Why a “delayed” iWatch destroys all competitors

Apple’s wearable device, still code-named "iWatch" here in the days (or weeks) before its official reveal, has been tipped to be released in the year 2015. If Apple announces an iWatch on September 9th, then doesn’t ship the device until January (or any time after that), they’ll drop a bomb on the rest of the "wearables" industry.

Releasing devices almost immediately after announcing them has become Apple’s tradition. Only a few examples exist where Apple had weeks or months between announcement and release, the most recent being the Mac Pro. Apple’s reveal-and-launch method works great - they’ve got a ravenous fanbase that’ll buy what they deem worthy.

Some rival companies - like Motorola - have had weeks between reveal and release. Not because they want to, but because they don’t have the manufacturing clout to get things done with speed.

For the iWatch, this strategy would be intentional, not forced. Here are the
main reasons why a stringing-out of Apple’s iWatch reveal and release makes a whole lot of sense.

1. From @C_Davies (Chris Davies, SlashGear): "No "current gen" iWatch that people might avoid buying if they know it's coming 2015, only rival brands' wearables." Devices that may suffer:

•  LG G Watch R
•  Motorola Moto 360
•  Samsung Gear S
•  Sony Smartwatch 3
•  ASUS ZenWatch
•  Omate X
•  Meta M1
•  Gilt / HP smartwatch
•  OnePlus OneWatch

2. Chris adds: "announcing the iWatch but shipping in 2015 will probably work out; it’s not like Apple risks existing product cannibalization." Apple cannibalized their own iPad line when they released the iPad mini. Intentionally, but still - there’s no risk here.

3. Time to sort out the bugs. With the iPhone, Apple had to keep testing under wraps. They weren’t going to shock the world by doing beta testing in the public beforehand. With the iWatch, things could be a little different.

Smartwatches already exist. Unless Apple pulls out features we’ve never thought of (crossing our fingers they do), they’ll have a device that simply puts together the key features of all other smartwatches into a single, optimized package.

For that, they could bring on Beta testing like they’ve been doing with OS X Yosemite for the past few months. Why not?

Release those iWatch wallpapers early!

After the iWatch is released, things could change. As Woz suggests, the iWatch could make wearables in general "finally viable." Before then, though - watch out.





Source : slashgear.com

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LG G Watch hands-on: This is Android Wear

Android Wear is one of the big announcements of Google I/O today, and one of the first to ship will be LG’s G Watch. Set to go up for preorder on Google Play today, priced at $229.99 and expected to ship on July 7th, we grabbed some early hands-on time and caught up on some of the design decisions with LG.

The G Watch hardware is perhaps the most discrete of the three Android Wear designs we’ve seen so far, eschewing the obvious metal of the Samsung Gear Live or the circular display of the MOTO 360. LG has used metal too, though its’s a discrete black- or gold-coated stainless steel, cut from a single block. On the wrist, it’s fairly compact, though the 9.95mm thick body does stand a little proud of the arm.


The standard bands are made of silicone rubber, but they’re interchangeable with any 22mm aftermarket strap. Everything is controlled through the 1.65-inch LCD IPS 280 x 280 touchscreen of LG Display’s own making, with no physical buttons whatsoever.


LG says that its research indicates display shape - square or round - isn’t actually something people care about, just as long as the information that’s being served up is relevant and timely. The company mocked up a number of round options, but decided that a square screen to begin with made more sense for fitting text and graphics on-screen with minimal waste.

That display is always-on, showing the basics of time and the most contextually-relevant information at that moment in a low-power mode during periods of inactivity. Flick your wrist, however, and the G Watch wakes up, with Android Wear’s swipe and tap centric interface presenting like a deck of Google Now cards.

It’s hard to benchmark a smartwatch, but the 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor and 512MB of RAM seems to tick along well and keep the simplistic UI moving smoothly, albeit in a semi-demo mode which allowed limited interacton. The more intensive functionality - such as voice search - is as much more a factor of data connection on the tethered phone. Google’s voice recognition works in the same way as on a phone, and we were able to give it instructions without having to bring it right up to our face.


LG says its 400 mAh battery is the largest it knows of in an Android Wear device (Samsung’s Gear Live has a 300 mAh battery, and Motorola is yet to fully detail the MOTO 360’s specifications) and is claiming up to 36hrs of standby from a full charge. When the time comes to recharge, the G Watch snaps into a magnetic cradle, though it’s not inductive charging but instead a set of five pins that make contact with the back of the smartwatch.

