LG: Apple has it right -- smartwatches should be a fashion item first, gadget second
During the Wearable Technology Show in London, LG’s head of business development Justin Jungsup Lee spoke about smartwatches, early adopters and sales.
Speaking in front of a packed out room in the LG keynote, Lee said that smartwatches should be more of a fashion item, and less of a gadget. And least of all, a smartphone accessory.
Understanding the potential of watch apps
I have been a bit of a wearables skeptic ever since Android Wear was unveiled at Google I/O last year. Following that, Apple's original announcement of the Apple Watch just added to my list of questions about the category. Hoping to find some answers, I watched yesterday's Apple Watch keynote with great interest. Curiously, what I found were more questions.
Before jumping in, I have to say that I really enjoyed the recent debate around the Apple Watch (for completely non-analytical reasons). The certainty with which some have predicted the imminent success or failure of the product has been very amusing. Unfortunately, my powers of clairvoyance aren't nearly as evolved, so all I have are questions. That said, it could be worth studying some of the arguments put forward in these debates.
Motorola brings personalization to Android Wear watches with Moto Maker
Motorola introduced Moto Maker as a way to let customers personalize phones with all sorts of adventurous designs from wood to pigskin and all manner of other things. However, the company was also among the first to jump into the Android Wear space, bringing the new smartwatch platform to everyone. Now the two are combining.
Today the company announces that the same sort of customization is arriving for your smartwatch -- providing, of course, that it's Motorola branded. You'll get three cases and nine bands to choose from as you walk through the process. Motorola also points out that you can "complete your design by choosing one of 11 watch faces. Once you get your watch, it’s easy to swap watch faces from our collection or through Google Play".
Evernote announces support for Apple Watch coming soon
You would have been hard pressed to miss today's news, as the Apple hype machine was running at full speed. The announcements kept on coming -- Apple TV with a reduced price and an HBO Now exclusive, new MacBooks and of course the much anticipated watch. However, the devil is in the details -- a new product like the Apple Watch can live or die based on support from developers.
That likely won't be a problem, and note-taking giant Evernote is among the first to throw its support behind this new platform. The service works on just about every platform, so this should come as little surprise.
Will you buy Apple Watch -- yours from $349 to $10K-plus?
The long-hyped smartwatch from the maker of iPhone is now official. Apple takes preorders from April 10, and sales start 14 days later. For all the hype, the price is what really distinguishes the device, which will be available in aluminum, stainless steel, and solid gold—with the latter selling for minimum $10,000.
Apple Watch Sport is the lower-cost option in 38mm and 42mm cases, starting at $349 and $399, respectively. Apple Watch ranges from $549 to $1,049. Apple Watch Edition is the pricey one starting at $10K. At launch, the wristwear will be available in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States. Today's big question: Will you buy one? And which?
Apple releases iOS 8.2 -- here's what's new
As expected, at its Spring Forward press event, Apple today revealed more details about Apple Watch (be warned, it goes all the way up to $10k), and announced a new, lighter MacBook. But Apple also introduced iOS 8.2, which is needed to make use of the new wearable. Here is what the latest version brings to the table, starting with the Apple Watch connectivity.
After installing iOS 8.2, iPhone users will be able to pair, sync and configure Apple Watch from their smartphone, using the new Apple Watch app that is on the homescreen. Also, there's a new Activity app which shows up after pairing an Apple Watch, showing achievements and fitness data on iPhones. It should be said that Apple Watch only works with iPhone 5 and later models.
ZTE launches a new range of fitness-focused smartwatches
ZTE has launched three new smartwatches at Mobile World Congress this week, in an attempt to win over three of the sub-markets interested in wearables: runners, fitness trackers and health nuts.
The Venus G1 will feature a GPS chip made for runners, giving them detailed map information and routes. The Venus S2 will feature all of the fitness stats on its own operating system. The ZTE Business Intelligence Watch (excellent name by the way) will work similarly to the Withings Activité, sending health information back to a smartphone app.
Apple Watch could replace your car keys
The Apple Watch "official" launch event (as opposed to last autumn’s mere unveiling) is almost upon us -- in fact it’s a week from today -- and CEO Tim Cook has been busy stoking the hype fires one last time.
Cook talked to the Telegraph about the sort of innovations Apple is planning to bring forth with its smartwatch, one of which is that the device will be usable as your car keys -- replacing the chunky fobs that vehicles use these days.
Huawei Watch could be the first smartwatch you actually want to wear
At MWC 2015, Chinese manufacturer Huawei announced its first foray into Android Wear. The company unveiled the rather predictably-named Huawei Watch today, and it's already got tongues wagging around the world. The screen is a 1.4 inch, 400 x 400 pixel AMOLED affair which is, importantly, completely round.
