Category: Smartwatches/Bands

Categories
Health and Wellness Smartwatches/Bands

Track your feelings and tap to pay all with Zenta, the smart emotion-tracking wearable

patent-claimedTowards the end of every presidency, before and after photos of the president in question make the rounds and show the toll eight years of high-level stress takes on the body, a sobering reminder of its prevalence in daily life. Left unmanaged, stress can wreak havoc on a person’s long-term health and well-being, but unfortunately isn’t generally handled well in modern society.

The Zenta follows a long line of crowdfunded, mindfulness-centered wearable focused on stress management and emotional well-being, but does so in a far more holistic way. For starters, it’s ceramic and leather construction makes it a fashion accessory anyone could wear comfortably. Inside, Zenta houses a wide range of technology: A Bluetooth radio for connectivity, microphone, temperature sensor, biometric optical sensor, 3-axis accelerometer, and a vibration motor along with multiple capacitive proximity sensors. All together, this allows Zenta to focus on effective management of smartphone notifications, activity tracking, and sleep monitoring.

Continue reading “Track your feelings and tap to pay all with Zenta, the smart emotion-tracking wearable”
Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

The Henlen modular smartwatch switches things up

Making the jump to becoming a smartwatch owner is a tricky decision. On the one hand, the added utility of a smartwatch can make one’s day more organized and efficient. On the other, smartwatches are continually criticized over being more a nuisance than anything, ultimately taking space away from other dumb, but far more stylish, watches.

The team at Henlen Watches felt the same and is now trying to fund its Origin Series of interchangeable smartwatches. A Henlen watch is comprised of three parts: its strap, its body, and its Cell, where all the technology is stored. Each part, including the Cell, is interchangeable between the two models available: the Commdander and the Covert. The former is a more rugged watch (with black or silver body options along with black or tan leather straps), while the latter is a more casual version (with the option of a rose gold or black body along with a chocolate leather or red leather strap). In this way, wearers of the Origin Series needn’t sacrifice the flexibility of multiple styles for a more connected experience.

Continue reading “The Henlen modular smartwatch switches things up”
Categories
Music Smartwatches/Bands

AirJamz turns air guitar wizards into rockers with a flick of the wrist

editors-choiceTom Cruise may have brought the risky business of air guitar playing in tightey-whiteys into the limelight back in the early ’80s. But today, the usually frivolous activity has a governing body and an annual championship in the U.S.

Now, the one activity that didn’t need a device to go with it finally has one: the AirJamz wearable. The strap works by combining a gyroscope to help translate pantomime shredding from movement to sound using its companion app. Two modes offer differing experiences: Music mode is a four player sandbox that allows the entire family to join in on the fun, while Guitar mode offers a more robust range of motion and tighter controls for a somewhat (and that’s used loosely) more realistic strumming experience.

Continue reading “AirJamz turns air guitar wizards into rockers with a flick of the wrist”
Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

The Hot Band makes any watch – dumb or smart – even smarter

editors-choiceSmartwatches run the gamut from simpler fare like the Pebble Classic to more advanced options like the Moto 360 and the Apple Watch. But despite the wealth of options on the market, smartwatches are like Cinderella’s glass slipper after the ball: part of a hunt for the right owner.

Fur many of these folks, though, wristwear comes down to aesthetics that no digital face can countenance. The multi-faceted Hot Band tackles that objection by making any dumb watch smart, hitting even the most baller of watches with a dose of digital intelligence through the use of two easily swappable fobs that sit on the wrist.

Continue reading “The Hot Band makes any watch – dumb or smart – even smarter”
Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

Hidn Tempo smart watchband reveals your hidden stress level

Stress is a problem that’s been linked by doctors to serious health issues including heart disease and obesity. One obstacle people face in fighting stress is that they don’t always realize when they are under stress and how it’s impacting the decisions that they make.

