Items tagged with SmartWatch
Although the brand isn't very well known here in the U.S., Huami is actually the second largest manufacturer of smart wearables in the world. As such, it was only a matter of time before the Chinese manufacturer, which provides wearable technology to Xiaomi, made its way onto our shores. Huami and Xiaomi established their partnership in 2014 and have since sold over 24 million Mi Bands. Huami recently purchased Amazfit, an American wearable technology company. Amazfit was launched in 2016 and was quickly scooped up by Huami. They were best known for the Moon Beam and Equator fitness trackers, but Huami and Amazfit together launched the smartwatch we will be looking at today, the Amazfit...
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If you have been intrigued by the smartwatch revolution, but have yet to find a model to suit your higher-end tastes, TAG Heuer might just have you covered. The company's new Connected Modular 45 isn't just beautiful, it's modular (as the name suggests), allowing you to use it as a smartwatch one minute, and as a regular mechanical watch the next. TAG Heuer emphasizes the fact that this watch carries the Swiss Made label, ensuring that fans of higher-end timepieces take it a little more seriously. Still, it's a bold design, especially since its modularity could be seen to some as a gimmick. At a formal function, a Connected Modular 45 owner might choose to replace the smartwatch module with a...
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Mobile World Congress kicks off in about a week and a half in Barcelona. While there are sure to be plenty of surprise announcements, some companies have revealed plans ahead of time. For example, Samsung confirmed it will not be launching its Galaxy S8 at MWC, as it needs some additional time to test the phone's batteries to avoid another Galaxy Note 7 scenario. But while Samsung will not be launching a flagship handset, Chinese rival Huawei will. Huawei is planning to unveil its P10 smartphone at MWC. There is not a lot we know about the device at this point, other than it being Huawei's next flagship phone. In a video Huawei put together that teases the P10, it hints that there will be a dual-lens...
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Are smartwatches going out of style? Google does not think so, and to help prove it to consumers, the Mountain View outfit plans to launch a pair of flagship smartwatch models running its upcoming Android Wear 2.0 platform sometime in the first quarter of next year. The smartwatches will be the first ones to feature the updated platform, according to Jeff Chang, product manager of Android Wear at Google.Though Google will be making a push to convince consumers that wearables are still relevant, and specifically smartwatches, the two flagship models it has planned will not bear its own branding or carry the Pixel label. Instead, they will sport the manufacturer's branding. Google is not ready...
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Smartwatch maker Pebble recently sold itself to Fitbit, saying that it could no longer function as an independent entity due to "various factors," which we presumed to mean financial—the company previously laid off a quarter of its workforce and followed by an industry wide precipitous drop in smartwatch sales. That's obviously concerning news for Pebble smartwatch owners, though Fitbit has promised to support the Pebble experience through next year. "Fitbit is going out of its way to keep Pebble software and services running through 2017. To be clear, no one on this freshly-formed team seeks to brick Pebble watches in active service. The Pebble SDK, CloudPebble, Timeline APIs, firmware availability,...
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There are two things Google has to come to grips with. The first is that smartwatches might not be the next big thing, as recent data shows that consumers are more interested in fitness bands than time pieces. And secondly, those who do buy smartwatches end up selecting an Apple Watch way more often than one running Android Wear. Those are the cold, hard facts for Google, and its latest "Magic Minute" campaign probably isn't going to change things. The Magic Minute Project is a marketing campaign designed to bring attention to Android Wear. It consists of one-minute clips showing what is possible in a minute, like rapping 300 words or parkouring nonstop for 60 seconds while maintaining a low...
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HP is expanding its portfolio of wearable products by teaming up with Movado Group to release a line of high-end analog smartwatches. These luxury watches will make use of the former's Engineered by HP smart platform and will span the latter's licensed watch brand portfolio, including Coach, HUGO BOSS, Juicy Couture, Tommy Hilfiger, and Scuderia Ferrari. You might not be aware, but HP has a small Wearables division. It currently offers just a small handful of products, among them a Movado BOLD Motion line that starts at $695 and a couple of $100 MISFIT Shine Sleep/Activity Monitors, to name about half of its wearable portfolio. This latest effort will see HP's smart platform paired with several...
