Items tagged with smartwatches
Yesterday, the Wear OS Twitter account teased an announcement about the platform set for today's Google I/O event. Now, Google and Samsung have announced plans to develop one unified wearable operating system in the future. This change could shake up and refresh the wearables world as we know it going forward. The Google and Samsung partnership stretches back many years across numerous projects. However, it is finally coming to a head with this new wearable OS unification across new devices from both companies. This partnership aims to improve performance, battery life, and the developer community across devices. This partnership will also bring Google services, such as Maps and Google Play,...
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There may not be many surprises when Samsung gets around to formally introducing its next-generation smartwatch. That is because and extensive hands-on video has purportedly leaked many of the pertinent details, including what sizes the Galaxy Watch 3 will be available in, as well as what it looks like from multiple angles. To start with, according to TechTalkTV on YouTube, it will indeed be called the Galaxy Watch 3. Samsung is apparently skipping the Galaxy Watch 2 branding, presumably to emphasize that is a higher end wearable than its existing Galaxy Watch Active 2. Going with the Galaxy Watch 3 branding would also avoid any potential confusion between the two smartwatches. Shown in the video...
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Xiaomi is launching a new smartwatch that, at a glance, looks familiar to anyone who has ever spied an Apple Watch, at least when looking at the press renders from a top-down view. When doing so, the new Mi Watch bears a striking resemblance to the Apple Watch, as you can see in the press render above. However, there are some key differences, at least. Starting with the physical design, the Mi Watch offers the same look as the Apple Watch, with a rectangle face, rounded and beveled edges, and a turn dial that looks a lot like the digital crown at the same spot. And sitting below, we can see the button placement is the same as well. Where things look slightly different to me is when viewing the...
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Maybe my memory is failing me, but I do not remember a time when a brand new Apple Watch was offered at a discount before it had even started shipping to customers. Amazon is upping its game (and perhaps Apple too). Over on Amazon, you can preorder a new Apple Watch Series 5 for up to $50 less than the suggested price. Naturally, the biggest discount is attached to one of the pricier models—the Apple Watch Series 5 (40mm) GPS + Cellular with a stainless steel case and white sport band. Apple prices this variant at $699, but Amazon has it available to preorder for $649. For a period of time, the 44mm variant with a black Milanese loop was also on sale for $749 (down from $799), but the listing...
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You wouldn't think there could be a whole lot of mystery and intrigue in the smartwatch market, but there is plenty of both surrounding Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S4 (or Galaxy Gear). The big question surrounding the new wrist piece is whether Samsung will once again forge ahead with its Tizen, or make the jump over to Google's Android-based Wear OS. The latest chatter suggests the latter. Update: turns out these were actually just one-offs made by Google and seeded to some Samsung workers (i.e. keep moving, nothing to see here). — Evan Blass (@evleaks) June 7, 2018 Let's back up a moment. Back in May, famed leaker Evan Blass (known as @evleaks on Twitter) posted a tweet saying that Samsung...
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Earlier this month word was going around that Google might be rebranding its Android Wear wearables operating system to Wear OS. That rebrand has happened and the very first developer preview of the new operating system is now available. There are a couple caveats to this early developer preview of the OS, with the biggest being that Wear OS is only supported on two Huawei smartwatches. The supported devices include the Huawei Watch 2 and Huawei Watch 2 Classic, and this release is in no way geared toward everyday consumers. Google is specifically calling attention to a few features of Wear OS in the developer preview. Google wrote, “To improve app compatibility, Android P has started the...
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Germany's regulatory arm for electricity, gas, telecommunications, post, and railway markets, has issued a ban on smartwatches designed for children over concerns that they can be used by parents to spy on their kids and teachers. Furthermore, the regulatory office is urging parents to go a step further and physically destroy these smartwatches, should their children own one. The agency has also taken action against several firms that offer smartwatches designed for children. "Via an app, parents can use such children's watches to listen unnoticed to the child's environment and they are to be regarded as an authorized transmitting system," said Jochen Homann, president of the Federal Network...
