At least one leading global sportswear giant is currently working on its own flexible display hosting smartwatch device, industry insiders have confirmed.
With fitness gadgets such as the Nike FuelBand and the Adidas miCoach chip becoming increasingly popular in recent years, suppliers with knowledge of the situation have revealed that a leading sportswear manufacturer is current working on the production of a new flexible display boasting smartwatch.
Demonstrating a selection of its concept designs and future technologies, flexible display specialist Plastic Logic has revealed that, whilst the likes of Apple iWatch and Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch rumours are currently grabbing the headlines, sporting manufacturers are already working on their own wrist-worn offerings.
“One of the leading sports manufacturers in the world is doing a project with us, to try and take this type of concept further forward and then into production for them in the future,” Jim Watts, a leading engineer with Plastic Logic said speaking with TrustedReviews.
Although failing to detail which manufacturer is currently trialling the future tech, Watts offered some insights into the potential capabilities of the flexible display hosting smartwatch. He stated: “This could have a heart rate monitor. It could have some functionality for when you are doing your exercise training and things like that.”
He added: “You could then have additional capabilities attached to these displays to present the data you need to like a GPS tracker for if you go for a run.
“Then there could be an app running on your smartphone too, and you could listen to your music and answer a phone call via your wrist instead of having to get your phone out of your pocket, all of the things that seem obvious.”
Suggesting that the rise of flexible displays could help bring the fledgling smartwatch market to fruition and make the currently fringe technology the new consumer must, Watts has suggested the bendable screen options poses users appeasing potential that is lacking from current LCD hosting options.
“It’s much better than these fragmented LCD displays which can show a digit and that’s about it,” he said of the flexible display technology that is on the verge of making it to market in third-party products. “It’s the fact that its lightweight that make it attractive to people, you don’t have to lug something heavy around.”
Describing the sportswear manufacturer as “a very, very interesting big name,” Plastic Logic has failed to name the company, stating “we are contractually bound.”
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
