Smartwatches at CES: Intel, LG, Pebble, Others Unveil Devices

By Jeffrey Burt

During his keynote, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich unveiled the chip maker’s aggressive push into the wearable device space, including showing off a smartwatch proof-of-concept that includes its own network capabilities and a geo-fencing feature that keeps track of where the user is, alerting parents, for example, if their child leaves a particular area.

ConnecteDevice’s Cogito smartwatch looks like a convention watch, complete with an analog face, as well as hour and minute hands. But behind the face lies the computing technology, including the ability to link to a smartphone and set off alerts about emails, text messages, calls and calendar events. It can be preordered for $179.

Pebble’s latest smartwatch is called Steel, and comes with a polished metal frame and metal or leather strap. It’s reportedly smaller and thinner than its predecessor, and also more costly: Its price will be $249 when it starts shipping this month.

The Neptune Pine, with a 2.4-inch display, is powered by a Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm and comes with its own SIM card, enabling it to make and receive calls, surf the Web and run games without having to sync to a smartphone. It also comes with 32GB of memory and a camera and runs Google’s Android OS. It costs $335.

MetaWatch already offers two smartphones, the Frame and Strata. At CES, company officials unveiled Meta, which offers a new design featuring metal and leather and an enhanced display with ePaper technology. No pricing was available.

Razer, known best for its gaming technologies, showed off a wide range of products at CES. One was the Nabu, a smartwatch that can let users know when they are getting a call and who is calling. Pricing was unavailable.

The company’s smartwatch can keep track of the user’s activities, workouts and other activities via motion sensors, while also alerting the wearer of calls coming into a connected smartphone. It uses Bluetooth LE, and can work with Android and Apple’s iOS.

The Wellograph is another device that tracks the user’s fitness, with an activity monitor and heart-rate sensor on its underside. It also can work without integrating with a smartphone. It will cost $320 when released in the second half of 2014.

Netatmo officials at CES showed off June, a device that syncs with a smartphone and monitors how much sunlight the user is exposed to. A Netatmo app on the smartphone then offers warnings and suggestions to the user. It will be available in the second quarter for $99.

Misfit Wearables’ Shine is a sensor that tracks a user’s activities and that can be worn in a range of ways, including like a watch when clipped to a wristband. The company also had leather wristbands on display at CES.