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When Google launched its Android Wear platform for wearable devices a couple of years ago, HTC was listed among a collection of nearly two dozen partners said to be working on a smartwatch utilizing the specialty OS. HTC's name still sits on that list, though here we are two and a half years later and the company has yet to announce an Android Wear smartwatch. Will it ever? Newly leaked photos suggests the answer is yes, and perhaps soon.The first rumor that HTC was working on a smartwatch came in 2013, though it was never interested in releasing a gimmicky product. Half a year later, Google brought Android Wear to market, giving HTC a new OS to build its watch around, one that it was excited...
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Samsung Gear S3 Frontier (Left), Gear S3 Classic (Right)Samsung just wrapped up an event at the IFA expo in Berlin, at which the company unveiled a duo of new Gear S3 branded smartwatches. The new Samsung Gear S3 Classic and Gear S3 Frontier leverage many of the design elements from last-year’s sleek Gear S2, like the rotating control dial, perfectly round screen, and fast wireless charging, but many other aspects of the Gear S3 have received significant upgrades.Gear S3 Frontier Control Dial And ButtonsAlthough they are internally similar, there are a few external differences between the Gear S3 Classic and Frontier. The Gear S3 Classic is the sleeker, more streamlined version of the two. The...
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It looks like the whole smartwatch category might have legs, after all. Rumor has it Apple is getting ready to launch a new Apple Watch line while Samsung, it's main rival in all things mobile, has sent out invitations to members of the press for what it strongly hints will be a smartwatch announcement. The invitation doesn't actually mention a smartwatch, but unless it's planning to release a clock, there's little else it could be.Samsung's press conference is scheduled to take place on Thursday, September 1, at IFA 2016. The invitation has clock hands, which we presume to mean the launch of the Gear S3. The rumored Gear S3 will allegedly feature the same round design as its predecessor,...
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The next version of the Apple Watch isn't likely to look much different than Apple's first generation wrist wearable device, though it will boast some fancy (and requested) new features, the biggest of which is GPS tracking, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted in a research note to investors over the weekend.While just predictions, Kuo has sources in Apple's supply chain, so these are more like highly educated guesses. Based on what Kuo's been told, the Apple Watch 2 will launch sometime in the second half of the year wielding a faster System-on-Chip (SoC) built by TSMC. And in addition to GPS, a notably missing feature of the original Apple Watch, the second generation model will sport...
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A new smartwatch has just entered a very competitive market. Google partner Mobvoi has just released a Kickstarter campaign for the Ticwatch 2, the second generation version of a smartwatch that is currently only available in China. The product claims to be the “most interactive smartwatch” with “intuitive interaction” and “lifestyle convenience”. The Ticwatch 2 runs a version of the Android operating system (but not Android Wear) and incorporates features such as voice activation and interchangeable watch faces. Users can flip their wrist to make a phone call or activate voice interaction or dim the watch with the palm of their hand. The Ticwatch 2 also features “Tickle”. Tickle is an unique...
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Preliminary number crunching from International Data Corporation (IDC) reveals that smartwatch shipments are down for the first time since the wearable became a thing, declining a hefty 32 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2016. That puts overall smartphone shipments at just 3.5 million units for the quarter, compared to 5.1 million in the same quarter a year ago. Out of all the smartwatch players, Apple was hit the hardest by the relative disinterest in the category. It was also the only smartwatch vendor to experience a decline in shipments—Apple shipped just 1.6 million Apple Watch devices in the second quarter of 2016, which is 2 million less than it shipped a year ago. That...
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Wearable devices today generally fall into two categories: fitness trackers or smartwatches. Since many people are looking for different features and functions, the fact that there are so many different devices with varying features is not surprising. Samsung’s latest Gear Fit2 finds itself somewhere between these two primary device categories since it offers more than your average fitness tracker but something less than a full smartwatch experience. Blending some of the best features from a fitness tracker, including the ability to measure activities using an embedded GPS and heart rate monitor (HRM), it’s clear Samsung had fitness enthusiasts in mind when it developed the Gear Fit2. But Samsung...