Inductive charging isn’t the only omission. Android Wear can support a heart-rate sensor to go along with the pedometer functionality, but LG says time issues meant it opted to leave that out, at least for this first generation hardware.


The 9-axis accelerometer tracks steps without needing a tethered phone, though will be able to share its data with Android Fit and thus other devices and services which tap into that. Nike, for instance, has announced that it will be sharing Nike+ Fuel data with Android Fit, so feasibly walking around with the G Watch could earn you points just as if you were wearing a Fuelband.

LG has big plans for Android Wear, and - though it’s been hands-off with the OS itself, sensibly leaving it as stock - how it will integrate with other LG products, like Bluetooth headsets and future phones and tablets. For now, though, it’s anything Android 4.3 or above, with no special treatment for LG devices.


First impressions are positive, though we’ll need to spend time with Android Wear to know exactly how useful it is in day-to-day life. One of the shortcomings of smartwatches in general so far has been the limitations of what, exactly, you can do with them without having to pull out your phone. Voice search and a more constructive understanding of context through Google Now should help with that, but we’ll reserve judgement until we get to live with the G Watch on our wrists.



Source : slashgear.com

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Casio G-Shock STB-100 Sport Watch hands-on: classic looks get smart

When you’ve got a design for a watch as ubiquitous as the Casio G-Shock on the market, you’re allowed to be late to the new technology party. This year Casio’s entry in the STB-100 comes in the form of Bluetooth 4.0 and a sports-tracking collection of bits and pieces in their slightly modified G-Shock design. While we’re not about to suggest this watch is in any way more all-inclusive than its smartwatch competitors from Sony, Samsung, Pebble, and the many others shown off this week at CES 2014, Casio still retains that built-in fan base they’ve cultivated for years.

Attaching itself to the iPhone alone, this particular sports watch is aimed at two groups - those that already own a G-Shock and want to expand their collection into the Bluetooth/smartwatch realm, and those that are looking for a sports-tracking device and don’t want to appear to actually be wearing one of these new-fangled “Smartwatch” thingies, so to speak. Casio has molded this device to look as naturally un-smart as any past model.

The iPhone app for the STB-100 - as they were showing off this week - is just about as bare-bones as a connected app gets. You’ll be able to control your music and track your steps in a variety of ways. You'll be able to track your running pace, time elapsed while running, distance traveled, and data for biking with its built-in cadence sensor.

For an Apple user used to listening to music on the go, this device’s control setup allows you to be able to press a button on your watch to switch music tracks, and that’s about it. Something rather similar to what you’re doing already with the wire connecting you to your earbuds, more than likely. One way or another, you’ll be able to skip a track.

At the moment it does not appear that Casio is doing just one whole heck of a lot with the data you’re getting,* but it does seem that they’ll be expanding their software soon - we’ll have to wait and see. Wait for the actual release of this device this year, that is.

*UPDATE: This watch will be connecting to Abvio’s Runmeter, Walkmeter, and Cyclemeter, as well as the app known as Wahoo Fitness. Casio is also working with other developers to expand this collection in the near future.

We’ll have to see how long it actually lasts when we get it wrapped around our own wrists. In black and gray or with a splash of fire red - with green accents, of course. Pricing and release information incoming - we'll let you know when we know!

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Neptune Pine, our hands-on with the biggest smartwatch we’ve seen

The Neptue Pine promises to bring more to your smartwatch experience than you might be ready for. The device, which comes with a readily detachable body, can do just about everything your smartphone can. Though smaller than your smartphone, it’s also much larger than any other smartwatch we’ve seen. That’s where it becomes a polarizing choice.

In our time with the Pine, we found it to be as expected. It was fairly snappy, which we expected from a device powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor.. The screen, though smaller than a phone, was easy to read and scroll through. Typing was surprisingly easy, and came in a bit smaller than an iPhone. For one handed pecking, we had no issue, a refreshing change when compared to others who try to offer the same.

The dual camera ensemble has some interesting use-case scenarios, but that got us think at how often we use our smartphones for video chatting. The answer, sadly, was not much, meaning the front facing cam is left to selfies.. We did like that should you want a better photo, you can simply snap the body from the band quickly and use the rear camera to snap a pic. The rear facing cam is 5mp, and that’s more than adequate for daily quick shots.

