Leaked training documents that are in place to prepare the store team to deal with different customer situations, indicate that Apple will not be selling any smartwatches to customers who step in to try it out.

Walk-in customers who step into an Apple Store will not be able to purchase an Apple Watch, but will be guided by the team as to how to place a product order for the same online.

“If a customer walks in and wants to purchase a watch, offer the option to try on a watch. Then help them place an order online or through the Apple Store app,” says the document.

Since this comes from the training manual, it could simply mean that Apple is expecting low stocks. More importantly Apple could just be doing a trial run to figure out how much inventory it needs to keep ready, since this is a new product after all.

[Also Read: Apple Watch Edition Buyers Will Get A Special Customer Support Line]

News is that Apple is expecting low inventory at the beginning of sales, but will eventually move to in-store purchases once the demand decreases and the initial rush subsides.

Source

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, Apple Watch, Apple

What is more impressive than the Apple Watch, is indeed the news that revolves around its perks and customer service.

We all know that Apple is going to create a divide in its community by breaking up Apple Watch in-store customer service. This it plans to do by giving different try-on time frames.

Surprisingly, the service factor does not end there. We now know that the $10,000 Edition watch will not only get a private viewing area (by appointment) for trying out the gadget, but will also get a special customer support line as well.

This also includes a zero wait time with personalised attention at Apple Stores and even a video conferencing experience, for those who do not want to travel to a store.

The 'magical' display tables that will show up in the bigger Apple Stores.

The rest of the “unprivileged” lot (that includes the standard Watch and Watch Sport models owners) will only get a 15 minute try-on time in limited Apple Stores.

Still then those who prefer to skip the try-on experience, and can settle for a demo unit stuck to a table will be treated to something just like that. The mobile demo units will be strapped onto a console that includes an iPad as a display (pictured above).

While the standard Apple Watch may come pretty close to justifying its price, the high-end Edition smartwatches somehow seems to be too overpriced, considering that they do not host anything new apart from a body made out of precious metals.

We would rather pay that much for a timepiece from the plethora of horologists, something that holds true value in the form and accuracy of its mechanical movements.

Source 1, Source 2

TAGS: smartwatch, wearable, Apple Watch, Apple

Vector, a collaboration between Joe Santana, ex-CEO of Timex and Steve Jarvis, ex designer at Nike and CTO of Vector, Andrei Pitis have announced their all new range of cross-platform smartwatches.

While the smartwatches do look unique, what makes them the talk of smartwatch town is that they come with a 30 day battery life; meaning that you will have to charge your smartwatch just once a month.

The Luna and the Meridian as they are called, look pretty elegant and frankly speaking, look more watch and than smartwatch, which seems to be something that everyone is trying to pull off these days.

Vector’s offering comes with custom software delivering contextual awareness and will display notifications accordingly. Controls happen with the help of buttons and the smartwatches tracks everything from step counts, to distance, calories lost and a lot more.

Third-party app integration with Nest, IFTTT etc is an idea that is also being looked into.

Cross platform and custom operating systems indeed seems to be the way to go these days for in the smartwatch industry.

It is the sole reason why we have a number of manufacturers who have gradually drifted away from Google’s Android Wear platform, due to battery life issues.

The same can be said about the Apple Watch, because like it or not, everyone wants better battery life with their smartwatches. And since the trend has just begun, the benchmark might as well be something in the range that Vector has announced today.

The smartwatches will be available in three configurations initially (shown below) and pricing begins from 199 USD.

Source, Via

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch

The Moto 360 was indeed one of the best looking smartwatches to hit Indian shores (post the Samsung Gear Live and the LG G Watch) although it was a bit chunky when it came to the form-factor.

Well, news is that someone managed to procure an image of the Moto 360’s successor and claims that it comes from none other than Lenovo's CEO, Yang Yuanqing.

Looking at the image, we can tell that Lenovo seems to have pulled out a page from Apple’s play book by delivering a smartwatch in two sizes.

The smartwatch module attached to the brown and metal straps, seems to have bigger bezels compared to the white ones.

Size aside, we can clearly tell that you will be able to replace the bezel of the upcoming 360, along with the straps as well. There is indeed a lot of customisation happening here.

Another cosmetic change that we noticed was that the crown has moved on the upper right side of the bezel. While this does seem like a prototype, Motorola could have made the change to deliver a visual difference between the new smartwatch and the older one.

Hopefully Motorola will work on the upcoming 360’s hardware specs as well as that old TI chipset seems to have aged with its predecessor, showing signs of lag all over the UX.

Source, Via

TAGS: smartwatch, wearable, Motorola Moto 360, Motorola, Android Wear

After smartphones, smartwatches and bands, the Chinese mobile manufacturer Xiaomi is planning to come up with smart running shoes.

