Last September I asked Which? Conversation readers a simple question: what’s the most you would pay for a smartwatch? The response was even less than ‘not very much’…
The overwhelming response to our smartwatch poll (some 62% of the vote) was ‘I wouldn’t have one even if it was free’. It was a response that certainly surprised me, but then I suppose a great many of the smartphone-owning public might have questioned why they’d ever need a mobile that could receive emails. How times change.
Now, I’m not saying that smartwatches themselves will become as essential as a smartphone to everyday life, but there’s a good chance that some kind of wearable tech will.
The Core of the problem
I was recently lucky enough to attend Mobile World Congress 2014, where the great and the good of mobile tech was on show. Most enticing to my eye was the Sony Core (pictured above) – a so-called life-logging device that tracks your every step, measures your heart rate and then calculates burnt calories.
The Core doesn’t stop there, however, as it also maps your coordinates 24/7 to Google Maps, tracks exactly where and when you take a photo or receive a message and even monitors your sleep pattern.
The idea is that users will soon have a complete record of their lives, and will be able to relive specific days (a birthday or wedding perhaps) at just the push of a button.
You might recoil in horror at such a Big Brother approach, but I’m genuinely intrigued to try it out once the Sony Core releases at the end of March. And at around £100 it won’t break the bank either. After all, why not wear a tiny device that’s not only able to record your best days, but also serves as a means to keep on top of your fitness regime?
Am I the only one who’s looking at the future of wearable tech with a tinge of excitement? Surely there are others out there able to join me in looking forward to a future where such tiny devices can help us to keep track of the bigger things in life?