Wearable tech was the promise of 2013, but one that failed to truly deliver. In 2014 it looks as though every manufacturer wants to be the one to crack the market, including gaming laptop maker Razer with the Nabu.

Described as a discreet wearable, the Nabu was on display behind glass at the company’s stand at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

razer nabu we eye up gaming laptop maker’s wearable tech band image 2

We weren’t able to prise open the glass and get a proper play with the device, but its concept lured us in. It might not be a totally original concept, but is Razer the one to hit the nail on the head in this market space?

Unlike competition such as the Nike FuelBand and its fitness-based concept, the Nabu is designed to cater for a wider remit. Email alerts, text messages - it’s the device to extend your smartphone’s purpose. That’s hardly new, as we’ve already seen the Pebble and many more wearable devices offer much the same. 

READ: Pebble review

What makes the Nabu different is that it has not one but two screens - one easy to glance at like a watch face, the other designed to sit on the inside of your wrist for greater privacy. So if you have an alert showing how many steps you’ve taken in a day, for example, the outer screen will show a "walking" symbol, while the interior screen will offer a full notification, words and all.

Both screens looked bright and easily legible to us. Without wearing the device it’s hard to figure whether frequent wrist turning would be more an irritation than successful conclusion.

razer nabu we eye up gaming laptop maker’s wearable tech band image 3

Another cool feature is built-in GPS, able to track your location and, should you want, allow for localised information to be pinged to your wrist.

There are even programmable, gesture-based commands. A shake of the wrist or snap of fingers could mean the Nabu dives into a specific mode, for example.

As with all things Razer, we’re not yet sure if itwill end up in the UK. The company’s gaming laptops aren’t available in Blighty, so we anticipate this being a North American release from day one.