Xiaomi along with China's Li Ning Co. Ltd is working on a new generation of "smart" running shoes which the companies plan to launch this year.

According to Reuters, Li Ning, a foot wear company in China in partnership with Huami Technology, the fitness wearable company behind the Mi band, are hoping towards providing professional "smart"running shoes to running enthusiasts at an affordable price.

Smart chips will reportedly be placed in the soles of Li Ning running shoes and they will be connected to a Xiaomi mobile app allowing runners to keep track of their progress and results, analyse their form and monitor their achievements.

However, we still have no further clue about the product and its pricing details.

Yet, if you ask us, this piece of invention may strike well in the sports industry to help track records of the sportsman.

We just have to wait and watch for more details.

TAGS: Xiaomi, Smart Running Shoes

After launching its first brick and mortar Google Store in London, Google has pushed out its new and refreshed store front online as well.

The new store is well laid out and detaches itself from the Play Store (which is where it previously existed). You will find all of its currently available products showcased and up for sale.

Indeed this a store front, meaning that the Android One range is certainly missing. While Google does have a separate website for the that, we wished that all of its products would have been showcased in one place rather than just the ones that are currently on sale.

Yes, the Nexus 5 is indeed not available any more and new Android fans will not know about its existence either. More so there are a lot of links to reviews out there as well (positive ones), sadly there is no space for customers to give their reviews about Google’s products.

Still then we found that the there was indeed a bit too much of scrolling and more of blank spaces, but all of this certainly makes shopping for your next Nexus device a lot easier.

Source

TAGS: Google, Mobile Phones, Tablets

A few months after the official announcement, the Apple Watch is ready to hit the stores. The Cupertino-based company has stated that the gadget will be up on pre-order starting from April 10. It will ship on 24th of the same month in select countries.

The first nine countries to get dibs on the Apple Watch are Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, UK, and US. No mention of our poor India, yet.

Pricing a bit tricky affair, as the gadget is customisable using multipl combinations. There are two dial sizes: 38 mm and 42 mm (height). Depending on your requirement (and budget), Apple offers three versions of its Watch.

First, simply called 'Watch' comes with a stainless steel case and a range of stylish bands. Next-up is 'Watch Sport' that features Anodised Aluminium cases and bright coloured bands. The 'Watch Edition' will allow Apple to compete with the jewellery brands as this version boasts of a 18-karat gold cases and premium bands.

The base model will cost $350 (approx Rs 22,000). Based on your choice of materials, the expensive model can go as high as around $10,000 (approx Rs 627000) equivalent to the price of a sedan.

Apple isn't the first company to unveil a smartwatch. However, it might become the first company to taste success in this segment. What gives the Apple Watch an edge over the competition is the focus on design. It is one of the very few smartwatches that look good.

The Apple Watch will work as a companion device for your iPhone. It will notify you about the incoming calls, text, and alerts. Thanks to the built in mic and speaker, you can answer a call directly on the Apple Watch. With the combination of heart-rate sensor, GPS, and accelerometer, Apple's smartwatch also works as a fitness band.

The smartwatch comes with many pre-installed apps including Calendar, Maps, Weather Stopwatch, Siri, and Photo gallery. The store already filling fast with thrd-arty apps such as CNN, Instagram (hipsters rejoice), and Uber.

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, Apple, Apple Watch

At the special Spring Forward (2015) event, Apple mostly focused on its smartwatch. The Apple Watch was unveiled at last year's keynote. Today, the company shed light on the nitty-gritties. Similar to most smartwatches, it lets you make/receive calls, push notifications, and read messages and emails. It doubles up as a fitness band, and also packs in apps such as Maps, Weather, and Photo gallery are pre-loaded on this gadget. With the Apple Watch on wrist, you can take Siri wherever you go. However, what most people don't know is that some of the Apple Watch's features are somewhat weird. Here's a quick list:

Tap
This is perhaps the most creepy feature I've ever seen on a smartwatch. Dubbed as Tap, this app lets you remotely "psuedo touch" your friends and loved ones. Apple states that if you miss someone, you can select that contact and gently tap your smartwatch. The person on the other end (who also owns Apple Watch) will feel a gentle tap on the wrist. I think this cheesy feature makes use of built in vibrator to convey your "touch". You can even customise taps for different people! Dear God, this is what the world has come to.

Heartbeat
Before you remotely 'touch' someone, you might want to impress that person. In this case, Apple has got you covered. The Apple Watch lets you record and share your heartbeat to the special one. To do that, you have to press and hold two fingers on the screen and the built-in heart rate does the rest. Apple claims that it is "a simple and intimate way to tell someone how you feel". For best results, send a cheesy Bollywood inspired poem along with the heartbeat.

