Wearable Technology Will Be Much More Than Google Glass and Galaxy Gear

September 20, 2013 01:36 PM ETCIO - Google Glass, Samsung Galaxy Gear and the rumored Apple iWatch have turned up the hype-o-meter on wearable tech to deafening levels. You'd think they were the only players in the game. But such powerful gadgetry isn't the future of wearables, only a part of it.

At least that's the thinking from Christian DeFeo, e-supplier manager at Newark element14, an electronic design community for engineers and a component retailer. Instead of wearing $1,500 Google Glasses that delivers a sci-fi experience, he says, you're more likely to slip on an affordable ring equipped with near-field communications (NFC) technology that unlocks your car door.

"Google Glass is kind of an elite product that's only for a select few," because of the expected sky-high retail price, DeFeo says. "We see wearable technology being much more democratized than that."

Unlike the Green Lantern's glowing superpower ring, the NFC ring won't try to do everything. It won't act like a minicomputer delivering services like a smartphone, rather it will be an invisible yet practical tool in our everyday lives. And it certainly won't run into giant obstacles that can trip up more ambitious projects, like Google Glass and smart watches.

Wearables Meet Reality

Mobile experts agree that expensive, high-profile wearables will bump up against certain technological realities today, most notably power consumption and retail cost.

Google Glasses will reportedly break the $1,000 barrier, while a Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch runs $300 and must be used in conjunction with the upcoming Galaxy Note 3. Will people fork out hundreds of dollars merely for the convenience of glancing down at a 1.6-inch screen instead of whipping out their smartphone and looking at a 5.7-inch screen?

[ Slideshow: Apple's 15 Boldest Computer Designs, 1976-2012 ]

In the power consumption arena, smart devices still have a long way to go. Wireless charging technology and energy harvesting (such as solar, motion, thermal and magnetism) are still in its infancy.

Smartphones can barely make it through the day on a single charge. Glasses and smart watches lack the battery space of a smartphone while attempting to do basically the same things. It's unlikely people will want to recharge their glasses or smart watch several times a day.

Wearable technology can get around the power problem by working in tandem with a smartphone via Bluetooth. Wearables loaded with sensors or displays can let the smartphone do the heavy lifting, such as back end data processing and connectivity to cloud services. Samsung claims its Galaxy Gear smart watch has a battery life of about 24 hours.

"I think that the phone is becoming more central and more important," Jef Holove, CEO at smart watch maker Basis Point, said at the MobileBeat conference in San Francisco earlier this summer.

[ Related: Will Wearable Technology Kill the Smartphone?]

Wearables Won't Work as Fashion Statements

Another trouble spot to mass market adoption for high-end wearables such as Google Glass and Samsung Galaxy Gear is that they enter into the realm of fashion. They are fashion statements worn by the sort of characters in the hit television show "Big Bang Theory," which celebrates the geek subculture.

But fashion is fickle.

[ Slideshow: The 10 Coolest Looks in Wearable Tech ]

A wearable technology has a better chance at success if it isn't a slave to the fashion industry, which is entirely different than the tech industry. Fashion is better left to the Versaces and Guccis of the world. Wearable technology, on the other hand, should melt into everyday clothing, or at least not become fashionable.

By staying on the sidelines, or perhaps partnering with designers instead of leading fashion trends, wearable technology can have mass market appeal without having to change its look after every Hollywood movie blockbuster. By limiting functionality to solve a specific problem or two, wearable technology can also keep both power consumption and retail prices low.

The NFC ring fits this criteria nicely, but it's only one of many possibilities in affordable wearable gear. Newark element14 is currently running a competition for inventors to come up with ideas, and there's been no shortage of them. While most wearable watchers are stirred by the hype of a few high-end gadgets, the low-end of the market is buzzing, too.

"We're seeing a thousand flowers blooming," DeFeo says.

Here are three wearables in Newark element14's competition that stand out:

The "baby costume" will contain conductive fabric, an accelerometer and sound sensor. Light patterns will be triggered by the baby's movements and cries.

The "travel cap" will have an embedded compass and programmable GPS for navigation. Lights on the underside of the cap's brim will guide the user to a specific destination or display a light show when the destination is reached.

The "umbrella," which is still in development, will display a light show when, say, a visually impaired user nears his home. The picture shows the inventor holding orange paper over the color sensor to trigger the LED lights to flash the same shade of orange. This makes the umbrella sensitive to outside light and darkness and can match the color of the user's rain gear.

Tom Kaneshige covers Apple, BYOD and Consumerization of IT for CIO.com. Follow Tom on Twitter @kaneshige. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn. Email Tom at tkaneshige@cio.com

Read more about consumer technology in CIO's Consumer Technology Drilldown.

