By Wearable technology seems to be the word on the biggest of the fashion industry names’ lips this year.
Diane von Furstenburg, Ralph Lauren, Diesel and Guess have been working on projects to do with wearable tech, out of which some have already taken off. It is with a great deal of excitement that we will welcome huge projects of wearable technology, like the Google Glass, but also others that are expected to break the market this year.
Will.i.am has been getting his hands dirty with the production of the i.am+ Puls smart bangle. He refuses to call it a smartwatch, as he says watches do not take SIM cards. The bangle runs on a 1GB RAM and holds an impressive 16GB of memory. It has Bluetooth and GPS technology and can work on WIFI as well as phone data. A feature we can’t wait to get our hands on and try out is AnnedA, a much promising built in voice recognition assistant software. The i.am+ Puls will support social networks including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and also music streaming will be available on the device by 7digital.
There is speculation around what sensors it will feature for fitness purposes but so far, it has only been revealed that the bangle has the capacity to count pull-ups. The bangle, which is a quite chunky piece of wearable tech, will have a curved screen (much like the Samsung Gear S) and a magnetic clasp. The“Make It Great” application offered the possibility to the American public to be the first to purchase a limited stock of the i.am+ Puls for the price of $399 and the official release is speculated between February and March this year.
Who says wearable tech is only for cool futuristic-looking and acting artists? Andy Murray, famous British tennis player, has already been making steps to establish himself as a wearable tech entrepreneur. Murray has been dropping hints about already having established companies and his pursuits for partnerships. He has also expressed an interest in the utilization of wearable technology in sports. The athlete has been an ambassador for the Wearable Technology UX conference in September 2014 in London, where he didn’t miss the opportunity to talk about his own interests to develop wearable tech for sports. Let’s just wait to see what Murray has in store for us, and what this year has in store for Murray.
Skully has been developing the Skully AR-1 helmet. The Skully helmet is a motorcycle helmet with an ultra-wide rear-view camera, GPS navigation, Bluetooth technology for connectivity to a smartphone and internet accessibility via smartphone. Through the smartphone connectivity, the user can take or make calls via their smartphone using voice command. All these functions are made possible through a fully transparent display on the front of the helmet.
As far as its classical helmet functionality, the helmet remains a light and high-quality piece of equipment whilst on the tech side of things, it gives the user a live rear-view feed, provides telemetry (remote measurements) and other user data such as speed, navigation, fuel levels and journey information. Design-wise, the product lives up to the expectations. It maintains the high-tech look, comes in two different colours (matte black or gloss white) and in sizes S-XXL. The Skully AR-1 has been available for pre-order at the price of $1499 and has already sold out. It will be available for pre-order again in the near future.
It would be an omission on our part not to mention the Apple Watch. The first-gen Apple Watch has already achieved to deliver a lot more than its rivals managed to achieve in their second or even third generation products. Like many smartwatches, the Apple Watch is a companion device to a smartphone – in this case, the iPhone. When connected to an iPhone the Apple Watch can make and take calls, messages and emails and connect to other Apple Watches.
A specifically exciting function to the Apple Watch is its sensors, which aid its fitness features. It comes with a heart rate sensor and it is able to count your steps or even how many floors you climbed by measuring air pressure and the difference in elevation. It is naturally equipped with Siri and is able to give directions using the iPhone’s GPS navigation system. It falls a little short on the fact that it does not have its own built-in GPS, like other smartwatches do. The Apple Pay feature allows the wearer to tap and pay on a chip and pin reader with the same NFC-powered digital wallet technology the iPhone 6 has. The Apple Watch comes with a retina display and in two sizes, 38mm and 42mm and comes with different straps, from sportier looking ones to much classier and deluxe ones. The Apple Watch will be released this spring with the price starting from $349 in the USA and price to be confirmed in the UK.
Lauren Bowker is the founder of The Unseen, a fashion company that explores material in non-conventional ways. In a colaboration between The Unseen and Swarovski, Lauren Bowker and her team developed a headdress consisting of 4,000 Swarovski gems that light up and change colour based on brain activity. The interesting aspect of this garment is that the team of The Unseen have been exploring alternative ways of human interaction, without the foundation verbal communication.
While there has been arguments to whether skin conductivity is a valid method for interpreting emotion, thought and feelings, we cannot but get fascinated by this innovative piece of fashion and wonder what the future holds for emotion sensing wearable technology.
Other wearable technology that is emerging in 2015 is Whistle by NewDealDesign (an activity monitoring and GPS tracking smart collar for dogs – because who said wearable tech is only for humans?).
Innovation and creativity meet fashion and technology in the finest of ways this year. It looks like it is going to be the greatest year yet in wearable technology and we cannot wait to see more.
Words by Marios Pitsillidis