Sketch
As its name suggests, Sketch lets you doodle on Apple's smartwatch. For aesthetic appeal, Apple adds a glow effect to these doodles. There's more to it though. You can share this screen with friends. The person on the other end, can reply to your sketch with their creative doodle. You may also write a short personal message. It's very similar to what Nintendo DS offered a decade ago. However, back in 2004, gamers could only communicate over LAN. Useful or not, I am anticipating a lot of sketches human reproductive organs making their way to Tumblr.

Walkie-Talkie
This one is self explanatory. Apple is bringing the fun of two-way radios to its smartwatch. To enable the Walkie-Talkie feature, the Watch has built-in mic and speaker. At this point, we are assuming that Apple might be using Wi-Fi to transmit the data. However, we can't rule out the possibility of Apple actually packing in conventional radios in its gadget. One thing is for sure that this feature is going to be fun.

Tags : Apple, Internet, smartwatch, Apple Watch

OPPO has been pretty busy lately and if today’s rumours turn out to be true, the company may soon begin teasing us with time-related teasers soon.

What we are referring to is the leaked images of an OPPO smartwatch and while everyone has already announced their own devices for the year, OPPO clearly wants its piece of the pie as well.

But OPPO is going against this year’s norm indeed. While every other manufacturer out there is making alternative plans to switch to their own OS to deliver better battery life, OPPO is still going with Android Wear.

Indeed all of us know that getting more than a day of battery life out of Android Wear-powered smartwatches is tough.

OPPO plans to tackle that issue with its VOOC tech that debuted with its Find 7 smartphone.

As the rumours go, the smartwatch thanks to VOOC will be able to charge the wearable in 5 minutes. Whether the smartwatch charges from 0-100% in 5 minutes is indeed a big question mark for now.

Still then, it is quite an achievement and hopefully if things do turn out to be true, will change things a bit for Android Wear’s battery life woes.

Source

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, OPPO, Android Wear

It looks like technology is heading into a highway where there is no speed limit in its reach and growth.

To add this, Skully Inc., has recently come up with a creative gadget which bike riders would love to the core.

Well, if you are guessing that it is a helmet, then kudos to you.

Skully has developed a motorcycle helmet with a heads-up display and a rear-facing camera which has a software in it based on the Android platform. The another key feature of the helmet is that it can be controlled with voice commands.

The helmet dubbed as Skully AR1 is surely on its way to become a sensational product and it definitely is another gadget bridging both mobile and automobile.

The helmet also comes with Bluetooth functionality which allows music streaming from smartphones.

These AR1 helmets actually prevent the accident in the first place instead of just preventing your head from hitting the pavement when you crash.

According to the company's website, the helmet is being sold for about $1,500.

It looks like technology oriented companies are getting into transportation - from cars to drones and also spaceships. While Apple started working on developing its own car, Google is investing in self-driving car, drones and satellites.

However, all seem to be on a same mission - to make life simpler with innovative technology!

TAGS: Skully Helmet AR1

As of today, Android Wear is indeed the platform to beat when it comes to smartwatches (both sales and variety). While many (manufacturers) believe that Android Wear may not be the perfect platform for pulling off the same, Google seems to think otherwise.

This is because news has surfaced online (from France) that Google may actually be readying an Android Wear app for iOS. While the news itself is enough to give Apple something to worry about (due to the sheer variety) we think everyone needs to worry about the Pebble Time more than anything else.

An iOS app for Android Wear will change a lot of things and may be Google’s attempt at eating into the Apple Watch’s sales numbers. Still then, aside from the UX, there is nothing new to check out on both sides.

Battery life still remains for a day on a single charge, which is why the 7 day Pebble Time seems to be getting a lot of attention (14 million dollars in Kickstarter funding so far).

Smartphone manufacturers also seem to be thinking likewise. Google’s Android Wear is indeed a power hog and if manufacturers have to deliver something better, they have to switch to a custom-made OS and newer custom-made chipsets that will help them accomplish the same.

Strangely, this is already happening. While Samsung has always stuck to its Tizen-based OS for smartwatches (except the Gear Live), LG recently showcased the LG Watch Urbane LTE with webOS underpinnings.

So instead of looking at iOS (a shortcut), we suggest that Google actually works on making Android Wear more efficient instead. Apple is expected to launch its Apple Watch on 9th of March at its 'Spring Forward' event.

Source

TAGS: smartwatch, wearable, Software, Android Wear, iOS

Yes the mobiles take the centre stage at the Mobile World Congress, but the latest fad of wearable too are vying for their share of honours as the segment is seeing more entrants.