With the Play Store baked in, we’re not sure which apps we’d actually prefer to use with the Pine. Games are almost a moot point, but messaging is very doable. We don’t think reading documents on the Pine is something we’d like to do regularly, but it’s not obtrusive in a pinch. Calls? Well, at least we could rest our head in our hand, but a bluetooth headset is definitely more adept at keeping us in the know, on-the-go.

The size, though — it’s just plain polarizing. It could become tiresome, having such a big device strapped to your wrist. If you want an all-in-one, the Neptune Pine is the Cadillac of smartwatches, and sized accordingly. If you’re looking for something that can notify you quickly and easily, the Neptune Pine will probably overwhelm you.

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Apple iWatch reportedly facing power problems

Apple is facing unexpected hurdles in its smartwatch design process, sources claim, with the much-discussed wearable - colloquially known as the "iWatch" - supposedly giving Cupertino engineers some sleepless nights. Issues include delivering sufficient battery life according to The Information, with Apple supposedly considering changing the display technology it initially intended to use in the hope of cutting power consumption.

Exactly what that might entail a switch to and from is unclear. Apple's iOS range uses LCD technology, though we've seen smartwatches from other companies that use e-paper, like Pebble, OLED, like Samsung's Galaxy Gear, and even unusual transflective technologies like the mirasol panel in Qualcomm's Toq.

More recently, though, we've seen even longer runtimes delivered by careful component selection, particularly when it comes to wireless use. Garmin's vivofit, announced at CES this week, can run for up to twelve months on a set of replaceable batteries.

What Apple might end up using is still a mystery, then - a deal with LG Display for flexible OLED was tipped late last year - though the company might look elsewhere in the wearable to save on battery use. That might involve a lower powered processor; the iPhone 5s, for instance, offsets its motion tracking to a more frugal M7 coprocessor.

Repeated is the idea that Apple has a sizable team working on the project, and indeed previous leaks have suggested in excess of one hundred people are involved. However, the report also points out that some of the more high-profile members of that group have recently left, such as Bryan James.

The report concludes with the assumption that Apple's product won't actually be delayed, though the chatter is certainly enough to get the company's name back in the headlines in a week when various other firms are trying to make waves with their own smartwatches and fitness trackers at CES 2014.

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Omate TrueSmart smartwatch hands-on: SIM-toting shooter in the wild

After months of waiting and watching for the Omate TrueSmart smartwatch to appear in the wild, it’s finally appeared here at CES 2014. What we’ve got here is a smartwatch that takes the dream of a stand-alone device in smartwatch form and makes it a reality - there’s a SIM card in here. That center bit between the two massive physical buttons on the side of this watch is a camera, too - and not a half bad one, at that.

In this smartwatch you’ve got the ability to 3G/2G calls and data - a first for a smartwatch - making this device what Omate suggests is the “world’s smallest wearable smartphone.” While we’ve not had the opportunity to test out call quality or data speed - we’re in the middle of CES 2014, after all - we have gotten to take a few photos home from this machine’s 3-megapixel camera (upscaled to 5-megapixels by the software).

Below you’re seeing three examples of photos taken by the Omate TrueSmart. Keeping in mind that the software may not be finalized on this unit and that we’re certainly not in an optimal photography environment, this camera isn’t the worst we’ve ever seen. We’ll expect to see some improvement over the slightly dark/hazy results shown here before the final product arrives.

This watch works with a dual-core MediaTek processor inside clocked at 1.3Ghz (MTK6572), and we’ve found it to move relatively swiftly. Certainly not as instant a jerk left and right moving through each home screen as a smartphone from 2013, but certainly just as swift as this device’s competition.

The build quality on the Omate TrueSmart is quite nice. Nicer than we expected, for whatever reason , bringing a solid body and hefty watch strap to boot. You’ll certainly not be disappointed by this wearable’s heft, given its steel alloy casing and sapphire glass up front. The TrueSmart does seem relatively large compared to your average non-smart watch, but certainly no more bulky than the Samsung Galaxy Gear.

You'll also see the charging case for this device here - a solution we heard about before, here appearing very similar to the solution offered by the Galaxy Gear. This charging accessory sends power to the smartwatch through several pins, allowing the watch to keep its waterproof and dustproof grading by doing away with USB ports of any and all kinds.

Have a peek, and stay tuned as we check the final product out early this year - sooner than later, we hope!

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