Smartwatches

A wearable is an electronic device you wear on your body. Think of a watch, bracelet or glasses. The most well-known wearables are smartwatches, also known as smart watches. Constantly shrinking electronics and improving batteries have made these types of products possible. A sort of subcategory of these are fitness trackers. These are more like bracelets, sometimes with screens, that often have a more specific task: tracking workouts. Yet over the years they have become more and more comprehensive so that they are sometimes in the same league as smartwatches. For example, you can receive notifications from your phone on them.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

Another category is Virtual Reality. Special glasses contain a screen so you imagine yourself in a completely different world. Again, the electronics of these have become smaller and smaller which makes them more comfortable to wear. Some VR glasses are stand-alone and do not require an associated computer or device, others you pair with your phone or PC. Not all wearable glasses are meant for VR, the best-known example being the Google Glass and Microsoft Hololens. These project an image on top of reality; also called AR or Augmented Reality.