Name the new Honor smartwatch and win products until 2020
Huawei has been gearing up to launch a small-form wearable for a while now, but doesn’t appear to be able to settle on a name. Originally known as the Honor Band Zero, Huawei has ditched the old title and is asking all of you out there to help the company come up with a better one.
As a reward, Huawei will be sending the person who comes up with the best name all of the company’s upcoming products right through until 2020. That’s four or so years of future Huawei gadgets for free, just for picking a name. To enter, simply submit your name suggestions via the Honor page on Facebook or through @HonorEU on Twitter. Apparently the challenge hasn’t begun quite yet, so keep an eye on those pages for extra details.
Along with the contest, Huawei has also released a few details about the smartwatch. It features a 1.06-inch circular display, G-sensor technology, and a battery capacity that can last 3 days on a single charge. The smartwatch is also IP68 rated for water and dust resistance.
“Our mission is to enable superior mobile Internet experiences for the Internet generation and era. The wearable band will allow just that,” – George Zhao, President of Honor.
Huawei originally teased the smartwatch back in July, so some launch details have been quite some time coming. The company states that the wearable will be available from its official vMall online store sometime in Q4 2015. The watch will retail for €79 / £59 in a choice of black, white or khaki color options.
What would you call the upcoming Honor smartwatch?
Complete with a 1.06-inch circular full-screen display and an industry-leading G-sensor powered by advanced algorithms, the wearable device is the ultimate fashion gadget. It will provide users with the ability to easily and accurately monitor their performance when engaged in exercise or sporting activities. The wearable also offers sleep quality monitoring and calling reminding. It is 10 meter water resistant and dust proof with IP68 certification. It has a long lasting battery for 3 days.
Honor announced a competition to name the product, where the person who submits the winning name will receive all Honor products for the next five years on sale in his/her country, until 2020. The yet-to-be-named wearable will be compatible with Android devices. Entries of the campaign should be made via the Honor page on Facebook or via @HonorEU on Twitter.
The wearable band will be available initially in black, white and khaki colours from Q4, 2015 via vMall (see separate announcement) and later via the other usual online sales channels, at a recommended price of €79 / £59.
‘This new product demonstrates our commitment to customers and capability to bring innovative and smart technology to the market. Our mission is to enable superior mobile Internet experiences for the Internet generation and era. The wearable band will allow just that,’ commented George Zhao, President of Honor.
Adonit Announces New Pen-Like Jot Dash Stylus
Adonit, known for its range of styluses, today announced the Jot Dash, it’s latest stylus that aims to closely replicate a standard pen. The Jot Dash is a thin-tipped active stylus that has a plastic 1.9mm tip that offers more precision than a standard rubber-tipped stylus.
Priced at $49.99, the Jot Dash bridges the gap between Adonit’s inexpensive Jot Pro and Jot Mini and the pricier Bluetooth-connected Jot Touch and Jot Script. Like the Jot Touch and the Jot Script, it has a small battery-powered tip, but it lacks the Bluetooth connectivity that enables features like palm rejection and pressure sensitivity.
Like any active tip stylus, the Jot Dash works with all capacitive touch screen devices, including all of Apple’s iPhones and iPads. Notably, it works with the iPad Air 2, which includes a different screen technology than other older iPads.
Adonit’s goal with the Jot Dash was to imitate a standard ink pen, so the Dash is just 8.5mm in diameter (about the thickness of a BIC pen) with a lightweight, rechargeable battery and a clip. According to Adonit, the Jot Dash is its most intuitive stylus to date, because it “looks like a pen, feels like a pen, and acts like a pen.”
A quick click on the back of the Jot Dash turns it on, and once activated, it’s usable within any drawing or note taking app. The battery lasts for 14 hours, so depending on usage it will only need charging every couple of weeks, and charging is done with a magnetic USB dongle.
The Jot Dash is available in black or silver from Adonit’s website and it is priced at $49.99.
Amazon Prime Video Introduces Offline Viewing for iPhone and iPad
Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service today announced the ability for its users to download television shows and movies to an iPhone, iPad, or Android device (via Re/code). The service had previously supported such a feature, but it was exclusively available for Amazon’s own Fire tablets, with today marking the first expansion onto Apple’s smartphones.
The feature will let Prime users download video content for later viewing when not in direct proximity of a trustworthy Wi-Fi connection, but won’t be available for every single show and film currently offered on Amazon Prime Video. The company still claims to have “thousands” of videos ready to support the new service.
The feature isn’t available for every video Amazon streams, since Amazon needs to work out deals with individual content owners (that is – pay them more money). Amazon says it has “thousands” of titles available for download.
And it looks like those titles include a pretty diverse lineup: There are Amazon’s own home-grown shows, like “Transparent”, of course. But also offerings from CBS (“The Good Wife”), Fox (“Sons of Anarchy”), MGM (“The Hunger Games”) and Paramount (“Star Trek Into Darkness”).
