- [Announcer] When you hear the term, wearable
technology, probably the first thing
that springs to mind is a smartwatch
or Snapchat Spectacles, even that crazy
Frontrow camera I reviewed a while back.
But if you take the term at its most literal,
well you get something like this.
I'm Mr. Mobile and this is the Levis Commuter Trucker, the
first wearable technology from Google's
Project Jacquard, and my first digital jacket.
Okay, first and foremost, if you've ever tried on
a good quality denim jacket, you already know
what wearing this one feels like.
It's lined, too, with a comfortable mix of soft
polyester and elastane, it's got plenty of pockets
for your stuff, and a dropped hemline around back
for preventing Al Borland disease.
Also, in keeping with its name, well this is built
for commuters, it's got strategically placed
reflective strips to keep you from getting creamed
by a car while you're on your bike or walking to work.
Aside from an annoying tendency for the pocket zippers
to get stuck in their hideaway folds, this is
a really solid and comfortable jacket.
Even for a guy who doesn't usually do denim.
So where's all the technology?
Well it's confined to a small area, which is good
because that means the rest of the jacket
is free for whatever adornments you want to add.
Specifically, the active zone is the left sleeve cuff which
features 15 rows of conductive fiber woven into the denim.
While these are metallic textiles, they're spun in such a
way that they look and feel just like normal thread.
Triggering them is as simple as swiping across
with your fingers, your gestures are then transmitted
to your Iphone or Android phone to make it do things.
Doing the transmitting is a weather resistant
snap tag which is a flexible little dongle
that plugs into a port and tucks into a neighboring slot.
It's got a Bluetooth radio to talk to your phone,
a haptic motor to buzz your wrist for
notifications, and an LED for visual alerts.
If that sounds an awful lot like a smartwatch,
yup, this jacket is gonna be super redundant
for people who already wear one of those.
But the snap tag does offer better battery life.
Google says up to 14 days depending on usage
and my own experience is tracking that pretty closely.
After about a week, I haven't even hit 50%.
When it does run dry you can plug it in
to a USB A port to charge it back up.
So once all this is set up, what can
you actually do with it?
Truth be told, not much, yet.
Music control is the big thing.
I mean this is for bicyclists or pedestrians
who don't wanna fumble on a phone or a wristwatch
to skip songs, and it basically assumes
that you're wearing your headphones
whenever you're wearing your jacket.
I've got mine set so that a forward swipe
skips a track, a backwards swipe is previous track,
and a double tap starts and stops.
The app lets you program additional gestures
and it'll work with a whole mess of music players.
In addition, if you're using turn by turn
navigation to get somewhere, the app can be set
to tell you your next move in your headphones.
You can also set a gesture that prompts Jacquard
to tell you the time, or count.
I don't really get the counting, but...
If you're pressing the jacket into service
as a surrogate smartwatch you get about as much usefulness
as you could expect from a device with no display.
When someone calls you or sends you a text,
the snap tag can buzz and light up,
and it'll also give you an announcement in
your headphones about who's trying to reach you.
You can then accept or reject with a sleeve swipe.
Also, if you're waiting to hear from someone
in particular, you have the option of only
receiving alerts from that person.
Despite being introduced over two years ago,
Project Jacauard still feels like a very early product.
What it does, it does well, but I was constantly
wishing it could do more, like adjust headphone volume,
or integrate with Google Assistant.
Or even just serve as a pedometer.
And then there's the warranty thing.
The jacket is covered against defects for a year
but Google recommends you don't wash it
more than 10 times in its lifetime.
Presumably because of those special conductive threads.
Granted most people who actually care about their denim
won't wash it often, they'll spot clean instead,
and that might seem like an okay compromise to make
on the first day you walk out of the store with your
fancy new digital jacket, but a year or two later
when you're afraid to put the thing
in the washing machine because you might break it?
You might look back and wish you'd
spent your $350 on something else.
Especially since you can get almost this exact
same jacket without Jacquard for less than half the price.
Project Jacquard is much more than just this one product.
Google talks about connecting all kinds of garments
and accessories with your digital life,
and the possibilities are super exciting.
But given the high price and limited capabilities
at this point, I'd say you're gonna wanna wait and see
how much momentum Jacquard is able to develop
before putting your dollars in this particular pocket.
Hey, speaking of Google I was just over in San Francisco
checking out another few products you have heard of,
check out TheMrMobile on YouTube to see my hand on coverage
of the new Pixel smartphones and the new Pixelbook.
And please, subscribe, so you don't miss more
mobile tech videos landing every week, until next time,
thanks for watching, and stay mobile my friends.
- I can't, (laughter)
- [Man Off Camera] I'm like, oh he missed.
(laughing together)