The concept of the smart device is reinvigorating the hardware industry in recent years. Triggered by this trend, it is no exaggeration to say that the Chinese hardware industry experienced viral growth in 2013, while new hardware companies mushroomed and both Internet giants and startups swarmed the sector.
Wearables
Apart from the smartwatch, which we need a stand-alone article to discuss, Chinese markets witnessed the boom of a wild diversity of wearable gadgets, ranging from smart rings to smart wristbands, etc. The main functions of these products are sports monitoring and fitness, health care, and child- or elder-tracking, among others. The prices of most products are below 2,000 yuan ($330).
Here is a list of interesting wearables that caught our eye:
Baidu-backed Codoon launched the first and second generation of the Codoon wristband within seven months. The company also developed other gadgets such as Codoon Candy and Codoon Smile, which have similar functions to those of the wristband. Search giant Baidu released a dedicated website for wearables in cooperation with Codoon Wristband and inWatch.
Qihoo released 360 Child Guard, a GPS tracking bracelet, which can locate the location of the person wearing it anytime and can display that person’s course on the app in smartphones for any given period of time.
GEAK, the hardware brand of Shanda, released a smart ring.
MAX released GalaRing G1, which is powered by NFC encryption technology.
Hong Kong-based tech company Digi-Care planned to release their first smart wristband ERI to users by early 2014.
However, the research and development of smart wearables are still in the preliminary stage because most of them are still accessories for smartphones, featuring pretty much the same functions as smartphones.