Fossil shows off its upcoming Android Wear watch, coming this holiday season
We’ve known for months now that Fossil has had plans to create an Android Wear-powered smartwatch, and late last month the company unveiled the new device at Intel’s Developer Conference in Shenzhen, China. Today, alongside two other upcoming additions to the Q line of connected wearables, Fossil is giving us a better look at its first Android Wear smartwatch.
The new Fossil Q line consists of a connected bracelet (probably something along the lines of a Fitbit or Jawbone), a connected “non-display” watch, and the Android Wear watch. The Android Wear device will come with its own companion application and will have the ability to track your daily activity. That’s all par for the course when it comes to Android Wear watches, though. The Fossil blog post also says its entire Q line will be compatible with Android, iOS and Windows devices, but we’re betting the Android Wear watch will be excluded from this list. Google has been pretty closed off to Windows devices in the past, so compatibility with Microsoft’s mobile platform is looking pretty unlikely at this point.
The Fossil Q Android Wear watch will be available for purchase this holiday season. We’ll of course bring you more details as they arise. But for now, tell us – are you more interested in Fossil’s new smartwatch, or do you have your eye on the new hotness from Huawei?
Google Search app has apparently added some new offline voice commands
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Voice commands on Android devices are a pretty indispensable feature for many of us as we use them on a daily basis, but the feature has invariably relied on a stable mobile data connection for anything besides calling or sending basic text messages. It looks like that is now changing as it’s been spotted that the Google Search app now allows for certain voice commands to be recognized even while offline – the app even gives you a list of suggestions to try out.
The list includes relatively simple, but useful, commands that will help you in your day-to-day routine including turning on Wi-Fi, increasing the volume on your device, or even turning on airplane mode. Some of the commands will do you say directly, but some of them, like the volume command, will open the relevant menu for you to adjust settings as you please. It’s not perfect, but having voice commands that work offline is pretty cool regardless – note that it appears that these new options are only available in English, for now. Hopefully Google continues to extend its offline repertoire as time goes on.
What do you think about Google Search now recognizing voice commands while offline? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Google+ via Android Police
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Google announces plan to provide WiFi coverage in 400 Indian train stations
India may well have one of the world’s fastest growing smartphone markets, but internet access can be a little patchy, both in terms of coverage and in speed. But that could be about to change, with the announcement that Google, in partnership with Indian Railways and RailTel, will provide high-speed WiFi in 400 train stations across India. The announcement coincided with the visit of Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, to the GooglePlex.
The plan is to provide WiFi access to 100 of India’s busiest stations before the end of 2016, providing WiFi access to more than 10 million commuters every day. The remaining 300 stations will follow suit soon afterwards. To put the numbers into perspective, in the last year alone, 100 million people in India accessed the internet for the first time while there are an estimated 1 billion people in India who aren’t online. It’s easy to see why Google want a piece of the action, especially considering it’s Android One initiative that began in India.
Google has promised that the bandwidth of the WiFi coverage will be strong enough to carry high-definition video, download videos offline, or to research their destination. While the WiFi coverage will initially be free-of-charge, the long-term goal is to make it self-sufficient, thus allowing for further expansion.
Source: GoogleBlog
Come comment on this article: Google announces plan to provide WiFi coverage in 400 Indian train stations
Video: Wove band puts a truly flexible e-ink display on your wrist
The smartwatch ecosystem is growing fast, but not all wearables need to adhere to the watch form factor in order to be successful. And while devices from companies like Fitbit, Samsung, or Microsoft have shown that people love smart bands, current products are rather basic, and there’s clearly a lot of room for innovation in this field.
Enter Wove, the product of the decade-old flexible electronics specialist Polyera. Unlike devices like the Samsung Gear Fit or LG’s G Flex smartphones, which feature curved displays fixed in place by non-flexible glass, the Wove band is actually flexible and can be bent over and over without damage, thanks to a technology called Digital Fabric. That is why Polyera bills Wove as the world’s first truly flexible display product.
Circuitry and displays are hosted on thin and flexible sheets of plastic.
We were given a sneak preview of a very early version of the Wove band last week, and after seeing the concept, we’re definitely excited for it. It’s important to note that Wove isn’t ready for the market just yet, as Polyera expects to ship the first prototypes in December with a wider release next year. As such, we were only allowed to share a few shots of an early version of the Wove today, with more details and more imagery to come in a future video.
Wove features an e-ink flexible display of 30mm x 156mm and 1040 x 200 resolution, with its surface totaling about five times the surface of a typical smartwatch display. The device is powered by a 1GHz Freescale Cortex A7 processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and a 230 mAh battery. Because it employs electronic ink (similar to Pebble products), which only consumes power during animations, you can expect excellent battery life.
