CES Round Up: Day 1 – Sony, Pebble and Epson

Theres been plenty of news rolling out of CES already, so as well as our coverage of the biggest stories – like Intels moves into the wearables market, LGs smart appliance partnership with Line and BMW launching a remote app for the Galaxy Gear – weve quickly rounded up some of the other relevant announcements below.

A clear theme is already emerging – and, as predicted, its wearables. Seemingly every tech company you could name is announcing its own smart glasses, wristband or watch offering, as youll see.

SmartBand-colour-rangeSony
Sony introduced the SmartBand which, as the name suggests, is a smart wristband. Its unique selling point is that the device records everything – as well as the usual exercise functionality, it can be used along with the Lifelog Android app to track the users communication and entertainment consumption.

Epson
Epson might be better known for its printers, but its also taking a step into the wearables market, with two sets of products. The first, Pulsense, is a smart wristband combining an accelerometer for tracking steps and biosensors to monitor heart rate, sleep patterns and calories burned. Two models are expected to launch this summer: the PS-500 with LCD screen, at $199, and PS-100, without a screen, at $129.

It also unveiled its own smart glasses product, Moverio BT-200, aimed primarily at the enterprise market. The device will run on the Skylight OS developed by APX, which is partnering with Epson.

140106C.Steel-Trio-1024x640Pebble
Smartwatch firm Pebble unveiled its first premium device, the $249 Pebble Steel, which has more of a focus on aesthetics than previous offerings.

It also announced that its dedicated app store for wearable-optimised apps will launch before the end of the month, and that it has partnered with Pandora, ESPN and Mercedes-Benz to produce Pebble-friendly apps.

Array