Sony 'SmartBand' wearable fitness band with built in sensors and computing capabilities for measuring fitness metrics, made by Sony, China, 2014.

After several decades of ‘convergence’, where more and more functions were squeezed into single devices such as smartphones, a new trend began in the 2010s. Inexpensive electronics meant that small, single purpose devices could be produced enabling a wide range of connected, wearable computing products to become a practical reality. This Sony ‘SmartBand’, a wearable fitness band with built in sensors for tracking physical activity, is an example of wearable computing. It was designed to communicate with the user’s smartphone, and in turn data can be shared with web applications, allowing users to share their data more widely.