Last year's CES brought us Belty, a monstrosity of a wearable
that aimed to track changes in your waistline as a means of delivering
health insights. It was hideous. This year Samsung is trying something
similar, and it miraculously succeeded. Samsung's smart belt looks
indistinguishable from a standard belt, but contains an array of sensors
packed into the back of its buckle and a micro USB port for charging on
its side.
There's
just one catch: it's called the Welt ... as in wellness belt. The
device is made by a team within Samsung's Creative Lab, which is an
in-house incubator that lets company employees play with ambitious ideas
and turn them into full-fledged startups. The products aren't exactly
designed to be fast-tracked as consumer products. They're mostly
proof-of-concepts and prototypes, though you wouldn't guess that by
looking at Samsung's smart belt. Created by three employees, the gadget
is surprisingly fully formed and even quite a bit dressy when it comes
to style.
The
Welt pairs with a smartphone app that immediately identifies your
waistline and counts your steps throughout the day. There's also a
feature to monitor your over-eating, which the app infers from changes
in belt tension. Because the Welt is a Creative Lab project, there's no
pricing or availability. But the team says it is considering turning the
belt into a consumer product some time in the future.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
What's On Your Mind?