Straight from CES 2014: 14 New Smartwatches to Check Out
By now you’ve noticed. Wearables are huge at CES this year. Like bigger than Gaga, bigger than The Hunger Games, bigger than Justin Bieber and Gaga showing up at your local theater to watch The Hunger Games together. And we’re all about the smartwatch movement.
1. MyKronoz ZeNano ($130): It answers phone calls. It reads texts. It records voice memos. It streams music. The Swiss-designed watch is coming into a line of already existing smartwatches hitting price points all over the place.
2. Pebble Steel ($249): As some of you sporting the plastic version already know, Pebble is the pioneer in the arena. And now they’ve gone and glammed themselves out by encasing their platform in brushed stainless and black matte, complete with an upgraded operating system (available to wearers of the previous as well). What’s even more incredible is their growing ecosystem of apps. Yelp, ESPN, and Pandora are a few already on board. Pebble Steel is available for preorder now. Get on it. Time is ticking.
3. Intel: This isn’t a product yet, but it will be. What’s cool about it is the geofencing feature. Let’s say you have a teenage son who is only allowed to take the car 10 blocks from your home. If he leaves the parameters, you’ll get a notification that the little rascal is out of radius. (We hope you find a less Orwellian use for it.) Expect to see it hitting the shelves sometime toward the end of the year… which is like forever away. We know. (via Next Power Up)
4. Razer Nabu: Lying somewhere between fitness band and smartphone, but not really either is the Nabu. Is it its promise of the 7-to-10-day battery life? Or the dual screens (one on the outside of your arm, showing incoming calls and a private one on the inside of your arm, showing who it’s coming from) that made us double take? Word on the street is there are a few kinks to iron out, but it’s hard not to drop your jaw at that price tag: $49. Can you even get a Swatch for that anymore? (via Digital Trends)
5. Martian Notifier ($129): Hello, handsome. Finally, something you might actually want to wrap around your wrist in the looks department. What we’re digging about it is, rather than just constantly getting vague vibrations in our pocket or purse, this watch gives you a discreet message, letting you know exactly what your phone is screaming about. Suave and debonair no matter which way you look at it.
6. Adidas miCoach Smart Run ($399): This sports-minded machine is equipped with a CES-award winning component, the Mio Heart Rate Monitor. Serious runners everywhere will be pounding the pavement to get one. Those people are fast. So you better hurry before they beat you to them.
7. PHTL HOT: Kickstarter kick started, HOT stands for Hands-On-Talk, not “oh, you’re such a sexy timepiece.” Perks here are it comes in four different shapes and styles, so there’s more choices compared to competitors. But what’s got us particularly pumped is that you can actually take calls directly from the watch. So cup that hand and do your best 007 impression, boys. (That actually is hot.)
8. Archos: Count them. Not one, but three watches are coming out of French tablet design company, Archos. We like the option of a trio of watches. It allows room for everyone to get in on the fun, no matter your budget. The $50 option has a basic black-and-white screen like the Pebble and a battery life up to 1.5 weeks. For $50 more, you get a full-color screen, and you can pick your wristband color, but you give up 13 days of battery life. Get the best of both worlds with the $150 option: Color screen and long battery life. Long live it.
9. Cogito Pop ($129): Call us shallow if you must, but we’re giving major props to the Cogito Pop for one reason: Someone is finally acknowledging the female market. We’ve got our eyes on that hot pink number.
10. Kreyos Meteor ($170): We like to move it, move it. And that’s why we like Kreyos Meteor. Sure it’s got speakers and mics, but we’re digging the gesture command. Let’s say you want to change the song rocking out of your watch. Just put your hand out like you’re showing someone that pyramid ring you DIY’ed up last week and shake it from side to side, as if saying, “Look at what I have and you don’t.” Seems appropriate.
11. Sonostar ($179): Raise your hand if you love the Kindle display? Yeah, that’s what we thought. Sonostar was also hip with the Kindle screen, which is why they incorporated the same one in their smartwatch… miniaturized, of course.
12. MetaWatch ($230): We’ve all at least thought about owning a Fossil watch at some point in our lives. So we consider the MetaWatch a visit from an old friend. A group of ex-Fossil engineers created the operating system and then made an incredibly smart move. They hired the darling of the smartphone industrial design community, Frank Nuovo. You might recognize Nouvo’s work from Nokia or Vertu, but what you’ll definitely notice is the craftsmanship, premium metals, and leather wristband.
13. Neptune Pine ($335): Leave it to a 19 year old to want it all. That’s right. This monster of a wristband was made by a teenager (thanks for making us all feel like underachievers, kid.) And there’s good reason why it comes in size gargantuan. It’s one of the smartest of the smartwatches. Meaning smartphones everywhere should be trembling in their cases. (via CNN)
14. Filip ($200): Have kids? You’re about to give them a $200 watch! Maybe that’s not your style, but we’re sure plenty of parentals out there will be hopping on the tracking device trend. Filip made theirs specifically for kids, complete with playroom-worthy colors. Modern-day kids will never get away with anything again. Adulthood never felt so good.
Got your pulse on a smartwatch? Clock in your comments below!
