Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is packed with all sorts of exciting tech stuff. We’ve covered a ton of stuff thus far and the show is still up and kicking. We’ve seen all sorts of tech showcased at CES, from cars and appliances right down to smartphones and wearables. Wearables have been a big part of 2014, smartwatches, fitness trackers… well, all sorts of wearable gadgets have been extremely popular last years. According to analysts, 2015 will be even bigger for wearable technology, and that’s kind of logical I guess. Smartwatches, for example, are a nice… well, accessory for your smartphones at the moment. Some smartwatches have extra, unique functionality, while others push notifications to your device and let you control various functions of you handset. I expect that to change in 2015, I expect more innovative idea along with the evolution of Android Wear platform.
We’ve seen a bunch of smartwatches at CES thus far and a mysterious LG-made smartwatch appeared during Audi’s press conference in Las Vegas recently, we could only guess what’s it all about at the time, but we did get a clarification now. That’s not the the G Watch R 2, but a watch which is made specifically for Audi and company’s new Prologue automobile. This smartwatch will actually carry the Audi brand, which is rather interesting if you ask me. This watch is an Android Wear-powered smartwatch though, but it won’t be called the G Watch R 2 nor will it be as available as other LG watches are. This watch is supposed to match the design of the Prologue it seems and will include some extra hardware in order to communicate with Audi’s Prologue automobile. NFC is a part of this watch’s hardware, which is a function specific to this watch, NFC isn’t available on any other Android Wear smartwatch. NFC allows the watch to securely communicate with the car, which is of course important. That’s not all though, considering the fact NFC doesn’t require a battery to work, you’ll be able to unlock your car (for example) even if the watch’s battery is dead. You’ll be able to control various functions of the Prologue car using the watch and I’m sure we’ll hear more about this watch in the near future.
What are your thoughts here, do you think this is a good move by Audi (and LG), or do you find it completely unnecessary? I do believe this could open all sorts of functions for the owner of this car (and watch), and being a geek I am, I find it rather interesting.