Packing 286 pixels per inch, the Sapphire crystal screen has a higher resolution than the Watch Urbane launched by LG today. The stainless steel case gives the watch a quality look and feel, and the device boasts a bevy of on-board sensors for tracking different activities. What is likely to prove the Huawei Watch's key to success, however, is the fact that it so closely resembles the look of a regular watch.
LG announces 4G LTE-enabled Watch Urbane smartwatch
The average smartwatch relies on a smartphone to show relevant information. Those notifications, emails, messages, directions and the like are not pulled from thin air, after all. Making such devices pretty much useless when, for instance, the smartphone runs out of juice or is not within pairing distance. This is where having a cellular radio inside can make a huge difference.
LG is among the few vendors that sees just how useful cellular radios can be for smartwatches, as today it announces a 4G LTE version of its recently-unveiled Watch Urbane Android Wear smartwatch. Unlike the original, the new Watch Urbane LTE -- which rivals Samsung's Gear S -- runs LG's own Wearable Platform. The South Korean company is touting it as "the world’s first LTE-enabled smartwatch".
Pebble Time can make it without Kickstarter, but why bother?
Pebble launched its first smartwatch through Kickstarter, raising more than $10 million from nearly 70,000 backers. It's one of the most successful campaigns to ever be hosted on the crowdsourcing site. Some might say that it's time for Pebble to move on to the next level.
However, earlier this week Pebble used Kickstarter once again to launch its latest smartwatch, called Pebble Time. The company's second crowdsourcing campaign is a huge hit, days after its start, surpassing its initial goal of just $500,000 by nearly $8 million at the time of writing this article, with 30 more days to go before the grand finale.
Android Wear works with iPhones and iPads -- no jailbreak required!
Wearables are awesome, the next big thing. Smartwatches in particular are very functional extensions of the smartphones, which have become ubiquitous nowadays. True, many tech pundits were dubious of the smartwatch's utility; including myself. I came around after actually using a smartwatch -- the Android Wear-based Samsung Gear Live -- for an extended period and loving it. My colleague Joe Wilcox is a recently converted proponent.
As great as Android Wear is, there are problems. While the most glaring is the fairly short battery life of devices, its lack of cross-platform support is a bigger issue. In other words, it can be harmful to consumers to have a product that only works with a certain platform, as it limits their freedom. An Android user with Android Wear that wants to move to an iPhone for instance, will be left with a useless smartwatch. Thanks to a developer named Mohammad Abu-Garbeyyeh, this may no longer be an issue. This impressive dev has gotten Android Wear to work with iOS. The best part? No jailbreak needed!
Neptune Duo turns the smartphone/smartwatch relationship on its head
Neptune Duo is an interesting smartwatch/smartphone concept that flips our traditional view of the wearable tech on its head. Ask yourself: What’s a smartphone, and what’s a smartwatch?
Most of us (I dare say almost everyone) thinks of a smartphone as a mobile computer, small enough to fit in your pocket, but large enough to watch videos, even movies on it, write emails, chat, talk to your friends, all that jazz.
Pebble gets more Android Wear-like with latest update to smartwatch
Pebble was not the first smartwatch to market, but it did set the trend for today's fad in wearable technology. Now Google has joined the game and Apple has big plans to enter the arena. But for now, Pebble remains the dominant force and the company wishes to maintain its hold.
What more can Pebble do to retain its position? How about adopting Android Wear? That's exactly what the smartwatch maker is doing, announcing that "Our Android Wear compatibility goes from Beta to public release, giving Pebble the power to reply and act on notifications right from your wrist".
I was wrong about the smartwatch being a dumb idea
Over the holiday weekend, I started using the Moto 360, which user experience is way better than anticipated. For all the nutcases calling Apple Watch innovative and revolutionary—without there even being a device for them to test—Android Wear is, ah, timely. Google gives great utility that will be difficult for the fruit-logo company to match. Reasons are simple: Context, search, sync, UI design, and Google Now.
I resisted the smartwatch concept for having been there before. Few of the gadget geeks gushing about wearables are old enough to remember Microsoft SPOT. Mid-last decade, the company partnered with real watchmakers (Fossil, Suunto, and Swatch); the devices were as much jewelry as functional timepieces; FM radio delivered appointments, news, weather, and other alerts independent of cell phones; and battery life lasted three days or more (which wasn't enough). By these measures, SPOT watches were so much more and still failed. Hence, these are reasons why in past analyses I called the decade-later attempt dumb. But I was wrong.
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