LG Watch Urbane 2 official: first Android Wear watch with cellular connectivity
Tonight LG officially took the wraps off its latest hero device, the LG V10. That wasn’t the only announcement that LG had for us though, as they have also revealed their latest Android Wear smartwatch, the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition.
The new LG Watch Urbane sports a similar design to the original, albeit with a more refined look this time around. Cosmetics aside, the biggest difference is under the hood, as the Urbane 2 is the first Android Wear device to feature cellular connectivity. That means you not only can connect via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, but also 3G or 4G, giving you greater independence from your phone.
The Urbane 2 utilizes a nano-SIM and is not carrier locked, giving you the freedom to use it with whatever network you choose. That means you can now leave your phone at home and still have access to your emails, messages, and all your other important contacts and data.
Aside from cellular support, other specs for the LG Watch Urbane 2 include a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 with 768MB RAM and 4GB storage, a 1.38-inch P-OLED display with a resolution of 480 x 480, and a 570 mAh battery. You’ll find all the typical sensors a smartwatch would need as well, like an accelerometer, gyro, compass barometer, and GPS. The watch is also water and dust resistant with a rating of IP67.
While the Urbane has the standard UI we have seen with all other Android Wear devices, LG makes accessing some of the watch’s features a bit easier through the addition of three buttons on the right side that give shortcut access to settings such as contacts, LG health, and app list. The watch’s crown can also be used to quickly enable and disable ambient mode on the watch. The LG Urbane 2 even has a few minor software customizations such a 16 included watch faces, special fitness apps and features, workout tips, and even stress level monitoring.
Pricing or a release date haven’t been confirmed for the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition just yet, though LG says the watch will first arrive to the US and Korea, followed by select markets in Europe, CIS, Asia, and the Middle East. When the watch does arrive, buyers will have the choice of four colors: space black, opal blue, luxe white, or signature brown. We imagine that the addition of cellular activity will make this one of the more expensive Android Wear options on the market, but that’s really just speculation at this stage.
LG’s other Android Wear offerings
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What do you think of the new LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition? Let us know in the comments!
Logitech Debuts New ‘Logi Circle’ Home Monitoring Camera
Logitech today announced its entry into the home security and monitoring market with the Circle Portable Home Connection Camera, which is debuting under its new Logi brand. The palm-sized Circle is a connected camera that’s designed to let users monitor and interact with pets, children, and people at home while away.
Through a companion app, the Logi Circle streams HD video to an iPhone or iPad. It includes a two-way talk and listen feature that works using Wi-Fi, letting it go beyond simple monitoring. According to Logitech, the Circle includes “Scene Intuition” technology that sets it apart from other similar home camera systems. With Scene Intuition, the Logi Circle is able to learn home life patterns to send alerts only when interesting activity occurs to save people from having to sort through hours and hours of footage.
The app also offers a “Day Briefs” feature, which is an automatically generated 30-second video that sums up the highlights of each day.
“There’s a new movement in home monitoring,” said Vincent Borel, director of new ventures at Logitech. “The nature of today’s connected world is changing the way people interact with cameras in the home. Video surveillance is no longer just about security, it’s about staying connected with our homes and loved ones. Planned or unplanned, magic moments happen in our homes every day and we designed the Logi Circle as your destination for capturing and discovering them no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Now you can watch your kids playing or catch your dog chasing its tail even if you’re running errands, traveling for business or at the office.”
The Logi Circle has an unobtrusive design that lets it fit quietly into any room, and it’s both portable and rechargeable. It can be moved from room to room and charged as needed with an included charging ring, with each charge providing three hours of streaming or 12 hours of standby time.
The camera inside the Logi Circle offers a 135 degree wide angle view and an 8x zoom ability. A light on the device blinks white when someone is watching through the app, and the light also doubles as a battery indicator, blinking red when the battery is low. The Logi Circle will store 24 hours of video at no cost, and Logitech plans to offer subscription options for longer storage times.
The Logi Circle Home Connection Camera is available for pre-order beginning today from the Logitech website. It’s priced at $199.99.
Oceanographers invent device that tracks even the tiniest jellyfish
With barely two percent of the seafloor explored, we know a whole lot less than we’d like to about the Earth’s oceans and its myriad of residents. Among the more numerous but less studied oceanic animals are soft-bodied like squid, octopi and jellyfish. However thanks to a new tracking tag technology developed at the Woods Hole Oceanic Institute, marine biologists will be able to observe these delicate denizens of the deep as they never have before.
