If this year’s CES show was any indication, wearable tech is one of the trends that will continue to pick up steam over the next few years. Whether it’s fitness gear like LifeTrak or iFit or cameras like Narrative Clip, the wearable trend is likely to outlast bell bottom jeans. (Here’s hoping!)
It became clear to me at the show that companies are focused on trying to make products accessible across demographics, while also catering to consumers’ desire for instant gratification and the ability to share content. Society has so embraced social media that consumers today expect to access content and information immediately, and can’t get enough of it.
One company that has a really firm grasp on this are the fine folks behind iON camera products.
If you’re not familiar with iON camera products, you should be. They have a good assortment of devices such as iON the home (a Wi-Fi enabled camera for home – good for monitoring babies or pets) or Air Pro 3 Wi-Fi – a mountable “action cam” perfect for the sports and other fun in the great outdoors.
However, what really gave me a double take at this year’s Pepcom event was their SnapCam device. SnapCam is a little different than other wearables of its kind for a few key reasons.
First, size. Coming in at 1.5 inches square, it makes the device ultra portable. This is crucial because as a wearable, it’s important to not to be cumbersome and in the way. Cast any concerns aside right now, my photography-loving friend, it’s not. Regardless of whether you’re using a clip or magnet, SnapCam is the perfect size.
Second, accessibility. iON boots in under a second. That’s faster than you can open most apps on your smartphone. Once on, just tap once (for stills) twice (for video) or three times (for live streaming) and you’re good to go.
Third, connectivity. With SnapCam you can instantly upload wirelessly to your smartphone and begin posting how and where you see fit.
Finally, it’s stacked. SnapCam has an 8MP sensor, and you can take thousands and thousands (ok, about five thousand) pictures on a single charge or record over 2 hours of 720p video. For storage (because that’s kind of a big deal for us) you can use up to a 32GB SD card which should get you through until you upload to your phone (then back up wirelessly to your Seagate Personal Cloud at home) or hook up to your laptop (and back up to your Seagate Seven) external HDDs.
While SnapCam may not be the most original wearable camera you’ll find, the ease of capturing photos and video may be the spark to set the #SwipeTapSnap revolution on fire. SnapCam will be available for $149 when it releases the second quarter of 2015.
If you’ve missed any of the #SeagateCES announcements, stay up-to-date with all news from the Consumer Electronics Show at our CES page.
