Top 10 Best Wearable Tech Products of 2016 - Gear UP
What is wearable technology? If you have the latest tech products like an Apple Watch, Fitbit or even Google Daydream, you already own wearable devices. From VR headsets like the HTC Vive to Bluetooth rings by Ringly to augmented reality headsets like the Microsoft Hololens, wearables are the latest tech trend you'll be seeing a lot of in the future. WatchMojo teams up with tech-spert Marc Saltzman to bring you a wearable tech buyer's guide for 2016.
If you want to have a say in what gadgets we review or our upcoming topics, be sure to check out our Interactive Suggestion Tool at http://www.WatchMojo.comsuggest
Top 10 Best Wearable Tech Products of 2016 - Gear UP
Top 10 Worst Tech Rip-Offs You've Probably Bought - Gear UP
Why carry your tech when you can wear it? That’s the premise behind “wearables,” the latest crop of devices you can wrap on your wrist, place around your neck, slip onto a finger or put on your head – whether it’s for fitness, fashion, connectivity, or entertainment. Hey everyone, Welcome to Gear Up, the WatchMojo series that looks at the latest in tech trends. I’m Marc Saltzman, and in this video, we’re going to go from geek to chic, as we look at 10 awesome examples of wearable tech available today.
#1: Samsung’s Gear IconX earbuds
Gear IconX is a pair of wireless earbuds that can hold up to 1,000 songs thanks to its 4 gigabytes of internal storage – therefore not taking up any valuable space on your smartphone – and yes, if you prefer, you CAN use these as Bluetooth buds, to wirelessly play tunes on your phone, plus an integrated microphone means you can take a phone call, too. But this teeny product is more than just a cord-free MP3 player: it’s also a fitness tracker that can give you audible updates on info like speed, distance, duration, calories burned, and heart rate. After your workout, sync the Gear IconX with your Samsung smartphone for a deeper dive on your stats.
#2: The TomTom Spark 3 smartwatch
Top 10 Best Tech from CES 2017 - Gear UP
Building on its popular predecessor, the TomTom Spark 3 Cardio + Music Bundle GPS Fitness Watch leverages TomTom’s heritage in GPS location and mapping to be a trusted companion while jogging, running, cycling, swimming, and more. That is, along with its integrated heart-rate monitor and multiple sports modes, a feature called Route Exploration lets runners plan and upload up to 15 routes to their watch, and then follow along on the screen via GPS, which is a great way to explore new cities without fear of getting lost. With its on-board music storage, the TomTom Spark 3 holds up to 500 songs, and includes wireless Bluetooth headphones to hear them.
#3: Fitbit Charge 2
The latest from the most popular activity trackers available, Fitbit Charge 2 helps you stay informed and motivated while on the go. This wearable lets you set a daily goal – such as a certain number of steps taken, distance traveled or calories burned – and the lightweight and water-resistant wristband keeps track of your daily progress. Along with fitness info displayed on the device’s small screen, including heart rate, it wirelessly syncs with your phone or tablet to see how well you’re doing with colourful charts, graphs and historical data – plus it’ll automatically recognize the kind of exercise you’re doing, and give you reminders to move when you’re not. There’s also a sleep mode that tells you if you woke up, when and for how long, and a vibrating alarm to get you out of bed silently.
#4: Apple Watch Series 2
Top 5 Reasons Apple Wants You to Buy the iPhone X - Gear Up^
Apple’s second Apple Watch features everything found in the original – you can get directions, take calls, read and reply to texts, see calendar entries, wirelessly play music, and use your voice to ask Siri questions, and so on – but Apple Watch Series 2 features water resistance up to 50 metres, integrated GPS so you can run without an iPhone, twice the brightness of the first Apple Watch, a dual-core processor for faster speeds and the latest watchOS 3 operating system. Of course one of the killer apps for Apple Watch is Apple Pay, so you can tap or wave your wrist over one of those contactless terminals to buy something securely at retail.
#5: Hexoskin
In a nutshell, Hexoskin is smart clothing. Created by a Montreal-based company of the same name, these smart shirts are loaded with sensors that give you insight into your exercise goals – like steps, cadence and calories burned -- along with heart rate, breathing and even sleep quality. Information is then wirelessly sent in real-time to a companion app for iOS and Android. Hexoskin is perfect for fitness types who want to capture and send all of the data they want while training – without having to wear something on their wrist.
#6: Ringly’s Bluetooth rings
From smart clothes to smart jewelry, Number 6 is Ringly’s Bluetooth rings. Slip on one of the five different Ringly models on your finger…such as one of the black onyx or quartz models…and it can help track your activity – including steps taken, distance traveled and calories burned -- set and manage goals and view progress via the free Ringly app…and get smart alerts, which means you can receive customized phone alerts on your water-resistant ring – or Ringly bracelet -- with subtle vibration patterns and light. My favourite feature is the option to sync your favourite apps, so you can select notifications from your favorite apps – now supporting more than 100 popular productivity, wellness and messaging apps.
#7: Shockbox Helmet Sensors
Number 7…for those worried about concussions while playing hockey or football...Shockbox Helmet Sensors… There’s a few different ones to choose from but ideal for athletes, coaches or parents of young athletes who are concerned about head trauma during contact sports. The Hockey Shockbox helmet sensor is designed to be attached to the top of a hockey helmet and provide an immediate wireless transmission to your smart phone of a hit count and when a player has experienced a head impact that could result in a concussion. It takes any guess work away and alerts you to stop playing and seek medical advice. Similarly, the Football Shockbox Sensor is designed to be attached to the inside of a football helmet.
#8: HTC Vive
Top 10 Must-Have Gifts for Gamers and Geeks in 2016 - Gear UP
Number 8…for virtual reality buffs…HTC Vive… There’s a few VR players but HTC Vive has “room scale” support, which means you’re encouraged to walk around with this wearable on and your motion is tracked, along with your head movement, for a truly immersive experience. The head-mounted display features twin high-resolution screens, and a built-in camera for when you need to see around you. Grab the two wireless controllers and you can also interact with the content whether you’re shooting zombies, or something a little less violent like painting in a 3D space.
#9: Google Daydream
Top 10 Freaky Things You Should NEVER Google (EXPLICIT)
Number 9 is the newest PORTABLE VR wearable…Google Daydream… The big brother to Google Cardboard, Daydream was designed to work with newer Google Nougat smartphones which you snap into the headset, and then you can load one of the many games and other VR experiences designed for it and use the small wireless control pad that ships with Google Daydream to move around these digital worlds and interface with the content in it. The cloth-lined Daydream is small, light, and works well, and can be an ideal travel companion so your VR can travel with you.
#10: Microsoft’s Hololens
While not commercially available, as a video game reviewer and Game Critics judge at the annual E3 Expo, I can tell you Hololens is an awesome augmented reality headset with a lot of future promise – whether it’s this model that eventually is sold to consumers or a future iteration that’s smaller and lighter. After you don Hololens and secure it to your head, launch some content while will then be superimposed onto the real world around you. And you can even reach out and touch to interact with what you see through the visor that isn’t really there in the room with you. Hey, thanks for watching Gear Up; I'm Marc Saltzman. Let us know in the comments section which tech products you want us to review next and if you're interested in any of these products, you can find links in the description below. For more tech-tastic lists, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.