“Squid and other soft-bodied invertebrates have almost open circulatory systems, so they’re closely linked to their physical environment,” Aran Mooney, a biologist at WHOI, said in a statement. “As the ocean environment changes, they probably change a lot in response.” To test this point, the researchers developed the ITAG, a device that not only measures the surrounding oceanic conditions but also how the animal reacts and adapts to them.
At just 4.25- x 2.5-inches, the ITAG is far smaller than the conventional acoustic tags used to monitor marine vertebrates like dolphins and is more accurate than earlier small-scale trackers fitted to large squid. It’s also shaped to minimize the amount of drag it generates, so as not to put undue burden or strain on the animal the device is attached to. “We wanted a tag that would be able to tell us what the animal is doing at that depth—is it hovering or swimming faster or slower? When squid go down to a couple hundred meters, are they foraging at night at that depth, or are they resting and getting away from top predators? What are their respiration rates? These are the types of behavior questions we wanted to answer,” Mooney said.
[Image Credit: Barcroft Media via Getty Images, WHOI]
Sprint raising its Unlimited Plan price to $70
Truly unlimited plans are a very rare breed in today’s USA cellphone market. One of the very few carriers still offering unlimited calls, messages and “high speed” data is Sprint. The network also happens to offer one of the best deals at $60 per month, but now we are learning that’s a price that won’t be sticking around for long.
Sprint has announced it’s Unlimited Plan rate is going up by $10, effectively costing $70 starting October 16th. They don’t go too much into detail about the factors involving this decision, but we can assume the $60 price point simply isn’t bringing enough cash. And at $70 the price is still cheaper than competing rates. T-Mobile charges $80 for a similar plan, for example.
Current customers need not worry, though. Those who are already on Sprint, or sign up by October 15th, will be able to stick with the $60/mo charges. This is why Sprint is urging customers to sign up before then, if they are thinking about switching to the Now Network.
In order to qualify for these prices, customers have to sign up for iPhone Forever, Sprint Lease, Sprint Easy Pay, pay the full retail price for a phone or bring in their own devices. This pretty much means there’s no service contracts allowed here. And the company is quick to remind you they will cover the costs to switch to their network, so contracts or phone plans should be no limitation to get to Sprint by the 15th of October.
What do you guys think? Is $70 a month too much for unlimited Sprint service? I mean, the company is having a hard time keeping its customers as it is. They have arguably lost the 3rd spot in the USA to T-Mobile. I believe Sprint chose a bad time for this move.
Google Maps for iOS shows you the fastest way to travel in one page
Google Maps for iOS has become a lot easier to use when you’re in a hurry and quickly need to check how to get to your destination. The app now shows you all the possible ETAs for all the transportation types it supports in a single page, just like its Android counterpart. Simply ask the app for directions by typing in your location and where you want to go to whenever you need help in deciding whether you should hoof it, pedal it out, take the car or catch the next bus/train. The feature’s live on the iOS app, and you can get it as soon as you download the latest update. By the way, if you have an Apple Watch, you can now also get directions right on your wrist.
Source: Google Maps
Apple No Longer Signing iOS 8.4.1 and iOS 9
Apple today stopped signing iOS 8.4.1 and the first version of iOS 9 for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, meaning users can no longer upgrade or downgrade to those versions of iOS using iTunes. Apple is now signing iOS 9.0.1 and iOS 9.0.2 only.
Users who have upgraded to iOS 9 are now unable to downgrade back to the last version of iOS 8, iOS 8.4.1. Released in August, iOS 8.4.1 was a minor update that included bug fixes and Apple Music improvements. iOS 8.4.1 also broke the iOS 8.4 untethered jailbreak.
iOS 9 was first released to the public on September 16, and there have been two additional updates since that time. iOS 9.0.1 was released on September 23 and iOS 9.0.2 was released on September 30.
Apple pulls iFixit’s app after it tears down the new Apple TV
The team at iFixit is learning a hard, hard lesson about the importance of honoring developer agreements. Apple has banned an iFixit developer account (and consequently, the iFixit app) after the repair-it-yourself outfit tore down a pre-release Apple TV sent out to developers, violating Apple’s terms and conditions. The crew just couldn’t resist deconstructing new gear, apparently. Before you ask, though, iFixit isn’t trying to stir up internet drama. It knew the risks going in, and isn’t about to fight a decision that most anyone could see coming a mile away. This will have ramifications if you relied on iFixit’s (admittedly old) native app for tips: if you’re on iOS, you’ll have to use the company’s mobile website for help from now on. The tradeoff won’t be all that damaging, but it’s safe to say that other devs will think twice about prying open gear that isn’t strictly off-the-shelf.