Re/code reports that “in most cases,” users will have 15 to 30 days to view the content once it has been downloaded. Today’s announcement aims to bolster Amazon Prime Video — which is bundled into Amazon’s $99/year Prime service — with a feature most other streaming services have yet to support.
Users can download the updated app — now called “Amazon Video” — from the App Store for free [Direct Link].
Nest Thermostat gets a larger display that’s easier to read
After updating its smoke detector and camera, Nest has finally decided to update the device that made the company famous; its Thermostat. The new smart controller has a slightly thinner profile, larger and higher-resolution display and will now alert users when their furnace is acting wonky. To make figuring out what’s going on without walking across the room easier, the third-generation device will now display the target or current temperature or an analog or digital watch face on a larger display that’s activated whenever someone walks into the room. The Thermostat now has a 480 x 480 (229 ppi) display. While the display got larger, the profile got smaller. The width of the device is now 1.21 inches instead of 1.26 inches. Not exactly a huge difference, but slimmer is slimmer. For furnace owners, the Furnace Heads-Up feature tracks shutoff patterns to see if there’s a potential problem with the heater. This feature will be released for the first- and second-generation Thermostats later this year. The new third-generation Nest Thermostat is available now for $249.
Source:
Nest
Tags: ConnectedHome, Internetofthings, Nest, NestThermostat
The ‘Nuyu’ wants to be your digital workout buddy
Health o Meter announced on Tuesday the launch of its new Nuyu line of health tracking devices and an associated mobile app. The system relies equally on the Nuyu Activity Monitor, which tracks steps, calories, distance and sleep; and connects with its counterpart Nuyu app via Bluetooth. The $48 Monitor can be worn on the wrist (with one of 8 available strap colors) or belt — even tied to shoelaces. It displays your constantly-updated stats on a large OLED screen which is depth rated to 30 meters and runs for up to four months on a single battery. The app itself is free and available for both Android and iOS, though the data is only compatible with Apple’s Health Kit.
Additionally, HoM is releasing a wireless scale for $50 that monitors your weight (though not you body fat content as the more expensive FitBit Aria) and reports back to the app via a BlueTooth connection. There’s also a $500 sleep system that modulates your body temperature in time with your circadian rhythm. It employs a mat that first warms you to help you fall asleep, then cools once you are zonked and then heats up again when it’s time to wake up. The company’s proprietary algorithms reportedly learn your sleep cycle and will adjust the heating/cooling cycles to accomodate. Finally, HoM is also developing 12-week Coaching Plans that will include “daily tips, exercise demonstrations, nutrition plans, grocery lists and more” for $20, according to the company’s release. The sleep system and coaching plans will be available from Amazon starting in October.
Filed under:
Peripherals, Wearables, Wireless, Mobile, Apple, Google
Tags: Amazon, Android, Apple, Bluetooth, google, health, healthometer, iOS, nuyu, wellness
ICYMI: X-ray pill, space-controlled earth rover and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: A new X-ray pill to check for colon cancer is about to enter human trials in the EU and colons everywhere are probably grateful. The European Space Agency is going to control a rover on earth via astronaut on the International Space Station. And a hobbyist crafted a drone that can lift a human for a good 10 minutes.
Things we think you should see: This video of a Zelda tribute with help from an “Unreal” makeover.
If you come across any interesting videos, we’d love to see them. Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
Filed under:
Misc, Gaming, Robots, Transportation, Science, Internet
Tags: video
Adonit introduces Bluetooth-free touchscreen stylus
The stylus available for tablets and smartphones usually fall into two camps. The more precise pens with Bluetooth connectivity that only work with certain apps or the rubber-tipped pens that work with anything but can result in smudgy lines. Adonit thinks it’s found a happy medium with its new Jot Dash pen. The powered pen offers up precision tracking without having to pair via Bluetooth or being reliant on an app. The pen works with iOS and Android devices (Sorry no Windows support) and is powered up via a click button at the top of the pen. The 1.9 mm point uses Adonit’s PixelPoint technology to detect touch-screen signals and rebroadcasts those signals as a larger point so the device recognizes it as a touch without having to resort to a larger pen tip. Yeah, it’s kind of confusing, but it works. The pen ships with a charging dock and is available today for $49.99.
