provides users with around 19 hours of battery life.

The VivoWatch sports a 1.28-inch black and white touchscreen which uses an LCD panel from Sharp, but the display is somewhat unique. When you start tapping or swiping at the VivoWatch display, only part of the image moves, which extends battery life considerably. ASUS has also used a different chip inside of the VivoWatch, instead of a full blown system-on-a-chip (SoC).

Luxury watch company TAG Heuer will release a Google Android Wear-powered device by the end of the year, sporting a whopping $1,400 price tag. The custom watch could be available in October, but shouldn't launch any later than November, according to company officials.

The watch has been created with the help of Intel and Google, with all three companies announcing a partnership in March. Google is providing Android Wear while TAG Heuer will use a new Intel microprocessor to power the costly watch.

Following the same idea as other smartwatch manufacturers, TAG Heuer hopes the Apple Watch helps bring additional attention to the wearable market. "The more they sell, the more a few people will want something different and come to TAG Heuer," said Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of TAG Heuer, in a statement to Bloomberg.

An issue with the Apple Watch's taptic engines has slowed the wearable's rollout, but Apple will resolve the problems and move on, according to an analyst. This is the first new product under CEO Tim Cook's leadership, so expect reported problems to be thoroughly investigated.

"Apple always has produced a phenomenal product. They are driven to produce a high-quality product, so I think they will iron out all these issues and bring a quality product to market," said Ivan Feinseth, analyst and chief investment officer at Tigress Asset Management, in a statement published by CNBC.

The popular Silicon Valley company is closely watched by consumers, analysts, and the media, typically fixing issues with its products sooner rather than later. Analysts still believe millions of Apple Watch units will be sold this year, helping give a major boost to the wearables market in 2015.

Google might not be pushing along with the first generation of its Glass product, but it looks like the company is still working on something Glass-like, by sending in a new "smart BLE" device through to the FCC for approval.

The A4R-CAP1 device has a few things that let us know it's a new wearable, such as the digital FCC label below looking just like the Glass interface cards, something that you see when you swipe across. This shows us that we should expect a touchstrip of some kind, just as Google Glass featured.

We could see another device that uses Glass-like navigation, but I think we're going to see the next iteration of Glass shown off at Google I/O in a couple of months time, what do you think?

In the United States, smartwatch ownership will reach nine percent of adults by 2016, putting increased pressure on fitness activity trackers, according to The NPD Group. Activity tracker ownership will peak at 32 million users by the end of 2016, after four years of significant growth.

"The smartwatch will clearly begin to take a bite out of the activity tracker market moving forward," said Eddie Hold, VP of Connected Intelligence at The NPD Group. "The fact that the health and fitness apps on smartwatches are a key marketing focus will help draw consumers away from the simpler trackers."

A whopping 40 percent of fitness tracker owners stop using their selected device within six months - and with the rise of the smartwatch - will force a drastic evolution of fitness trackers.