At the Intel Developer Forum 2014, Mike Bell, corporate vice president and general manager of the new devices group at Intel, took to the stage during the opening keynote and unveiled a sneak peek of a forthcoming smartwatch by Basis. But details of the second-generation device were scarce, so Pocket-lint caught up with Bell after to extract some additional detail.

"I like joking that the back of ours looks better than the front of a lot of others. It's kind of cool and I will say it's called the Peak.

"One of the many of the reasons we [Intel] bought Basis - and I tried everything on the market - is theirs just worked the best. There was actual science to back up what they were saying; there were actual studies to prove correlation between the results they got compared to things that are more invasive. Basis provide the same of better results."

With the company acquired and already shipping its first-generation product, Bell claims that the Peak will be yet more advanced than its predecessor - and the competition.

"The cool thing is that Basis has been working on it [Peak] for years and we already know what works and what doesn't work - and the new product is much better than what is already shipping. It's great that so many [competitors] have come to the party with optical heart rate, but we're already on the second generation when some others are just dabbling in it.

"Something that gives you a [heart rate] snapshot every once in a while is kind of fun to play with but - and I heard something about the Apple Watch - that's not the same as something that can help you figure out how to change your lifestyle; to help people perform better or feel better.

"So the big Basis stuff I'm thrilled with. It'll be out soon."

That was the most Bell was willing to let spill from his lips. We anticipate Basis Peak being shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show 2015 in January where we'll take a look at just how much better the device is (or isn't) compared to what we've seen prior to now. Watch this space.

To read our full interview with Mike Bell, take a look at 'The big interview: Wearables aren't 'just something for computer people' says Intel new devices boss'