Top 10 Wearable devices available in Market

Fit bit Zip and flex:

Zip helps people understand that physical activities in a normal daily life can be extremely productive to achieve fitness goals. The device tracks your daily walking, sleeping and motivates you to take a few more steps to achieve a fitness goal. The device sees exercise as a continuous process and makes it measurable for the users.

Apart from Zip, Fit Bit also make Flex, a wristband studded with LEDs to track your daily steps, exercise sessions and sleep quality. Flex is more inclined towards fitness enthusiasts while Zip is targeted for every one.

The devices leverage the entire Fit Bit experience through the Fit Bit mobile app for iOS https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/fitbit/id462638897?mt=8 and android   https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fitbit.FitbitMobile.

Android Wear+ Motorola Smartwatch:

Android wear is expected to be a major step towards creating an acceptable wearable device on a massive scale. Android wear is based on the idea of cutting down the time users spend on Smartphones, hooked on to the screen. The device looks like a regular round shaped wristwatch that helps you perform numerous tasks with lesser efforts as compared to . It gives back your time for you to spend them with your loved ones.

Google Glass:

A lot has been written about the glass till date. The advantages of glass and its misuse, everything has been thoroughly calculated. While a large bunch of users see them as highly invasive, others are not comfortable with a 24*7 gadget on face. They compare google glass to bluetooth headsets which faced poor adaptability and not much of apparent utility.

Nike+ Fuel Band:

This is another popular health and fitness and has considerable fan following. Just like the Fit Bit flex, the device features an array of LEDs to represent the goals achieved for any specific day or time period. The device is again synced with a mobile app that allows users to monitor their progress with more details.

Ca7ch:

Pronounced as catch, it is actually a wearable startup that allows you to live stream videos to other devices. The camera is small and can be attached to your garment for hands free recording and the video setting etc can be controlled by the application itself. The application has been developed at Openxcell and is ready to roll out soon.

Sony and Samsung Smart Watches:

There was a lot of interest generated towards Apple when it was rumoured that the company is hiring engineers to build the smartwatch. Although, there has been no signs of an iWatch but market is already fed with android powered watches from samsung and sony. Sony has been trying to create buzz in the market since some time but did not really succeed. The same applies to samsung smart watch that features a camera termed pervasive by many critics.

Swarovski USB Necklace :

A necklace studded with charming crystals while hiding a cool USB in the indise. With a 4gb of memory, the necklace is priced at $75 for the techno lover girls who do not want to miss out on fashion either.



Lark Pro Alarm:

Lark Pro alarm is wakes you up in a non earth shattering way while monitoring your sleep patterns simultaneously. The wristband would first monitor your sleep habits for the first 7 days and then suggest you patterns etc. The device is synced with an iPhone app and can sync data in real time. One can easily monitor their progress through the app UI, making the device highly useful.

Pebble:

Pebble is also in line with android wear and motorola 360. The only difference is the way they approach the same purpose. While pebble flaunts a square design, the moto comes with a natural round case. The pebble watch is supported by Android and iPhone apps and can reduce your smartphone usage time. They have recently launched the steel variants of the watch and will definitely compete the forthcoming moto with an established name and a strong user base.

How "Android Wear" will impact the wearable technology market

One of the recent blogs from Flurry indicates the rise of mobile app addicts who tap on an app more than 60 times a day. The other strata of users is not lagging behind either. Smartphones have invaded our lives and people have started to recognize it too. A recent video called ‘Look Up’ is currently doing rounds in the web that depicts intrusiveness of smartphone in our lives. But it seems like if any one of the tech biggies has taken it seriously its google and their answer to this seems to be a wearable device from the android team of the company. It called the Android Wear.

Android wear is a round shaped watch that is focused to make your life easy without asking too much attention from your side unlike the smartphone. Google has released the developer preview for the device and has also come out with a video.

According to Gartner the market for wearable devices will become worth 5 billions and it includes many devices from various manufacturers. However, if google is coming out with own device, there got to be something special about it. Till date, whenever we thought about a wearable device, we could not think it without the smartphone. Infact, smartphone makes the best out of a device because it can run an immersive app to control the device.

