The Wareable Tech Awards in association with Currys PC World are back and heading to Shoreditch Town Hall on Thursday 9 November.
We'll be announcing the winners of 15 Awards on stage and online, including the big cheese Wearable of the Year Award, to honour the best wearable tech devices, platforms, collections, projects and startups of 2017.
Read this: All the Wareable Tech Awards details, criteria and guest judges
You can find the shortlists for the remaining 14 categories below - we're keeping the top prize's shortlist secret for now - and remember, we'll be adding a few wildcard entries as we get new kit in to our London and San Francisco offices in the next week or so.
If you don't see a review of a shortlisted product on the site yet, that means it's currently in testing. We're so slammed we barely have time to type these words. So let's get on with it...
In the 12 months since Apple won our inaugural smartwatch prize, we've seen Fitbit and Garmin combine smarts and sports plus a whole host of designer names get into connected wrist candy. Here are the watches vying for one of the biggest awards of the night.
- LG Watch Sport
- Michael Kors Access Grayson/Sofie
- Samsung Gear Sport
- Apple Watch Series 3
- Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45
- Fitbit Ionic
- Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon
- Garmin Vivoactive 3
- Huawei Watch 2
When more than one fitness tracker brand stayed home in 2017, these are the devices that are pushing things forward with fresh features, customisable style or new ways to motivate. Our picks for our favourite fitness trackers of the year are:
- Polar A370
- Garmin Vivosmart 3
- Fitbit Alta HR
- Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro
- Fitbit Flex 2
- Garmin Vivosport
- Huawei Band 2 Pro
New category klaxon! There were just too many great sports watches - and smartwatches with great sports features - so we created a new Award this time around. Fighting it out for the gong are a trio of Garmins versus Apple, Fitbit, TomTom and Suunto.
- Garmin Forerunner 935
- Apple Watch Series 3 Nike+ edition
- Garmin Fenix 5
- TomTom Adventurer
- Fitbit Ionic
- Garmin Vivoactive 3
- Suunto Spartan Trainer Wrist HR
- Polar M430
When we get to tech that looks like fashion and fashion that looks like tech, we'll have these companies and collections to thank. This year, we've shortlisted everything from designer smartwatches to connected clothing.
- Fossil Group collections
- Motiv Ring
- Levi's Commuter Trucker Jacket
- Avery Dennison/EVRYTHNG Janela
- Tag Heuer Connected 45
- Movado Group collections
- Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon
For our second Awards, we've broken out hybrid smartwatches from their full-screened cousins. These watches use all kinds of cunning to track your activity and sleep or show you notifications without breaking the illusion that you're wearing a traditional timepiece. Bravo.
- Kate Spade Metro Grand
- Skagen Connected 2017
- Kronaby
- Garmin Vivomove HR
- Frederique Constant Horological Classics
If there's one thing that wearables can do, it's get real niche with you. No matter what sport you're into - golf, football, boxing - there's some killer dedicated devices to improve your game. Check this little lot out.
What's a sports watch or a fitness wearable without a supreme platform to power it? This is where the genius really lies - in the stats and the insights and the challenges you'll hate yourself if you don't hit. All seven of our shortlist entries have revamped their software this year and they're better than ever.
Our final first-timer when it comes to Awards categories, here we're giving a nod to the most innovative health and wellbeing devices we've tested and lived with this year. This one's only going to grow and grow.
Hearables, smart earbuds, connected headphones - whatever you want to call them, ear computers are really having a moment. These are the finest bits of tech we've stuck in our lugholes lately and look out for a wildcard or two in this category before the Awards night itself.
- Doppler Labs Here One
- Jabra Elite Sport
- LifeBeam Vi
- Bragi Dash Pro
- Nuheara IQbuds
- Samsung Gear IconX 2018
We don't discriminate between realities here at Wareable, which is why AR is now joining VR in this Award for innovation in 2017. The shortlist includes headsets from Microsoft and Samsung, accessories from Vive and Oculus and cutting edge technologies from some names you might not have heard of - yet.
- Google Daydream
- Microsoft HoloLens
- HTC Vive Tracker
- Avegant
- Apple ARKit
- Windows Mixed Reality
- Oculus Touch
- Mira Prism
The same goes for experiences, which this year covers VR and AR apps, games, short films, documentaries and even social networks. Whether you've bagged a cheap mobile headset or a high end system, these downloads will have you gawping like a fool. In the best way.
- Arden's Wake
- Facebook Spaces
- The Protectors
- Lone Echo/Echo Arena
- Star Wars: Jedi Challenges
- Google Arts & Culture
- Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
We profile hot startup after hot startup on the site so it was tricky to whittle down the list. But whittled they have been. Read on to find out more about the most exciting indie names that are beating the tech giants to the next wave of wearable tech breakthroughs. Pronunciation guides available on request.
Yes, we know - you can't wear a house. But the tech you wear on your body has a lot in common with the tech you chat to in your smart home. Ultimately, it's all concerned with the connected self - our raison d'être. All the platforms and ranges shortlisted below are helping to get the smart home to where it needs to be - one smart bulb or speaker at a time.
And finally, Saves the day is the place on the site where we champion the big ideas aiming to make real change to people's lives in areas like health, research, personal safety and accessibility. Here are the wearable tech and VR projects, big and small, that we want to shout about:
- Steer
- AppliedVR
- Re-Voice BrightSign
- Apple ResearchKit
- Plume Labs Flow
- Livall
- Revolar Instinct
- Qwake Tech C-THRU
What do you think should win each category? What are you sad that we culled from the lists? Make your feelings known in the comments below.
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