LG used the stage to launch power-packed LTE version of Urbane, while the Chinese phone maker Huawei and Haier made their wearable debut on Day 1.

Until now, there have been very few players in the segment and it looks like the it will get increasingly cramped, if the announcements in the WMC are anything to go by.

Let us look at the wearables that have been launched so far…

HTC Grip

Once a major competitor to Samsung in smartphones, the Taiwanese brand has entered the fitness band segment with HTC Grip. This is the result of its new partnership with Under Armour and the band has four sensors along with a GPS receiver. It can track walking, running, cycling and gym sessions, while it works with both Android and iOS for calls and notifications.

Huawei Watch

Living up to its name, Huawei’s first Android Wear looks like a watch. A round display, stainless steel body and a mesh wristband makes it one of the best looking Android Wears. Incorporating Sapphire Crystal Display, the company has taken the challenge seriously.

The company has announced two versions. While it has Y360 that comes in with only 3G option, so that it is cheaper, and Y365 that supports 4G LTE.

Huawei TalkBand

Looking to set new standards, it has announced two forms of fitness trackers. The TalkBand N1 is an earphone with an accelerometer, while the B2 wristband is more of traditional fitness tracker.

TalkBand N1 has 4GB inbuilt storage and company promises seven hours of music playback. It is likely to be launched in May. It can be connected to you phone via bluetooth and because it does not have an GPS, it does not completely eliminate the smartphone during a fitness workout.

LG Urbane LTE

This was LG's biggest announcement on Day 1. Not only does the wearable support LTE, but also supports payments over NFC. It runs new software WebOS under the hood and this allows some of the features like standalone phone calls that is not a part of the Android Wears.

It has 1.3-inch round 320x320-pixel P-OLED display, 4GB of onboard storage and 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 400 processor. It also has other features like 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, an LTE antenna, NFC, and a much larger 700mAh battery.

Haier

The company that made its tablet and smartphone debut at the event, also announced connected watches for kids and elders. It comes in with a microphone and speaker to make calls. It also features a SOS button that can be used to send an alert to three different numbers in case of an emergency.

TAGS: MWC 2015, LG, Huawei, Haier, HTC

Apple has begun sending out invites to the press for a mystery event to be held on the 9th of March. While our guesses point straight to the Apple Watch, the Cupertino giant could unveil something bigger like the updated MacBook Air and much more. We would place our bets on the Apple Watch, since Tim Cook mentioned that the smartwatch would launch in April during an earlier earnings call.

Indeed Apple’s focus will be on its Apple Watch. While the company showed off the smartwatch in a demo video at its iPhone 6 event last year, it clearly did not have a working unit back then.

Apple had made a lot of big promises on stage during the event and we yet have to see if the smartwatch can deliver all of those interesting features.

While some of the health-monitoring features of the Apple Watch were dropped due to problems with approvals from organizations such as the FDA, it seems that the company has blamed other factors such as hairy arms and various skin types that led them to cancelling the same.

Still then, everyone is waiting for a proper demo of what may be a game-changing smartwatch for Apple fans and hopefully Apple being Apple, does not disappoint.

Source

TAGS: smartwatch, wearable, Apple, Apple Watch

LG has been making plenty of announcements this week; be it Android smartphones to Android Wear smartwatches. So today was indeed nothing new but rather something unique instead. The Korean electronics giant has announced its Watch Urbane once again, but with LTE bands, meaning that you can actually make calls similar to the Samsung Gear S with this one.

What is interesting about this smartwatch is not the fact that it looks good, nor is the fact that it comes with an industry leading 700 mAh battery, but the OS that it packs in.

Seems like LG has ditched Android Wear with this smartwatch and we can only hope that the mystery UI that LG is teasing us about is a skinned version of webOS.

Yes, we got our first glimpse of the OS that was tweaked for the LG webOS smartwatch at CES earlier this year, when it was demoed with an Audi automobile.

Everything looked smooth, but somehow seemed unfinished. Let’s hope that   LG brings back that OS as it did look pretty impressive even though it lacked the apps.

Software aside let’s take a look at the specs that the LG Watch Urbane LTE will bring:

• We get a 1.3 inch P-OLED (Plastic) display sporting a resolution of 320 x 320 pixels (245 ppi)
• Inside, there is Qualcomm-made Snapdragon 400 SoC coupled with 1 GB of RAM and 4 GB of internal memory
• Also included are a plethora or sensors that include 9-axis (gyro / acceleration / compass), barometric pressure sensor, heart rate sensor and GPS
• Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE and NFC along with a speaker and mic to place calls
• The watch is IP67 certified (for dust and water resistance) and is powered by a 700 mAh battery

Of course this is just an announcement but the product will be showcased at the MWC 2015, a couple of days from now.