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So it seems that Google is probably, almost definitely and most likely working on a pair of Android Wear smartwatches of its own, according to a "reliable source" along with "confirmation of their existence from multiple sources" who spilled the beans to Android Police. On a scale of 1 to 10, the site's confidence level in the information obtained from its sources is a 9. Well alright them.There's a lot of huffing and puffing over the sources and validity of the rumored wearables—several paragraphs, in fact—along with a disclaimer in case it turns out to be hogwash or Google cancels the project. But for now, the story is that Google's building a larger size, sporty model Android Wear smartwatch...
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If today’s Android Wear, watchOS and Tizen-based smartwatches are a little bit too limiting or not customizable enough for you, there’s a new player in the game called BLOCKS. BLOCKS is being billed as the world’s first modular smartwatch; one that comes with a fully circular display (we’re looking at you, Moto 360) and a stainless steel body. After finishing up a successful Kickstarter campaign, in which over $1.6 million was raised, the final production version of BLOCKS has been revealed with a 1.39-inch 400x400 AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a 300 mAh battery. These specs are strikingly similar to what you might find in Android...
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Pebble Core backers on Kickstarter are getting a little something extra. They will be first to experience Amazon Alexa on Pebble’s infinitely hackable ultra-wearable when shipping begins in early 2017. The company claims to be bringing “Amazon’s acclaimed voice services to a fully-independent, 3G-connected wearable device for the first time ever.” Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky stated, “Experiencing Amazon Alexa on-the-go right from Pebble Core is game-changing for wearable technology. We’re longtime fans of the powerful voice services Alexa delivers, and it only gets smarter and more useful over time. It’s an approach we embrace with our own products.” The combination of Alexa and Pebble Core can...
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Every so often there comes around a deal that has us doing a double take, and the latest promotion for an unlocked Moto X Pure smartphone and Moto 360 smartwatch bundle is one of those times. If you follow our instructions, you can score both for a penny shy of $400, which amounts to a savings of right around $350.If you want take advantage of this deal, head to the Moto X product page, click the Storage tab at the bottom of the site and change it to 64GB, and then click the Buy button. That will show a price of $449.49, but don't fret, you're not paying that price. Click the Add to Cart button, scroll down to where you can enter a promo code, and type CLASSOF2016. That drops the price to $399.99.Now...
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Sound the alarm and alert the public, Samsung is kicking Android Wear to the curb and rolling exclusively with its own Tizen OS for wearables such as smartwatches! Actually, don't go sounding the alarm and don't alert the public—contrary to what you might have read earlier today, Samsung isn't ditching Android Wear. The clarification from Samsung came after Fast Company cited unnamed executives from the South Korean firm as saying that it wasn't building or planning to develop any Android Wear devices. It seemed like a totally plausible statement considering that Samsung's tapped Tizen for nearly all of its smartwatches, including its most recent addition, the Gear S2. But whatever the executives...
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Out of nowhere, Google has unveiled a project that's bound to make the industry at large stand up and take notice. Its new "Soli" platform is exactly the kind we need to spearhead a more "futuristic" tomorrow, one where we can merely wave our hands in the air to take care of business on mobile devices or virtually anywhere. The brains behind Soli are hidden in a small chip that can be installed into a variety of devices, and uses a miniature radar operating in the 60GHz ISM band that can detect touchless gestures. Imagine changing the time or volume simply be rubbing your index and thumb together. That's Soli in a nutshell. Various Soli prototypes from 2014 and 2015 In a quick video, we...
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While other smartwatch operating systems seem to evolve at a somewhat glacial pace (a la watchOS), Google is kicking into overdrive with regards to adding features to Android Wear. The company is continually adding little tweaks and new software features here and there, and this fall will see yet another big revamp with the release of Android Wear 2.0. Google has overhauled the Android Wear UI, making it easier to respond to and take action when notifications come through, and includes a new darker UI color palette that blends in more deftly with smartwatches featuring round displays. Google also updated the watch face picker, making it easier to update the look of your watch at a moment’s notice....
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It seems as though device manufacturers are increasingly hoping that consumers will supplement their expensive smartphones with smartwatches that can cost hundreds of dollars. There’s a problem though with this train of thought: using a tiny smartwatch display to navigate through UIs can often be a test of your patience, which can instead have you reaching for your smartphone out of frustration. Samsung is looking to alleviate some of those frustrations not by making the physical display on future smartwatches larger, but by actually extending the display via the use of a miniature projector. The projector would be use to beam certain UI elements right onto the back of your hand or on your forearm,...
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