This story is reprinted from CIO.com, an online resource for information executives. Story Copyright CXO Media Inc., 2012. All rights reserved.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 (AT&T)

Pros Dizzying number of features. Incredibly fast. Ships with Android 4.2.2. Relatively small for its display size. Spectacular call quality.

Cons Limited storage on 16GB model. Low-light camera performance could be better. Bottom Line The Samsung Galaxy S 4 is the ultimate kitchen-sink smartphone with features you'll still be discovering months after you buy it. It's our top Android pick on AT&T.

By Eugene Kim

Nearly half a year after its initial release, the Samsung Galaxy S4 ($199.99/16GB with 2-year contract) remains a top option on every carrier it's available on. The blinding number of features and impressive performance keep the S4 at the front of the pack. It's our favorite option on AT&T right now, despite a solid effort from LG with the G2. Also keep in mind that the iPhone 5s is officially here, though we haven't had a chance to test the AT&T model yet. We fully expect it to build on the success of the iPhone 5 with its promising new features, but these two phones have an entirely different appeal. 

We've already reviewed the Galaxy S4 on a number of different carriers, so we won't get into all the details of this do-it-all Android phone. See our original T-Mobile Galaxy S4 review to get the full run down on its extensive set of features.

Performance, Call Quality, and Bloatware
Aside from carrier logos, AT&T's S4 is more or less identical to T-Mobile's version inside and out. And performance is the same thanks to the 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor. This model supports GSM on 850/900/1800/1900MHz bands and LTE on 700/850/1700/1900MHz bands. In our Fastest Mobile Networks survey, AT&T came out on top with the fastest nationwide LTE speeds. Reception was excellent during our tests in New York City, as the S4 was even able to maintain a connection in our office basement, where signals are typically weak.

The Galaxy S4 sets the bar for call quality. Beyond the sound profile personalization, you have the ability to toggle noise cancellation and jack up the volume in noisy situations. There's no HD Voice like you get with Sprint or Wi-Fi calling like you get with T-Mobile. Voices come through clearly in the earpiece and calls made on the phone sound superb. The AT&T S4 lasted for 12 hours, 35 minutes of continuous talk time, which is actually a bit better than we've seen from other carriers.

Aside from the bevy of Samsung features packed into the S4, there's a good deal of carrier bloat onboard. In total there are eight AT&T branded apps, along with Trip Advisor and Yellow Pages apps. Unlike the Sprint version, you cannot uninstall these preloads, which is a shame since only 8.55GB of the 16GB internal storage is available. There is a microSD card slot under the back cover, though, and our 32 and 64GB SanDisk cards worked fine.

Pricing and Conclusions
AT&T sells the 16GB Galaxy S4 for $199.99 with a two-year contract, which is the same price as the HTC One, Apple iPhone 5s, and LG G2. It's the standard going rate for a flagship smartphone.

We give a slight edge to the S4 over both the HTC One and LG G2, both of which are fine phones in their own right. The One will appeal to users who put a premium on design, while the G2 is the first device to feature Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 800 processor and might appeal to those who want the latest tech in their pockets. Still, the dizzying array of features, superb call quality, and excellent performance keep the S4 at the top of the pack, even half a year after its release.

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Screenshots of Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch leaked

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Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch to launch next month

Samsung looks likely expand its successful Galaxy brand of smartphones next month to include a smartwatch known as Galaxy Gear. According to a report from Bloomberg, Samsung will unveil the Android-powered smartwatch on Sept. 4.

Earlier this month, Samsung sent out an invitation for a Sept. 4 press event to be held in Berlin, two days before the IFA consumer electronics show (basically, the European version of CES). Most signs signal that the event dubbed "Unpacked Episode 2" would be used to unveil the next incarnation of the Galaxy Note phablet. And this is most certainly still the case considering that 1) Samsung debuted the Note II last year at an event called "Unpacked" that took place in the run-up to the IFA, and 2) the invitation to this year's Unpacked Episode 2 event slyly includes the language: "Note the Date."

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It's doubtful that Samsung would hold two major press events on the same day, so it's likely the event will also be used to introduce the world to Galaxy Gear.

Samsung has had its eyes on your wrists
We've known that Samsung has had its attention on the smartwatch space for a while. While Sony is already two generations deep into smartwatches and mobile archrival Apple continues to play coy in the face of a torrent of "iWatch" rumors, Samsung has been rather upfront with its smartwatch plans. Earlier this year, a Samsung executive vice president told the press outright: "We've been preparing the watch product for so long. We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them."

In late July, Samsung filed an application for a U.S. trademark for the name "Samsung Galaxy Gear" that would be used for "wearable digital electronic devices in the form of a wristwatch, wrist band, or bangle capable of providing access to the Internet and for sending and receiving phone calls, electronic mails and messages."