Hidn Tempo is a stress-measuring watchband with a working watch that teaches the person wearing it to control stress through three steps: awareness, knowledge and action. The watchband monitors the wearer’s stress level, sleep quality and activities all day. That information is sent to the accompanying Android and iOS app that analyzes the data and gives the user instant advice about what to do, when to do it and how to do it.

Continue reading “Hidn Tempo smart watchband reveals your hidden stress level”
Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

A modular smartband is what’s Nex

One of the biggest criticisms about most smartwatches and smartbands is unsurprisingly similar to smartphones: they can’t be upgraded. Consumers are forced to buy products with a static set of features that, while they may be expanded on slightly using OTA updates, they eventually become fundamentally outdated after a certain time.

The Nex Band is looking to outfit consumers with a bit more choice. The modular smart band allows users to fully customize it with Mods, small little blocks each with their own functionality. This makes it possible for users to use the iOS app to program hacks in combination with IFTTT, so opening and closing the garage door, turning up the A/C, and controlling every other connected aspect of life is possible — all from the wrist. A community aspect is present where users can share mods with each other.

Continue reading “A modular smartband is what’s Nex”
Categories
Kids/Babies Smartwatches/Bands

Keep an eye on your tykes with the video calling dokiWatch

Parents are constant concerned about their children’s wellbeing. In this hyperconnected world, though, giving them a full-featured smartphone is often a bit of an overkill, especially since parents may want to avoid the excessive screen time younger ones are exposed to.

The dokiWatch introduces a happy medium. The kid-centric smartwatch is made out of colorful, soft, and flexible plastic that house a GPS tracker along with GSM and Wi-Fi technology to allow parents to accurately track their offspring’s every move. dokiWatch one-ups Apple with the ability for children to video call, voice and text message their guardians or any other friends that might have shared a contact with.

Continue reading “Keep an eye on your tykes with the video calling dokiWatch”
Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

Sunu uses ultrasonic waves to help place the blind out of harm’s way

Those who are blind often discover that much of the world is set up for the sighted. The ways in which infrastructure, entertainment, products, etc. are all set up reinforce this. While tools and systems have been set up to make more of the world accessible, there’s still so much that can be done.

The dedicated team behind the Sunu band is trying to fill a huge gap to empower blind people while they move. The sun is primarily a band fitted with a device that fires off ultrasonic waves, delivering haptic feedback of objects that are at torso and head level. This better informs them of incoming obstacles. In conjunction with a cane, this means that the entire height of the individual is protected.

Continue reading “Sunu uses ultrasonic waves to help place the blind out of harm’s way”
Categories
Input Music Smartwatches/Bands

Skin wearable music controller needs appeal that’s more than skin deep

Not many people would enjoy the idea of having to take out their smartphone while working out to change music. There’s a level of focus necessary to really get the most out of a workout, and doing that will definitely make sure it’s never achieved.

Swiss inventor Yves Steinmann’s Skin wearable hopes to make that small but annoying situation an afterthought. It’s a simple black wristband that uses Bluetooth to connect to a device in order to control music without an app.

Continue reading “Skin wearable music controller needs appeal that’s more than skin deep”
Categories
Aquatics Health and Wellness Smartwatches/Bands

Surfers ride the fitness band wave with the Glassy Zone tracker

Although it seems that fitness and activity trackers exist for every sport, their conquest is not quite complete. Curiously, there’s nothing out there specifically for surfers which means an entire population of athletes that don’t have a choice at all when it comes to wearables.

GlassyPro’s Glassy Zone is that wearable device specifically designed with these board enthusiasts in mind. Its Fitbit band-like exterior houses a set of three LED lights for different notifications. Glassy Zone covers a wide range of variables so that users don’t have to fill their wrists up with different bands.

In conjunction with a companion iOS or Android app, Glassy Zone tracks sleep, monitors forecasts and keeps an eye on UV levels to ensure users received healthy amounts of sun. When it comes to actual surfing, the band tracks distance, time, speed and the actual conditions of both the weather and the waters at the time, all saved for review later on.

Continue reading “Surfers ride the fitness band wave with the Glassy Zone tracker”