Pretty much everyone will tell you that wearables have great potential, and wearable recording devices are a huge part of this perception shift. Chips are getting more powerful, but they are getting smaller too. Algorithms are being improved constantly. You can process more with less. Yesterday’s impossible is tomorrow’s basic feature.

Wearables Can Record Anything

When people talk about a wearable recording device, you can be 99% sure they mean a sound recorder. A fancy lapel microphone, if you will. Right now this is what most customers are aware of and what they expect, because until recently there was not much else on the market.

However, something remarkable is happening as you read this.

We have reached the point where you can record more than just sound. You can record things you experience as what they really are.

Not audio but human speech. Not video but objects in the 3D world. Not vibration but haptic feedback.

The line between recording and processing is getting blurred. Even the (seemingly) little things like noise cancellation or speech-to-text attest to this: we can record high-quality, customisable, personalised, interactive footage, be it sound, video, or body metrics.

In 2022 you can create a 3D model using a low-end smartphone. In a few years, you are going to be able to do the same using a tiny wearable.

As for speech, wearable voice assistants are available right now, and they keep pushing the limits of what tech experts thought possible.

The Dream of the Skeleton Key

With gadgets, improvement often equals adding new features, and wearable recording devices are no exception.

If you look back at the tech market of the 2000s, the same thing happened to mobile phones. As the technology progressed, developers kept building around the concept of a personal communicator. This is why you can use your phone to control the smart appliances and not vice versa.

The concept of the digital skeleton key has always been in the air. One device to rule them all.

Alexa is trying to achieve this. Your phone is participating in the race just as eagerly. Wearables are the new player here.

What is interesting about wearable technology in this context is that it often serves to create systems. Your average wearable connects to the phone, sometimes other wearables. Its processing power is contained within the phone or in the cloud. You control it manually via buttons or apps.

It is entirely possible that wearables are going to take the internet of things to a whole new level.

With sensors growing more sophisticated and voice commands getting better, your smartphone (aka the ultimate remote) might become obsolete in just a decade or three. The device that is going to replace it? There doesn’t have to be one.

• speech, sleep patterns, heartbeat, movement: all of this and more can be recorded by wearables
  
• the recorded information is processed by AI
  
• data is synchronised between multiple devices
  
• you can directly communicate with the computer
  
  

From where we stand as customers and developers, this is where things are headed for wearable technology. User-centred approach, connectivity, and flexibility are the main trends.

If you’d like to know more about wearables from the people who create them, visit our homepage. This article was brought to you by Senstone: your productivity is our mission.