Additionally, the application states that the devices could also be used for "the wireless receipt, storage and/or transmission of data and messages and for keeping track of or managing personal information; smart phones; tablet computers; portable computers."

If all these rumors turn out to be true, it would be an odd choice for Samsung to eclipse the debut of the Note III with a whole new form factor such as Galaxy Gear. Whatever the company's rational, be sure to brace yourself for a slew of Dick Tracy puns and references come early September.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 (MetroPCS)

Pros A blinding number of features. Incredibly fast. Spectacular call quality.

Cons Plastic body. Low-light photo performance could be better. Expensive, up front. Bottom Line The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the ultimate kitchen-sink Android phone for 2013, and MetroPCS brings it with low monthly rates.

By Sascha Segan

Have $549? Because if so, we have a deal for you. MetroPCS is now offering the same Samsung Galaxy S4 as T-Mobile is, on the exact same network, for less money over two years than T-Mobile is charging. You have to pay attention to the pricing here, though, because depending on your future plans, T-Mobile, MetroPCS, or even Sprint might be the most affordable Galaxy S4 option.

As MetroPCS is now a sub-brand of T-Mobile, it's selling a lot of the same phones. The MetroPCS Galaxy S4 is almost exactly the same as the T-Mobile Galaxy S4, so read our full review of T-Mobile's device for more details. I'll focus on the differences here, which mostly have to do with pricing.

If you're the kind of person who gets angry about carrier logos on phones, you're in luck here. There's nothing on the physical body of the phone to say "MetroPCS"—the little logo on the back, which all the other carriers use, is gone. If you want to pretend this is a Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition, well, have at it.

It isn't a Google Play Edition phone, of course. It's running all the Samsung software, and it has a few MetroPCS preloads. They're undeletable, but you don't have to click on them: There's an account manager, visual voicemail, a caller ID app, Rhapsody music, and the horrible MyExtras coupon app. More MetroPCS apps are buried under a special MetroPCS app store icon, but I'm happy to say you don't have to install them if you don't want to.

Since we're on T-Mobile's network now, we get a few key T-Mobile features that MetroPCS customers didn't get before, most notably Wi-Fi calling. That lets you make phone calls over any Wi-Fi network, even overseas.

Performance here was identical to the T-Mobile version of this phone. The Galaxy S4 had no problems seeing T-Mobile's new LTE network in Manhattan and getting 9-10Mbps both up and down; the phone also supports HSPA+ 42 where LTE isn't available. Talk time of 11 hours, 7 minutes was on par with other Galaxy S4 models.

Note: The slideshow below is of the T-Mobile Galaxy S4, which is identical except for the T-Mobile logo on the back.

Pricing Plans
The real difference here is on pricing plans, and now we need to do some math.

MetroPCS makes you buy your phone up front for $549. The brand offers a 2.5GB plan for $50/month and an unlimited plan for $60/month, both without a contract. On the 2.5GB plan, that means you'll pay $1,149 over one year and $1,749 over two years.

T-Mobile charges $600 for the phone and $10 more per month for the plans with no contract, although you can amortize the phone by paying nothing up front and $25/month for two years. Over two years, that would cost $2,040, so you're essentially paying $291 extra for the privilege of the financing.

But wait! T-Mobile's new Jump plan lets you switch out your phone more frequently at the cost of $10 extra per month. If you only intend to keep your GS4 for one year and swap it out, you'll pay $1,140 with T-Mobile, so, slightly less than MetroPCS.

That savings only happens if you don't intend to sell your used phone on eBay, of course, as you have to turn in the used phone to take advantage of Jump.

Looking at other carriers, if you want unlimited data, Sprint is cheaper over one year ($1,159.99) and in between MetroPCS and T-Mobile over two years ($2,119.99). But Sprint has a much slower 3G fallback network than T-Mobile does where LTE isn't available, and it forces you to sign a two-year contract.

AT&T and Verizon are more expensive, but they offer much wider LTE coverage and better international roaming plans than Sprint and T-Mobile do.

Conclusions
If you're shopping for a high-end smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S4 on MetroPCS is an affordable option measured over one or two years. We'll call it our Editors' Choice on MetroPCS for its high-end power, though we'll also acknowledge that many MetroPCS subscribers may not have $549 up front to spend.

So what do you get if you don't have $549? Our pick is the $119 LG Optimus L9, which still offers a quality smartphone experience for $430 less. You lose a bunch of features: The L9 has slower HSPA+ 21 data speeds (think 6Mbps, not 10Mbps), a lower-resolution screen, and a much lower-resolution camera. But it's still a very capable Android smartphone at a very capable price, and there's no shame in saving money.

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