Filed under:
Misc, Peripherals
Source:
Adonit
Tags: Adonit, JotDash
Amazon beats Netflix to offline movie and TV show streaming
For years, Netflix subscribers have asked for the ability to download movies and TV shows offline. The company says it’s “never going to happen” — so Amazon has taken the initiative and added exactly that to its rival streaming service. If you’re signed up to Prime Video, or have an Amazon Prime account, you can now store titles covered by your subscription on almost any mobile device. It’s supported in both the iOS and Android app — although the latter will require you to download the app through the Amazon Appstore. The regular Amazon app in Google Play, which also supports Prime Video, doesn’t seem to have the feature just yet, however. The feature first debuted on Fire tablets in 2013, but this expansion is significant — if you’re a frequent flyer, for instance, you no longer have to break your Transparent binge-session or purchase the full series if you’re on an iPad.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Amazon
Via:
Amazon
Source:
Amazon Video (iOS), (Amazon)
Tags: amazon, android, app, download, instantvideo, ios, offlineplayback, primeinstantvideo, streaming
Oculus owners can explore a musician’s mind with GE’s ‘Neuro VR’
When we first took a look at GE’s Neuro VR project — which sends you on a journey into a musician’s mind — it wasn’t available to the public. Now, all Oculus owners can enjoy the experience that blends data visualization from a real MRI (of Ladytron musician Reuben Wu, no less) with immersive entertainment. Virtual reality is easy to pitch as a tool for nobel causes like education and rehabilitation, but it’s also just pretty darn cool to experience — and it’s fusion projects like Neuro VR that will increase the format’s broad appeal. If our early report whetted your appetite for the slick 90fps experience, you’ll likely appreciate the video trailer too, which we’ve kindly snuck in for you below. Neuro VR was pencilled to arrive on Gear VR also, and while It’s not there right now, it’s worth keeping (both) eyes on the Samsung store.
Filed under:
Gaming
Via:
Kita & Lightning (Twitter)
Source:
Kite and Lightning, Oculus
Tags: ge, neurovr, oculus
Nextbit reveals Robin, a smartphone that’s nestled in the cloud
“Nothing excited me in mobile in the past few years,” Tom Moss says, leaning back in an office chair. Far as he’s concerned, smartphone makers — especially those working with Android — have spent way too much time crafting hardware and not nearly enough effort on innovating software. That’s why, when the bug to build something new bit again, Moss gathered an Android dream team to build a “cloud-first” smartphone called Robin.
Robin — which just launched on Kickstarter for $299 and up — is a charmingly boxy phone with a 5.2-inch 1080p screen, a USB-C port, and one of Qualcomm’s hexa-core Snapdragon 808 chipsets with 3GB of RAM. That’s the very same slab of silicon you’ll find in LG’s G4, and if the rumors hold up, Robin should give LG’s forthcoming Nexus plenty of competition in the performance department too. Not shabby at all, but the Nextbit team couldn’t be prouder of how its software differs from regular ol’ Android. Swiping through an early build of the Robin’s software feels like stock Lollipop with a twist you might miss. The thing is, Robin only has 32GB of storage built right into it, but it’s linked very tightly to 100GB of cloud storage. Enter the secret sauce: Robin’s software will figure out what apps and data have gone untouched lately and shuffle them up into ethereal storage space. You shouldn’t have to delete things when your phone runs out of space, team Nextbit says, because your phone should have already done it.
When Robin deletes an app you haven’t been using, a ghost of it remains on your homescreen — one tap pulls the app’s data back down into the phone, preference data still intact. (A quartet of LEDs will blink on Robin’s back when it’s archiving things.) You won’t want Robin to even consider deleting an app you use often, so you can pin it on the homescreen to keep it. More importantly, they really mean it when they say 100GB of “free storage”. Moss is adamant that the company won’t charge its customers extra money for extra storage space; if enough users get too close to the 100GB cap, Nextbit would rather raise that ceiling for everyone. This isn’t a controversial idea, but Robin treats the cloud as a crucial part of the system, not just an afterthought.
None of this means Nextbit skimped on the hardware side though, especially since former HTC design lead Scott Croyle helped bring it to life. It’s a slim slab done up in one of two (for now) color options, lending each phone a teensy bit of character. Niceties like NFC, front-facing speakers and a tiny fingerprint scanner on the side round out the package, along with a 13-megapixel camera that Nextbit seems especially proud of. Oh, and the bootloader is unlocked for some custom development action, just to prove Nextbit knows what the nerds like. I spent only a few moments playing with an engineering prototype, but the package felt tight and well-constructed. Nextbit just might have a winner on its hands.
Then again, it’s hard not to see pitfalls lining Nextbit’s roads. Cheap competitors like OnePlus have developed rabid, vocal fanbases. Big names like Motorola have ventured into the same waters with highly polished devices. Nextbit is betting that smarter software will make our smartphones more than the sum of their parts, but the very real — and scary — truth is it just might fail. Every time we publish a phone review, our comment sections are lit up with people livid over the loss of microSD slots — can’t see them embracing something like this. Fortunately, Nextbit has plenty of time to work on wowing the rest of us: those first Kickstarted units won’t hit until later in the year.
Filed under:
Mobile
Tags: android, cloud, google, mobile, mobilepostcross, nextbit, robin, smartphone, startup
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