Wove runs a modified version of Android and Polyera is keen to get developers, product designers, and even members of the public involved in the creation of an ecosystem of dedicated apps called “compositions.” To further this goal, the company will make available app creation tools based on Java (for Android developers), HTML5/CSS3/JS (web developers), or a graphical interface aimed at designers.
We look forward to learning more about this exciting new concept, and we will bring you another video showing the actual device in action later this week. Stay tuned!
Polyera Reveals Specs and Prototype Program for the Wove Band
San Francisco, USA – September 28th, 2015
Polyera, a leading flexible electronics company, today revealed the hardware and software specifications of the Wove Band and a program for artists, developers and designers to begin working with prototypes in December.
The Wove Band is a wearable device with a flexible display roughly five times the surface of a smartwatch.
Wove’s Android-based OS runs compositions, which are like apps, but made for wearing. Wove offers three ways to make compositions: a Java SDK for those familiar with Android development, a Web SDK for those familiar with HTML5/CSS3/JS, and a graphics tool for those familiar with image editing and graphic creation. With Wove’s creation tools, a wide range of people can make compositions that combine aesthetics and utility in entirely new ways.
Leading app and service partners from a range of categories are currently building compositions for Wove. In addition, a limited number of Wove 0.1 prototypes will be given to a select group of artists, developers and designers, beginning in December. Starting today, those interested in exploring Wove’s potential can apply on Wove.com. Wove will launch commercially in 2016.
First images of the Galaxy Mega On leak courtesy of China’s TENAA
For the past two years Samsung has offered a phablet line so large that the only word suitable to surmise its super size is “Mega”. While we had yet to see anything concrete about this year’s offerings, leaks had revealed some possible insight. Today we have what is allegedly the first look at the product, though with a “demure” 5.5-inch screen the “Mega” moniker may be misleading.
Known as the Galaxy Mega On, the most striking feature is unquestionably the super slim bezels. Similar to the company’s own Galaxy A8, if not Sony’s Xperia C5 Ultra, the product looks to be pair of top and bottom parts sandwiching nothing but sheer screen. Closer inspection however suggests that the screen will not truly be “wall-to-wall” as there is a slightly lighter shade (of grey) along the edges of the display.
The device looks to employ a chrome (plastic) silver rim as per Samsung’s usual design language. There doesn’t appear to be a notification LED, something that has plagued numerous entries into the OEM’s mid-to-low end products, and even its premium priced Galaxy Tab S2. The recent app and back capacitive buttons look to be painted onto the unit; provided they are similar to the Galaxy J series, it is likely that no backlight will be present. The narrow nature of the home button would also seemingly serve as conformation there is no fingerprint sensor included. Moving onto the side:
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The device looks rather chunky, however with that extra girth comes a rear-camera module that appears to be flush with the body in the first image, though this is likely a result of the perspective as the second image clearly shows as a protrusion. The placement of the volume rocker and the power button indicates there will be no major surprises with the handset’s basic layout. As for the back:
The rear looks to be smooth plastic which could make it rather slippery provided no textured surface is added. (For reference, Samsung often applies different textures to the backs of different color variants. See the Gold Galaxy Tab S2 versus the White or Black variants). A pry panel can be seen along the upper left-hand side which would allow access to the battery, microSD, and SIM slot(s). Finally, a single LED flash module and small rear firing speaker can be seen flanking the camera.
The spec spectacle
Samsung’s new phone has a slight resemblance to Sony’s Xperia C5 Ultra, as it does its own Galaxy A8.
Specs for the device had been rumored to include a 5.5-inch 1280X720 display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SoC, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of on-board storage, a 13-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front camera, microSD support and a 3,000mAh battery. It will purportedly ship with Android 5.1.1 and measure in at 151.8×77.5×8.2 mm thick and weigh 145 grams.
While the above mentioned specs had been reported for some time now, the source used for this story lists on-board RAM as just 1GB and the rear camera at just 8 megapixels. Additionally the display was recorded as being of a TFT-variety and not a sAMOLED panel. Given that the information hails from China’s TENAA, these would seemingly be more concrete details, however it should be clarified that Samsung has been known to modify configurations for different markets. Ultimately until this device becomes official nothing can be nailed down.
The Samsung Galaxy A8
Given the rather mediocre picture painted by these specs, it would seem that Samsung plans to position this device below its Galaxy J series. The actual use of the “Mega” moniker also seems a bit questionable given that at just 5.5-inches, the screen is smaller than any of the previous Galaxy Mega products, as well as the Galaxy A8. In fact, it is seemingly a lower-end model of the already mid-to-low end Galaxy J7.
What are your thoughts on the potential of such a product? Does it look enticing? Are you holding out for the rumored Galaxy Grand On instead? Drop us a comment below and be sure to let us know!
Google opens up app advertising across a range of its services
Google’s business model relies on advertising and the company has just announced two new ad products at Advertising Week in New York, which may help the tech giant make the most of its huge advertising platform. Google has a new ad product known as “Customer Match” and is also looking push through a greater number of app promotions by making use of its own services.
Beginning with Customer Match, this is a new way for advertisers to reach out to a greater audience. It works in a similar way to Facebook’s Custom Audiences product that has been running for a number of years. It allows advertisers to upload and match email addresses to signed-in Google users and helps to target ad campaigns at specific users. This is done “in a secure and privacy-safe way,” and only matches Gmail addresses that customers have voluntarily given out to companies, according to Google.
Furthermore, the system can be used to find “Similar Audiences” who share related interests and traits as the email accounts already used by the advertiser. This cross referencing will allow advertisers to reach a wider range of customers with targeted advertisements. These two products will be rolling out in the next few weeks, according to Google.
“Whether they’re searching on Google, checking promotions on Gmail, or watching videos on YouTube, we can deliver the most relevant information based on what they’re doing, wherever they are, when they’re looking, and on any device they’re using. Today, we’re building on these capabilities with new ads innovations to deliver even more relevance.” – Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’s SVP of ads and commerce
The other half of Google’s bolstered advertising product line-up is its “Universal App Campaigns”, which was originally unveiled back in May and switched on this weekend. You have probably already spotted app advertisements across various sites and within other apps that take you to the Play Store, and this new campaign will roll out these type of advertisements across a range of Google services. Google Search, Play, YouTube and the Google Display Network, which covers over 2 million websites, will all feature advertisements that push app installs going forwards.
Google has good reason to pursue this type of revenue strategy, as EMarketer predicts spending on mobile app install ads will grow 80% year-on-year, reaching a total of $3 billion and accounting for 10 percent of total mobile ad spending. With over 1 billion YouTube users and a huge number of daily visits across a range of other Google services, advertisers will likely be keen to reach these viewers too.
The Ulefone Paris looks equal parts iPhone and Lenovo smartphone [Sponsored Post]
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Ulefone is a brand that isn’t in the mainstream media a whole lot, but that doesn’t mean they won’t keep doing what they’re good at – cheap phones that offer decent specs at an affordable price. Their latest smartphone in this vein is the Ulefone Paris, which looks kind of like the lovechild of an iPhone and Lenovo smartphone – take that however you will. Thankfully, that means that the Paris has a very slim and sleek design, and it has some solid specs to match – inside the Paris, you’ll find a quad-core MediaTek processor clocked at 1.3GHz, 2GB RAM, a 5-inch 720p IPS display, 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera and a 2,250mAh battery.
The Ulefone Paris will also run Android 5.1 Lollipop which will be skinned with U Launcher, which loosely like a MIUI interface. You get all your standard connectivity features, as well as the option to have dual SIM cards in the device as well as expandable memory too. Overall, it looks like the Paris is roughly on par spec-wise with the Motorola Moto G, except that you can get the Paris at $129.99 USD from online retailers like GearBest.com, so it’s pretty competitively priced. If the Ulefone Paris has you interested, or you want more info, check out the links below:
What do you think about the Ulefone Paris? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus Sales Top Thirteen Million in Launch Weekend
Apple today announced that opening weekend sales for the brand-new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have exceeded thirteen million units, breaking the previous record of ten million units sold by the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus last year.
“Sales for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have been phenomenal, blowing past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple’s history,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Customers’ feedback is incredible and they are loving 3D Touch and Live Photos, and we can’t wait to bring iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to customers in even more countries on October 9.”
The company claims, as with previous years, that demand for the new smartphones is at an all-time high, and confirmed that the new iPhones will be coming to 40 additional countries beginning on October 9, including Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Taiwan. The company has stated it plans to have the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in over 130 countries by the end of the year.
iPhone 6s breaks Apple sales record with 13 million sold
Apple’s iPhone 6s is the company’s new sales champ, with 13 million units sold just three days after launch. “Sales… (blew) past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple’s history,” said CEO Tim Cook in a statement. The new handset easily beat the iPhone 6, which was in 10 million consumer’s hands by the same three-day period a year ago. So how did Apple manage to sell around $10 billion worth of phones in such a short time-frame? Good press on the devices didn’t hurt, but for the first time, the iPhone 6s launched in China at the same time that it debuted in the US and Europe.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were also supposed to debut in China last year, but the launch was delayed by regulatory hurdles. The vast number of extra consumers in the nation, which is Apple’s second biggest market, no doubt juiced sales this time. It doesn’t diminish the feat, however, because the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus launched in just 12 countries, and will be available in 40 more starting on October 9th. When all is said and done, Apple’s latest smartphones will be on sale in 130 countries total by the end of the year.
Source: Apple
GoPro’s entry-level Hero+ brings an increase in megapixels and Bluetooth/WiFi connectivity for $199
Go Pro has just announced the latest addition to its line-up of action cameras, the HERO+, an upgraded variant of its entry-level HERO camera. Besides a bump in megapixels and FPS, the HERO+ also brings Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity.
The HERO+ is able to record 1080p video at 60FPS (up from the HERO’s 30 FPS), and gets a bump in megapixels as well when taking still shots, up to 8MP from the HERO’s 5MP. The inclusion of Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity means you can hook the HERO+ up to a remote control, as well as the GoPro mobile app on your smartphone. Considering the HERO+ action camera doesn’t carry a display, the added connectivity should make it easier to use. The user will also have access to the Trim & Share tool, allowing the sharing of content to the usual social media sites.
Whereas the standard HERO retails for around $129, the increase in megapixels, FPS and added Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity means the HERO+ will cost an extra $70. The $199 HERO+ will go on sale at GoPro.com and other authorized retailers on from October 4th. What do you think, are the added features and connectivity worth the extra $70? Let us know in the comments below.
Full Press Release
SAN MATEO, Calif., Sept. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — GoPro, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO), enabler of some of today’s most engaging content, is making capturing and sharing immersive, on-the-go content more accessible than ever with the release of its new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth® enabled HERO+ camera. At $199.99 MSRP, the HERO+ is waterproof and mountable as well as compatible with GoPro’s vast array of mounts and accessories. It captures stunning 1080p60 and 720p60 video and 8MP single, Time Lapse and Burst photos with the same impressive image quality that GoPro has become famous for. HERO+ most notably features Wi-Fi which allows it to connect with GoPro’s mobile app and benefit from convenient tools such as a Trim & Share feature that allows the user to quickly create and share short video clips across leading social media channels.
HERO+ rounds out an exciting 2015 GoPro lineup that now boasts the new and impossibly small and simple to use HERO4 Session at a more accessible price of$299.99 MSRP. These two exciting devices complement the industry leading HERO4 Black and HERO4 Silver to provide a wide array of options for those looking to GoPro this holiday season:
- HERO4 Black: Pro-quality capture. Simply the best. $499.99
- HERO4 Silver: High-performance capture. Touch-display convenience. $399.99
- HERO4 Session: GoPro Performance, Simplified. $299.99
- HERO+LCD: The perfect entry-level GoPro + Wi-Fi + touch-display convenience. $299.99
- HERO+: The perfect entry-level GoPro + Wi-Fi. $199.99
- HERO: The perfect entry-level GoPro. $129.99
HERO+ is integrated into an ultra-durable waterproof housing that delivers GoPro’s legendary durability and versatility.
“Whether mounted to a weather balloon floating 100,000 feet above the earth to capture a sunrise across the stratosphere or in the hands of a child recording their backyard tree house adventures, HERO+ is built to capture your imagination wherever it takes you,” said Nicholas Woodman, GoPro’s founder and CEO. “Even as we continue to raise the bar for our highest performing cameras like HERO4 Black, Silver and Session, we remain committed to developing simplified products like HERO+ that make GoPro life-capture accessible to everyone.”
HERO+ will be available at authorized retailers around the world and on GoPro.com beginning October 4, 2015. Key features include:
- Stunning and immersive 1080p60 and 720p60 video
- 8MP photos with Single, Time Lapse and 5 Photos-per-Second Burst modes
- Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth® connect to GoPro App and Smart Remote
- Rugged, durable and waterproof to 131′ (40m)
- Integrated camera + housing design
- QuikCapture enables power-up and recording start with the press of a single button
- HiLight Tag lets you mark key moments while recording
- SuperView™ captures the world’s most immersive wide-angle field of view
- Auto Low Light mode intelligently adjusts frame rates for optimal low-light performance
- Built-in microphone
- Wearable and Mountable, Compatible with GoPro’s vast array of mounts and accessories
About GoPro, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) GoPro, Inc. is transforming the way people capture and share their lives. What began as an idea to help athletes self-document themselves engaged in their sport has become a standard for how people capture themselves engaged in their interests, whatever they may be. From extreme to mainstream, professional to consumer, GoPro enables the world to capture and share its passion in the form of immersive and engaging content.
Come comment on this article: GoPro’s entry-level Hero+ brings an increase in megapixels and Bluetooth/WiFi connectivity for $199
AIVAnet 