News & Reviews:   smartband

Yup, you read that right. New case studies are saying that smartwatches may have a key to detect a COVID-19 virus. According to research from Mount Sinai Health System, Stanford University and other reputable medical and academic institutions, smartwatches such as Apple Watch, Garmin and Fitbit can detect infections before the symptoms start appearing up to 7 days.

Microsoft recently announced their first device for the smartband category with the Microsoft Band. Compatible with iOS, Android and Windows Phone the Band offers mostly fitness tracking, notifications and for those Microsoft Lumia users, voice commands with Cortana. Using a flat screen in a thermal plastic elastomer (something like silicon) it also features a UV sensor, optical heart-rate monitor and galvanic skin response sensor. Tech specs include a 1.4-inch flat touchscreen wutg 320 x 106 pixel resolution, GPS and 2x 100 mAh batteries. The Microsoft Band will work with the Microsoft Health platform to help track fitness globally. According to the app descriptions, features also include a 24 hour heart rate monitoroing and automatic activity counting system, which could indicate that it will last at least 24 hours on a single charge. No Malaysia release dates or pricing details yet but it does retail for $200 (RM657).

Apart from the Samsung Galaxy S5, Samsung Malaysia also revealed their Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch and Samsung Gear Fit smartband. Previously, the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch had major issues with compatibility, but not so with these two new wearable devices as Samsung Malaysia prove with an extensive device compatibility list which you can see in this article.

The Samsung Galaxy Gear 2, Galaxy Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit smartwatches and smartband were recently revealed at the MWC 2014 with many hoping that the pricing would be somewhat more affordable than the previous Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch. As it turns out, pricing could actually be the same or higher, but with a wider range to choose from this time around. Rumours from Sam Mobile indicate that the Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 could cost 299 Euros (RM1343), while the Galaxy Gear 2 Neo and the Gear Fit could go for 199 Euros (RM894) each. With the original Samsung Galaxy Gear already costing RM999, this dashes our hopes of a more affordable smartwatch alternative, but the price could change when it comes to Malaysia. No specific Malaysia release dates were mentioned but we'll find out soon enough (probably with the Samsung Galaxy S5 launch in Malaysia).

Most smartwatches today tend to suffer from poor battery life. In comparison to your normal watch which lasts 1-2 years before needing a battery change, the longest period most smartwatches can last is about a week, and even then, that is with very minimal usage. HTC have recently come out saying that they have solved this battery life problem and could be coming out with a HTC smartwatch in late 2014. This news comes from an interview by Bloomberg where top HTC execs revealed that the company will be coming out with a wearable by the end of 2014. While they didn't confirm if it would be a smartwatch, smart glasses or smart band, we're guessing a smartwatch or smart band would be the device in question. No news on tech specs, pricing or compatibility, which are the other limitations of smartwatches but we're hoping that HTC do their research and go for a device below or around RM500 that can be used by all devices.

A couple of months back we saw a Nike Fuelband inspired Apple iWatch concept from Thomas Bogner and in the recent CES 2014, the trend for smartwatches is leaning more towards the smart band or bracelet look than your traditional watch. This time around we get another, very polished and very beautiful Apple iWatch concept render, this time courtesy of designer Todd Hamilton, who not only did a similar band design but also added in iOS 7 functionality. Overall, the design here is a lot more realistic, as the icons look more readable (as it is oriented differently) than the previous one. However, there are major hurdles for this design, one of which would be flexible enough batteries for such a slim bangle but with LG's recent string batteries, we don't see why it can't be fit into a band form as well. Check out the concept render for yourself below: