Items tagged with watch
Hardcore Nintendo fans will soon be able to slap a piece of nostalgia on their wrist, one that will remind them of an era long before social media brought out everyone's sensitive side. It's a Super Mario Bros. timepiece, made by luxury watch maker Romain Jerome, which isn't shying away from the famous plumber's affinity for taking mushrooms to induce strange effects.The three-dimensional scene captured on the watch face has Super Mario in mid air, legs kicked out and arms pumped in familiar fashion, as he no doubt chases the mushroom on the lower third of the scene. A cloud and bush complete the background, and all the elements are properly pixelated, just as they were when Super Mario Bros....
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One of the sharpest, classiest, most alluring Android Wear smartwatches yet has arrived, and it's manufactured by a company that many American consumers may not be familiar with. The Huawei Watch is just about as good as it gets for a smartwatch currently. The reason? It's a watch first, and a smartwatch second. For those clamoring for a timepiece that looks like a tried-and-true premium wristwatch, look no further. Huawei has made phones, tablets, and other gizmos for years, though it has had more success in Asia than in the U.S. Standing out in the U.S. marketplace is difficult. A company typically won't get very far without wide distribution and a massive marketing budget. The Huawei Watch...
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If the Force is strong in your bank account and you're looking for a new timepiece, luxury design firm Devon Works has come up with a limited edition watch that's more advanced than the Death Star. It's the new "Star Wars by Devon" co-branded watch with a patented system of interwoven Time Belts and hybrid electro-mechanical power. The watch is a celebration of Devon's fifth anniversary. It combines glass-reinforced nylon belts (same as used in the gauges on the original 747 aircraft) with multiple high-tech optical recognition cells, micro-step motors, and no less than 313 electrical contacts. Materials used in the construction of the Star Wars timepiece are sourced from an aerospace company...
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Not long ago, the battle for consumer dollars occurred on a field littered with ultralight notebooks. A few years later, that transitioned to smartphones and tablets. Today, the next major tussle is occurring on one’s wrist, in the red-hot "wearables" market in general. Motorola’s Moto 360 made waves by being the first major smartwatch to actually look like a watch - a real timepiece, not just a gadget. Most of its primary rivals are more akin to something Dick Tracy would wear, but Moto zigged when everyone else zagged. Instead of selling a computer with a band, the 360 is a timepiece that just so happens to run Android Wear. Despite being on the market for a few months now, the Moto 360 is...
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Remember MICA? The wildest smartwatch this side of the Moto 360, developed by Intel, and full of mystery? Turns out, it's a real product, and it'll be available to people just like yourself real soon. The My Intelligent Communication Accessory was designed by a company called Opening Ceremony, and Intel's engineering department handled the rest. It's aimed at "fashion-forward women," and is described as an "intelligent bracelet composed of precious gems and Ayers snakeskin." To get one, you'll need to part ways with $495, and you'll have to head to stores that have little to do with technology in order to do so. For that fare, two years of AT&T wireless data are thrown in gratis, which is...
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Wireless carriers in the U.S. are doing everything they can to be seen as more than that. For some, that means opening up innovation centers. For others, it's offering home security solutions in addition to phones. And for AT&T, it means hawking tablets and even watches. Yes, watches. The carrier has just announced that it'll be the first operator in the United States to offer the LG G Watch R, but you can rest assured that it won't be the last watch you see in AT&T stores. The company has stated that the G Watch R will "join its growing wearable portfolio," hinting that more could be on the horizon. The G Watch R is a different breed of wearable, boasting a circular P-OLED display with...
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Although IFA doesn't kick off until next week, a few companies are spilling the beans on what's ahead... ahead of schedule. Samsung's joining that crowd, this week introducing the newest smartwatch in its arsenal: the Gear S. While the display isn't round, it is gently curved to fit flush against your wrist, and overall, it looks pretty striking. There's a 2-inch curved Super AMOLED display, but that's just the start. The real interesting nuggets are these: for starters, it runs Tizen instead of Android Wear. Secondly, there's a 3G modem inside, so that it's capable of handling basic calls, messages, and Internet activity even if your smartphone isn't nearby. There's also a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi...
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We're early on in the smartwatch revolution, and the first editions are proof of that. While Dick Tracy was onto something, the idea of a rectangular smartwatch in 2014 just feels a little... square. With Motorola's 360 watch securing most of the oohs and ahhs at Google I/O this year, it was just a matter of time before its primary rivals issued rounded smartwatches of their own. With IFA just around the bend, it appears that LG is on deck to reveal a circular smartwatch of its very own. With Android Wear clearly suitable for round displays, the LG G Watch R (as it's being dubbed for now) will be formally unveiled in Berlin next month. IFA is effectively the CES of Europe, with a number of prestigious...
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According to a new Bloomberg report, HTC is planning to showcase its own smartwatch as early as next week at Mobile World Congress. The handset maker, despite world-class hardware and rave reviews, has struggled to secure market share in the high-end smartphone realm. Out-marketing a giant like Samsung has proven difficult, if not outright impossible, leaving the company with little choice but to change course and focus on lower-end devices in the coming quarters. But it's also continuing to innovate in other areas, as it should. Under the watch's face will (reportedly) be a Qualcomm processor - yet another company that'll be at MWC. The product itself is evidently not ready for public consumption,...
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Hear that? That's the smartwatch war gearing up, and with Samsung's Galaxy Gear + the up-start Pebble already vying for wrist space, is there room for another contender? That's a question that'll have to be answered by Qualcomm, which has just announced that its Toq smartwatch will be available to consumers starting on Cyber Monday. That's December 2, and it'll be priced at $349.99. Outside of the Pebble, that's about the going rate for one of these guys, which still strikes us as a fairly steep point of entry. Of course, the low-power, always-on Mirasol display costs a pretty penny, and it also runs a full build of Android underneath. Plus, it supports Bluetooth headphones, as well as Qualcomm's...
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Make no mistake: the smartwatch is the next major avenue for technology companies to truly innovate and re-capture a base that has become uninterested with the saturation of me-too, high-end, spec-crazy smartphones and tablets that are flooding the market. Sure, the smartphone revolution that kicked off in 2007 has had an incredible ride, but there's just less interest now as we've reached something of a technological peak in many ways. The next phase is wearables, and the resurgence of the watch is going to hit the masses in a big way. Unlike Google Glass, which costs Explorers some $1500, watches will be priced far more sensibly. Samsung, not one to sit around and wait for everyone else to...
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Your move, Apple. Sony has just ushered out what could become the company's most important consumer electronic launch of this decade: the SmartWatch 2. Despite the "2" in the name, most in this era aren't apt to recall the original -- it was a timepiece that shipped a bit before its time. But now, watches are all the rage, and you can bet the masses are going to pay attention to this one. The new watch is said to be the world's first water-resistant smartwatch with NFC connectivity, and naturally, it's designed to operate best while paired with an Android phone. Sony calls it a "second screen" for your smartphone, as it supports a host of apps, handsfree calling, remote photo taking, and offline...
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Not sure if you've noticed, but Spring is here. Which means that you have a crazy short amount of time before your beach body needs to be in tip-top shape. So let us introduce you to a new gadget designed to help you get there: Runtastic's new GPS watch + fitness monitor. One of the best-known names in the fitness app world has just launched new fitness hardware on Amazon for U.S. users. This announcement comes as the Runtastic fitness community surpasses 25 million mobile users, 10 million registered users on Runtastic.com and averages one app download per second. Runtastic's proprietary hardware has been designed to work with Runtastic apps to provide users with the most comprehensive set of...
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Whatever is old, is suddenly new again. There's a reason people say that history truly does repeat itself, and here's another example of that happening. Years back, tablets were introduced with various versions of Windows on them. For a variety of reasons (battery life, weight, mobility, terrible touch panels, etc.), those never took off. Around a decade later, a little thing called the iPad was revealed, and Apple has been selling them by the boatload ever since. Fast forward beyond that, and you'll see Microsoft trying its best to re-invade a market that it failed to penetrate well over 10 years ago, while seeing very little traction with the Surface. That very scenario may be shaping up to...
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Believe it or not, this isn't the first time we've heard that Apple was toying with the idea of disrupting the watch market. But this time, the timing may be right. As with the iPad, Apple has a tendency to feel out the market and then strike when the iron's hot. Tablets existed for years prior to the iPad, but seemingly, the world wasn't quite ready for them until the original iPad hit. Ever since, they've been eating away at the laptop market. Smart watches have a similar tale. Even Fossil had a Bluetooth watch years ago that operated with Sony Ericsson handsets, but that eventually went nowhere. These days, smart watches are all the rage. Pebble, a Kickstarter project, amassed gobs of money...
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The Pebble smartwatch is most certainly in the limelight. After raising bookoodles of money on Kickstarter, the crowdfunded smartwatch has garnered the attention of the masses in a major way. And now, after it missed its September ship date, it's in the spotlight for another reason: ruining Christmas for some. All jesting aside, there's no doubt that pundits are feeling a little uneasy after seeing a company grab so much cash and then miss a ship date by months and months, but there's a ton of red tape in developing new hardware, and more specifically, getting that hardware ready for action in the U.S. That whole "FCC clearance" thing is a chore unto itself, but it looks like the folks behind...
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Who says GPS units need to stay married to the road? With Nokia Drive and Google Maps Navigation, it's clear that guidance is shifting into offline and mass transit, even on mobile, and Garmin thinks it can go even more places. The new Garmin Swim is a simply titled GPS watch, which is described as the company's "first training watch designed specifically for swimmers that lets users track stroke type, stroke count, distance, pace, lengths and more." Unlike some of the prior GPS watches, this one actually looks fairly unobtrusive and sleek, despite being waterproof. It's built to be used right out of the box -- great for user experience -- and it's designed to have minimal impact on speed and...
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A few months ago, a Kickstarter project by the name of "Pebble" made some huge waves by raking in over a million dollars in funding sales. Suddenly, intelligent watches seem to be all the rage again, despite being a product category that largely died years back due to flaky support and bad battery life. Is it time for the segment to make a comeback? Sure seems it, as even Sony's getting back in the loop. The company's new SmartWatch is now available at Verizon Wireless, making it majorly accessible to millions of customers who already rely on VZW for cellular service. Specifications: Screen Size : 1.3” OLED display Resolution : 128 x 128 pixels Digital watch face : Always visible, even...
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When you think about a company like Tag Heuer, you're probably familiar with their watches. After all, they're a watch company. But they also do something else: phones. The company has just revealed one of the wildest, most expensive smartphones that we've ever seen, the stunning "Link Phone." It's sporting an outlandish design; something only the most loyal Tag fans are likely to appreciate. And here's something that almost no one will appreciate. A $6700 price tag. We know they're aiming at a very specific market, but OUCH! For what it's worth, the company does include a great many extras: there's a 3.5" qHD display, 4G radio, 1080p movie recording, an NFC chip, 16GB of RAM, 1GB of memory and...
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What happens when Garmin, a company traditionally associated with GPS units, tackles a watch? A GPS watch pops out! The company has actually produced a few GPS-enabled wristwatches in the past, but only this week have they introduced one with a touchscreen face. The new Forerunner 610 sports watch is the company's latest, and it's both weather-proof and rather sleek given the technology that's inside. It's designed to be worn by athletes or active consumers who need something sweat-proof and capable of dishing out directions, and there's also a vibration motor for alerts such as heart rate, pace and distance when audible tones cannot be heard (heart monitor included in some bundles or available...
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Garmin may not be competing in the smartphone business much longer, but the company still has plenty of new products up its sleeve. Today, Garmin announced the Approach S1, the company's first golf GPS watch. The Approach S1 comes preloaded with 14,000-plus courses. It can display information about distance to the front, back and middle of greens as well as measure shot distances. It's rugged and waterproof so you won't have to worry about destroying it on the course. The Approach S1 also has an alarm and automatic time and time zone detection. Garmin launches Approach S1, first golf GPS watch, with preloaded courses October 27, 2010 - Garmin has already put the most important information on...
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Remember those Sony Ericsson Bluetooth watches that were all the rage around 5 years ago? We figured that those had all but died out, but it looks like Research In Motion thinks otherwise. The creator of the BlackBerry handset has just commissioned Allerta in order to bring to market the world's first BlackBerry watch. You read that correctly--a BlackBerry watch!The timepiece, which is debately attractive, will come with a 1.3" OLED screen, a metal body, a vibrating motor for near-silence notifications and a microUSB port. The rechargeable battery can live up to four days under general use scenarios, but we'd probably charge it every three if you're a heavy user.As you'd expect, this watch connects...
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