Fancy a solar backpack à la James Bond, a designer ring that knows what you’re up to 24 hours a day or a street-savvy jacket allowing you to simply swipe your sleeve to take a call?
Never mind your fridge telling you the milk has run out, now you can pop a pill that will contact your doctor – via a body sensor – if you need medical intervention. And if you’re that way inclined, your Wi-Fi-enabled running shoes will “know” if you’re slacking off. There’s nowhere to hide – even from yourself!
Around 310.4-million wearable devices will be sold worldwide in 2017, an increase of 16.7% on 2016, according to leading global research and advisory company Gartner. The United States-based organisation holds symposiums all over the world, including recently in Cape Town.
Gartner believes sales of wearable devices will generate revenue of $30.5-billion in 2017. Of that, $9.3-billion will be from the sale of smartwatches.
This week, Levi’s and Google are launching a denim jacket with “gesture-sensing” Jacquard smart-technology threads woven into its cuff and a flexible “snap tag” wirelessly connected to your mobile phone. Brush or tap your sleeve to access your music or take a call.
Once you can lay your hands on this cool “commuter trucker jacket” costing $350, you’ll be able to use an iOS or Android app to customise your “gestures”. It will be available online and from a small selection of US boutique stores from 2 October 2017.
Beauty and bling
Smart jewellery – anything from earrings to necklaces – will let you track your fitness or sleep, and even help you manage stress or deliver notifications. Always dreamt of a sparkling designer rock on your finger? Now you can go one further and have your bling synced! The Michael Kors Access range includes an elegant activity-tracker bracelet in rose gold.
The sleek, metallic Oura ring will track everything from your daily activities to your heart rate and breathing. Conjuring up, admittedly, a vague sense of Big Brother watching, the Oura website says, “Your finger provides significantly more accurate tracking than your wrist’s veins ... Oura offers a more intelligent, unobtrusive and constant connection to your body than ever before.”
The Motiv ring, too, is an activity tracker that’s “always on”. It has battery life of up to five days, an optical heart-rate sensor, Bluetooth, and an LED indicator for charging and syncing.
Fit and fashionable
Fitness trackers have been around for some time, but intelligent trainers are relatively new. If the shoe fits, wear Altra IQ smart trainers with razor-thin sensors to monitor your next run, track statistics and (even!) offer feedback.
Stridalyzer insoles have built-in sensors gathering data on pace, distance, time, stride rate and much more. Access real-time tracking and alerts during your run if you’re carrying your phone, or review the data afterwards.
With the shoes, you need the shorts. Lumo Bodytech produces connected shorts with a gadget that measures a wide range of running metrics, from steps per minute, stride length and bounce to pelvic rotation. You simply push a button for the sensor to beam information to your phone.
It’s not only what’s inside, it’s what’s on top ... Carry your office on your back with a smart backpack, such as the solar-powered Lifepack, with a power bank offering six full phone charges, Bluetooth speakers for your music (96 hours of non-stop listening, anyone?) and then some.
Healthy and hot
Wearables are not just fun and hype. They’re big – and worthy – in the healthcare sector. The Philips wireless, wearable medical-grade biosensor, for example, measures patients’ heart and respiratory rates, skin temperature and vital signs, and then alerts medical caregivers of problems. The health-technology giant also offers non-invasive blood-pressure cuffs, arterial oxygen-saturation sensors and respiration accessories.
Wearable tech can even be the answer for all of us with needle phobia! A clinical study has found that the wearable Cloud DX wrist-worn blood pressure monitor is “comparably accurate” to an intra-arterial blood pressure catheter.
So, are Flowstars convinced?
“I’m a bit worried about wearable technology,” says project manager Carla de Klerk. “GPS accessories are all good and well until you realise it all comes down to tracking your movements and habits that, in turn, get sold to advertisers. Data farming is a thing!
“Having said that, if I’m forced, all I really need is some smart gadget that will help me find my glasses – once, I couldn’t find them for more than three weeks!”
Firmly in the opposite camp is fellow project manager Riefkah Adams, who believes “wearable technology is just another way to engage with the world and, more importantly, with yourself”.
Riefkah says, “We already use our mobile phones to communicate with friends and family via instant messaging or video calls ... some even track our sleeping patterns with an app, monitor our heartbeats, and store memories with high-resolution photos and videos in real time. What’s an add-on like a wristband, eyewear or hearables?
“I’m all for wearable technology with a cause. My ultimate tech dream is that someone develops a little detector that you drop in your handbag to point out when your bag is getting unhealthily heavy, which can cause problems with your back, neck, spine and overall posture. Hopefully, when this happens, my spouse will stop depositing all his stuff in my bag!”