This is what Google is trying to disrupt with android wear. Apps will be developed exclusively for android wear and the device can intuitively add value to the user’s life. by taking into consideration factors such as location, local time, user behavior etc. Hence, if you have an android device you may let your fingertips rest and avoid your eyes to get hooked onto the smartphone screen.

Based on location, the device can also suggest you nearby locations and lead you to find it efficiently. The device will also prompt you about the latest or an important news/fact about any particular location. Unlike the smartphone, that needs to be taken out of the pocket, the message consumption in android wear will be instantaneous with gesture based swipe and quick voice commands.

If we consider this with the existing, smartphone dependant devices, the android wear comes out at top due to its notable agility. On to it, android OEMs have been inflating the screen size every quarter, making these devices a difficult choice for purposes that demands agility. No one would be comfortable running in the park with a 5 inch phone. It is difficult.

In a market with smartphone dependant wearable devices the android wear can immediately strike beneficial to a lot of users. It will provide an agile alternative to help you manage your daily activities of life which otherwise requires more effort when done through a smartphone, or a smartphone controlled device that requires close vicinity to a smartphone.

Author's Bio: Openxcell technolabs is an experienced company that makes mobile apps for wearable devices. Visit www.openxcell.com for more details.

Why your App design is critical for the users and the app stores?

Potential app developers dive into the mobile app development process to attain a prolific app with certain goals in mind. While those individual goals are always worked upon rigorously, few basic yet inevitable objectives need equal attention and efforts to witness better end results. One of those basic goals should be to formulate an app design that pleases the users and the app stores at the same time.

Design is one of the most critical elements of an app and it holds a major responsibility in terms of leveraging the importance and efficiency of the app in the app stores and also prominently amongst its target audience. Every app demonstrates design principles in terms of two specific aspects, i.e User Interface and User Experience. It is those crucial components of the application’s user interface that combinedly work together to deliver a better user experience to the users. Remember, design is one element that appeals to the mass at the first instance and manages to hold them till the end.

Importance of app design from the user’s perspective

• Did you know that there are one in four applications that are once downloaded and not used again.

• What these applications fail to provide is a seamless user experience to the users.

• An ideal user experience comprises of UI components, such as appealing visual designs, flawless functionalities, user-friendly design, easy navigation, no blank screen, appropriate color combinations and themes, responsive UI elements and graphic and easy to understand features.

• Elements like app icon, graphics and screenshots are some of the most critical aspects of visual design of the app. These elements can make or break your app’s first impression;  an instance that means everything to you when there are thousands of other similar apps trying to grab attention in the app stores.

• Keep in mind, while users have opted to indulge with your app leaving behind many, they would be having certain expectations from their chosen one. Using the app features without any glitches, user-friendly elements to deal with and an overall appealing theme and color combinations are few of the basic expectations of users from an efficient app.

• Therefore, knowing what sort of experiences you potential users are willing to go through beforehand and formulating your app UI based on those aspects will help you to congregate a well designed app.

Importance of app design from the app stores’ perspective

• Your application’s ranking in the app store is utmost critical; certainly because a good ranking in the app store can leverage the download numbers to greater heights.

• But before that, your app will demand a sizable user base that prefers engaging with the application on daily basis and with utmost dedication.

• App engagement is an important internal app metric and the key to please the app store algorithms at the same time.

• There are many different ways to increase your user acquisition through internal (app store optimization) and external (marketing and branding) techniques, but leveraging the same by providing a prolific app design is one of the best ways to increase app store ranking which will be further drive better visibility in the app store.

• Also, another way to subdue the app stores is to smartly use the controls that are native to particular platforms on which you would be placing your app on.

Some Keynotes from the Apps world panel: App design to satisfy app stores and consumers alike by Andrew Spooner

• Mostly, it is the user that you should be satisfying, users must feel like the application is part of the platform.

• Saying that, if you want to please the store owners then you need to think like they do.

• Embrace the UI and UX principles that each platform owner wants to highlight and you will make the store owner's happy.

• Users are married to their devices and rarely use the same application across devices so are unlikely to start complaining that an application works a different way on different platforms.

• They're much more likely to complain if an application works in a different way to other apps on their device.

• With regard to Responsive design; the fundamental thinking should be 'how could I best display this content within the confines of these pixel dimensions' with a great level of consistency, even if you radically change the way that content is displayed on a 8' tablet and on a 30' all-in-one.