In a landslide win garnering nearly 50 percent of the 54,511 readers' votes, Razer Nabu wearable smartwatch/fitness tracker has won this year's Best of CES Reader's Choice Award in Las Vegas.
The Nabu is actually more than just a smartwatch or a fitness tracker. Aside from tracking steps taken, distance covered, calories burned, and time spent, the band also supports notifications and alerts from iOS or Android phones that it is paired with, so the wearer can be alerted of incoming phone calls, text messages, tweets, and other notifications and alerts that are turned on in the phone.
CEO Min-Liang Tan believes that existing fitness bands were not doing enough, so the company decided to develop a version that offers something more.
The Nabu is designed with dual screens and a handshake social system. The top-facing display shows simple indicators and icons on its 32 x 32-pixel OLED display, while the larger display, measuring 128 x 32 pixels, shows full information regarding the incoming alert, notification, or calls and text messages on the phone that is paired with it.
What is revolutionary about the Nabu is that because of its accelerometer, it can decipher gestures. A literal handshake between two Nabu users can initiate a linkup via social media, for instance, send a friend request, or ask to follow them on Twitter, or receive or send an invitation in LinkedIn.
The Nabu has a MicroUSB port for connectivity and charging. It is also waterproof, and can last up to seven days before needing a recharge.
The Nabu is designed to be compatible with other third-party apps, such as fitness and social apps. Privacy and accessibility is fully controllable by the user. It may also support Razer's own in-game communication software Razer Comms, but this has yet to be confirmed.
Currently, a developer version of Nabu is available and can be purchased for $49. The consumer version that will be released later, will cost a little more.
Runner ups for the Best of CES 2014 Readers' Choice Award were Alienware Steambox, the Mad Catz R.A.T. Tournament Mouse, the Samsung UHD 105" Curved TV, the Pebble Steel smartwatch, the da Vinci 3D printer and the Parrot miniDrone.