Source: iFixit
One login to rule them all: Welcome to the new Engadget comments
Our community of readers (that’s you!) is of the utmost importance to us, and we’re committed to making the Engadget experience the very best it can be. For three years, Engadget’s been using Livefyre as our commenting system, and while it’s not perfect, it served us well. We believe we can do better, however, and so it’s time for a change. Our new commenting system was built in-house, by us and for you. That means we can and will be adding features to make it better as we go, and we want your feedback. This is just the first step in our plan to make Engadget the very best place on the web to not only read about technology, but also to talk about it with your fellow like-minded readers, too!
To get started with the new system, you’ll need to create a new account with us (either from scratch, or using Facebook), and logging in will be via an https pop-up window. Yes, we realize you’d prefer to keep your existing Livefyre usernames, but sometimes, a fresh start is needed. This is one of those times. Good news is, very soon you’ll be able to link your new account to your Livefyre account, so all of your old comments will be archived. Plus, in the not-so-distant future, we’ll be merging your existing product database (aka gdgt) accounts with this new account — that’s right folks, finally one login to rule them all.
Oh, and we’re looking to add to our moderator ranks to ensure our new commenting system is as friendly a place to be as the old one. So, if you think you’re up to the task, send us an email at moderatorsATengadgetDOTcom with the phrase “Comment Moderator” (no quotes) in the subject and the following:
- Your name, location, and a few words about yourself.
- Your contact info, including your comment handle and any IM accounts you still use.
- What times of the day you’re available for moderation.
- Are you cool with goats? Why/why not?
- Tell us why you’re up to the task of moderating the Engadget masses.Any other questions you might have.
Please note that moderation positions are unpaid and if you don’t submit the above you’re pretty well taking yourself out of the running.
While we plan for the transition to be flawless, we know that glitches happen. If something seems amiss, just head on over to our support page and let us know, or comment on this here post and we’ll see that it gets corrected. Thanks y’all!
Image Credit: Getty Creative
Google and Microsoft end their years-long patent war
And just like that, another one of the tech industry’s epic patent battles is coming to a close. Google and Microsoft have dropped all 20 (!) of the lawsuits they’ve filed against each other, ending their five-year dispute over everything ranging from phones (Microsoft’s main gripe) to Xbox video playback (Google’s gripe, and formerly Motorola’s). The two will now partner both on technology as a whole and on “certain patent matters,” such as building a royalty-free video format that prevents these kinds of legal fights in the first place. The truce is no doubt a relief if you’re tired of seeing endless stores about the lawsuits (guilty!), although it’s not a complete shock if you’ve been following changes in corporate culture.
You see, Microsoft is in a very different place than it was when it first sued Motorola in 2010. Back then, the company under Steve Ballmer was bent on containing Android’s growth wherever possible and giving Windows Phone a shot at recreating Windows’ desktop monopoly. Flash forward to current CEO Satya Nadella and it’s a different story. He’s less interested in operating system dominance (in part because that’s no longer realistic) and more in putting Microsoft’s apps and services in front of as many people as possible, even if that means supporting Android ahead of Windows. We’d add that Google isn’t facing nearly as many threats as it has in the past — there’s less incentive to countersue and push for settlements. In either case, the hot-blooded competition that fueled the lawsuits has long since cooled down.
Source: Bloomberg
Newest leak shows off the LG V10 in high-res renders
The sad thing about leaks is that they leave no room for surprise or thrill at the event a device is set to be unveiled at. The victim this time around is the LG V10, which is expected to be shown off at the company’s event tomorrow, October 1.
These detailed images come by way of credible leakster Evan Blass. And boy, does the device look sexy:
As you can see, the device takes on the overall style of the LG G4, but with what seems to be a gorgeous textured back plate. Around the front, you can see the ticker that activates what will allegedly be quick access to applications and other things of the sort.
The device is said to sport some really nice specifications, but we’ll get the full rundown tomorrow during LG’s event. Be sure to stay tuned with Talk Android as we’ll have all of the juicy details for our readers tomorrow!
source: Evan Blass (Twitter), (2)
Come comment on this article: Newest leak shows off the LG V10 in high-res renders
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