Google And Levi’s Release “Smart” Jacket

 

Wearable technology may be the future, with Google being one of the main pioneers in wearable technology. First, they released Google Glass, then Android Wear and now they are expanding their wearable technology range with smart clothing.

Google has teamed up with Levi’s to make a smart jacket and after two years of testing, it is ready to launch.

At a glance, the jacket looks like a normal, stylish denim jacket but woven within the left sleeve is an interactive touchpad that syncs with your smartphone.

The smart jacket called Project Jacquard is branded as a “Levi’s Commuter Trucker Jacket with Jacquard by Google”, and will set you back $350.

Originally the two companies partnered up to produce “smart jeans”, and the idea was to use a newly designed conductive fabric to allow the garment to send data and power without the need for wires.

Although the end product has changed, the basis has remained the same. Jacquard fabric has been integrated into the denim jacket, which allows the smart features to work.

The jacket includes a smart tag which is pretty much a smartwatch without the watch part. The smart tag acts as the hub of the jacket, it will light up in various colours, vibrate when there is a notification and can be tapped to activate a command.

The clever bit isn’t the jacket though; it is the sleeve which is touch-sensitive. To activate the commands simply stroke your arm to control your smartphone.

You interact with the jacket by tapping or swiping the left sleeve. At this time there are only a handful of abilities which mostly control the music playback and navigation. There are also abilities for navigation such as directions or to find out the ETA.

However, we can’t really see this jacket being a massive seller as the fabric used to make the jacket can only survive being washed 10 times, and after that the control gestures won’t be as affective.