From connected sports bras to smart mirrors that point out spots – more of the best tech from CES 2015
Throughout this week, AKQA's Christopher Marsh has been on a mission to identify the best new tech on display at the weird and wonderful Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In his final dispatch, he's getting physical with some head-mounted wearables, connected sports gear and a very honest mirror...
Despite mixed reviews of Google Glass, head-mounted wearables were in evidence everywhere. Jins Meme smart glasses give the user real-time feedback on stress and health levels. The Epson Moverio runs a flavour of Android, but like the Sony SmartEyeglass it needs a handheld controller to operate. The Sony SmartEyeglass Attach! works in a very similar way to Google Glass, and Toshiba demoed a very early prototype – the Toshiba Glass.
However, the ODG Smart Glasses stole the show, requiring no smart phone connection, and providing an incredible user experience. The form factor needs work, but its definitely one to watch
Smart clothes started to make an appearance this year. 3L Labs’ FootLogger is a connected insole, with multiple sensors providing insight into movement and posture. FootLogger is in fairly early stages of development, unlike Sensoria’s connected socks, sports bras, and t-shirts. The socks provide real-time feedback on foot landing and cadence, while the t-shirt and sports bra have built-in heart rate monitors. The socks especially will be of interest to serious runners.
Sports watches have made incredible advances over the past year. No longer the domain of dedicated athletes, most now have built-in heart rate monitors and are designed to gather data all the time – not just when exercising.
The Fitbit Surge includes GPS tracking, sleep monitoring, and all-day activity stats. Although not as sophisticated as Garmin kit, the sports analysis functionality is definitely catching up. The Mio Alpha 2 sports watch claims the most accurate wrist heart rate monitor, and can be used with other sports devices.
Although never really finding a foothold beyond novelty in the past, augmented reality was on show. Sharp’s virtual fitting solution worked reasonably well as a full-size means to try clothes on virtually, and Panasonic demonstrated a prototype smart mirror.
The mirror allowed a user to virtually try various applications of make-up, and the facial mapping then provided guidance on how to apply it. More impressively, the mirror was able to identify skin properties such as dryness or spots, and provide guidance on how to address them
Christopher Marsh is director of technology operations at AKQA. Catch up on his best of day one diary and best of day two.