Source
 

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, webOS, LG, LG Watch Urbane

Huawei held an event in London and the big announcement apart from the 4.5 G network technology was clearly the world’s first LTE-M wearable, dubbed the 4.5 G Smartband. The company refused to give out too many details, including the design of the actual smart band, but we can be pretty sure that Huawei is betting big on 4.5 G wireless technology.

The event indeed held a surprise and while many were taken aback to see the connected 4.5 G Smartband, Huawei’s focus was indeed locked on to the 4.5 G network.

Network strengths aside, the 4.5 G Smartband is expected to pack in a 1.4 inch OLED display, an NFC chip, Bluetooth along with water and dust resistance.

The device utilizes an LTE-M chipset developed by NEUL (a company that Huawei acquired recently) and makes IoT (Internet of Things) connected devices a lot more efficient such as connected thermostats and energy readers.

The company’s focus was on pushing 4.5 G networks and it showed off its benefits that include “100K per cell connections via LTE-M, 100 times that of 4G” which is pretty impressive. Clearly what is left to be seen is adoption, which Huawei is pretty sure will work, thanks to the 1 Gbps data bandwidth when networks are rolled out.

Source

TAGS: Mobile Connections, wearable, Huawei

Pebble has pretty much summed up what we wanted in its all new smartwatch called the Pebble Time. The device comes with an industry-first (for smartwatches) colour e-paper display that will allow the smartwatch to pull off a 7-day battery life.

The new smartwatch is not only 20 percent thinner (and a lot less geeky, we might add) at 9.5mm, but also adds a new quick voice replies feature that will allow you to reply back via a voice dictation (voice note) in case you are too busy to get clicking.

That aside, Pebble being the innovator it always was, has even included a new interface for its newest smartwatch. The Pebble Time comes with a timeline interface that simply throws a long (vertically) scrollable timeline with all your pins (app notifications) in a simplified manner.

App developers will soon get a new SDK that will not only allow them to upgrade their apps to take advantage of the new colour e-paper display, but also allow them to build pins for the same.

More so, DIYers will also get all the 3D data they need to build their own strap for the smartwatch that uses a standard 22 mm watch band and is user replaceable. The straps will also see added functionality in the near future.

While Android Wear continues to be the power hog (they barely last a day) of the smartwatch industry and the Apple Watch has yet to be demoed, Pebble’s already ready smartwatch seems to be a success.

TAGS: smartwatch, wearable, Android, iOS, Pebble Time, Pebble

Apple is clearly not resting on its laurels with a record-breaking quarterly performance just yet. The company seems to be busy with its next big thing, the Apple Watch.

News is that plenty of devs have been summoned to Apple’s Cupertino office in California. The company is secretly preparing its app bank helping developers polish their apps before the launch happens.

Indeed Apple would not like to be taken down at its own game. The Cupertino giant has been bringing developers of third-party apps from different areas (sports, productivity and even banks) to get their apps ready before show time.

The source states that Apple has been in constant communication with major banks as well to expand Apple Pay to other countries. This is more so because Apple Watch also supports Apple Pay.

Moreover, this is not just with the Americas but Banks from Europe have also been called in to make the payment process as smooth and flawless as possible.

Apparently Apple has even been mum about who it talks to in the developer community. During the meetings says 9to5mac, “different developers in the room were not identified by name in order to keep each other’s plans private, but they were instead labelled by unique number identifiers.".

Of course with so many developers jumping in and out and having a hands-on on the functioning Apple Watch, news about it had to leak out as well. Some devs became fans of the Digital Crown, while others did not find the Force Touch feature impressive.

No matter what, Apple seems to be taking in developer feedback seriously and will hopefully deliver a polished product by April. This is when Apple plans to launch the Apple Watch globally, as mentioned during the quarterly earnings call.

Source

TAGS: Apps, Software, wearable, Apple Watch

After a long Beta test phase, Pebble has finally added support for Android Wear. This means that the Pebble Smartwatch will now be able to understand Android Wear notifications coming from their Android devices and relay notifications from the apps that suppport it.

What’s more is that Pebblers can even use quick responses, that are user defined replies which can be user customised as per the users needs to reply back with just a few clicks.

Those who currently own a Pebble smartwatch will have to upgrade to the latest v 2.9 firmware and then download the Pebble app from the Play Store.

While Google Android wear smartwatches do appear to be advanced, Pebble’s offerings are indeed big on battery life; but will not be able to carry out complex tasks due to the lack of a touch-screen UI. Both the standard Pebble Watch and the Steel currently deliver a 7 day battery life.

