Smart watches: from Sony SmartWatch to Klatz Watch from Ukraine

The need for such an expensive toy as a "smart" watch can be argued endlessly. However, the fact remains that there are more and more people who consider it necessary to replenish their arsenal of mobile devices with some Samsung Galaxy Gear or Sony SmartWatch. Last year, at least 100 million smartwatches were sold worldwide. By 2016, sales promise to be impressive: analysts at Gartner believe that wearable electronic devices will bring retailers $ 5 billion.

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1. There are more and more offers on the market. Good and different. At first, “smart” watches differed from each other only in appearance: as a rule, they could only work with e-mail, receive SMS and notifications about events in social networks. New models are getting more interesting: some have a camera (is it convenient?), the ability to play music and remote control a smartphone, some have fitness tracker functions and Hands Free mode.

2. Sony SmartWatch appeared back in 2012 and became the first "smart" watch on the mass market. Their disadvantage was a small screen (only 36x36 mm). In addition, iPhone owners were disappointed: Sony SmartWatch was friends only with devices based on the Android OS and flatly refused to communicate with Apple products.

3. Will not work with Apple devices and the new version of SmartWatch 2. But their owners can listen to music through a wireless Bluetooth headset, make and receive calls and pay for purchases using NFC technology. The price of SmartWatch 2 is up to about $200.

4. The creators of Pebble managed to take into account the experience of a competitor. This watch was not so picky about connections and was ready to work with both Android smartphones and iPhones. Perhaps that is why the developers of Pebble in 2012 managed in a very short time to raise more than $ 10 million, which were necessary for the production of the device, using Kickstarter.com crowdfunding. Pebble deliveries began in 2013. Gradually, the excitement subsided: proving to be a good toy for geeks, Pebble disappointed mass consumers with a dull monochrome screen, a rather inexpressive minimalist appearance and meager functionality.

5. Now Pebble Technology has announced sales of the second version of the watch with the beautiful name Pebble Steel. You can order them on the company's website. Their price rose to $229 from the previous $150. At the same time, it seems that Pebble Technology does not offer fundamentally new opportunities (except for a modified case) to customers.

6. Pebble vs. Pebble Steel: Is the best the enemy of the good?

7. Samsung could not stand aside in the struggle for the wallets of buyers of fashionable devices. The South Korean tech giant threw the Samsung Galaxy Gear onto the market in the fall of 2013 and sold 800,000 units in just two months. With the Samsung Galaxy Gear, you could even take photos, but given the low performance of the camera, this feature left much to be desired.

8. Samsung Galaxy Gear is not in great demand in Russia. Priced at $299 in the US, the Samsung Galaxy Gear was first sold in Russia for 14,900 rubles. Today, the cost has fallen, but it was not possible to please all buyers: Samsung Galaxy Gear can only work with some models of Samsung Galaxy series smartphones.

9. Without stopping there, Samsung introduced two new models at Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona in February this year: Galaxy Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo.

10. Unlike the previous model, Samsung's "sweet couple" is based on the original Tizen OS. A new watch can do a lot. In addition to the already familiar functions, Galaxy Gear 2 shoots video (Gear 2 Neo does not have a camera), both models can be used as Hands Free, they have voice control, a heart rate sensor and a pedometer.

11. Unlike competitors, Apple has not yet released smart watches. However, rumors about the upcoming iWatch appear from time to time. In the meantime, design enthusiasts are competing with each other, trying to imagine what such a watch might look like.

12. The most original version last year was presented by German designer Thomas Bogner. The concept is inspired by the Nike FuelBand.

13. The Verge recently featured images of the LG G Watch smartwatch. Nothing is known about the characteristics of the G Watch yet. The company claims that the watch is "designed in close collaboration with Google." Presumably, LG G Watch will receive a 1.65-inch display, 4 GB of internal memory and will be water and dust resistant.

14. And finally - news from Ukraine. Smart watches Klatz Watch with a headset function and wireless charging are being developed by a small startup led by CEO Dmitry Goncharenko. So far, things are not moving beyond pictures and interviews. However, hot Ukrainian guys expect to raise at least $250,000 with the help of Kickstarter.com.