Tag: Smartwatches/Bands

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Kids/Babies Smartwatches/Bands

Octopus smartwatch teaches kids time and good habits

Kids’ smartwatches tend to merely be stripped-down versions of standard smartwatches, with fewer features but more colorful designs.

Octopus is a twist on kids’ smartwatches, featuring a simple, icon-based user interface designed to teach children good habits and the concept of time, while fostering independence, responsibility and self-esteem. The watch works in conjunction with Android and iOS mobile devices that allow parents to manage Octopus from their own smartphones and tablets. Octopus ships in March at $79, but Kickstarter backers can order one for a pledge starting at $49 for early birds. Its makers hope to raise $50,000 by July 22.

The design of Octopus sets it apart from many other kids smartwatches, such as Miiya. That it’s water resistant is a plus, but being waterproof would be preferable for any kids’ smartwatch considering how likely it is that the device will get wet at some point. More importantly, Octopus doesn’t –- at least for now –- have the ability to alert parents as soon as their child is about to be out of range. That’s a feature that its makers are working on and want to make available by the time it ships … or at least as a free software update later on.

 

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Chargers/Batteries Health and Wellness

Tylt Vu Pulse adds heart rate, wireless charging to Pebble Time

Heart rate tracking is one of the most helpful features of some fitness activity trackers and smartwatches including the Apple Watch. But it’s not a feature (yet anyway) on the Pebble Time smartwatch. The need to plug in the watch to charge it, meanwhile, can be a major hassle.

Tylt Vu Pulse is an add-on, protective case for the Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel that adds heart rate monitoring, as well as wireless charging, to those smartwatches. The case connects to the accessory port of the watches and syncs with Android and iOS mobile devices using Google Fit and Apple Health.

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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.

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Wearables

Reserve Strap charges Apple Watch while you wear it

The Apple Watch isn’t even out yet, but many people are already viewing the device’s 18 hour battery life as a point of concern.

Coming to the rescue is the Reserve Strap, a charging band for Apple’s new smartwatch that charges the device while its user is wearing it. Photos at the strap’s website, where pre-orders are being taken, show a design that features a silicon band with embedded lithium polymer cells and an inductive charging cradle located between the user’s wrist and the Apple Watch itself. The strap is similar in concept to the smartstraps recently announced by Pebble for its new line of smartwatches, including the Pebble Time.

Through prototyping, the Reserve Strap’s maker has refined the product’s design and has come up with a few other ways to charge the watch that remain undisclosed for the time being. Interested buyers should note that there is no ship date yet for the band. Nor is there a final price, for that matter, but the site lays out an estimated selling price of $249.99.

The Reserve Strap, featured in a Backerjack podcast, seems to solve an issue many Apple Watch users will likely face. As a result, this product has all the makings of a slam dunk — so long as the Apple Watch catches on, that is.

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Smartwatches/Bands

Comfortably watch video on your wrist with the Blu smartwatch/smartphone hybrid

Most smartwatches on the market look fairly similar, with screens typically too small to be used for viewing items like video or mapping directions.

patent-claimedThe makers of Blu have created a bendable and wearable smartphone/smartwatch that’s worn like a bangle around the wrist. The device features a flexible 5-inch by 2-inch HD OLED display capable of covering a user’s full wrist. With such a design, the device is able to incorporate an overlapping clasp that allows the Blu to fit users with wrist circumferences ranging from 5.5 inches to 8.5 inches.

The waterproof Blu also features an invisible 360-degree speaker system which emits sound from all around the wrist. Another notable feature of the device’s futuristic design is a light bar which can be incorporated into application functions for games, social media apps, and even standard mobile phone notifications. Adding a dash of customization, the light bar’s colors can be user-adjusted. Blu will cost $799 when it ships in May and its maker is hoping to raise $600,000 AUD (~$468,700 USD).

Blu has several unique features that separate it from the growing smartphone pack and its distinctive look will likely appeal to many consumers. That said, its industrial design may prove to be off-putting to many, especially those who don’t want something so large around their wrists.

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Smartwatches/Bands

After devouring folding keyboards, FlyShark takes on the smartwatch

A common knock against most smartwatches is that their most significant functions, such as making phone calls, can only be used when a paired smartphone is nearby.

Following their successful campaign for a sleek folding keyboard accessory for smartphones, the makers of the FlyShark Smartwatch have set out to remove this codependence from smartwatches. Specifically, the FlyShark Smartwatch can make private calls and send and receive messages all without requiring users to touch their smartphones. Generally, the FlyShark Smartwatch can function independently so long as there is a Micro SIM card installed.

Like other smartwatches, it also functions as an exercise tracker and heart rate monitor. Unlike the soon to be released Apple Watch, FlyCatch also features a built-in camera. Other features include dual Bluetooth 3.0 and 4.0 support. The campaign, which seeks $10,000, will remain open until April 1, 2014.

FlyShark has some nice features, but the jury’s out on just how much appeal there is for a smartwatch whose main selling point is its independence from the smartphone. Many consumers on the market for a smartwatch, after all, likely already own a smartphone. It’s therefore a little hard to see how FlyShark can compete against popular brands like Samsung, LG, and Apple.

 

Categories
Smartwatches/Bands Technology Wearables

Colorful Miiya connects kids to physical activity

For a kids’ smartwatch to be appealing to its targeted customer base, it must accomplish a few things. On the one hand, it needs to feature all the usual technology that tracks a user’s activity, while at the same time making it fun to wear and use. The device also needs to be visually appealing enough for kids to want to wear it. Making it available in multiple colors helps.

Miiya, designed by a pair of Belgium-based brothers, has been created with those features in mind. It is being fielded in four colors: blue, orange, red and white, each featuring the same cute original Miiya character icon in a superhero cape. The smartwatch tracks the activity of its young users and they are given gold stars each day as rewards for physical activity.

A Miiya app for smartphones gives parents direct access to daily reports on their kids’ activities. The device uses Bluetooth LE to synchronize with the phones. It is already compatible with iOS (starting with the iPhone 4S) and will also be compatible with Android (expected in May) and then Windows Phone and Blackberry. The device’s “Dynamic Safety” feature enables parents to be warned if a child goes too far away from them and can indicate where the child has gone.

The Bluetooth signal range, however, is only about 200 feet. Interference can also be generated by a lot of objects, and that will reduce the signal range. The device is also waterproof and dust-resistant. Backers can buy a watch at the “super early bird” price of $75, a 40% discount off its normal price, for delivery in May. The device’s creators are looking to raise $50,000 on Indiegogo.

Miiya compares favorably to other kids’ smartwatches, including Jumpy. Miiya seems especially appealing at its $75 super early bird pricing, much less so at its regular price. Another barrier may very well be the Miiya name, which sounds uncomfortably similar to Mii, the name of the digital avatar in Nintendo’s videogame systems.