Samsonite Konnect-i with Google Jacquard review: Simple, smart, and expensive

When Google finally presented the Jacquard project in a Levi’s jacket in 2017, I was thrilled. Man, I wanted one so badly.

Wearables had only been a hot topic for a few years at the time, and everyone was wondering what the next step was. We started seeing smart glasses, smart rings, and many other smart ones Stuff pop up everywhere, especially at trade shows like CES. But they all had one thing in common. They were bulky.

Google’s jacquard technology – – intelligent fibers woven into clothing – – however, seemed promising. It didn’t add much bulk, just a small label that could be charged and tucked into a Levi’s jacket cuff. This seemed like the future of wearables, something that was Clothes, just a little smarter.

A few years have passed since jacquard was introduced and the wearable device market has grown quantity. While some accessories like the Focals by North no doubt still look like computerized accessories, others like the Fossil Q Hybrid smartwatch that I wear every day have evolved to look great.

And now Google has developed Jacquard too. What was once a product that only lived in clothing has been used for a few other accessories, such as the Adidas GMR Smart Sole and the Saint Laurent Cit-E backpack. Now comes another accessory. This is the Samsonite Konnect-i backpack.

What is the Samsonite Konnect-i?

The Samsonite Konnect-i backpack is an elegant day bag for short trips or trips. There are two versions: a standard version and a slim one. The slim model is thinner and has two vertical pockets, while the standard version has additional pockets on the front.

Both backpacks have plenty of pockets for storage. Inside, they almost look like a school backpack. There are plenty of dedicated slots for pens and business cards, as well as mesh pockets for various things you may need to carry with you. The main pocket is mostly empty, except for two smaller pockets. In the back pocket there is a laptop and a tablet. There is a zip pocket at the top for sunglasses and other small items.

The outside consists of a water-repellent, easy-care polyester fabric, which is coated with a Teflon backing. This means you don’t have to worry about anything being damaged in the rain. There’s a lot of foam padding on both the back and the straps, but my back wasn’t sweating when I walked around Manhattan on the Samsonite Konnect-i for a few days.

But this backpack is also smart. On the left strap is a series of smart fibers designed for wiping and tapping to interact with jacquard. Below is a slot for the small jacquard label.

The label is made of sturdy plastic material with a copper connection strip and a button for coupling. The button was pretty hard to push. I really had to dig in my nails for them to register. I would guess this is by design to keep the case from peeling the tag off your phone.

There is also a charging port which unfortunately uses micro USB in 2020, the year of our suffering. Google says the day should last anywhere from 10 days to two weeks depending on usage.

What can jacquard do?

The jacquard fibers on the Samsonite Konnect-i backpack allow you to interact with your phone without touching your phone. You can pause and play your music, skip tracks, place a Google Maps PIN at your current location, or trigger the Google Assistant. Jacquard works best when you’ve got headphones plugged in, but it can do other things too, like … counting things. If you like it.

You can set three different actions when programming Jacquard. You can tap up, down, or. There is also an option to hold your hand over the threads, but that action seems limited to muting your device.

There are actually a ton of things that Jacquard can do with these gestures. This includes skipping tracks, finding your phone, or triggering the selfie camera. But instead of listing them all, here are a few screenshots.

Jacquard also has an LED that can glow red, green or blue. You can attach these colors to specific notifications so that you know what’s happening on your phone in the area. When this happens, you can swipe up or down on certain actions, such as: For example, let the assistant read your text message or hear the car model and license plate number of your Uber trip. This is all rightly useful, especially if you don’t want to look at your phone every five seconds.

For me, the most logical use of Jacquard is to control music, although my earbuds already can. This is of course useful if your headphones don’t have touch controls built into them. That being said, I wish Jacquard had allowed you to adjust the playback volume with a swipe down or up. These don’t seem like options, but I would find them more useful than just playing / pausing or skipping tracks.

I also found the Find My Device feature useful. This will notify you when your phone detaches from the jacquard tag on the backpack. You can also use it to call your phone when you can’t find it. It’s like a built-in tile tag. I like it.

Who is the Samsonite Konnect-i for?

At $ 219.99 for the standard rucksack and $ 199.99 for the slim rucksack, you’re paying a high premium to get some tech in your hand luggage. Most backpacks in this price range have special features for photographers or hikers, but of course they don’t have the built-in technology.

In my opinion, the first jacquard product, a Levi denim jacket for bikers, made the most sense. With this product, you were in control of your phone while paying attention to the biking and didn’t want to reach up to adjust your playback using the touch controls on your headphones.

Jacquard is certainly harder to sell on a backpack. I absolutely appreciate the ability to customize media and pins in places without taking out my phone. To be honest, it was nice to be able to ask where I was going next without having to look at a screen. My Pixel Buds can also do this using the Google Assistant, but you don’t always want to speak publicly with your headset.

Ultimately, the Samsonite Konnect-i is intended for people who commute every day and really don’t want to look at their phone. It’s absolutely a luxury item and a lot less of a security measure than it is in Levi’s commuter jacket.

Should you buy the Samsonite Konnect-i?

If you look at this backpack, there is a good chance you can spend extra cash or just enjoy the prospect of having extra technology in an everyday product. Personally, I’m in the latter group. While I was able to perform the required actions fairly easily with just a few taps on my phone, I love the prospect of not taking my phone out at all. The implementation of these actions in the environment is satisfactory.

However, I also realize that $ 220 is a lot of money for a backpack. As a reference, Samsonite itself sells many backpacks of a similar caliber at half price or less. So you really pay double the price to get a backpack with three re-assignable actions and ambient colors for notifications. I’m not sure if this is worth the cost.

Regardless, I am pleased that Jacquard is being further developed and added to other products. At the time of writing, there are only about five products that use this technology. If Google is able to shrink this technology even further and make it more affordable, I could see that this is the future of wearables that I envisioned in 2017.