Source

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, Pebble, Android Wear

LG Electronics today announced its next offering in the smartwatch space tagged as the LG Watch Urbane. The smartwatch’s highlight is certainly its elegant design. This makes it look more like a timepiece than an electronic gadget, something that many smartwatch manufacturers have been trying to pull off lately, beginning with the ASUS ZenWatch.

It is very easy to describe LG’s next best smartwatch, since it’s basically a LG G Watch R that has been encased in an all-metal body, which is obviously, big on looks. LG has worked on the design bit (clearly, we are impressed) and has managed to narrow down those thick bezels from the G Watch R giving it a thinner profile.

Nothing has changed inside since the G Watch R either as everything from the hardware to the software pretty much remains intact, with a few new watch faces we guess.

• We get a 1.3-inch P-OLED Display (320 x 320, 245ppi)
• Inside hides the same old 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 with 512 MB RAM and 4 GB of internal memory
• The smartwatch includes all your usual sensors including Gyro, Accelerometer, Compass, Barometer and a PPG (Heart Rate Sensor)
• As usual it is powered by a 410 mAh battery unit and runs Android Wear inside; all encased in a metal construction making it look like a classic timepiece

Since the watch will be available for demo only at the MWC that is set to take place in a couple of weeks from now, LG refused to give out any details about its availability and pricing. The LG Watch Urbane will come in gold and silver and will basically sell as a premium version of the existing G Watch R, meaning that it will cost a lot more as well.

Let's hope that we get to know more details about Audi's LG-made WebOS smartwatch at the MWC as well.

Source

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, LG, Android Wear, Android, MWC 2015, LG Watch Urbane

After spending ages in the rumour mill, we get a complete download about HTC’s upcoming smartwatch. Petra as it will be called, functions both as a fitness tracker and a smartwatch.

It will deliver notifications, track your fitness with a 3 day battery life and even tie your shoe laces (just kidding). As you must have guessed by now, it is not powered by Android Wear.

Seems like Google’s Android Wear is getting the boot by many manufacturers these days for power consumption reasons. So technically speaking, if there is one thing we want to witness at this year’s Google I/O, it would be a refreshed version of Android Wear.

That aside, HTC’s Petra will run its own home-brew OS on a ST Micro STM32L151 chipset (built by ST Microelectronics), that will help deliver a jaw-dropping 3 day battery life. Another hardware solution to help deliver that battery life is the flexible 1.8 inch PMOLED display with a resolution of 160 x 32 pixels.

ST’s proprietary ultra-low-leakage process technology with an innovative autonomous dynamic voltage scaling and 5 low-power modes offers unprecedented platform flexibility to fit any application. This is why HTC seems to have gone in for it instead of the usual Qualcomm chipsets.

The smartwatch will come in 3 sizes with IP57 and MIL-STD-810G certifications for dust and water resistance and will weigh just 23 gms.

The Petra smartwatch will launch by the end of March in the USA and HTC will even include a footpad to register accurate step count.

As always this is a leak and we suggest that you take such information with a pinch of salt. But considering that many manufacturers are moving away from Android Wear, HTC must have waited to gauge the market and now may finally be ready for show time.

Source

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, HTC

While Apple did demo the Apple Watch on stage via a video, the media clearly did not get to play around with the software, let along control the device from an iPhone. This is because the smartwatch from the Cupertino tech giant was indeed not ready. Today, with the release of latest iOS update for developers, tagged as iOS 8.2, we get a little bit of an insight of what things will look like with the Apple Watch.

After the update went live, developers were quick to post the app icon of the Apple Watch. Also as we can see below, the settings layout has leaked out online as well.

Apple indeed seems to have gone for a long scrolling list, which is great since there are one too many swipes with current day smartwatches.

What indeed remains a mystery is how Apple Watch owners will find all those app icons in that tiny extensive grid layout that will keep getting complicated and extensive as more apps are added and more icons begin to appear.

[Also Read: Apple Watch: Apple’s Most Exclusive Product To Date]

Since so much has already leaked out, we guess that we will get a better idea about the main app drawer soon. This is keeping in mind that Apple’s smartwatch launch has been confirmed to take place in April.

Source

TAGS: Software, iOS, Mobile Phones, wearable, smartwatch, Apple Watch, Apple

After long period of silence, the AirType team from Texas has finally given us a heads up on what is happening about their interesting product. Seems like the project is progressing and apart from a name change we may actually be able to type on any surface or in the air pretty soon.

AirType has now changed its name to Noki. While the team’s goals remain the same, Noki has finally begun reaching out to interested users for its beta program that will launch by the end of the year.

Noki will not only follow and adapt to your keystrokes (with the help of those hand bands), but will also auto correct what you’re typing thanks to its accompanying app for devices.

The concept is pretty neat and we are interested to see if the company gets it right. If they do, the typing accessory will indeed allow you to type without the need for carrying around a Bluetooth keyboard.