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It took three generations of smartwatch design for Apple to finally implement cellular connectivity into its Apple Watch wearable, and while that sounds great, it will all come down to how well it works. Unfortunately, early reviews are not all that glowing. There seems to be a connectivity bug that is preventing the Apple Watch Series 3 from properly using its built-in LTE radio.Over at The Verge, Lauren Goode says she contended with "notable connectivity" issues when reviewing Apple's latest smartwatch. The problem she faced is that it would try to connect to unknown Wi-Fi networks instead of grabbing hold of a cellular signal when she was out and about with just the Apple Watch, with no nearby...
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Apple is already winning the wearables war, but it is the next version of the company's Apple Watch that could end up a real game changer. Tim Cook, the man in charge, was seen at the Apple campus in Cupertino, California wearing a prototype blood glucose monitor connected to an Apple Watch. If such a thing could make the leap from prototype to retail hardware, it would be a boon millions of people who battle diabetes. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 30 million Americans have diabetes. And in 2012, it was estimated that 86 million Americans age 20 and older had prediabetes, versus 79 million in 2010. Diabetes was the 7th leading cause of death in the United...
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Has the smartwatch fad run its course? That's the question to ask as worldwide smartwatch sales fell off a cliff in the third quarter of 2016. According to market tracking firm International Data Corporation (IDC), smartphone volumes reached just 2.7 million units this past quarter, down over 51 percent from the 5.6 million units shipped in the same quarter a year ago. IDC called it a "significant decline," though also pointed out that the third quarter of last year was the first time the Apple Watch enjoyed widespread retail availability following a limited online launch. The second generation Apple Watch was only available for the last two weeks of the third quarter, so the timing of those...
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One of the neat things about Android Wear is that manufacturers have stepped to the plate with different physical designs to suit a variety of style preferences. Android Wear smartwatch owners also have access to a host of watch faces. However, if there's a downside, it's that swapping out wristbands hasn't been as quick and easy as it could be. Google realized this, so it took the bull by the horns and created a new line of watch bands called MODE. Developed in partners with b&nd by Hadley Roma, the new MODE bands feature a simple mechanism with a slide button to snap and swap watch bands with minimal effort. The new standard brings parity with ease of changing out bands on the Apple Watch....
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By the end of the year, market research firm eMarketer predicts that 39.5 million U.S. adults (18 years old and over) will use wearables, a category that includes smartwatches and fitness trackers. If so, it will mean the category has grown nearly 58 percent compared to last year, though it's just the beginning of bigger numbers to come. The same research firm expects that more than twice as many adults will buy into the wearables category by 2018, and just one year later, two in five Internet users will wield a wearable device of some kind. At present, wearables are most popular among U.S. adults between 25 and 44 years old. Presumably these are tech savvy individuals who aren't scared off by...
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The early Apple Watch sales numbers are in, and to the surprise of not very many at all Apple's hyper-hyped new device blew the doors off the Internet on Friday, selling out the entirety of the company's initial stock in just six (6) hours. As reported here on HotHardware, pre-sales for the Apple Watch got underway Friday morning at 12:01AM PST (an unfair-by-virtually-all-standards 03:01AM on the East Coast) and just an hour later the shipping dates on orders for the shiny new wrist-worn technological marvel had slipped past the April 24 official launch date and into June and July for many configurations. The ride did not stop there, though, and by morning's end Apple was...
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The world doesn't always make sense. Take for example smartphones; these wonderful little devices reduced wristwatches to a niche market. And now those same smartphone makers, the ones who beat wristwatch makers over the head, are now trying to revive the category by implementing smart features. We call them smartwatches, which a part of the new "wearables" category, and according to International Data Corporation, it's one to keep an eye on. Taking into account a combination of new vendors, new devices, and greater awareness among potential consumers, IDC predicts the wearables market will see a total of 45.7 million unit shipments in 2015, up a staggering 133.4 percent from the 19.6...
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