Wearable touchscreens not far away from being added to our wardrobes

Most people have to keep their smart phones within reach. But what if instead of having your technology an arm’s length away, it was actually on your arm? Imagine clothing with touchscreen capabilities built right into the fabric — a truly "wearable" technology.

Under Armour is working on it as we speak, but the technology isn't quite there... yet.

Earlier this week, Under Armour officially unveiled Armour39, its next generation of wearable technology. Armour39 is an athletic performance monitoring system that measures "what matters most: WILLpower." WILLpower is Under Armour’s proprietary measurement for how hard an athlete pushes him or herself during a workout on a scale of 1-10, taking into account heart rate, calories burned and past performances, among other things.

In its attempt to challenge the Nike FuelBand and other performance monitors, the Armour39 system will track basic performance measurements like speed, intensity, heart rate, calories burned, a log of past performances and other athletic metrics.

The system does this with the use of a chest strap that contains an Under Armour "bug" and heart monitor that capture all the information. The bug can then be used in conjunction with the Armour39 watch, or with the use of an iOS app for iPhones to provide easy access to the data.

Unfortunately, the Armour39 performance monitor does not contain a GPS element for proper run tracking. In today’s market, this seems like a major product flaw that affects runners, who are presumably a large section of their target. This does, however, allow the device to run for nearly a year on the watch battery used in the device. But the use of a battery instead of a rechargeable component could be another consumer deterrent.

In promotion for the new Armour39 system, Under Armour has released a commercial called “I Will” that seems to suggest a greater shift towards wearable technology. The video first focuses on the Armour39 system and chest strap, but transitions to a future concept suit that has touchscreen capabilities built directly into the fabric.

The messaging in the video above makes it seem that Under Armour is currently working on such a suit and not just promoting it as a concept.

Image courtesy of YouTube, underarmour