Source

TAGS: wearable, Accessories, Noki

The long list of rumours and insider information about the Apple Watch seems to have forced Apple CEO, Tim Cook to make things pretty much official today. The CEO of the Cupertino tech giant, finally broke his silence about the launch of the Apple Watch and we now know that it happens in April.

The announcement was made during the company’s quarterly earnings call in which Apple’s CEO also thanked his own employees for making the last quarter, Apple’s most successful one yet.

[Also Read: Apple sold a record 74.5 million iPhones in the past quarter]

The launch date of the Apple Watch has been a big mystery since the day it was announced. And while Apple fans (which seems to be growing by the day) cannot wait, it was high time they got something better other than a random “early 2015” launch date.

While the battery life that the smartwatch packs is indeed another mystery, we can clearly state (thanks to leaked information) that it is one of the reasons as to why the device has been delayed.

Source

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, Apple, Apple Watch

ASUS Chairman, Jonney Shih revealed a bit too much about the company’s ambitious plans for its next smartwatch. The Chairman revealed about the smartwatch at the company’s year-end party; and while a 7 day battery life seems almost impossible, the man does have a plan.

"As a companion device, its central processing unit and operating system should be more simplified than the current version, so that I can use it for up to seven days on one charge, rather than for just two days," said Jonney Shih.

That plan according to ASUS involves building a custom chipset coupled with custom software. While most current smartwatches utilize a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 with 2 cores on, ASUS states that it will go with the Apple way, building hardware that compliments the software enabling it to pull off a smartwatch with a 7 day battery life.

While Apple’s smartwatch details are scarce at best, we think ASUS may go with an E-ink display similar to Sony in order to pull off the unachievable.

As for the OS, Samsung is still not done with Tizen as can be seen from the leaked information about the Orbis smartwatch, so it seems that ASUS may ditch Android Wear (OS) just for this product.

While ASUS has proved that smartwatches can look beautiful with its ZenWatch, this indeed will be a big challenge for a company with a budding line-up of Android-powered devices. The Chairman also mentioned that the company will be looking at announcing a few (fitness tracking) smartbands by this year end as well.

Source

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, ASUS, ASUS ZenWatch

Samsung’s smartwatches business does not seem to be all that successful as of today. If the watches are functional, they look ugly, if they look decent, they loose out on functionality. But Samsung seems to be working hard to remedy this.

Today we get our first glimpse in to the features of the Korean smartphone maker’s long-rumoured round smartwatch. And shape aside, this one seems to be an “all-rounder” in many ways, simply because of the inclusion of two mechanical toggles.

Insiders claim that both the rotary bezel and the digital crown will be used in sync to operate the Tizen-powered smartwatch, now tagged as the Orbis. While the bezel will be used to navigate everything from apps to music and answering calls (via your smartphone), the digital crown will be used for closing apps (much like the back button on Android smartphones).

But those swipe actions have not gone. Thankfully, Samsung has kept these gestures to a minimum. One can simply swipe from the top to the bottom to access settings and toggles like the Bluetooth, battery life and brightness controls. Swipe from the bottom and you get additional options depending on the app your on. For e.g. swiping from the bottom on the music app will give you access to playlists, albums and more.

So yes, Samsung is up to something big with its upcoming smartwatch. We know its going to be round for sure; let’s just hope that Samsung does not go “Samsung” with the design and the new Global Design Head has a say in it.

For more detailed information on the features, hit the source link below.

Source

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, Samsung

It is very hard to pull off great design along with functionality and more importantly a practical battery life when it comes to mobile devices. While Apple does offer some pretty slim products compared to the rest of the industry, it has always done so successfully but with the second iteration of the device.

The same we think applies to the Apple Watch. While the Cupertino giant had no working Apple Watch to demo at the iPhone 6 event in September last year, it sure raised the hopes of Apple fans around the world about building the most revolutionary smartwatch yet. Today, thanks to 9to5mac, we actually have some details about the controversial battery life of the Apple Watch.

From the what we can see things are pretty average at best. The watch is said to deliver 19 hours of mixed usage which ok, considering that you will be using your device for 12 hours at a stretch before you, your cellphone and your Apple Watch hit the charger (its a good night’s sleep for you).

Standby time has been targeted at 3 days, and sleeping mode will help your Apple Watch last up to four days (impressive). Sadly though, all those animations do take a toll on the battery and with the timepiece mode on, the watch will last only for 3 hours.

While Apple has gone in for a custom chip called the S1, there still seems to be a lot of work in terms of optimisation; meaning that all of those 3000 units that are out for extensive testing will stay out for a little longer indeed. Wonder what happens to that expected March launch then?

Source

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, Apple, Apple Watch

After showcasing the next iteration of its operating system, Microsoft unveiled a wearable computer dubbed Hololens. In simple words, it's a cross between the Oculus Rift and Google Glass. Compared to Google Glass, Microsoft's wearable looks incredibly dorky. Much like the Oculus Rift, this product is not meant to be used outdoors.

The USP of this device is to fuse the richly textured 3D holographs in the real world around you. This holographic computer, as Microsoft likes to call it, is a standalone device. It does not require a PC to work. To render and morph 3D elements on the real world objects, Hololens draws power from a built-in SoC (System on Chip), which Microsoft refers to as HPU (Holographic Processing Unit). According to the software-giant, the HPU is capable of processing terabytes of data from the sensors in real time. The wearer can then interact with the virtual objects with hand gestures.

On the software front, the wearable runs Windows 10. All Windows universal apps will be compatible with the Hololens. Unlike the Google Glass, Microsoft's headgear does not feature a camera, which is actually a good thing if you respect privacy. Going by the promo video, the product seem to be useful in the field of architecture and conceptualisation. Or watch videos and play Minecraft like never before. To find out how much of that turns out to be true, we will have to wait for the Hololens to hit the stores. In the meantime, watch the official Hololens video embedded below.

Product videos are as credible as our politicians.

TAGS: Microsoft, wearable, Oculus Rift, Windows 10, Windows

Apple has just received a patent for a filing that was applied long ago. The patent was filed for a GoPro like action camera, that we are sure Apple is working on right now. While the news is pretty interesting, it shocking to see how GoPro stocks stumbled and showed a noticeable drop after news about the patent surfaced on the web.

That news was accompanied by Apple’s remarks in the filing that describe current GoPro models as being susceptible to damage and having “excessive wind resistance”. While these are pretty much the facts when it comes to action cameras, the taunting bit seems to be a bit too much.

What the patent filing reveals is that Apple’s “wind-tunnel” tested action camera will be controlled by its smartwatch. This makes sense since iPhone owners would not want to take their iPhone for a dip in any given situation. So the Apple Watch seems like the right tool for the job. Makes us wonder about how long back did Apple begin working on the Apple Watch.

While this is still a patent, the idea sounds cool and coming from Apple we are pretty sure that the implementation will be spot on as well.

Via, Source

TAGS: wearable, Action Camera, Apple, GoPro

MediaTek has finally announced a new chipset that has been built from the ground up specially for Android Wear-powered smartwatches. The chipset called the MT2601 has been designed to cater to the needs of smartwatches that need to be big on battery life and deliver a smooth experience, while swiping through all those menus.

The MediaTek MT2601 has been designed to be more power efficient compared to the current chipsets used in smartwatches these days. That would include the Snapdragon 400 which was built for budget smartphones but has been used over and over with just two (out of the four) cores on.

Apart from Toshiba and Qualcomm (yes they are working on one) there is almost no other manufacturer that is available to cater to the needs of the Android Wear-powered smartwatches; which is why we now have MediaTek. The chipset has a dual-core architecture with the ARM Cortex-A7 CPU cores clocked at 1.2GHz each. There is a Mali-400 MP GPU, and the chipset supports qHD resolutions that is sufficient for a smartwatch.

While the smartwatch war is at its peak, with more and more smartphone manufacturers releasing their companion wearables (including Apple), it indeed makes sense to cash in at the right moment. With MediaTek entering the game we could expect low cost chipsets as well. That aside, lets hope that the performance is stable as MediaTek chipsets are known for their shaky performance.

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, Android Wear, MediaTek

If you invested in a Samsung Gear S, you will certainly cringe in shame after taking a look at what LG has on offer. The company in partnership with Audi (to unlock cars) showcased quite a competitor for the Android Wear smartwatch market in the form of the LG-Audi smartwatch (model number LG-W120L).

What gets your attention is certainly the design of both the hardware and the software. One look and you will be sold about why this watch sits right up there above all those Android Wear-powered smartwatches announced this far (including LG’s own).

Yes, you can place calls on the W120L and you can send across text messages as well. Apart form that, the smartwatch runs LG’s version of webOS, (which LG owns the developments rights of) and things seem to be pretty smooth even though the software showcased in the video below is an older experimental one. Everything from the circular icons to the (optional) rotary motion app menu look perfect. What is even more impressive is how LG managed to keep the swipe actions to a minimum by allowing for scrollable menu’s (there’s barely a learning curve here).

The final polished version of the software will indeed run flawlessly (like the webOS TV UI). Oh, and did we tell you that it can unlock the doors of your car with NFC?

TAGS: wearable, smartwatch, LG, webOS, CES 2015