Sensorwake Oria Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Who knew you felt tired all the time because your room didn’t smell good enough? A company called Sensorwake, apparently. Oria, its new $150 alarm clock (roughly converted to £122 or AU$207) going on sale in summer 2017, patented scents around users’ rooms to help them fall asleep faster, and sleep more deeply. Whether it actually accomplishes that purpose remains to be seen.

For now, Oria is a pretty standard alarm clock. It is connected to Wi-Fi, so integration with other platforms is a possibility for the future, but nothing is concrete yet. But it is special in one way: It holds a receptacle for recyclable scent capsules (each lasting about two months with daily use), and a fan for dispersing their aromatic contents around the room.

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Sensorwake’s two patented scents are designed specifically to help users get to sleep faster, and stay in deep sleep more consistently. The company’s in-house specialists and business partners cite their own research indicating Oria gets users 40% better sleep. Without third-party corroboration, however, it’s impossible to gauge how beneficial the device will actually be.

Even Sensorwake acknowledges aroma is inextricably linked to memory, making it practically impossible to design a device of this sort with broad appeal. Its detailed descriptions of its scents (“powdered rose, peach and pear, with notes of talc and musk”) certainly sound appealing, but not necessarily effective for all users.

Despite my skepticism, though, Oria will likely work at least on an atmospheric level — much like scented candles and incense. The only problem is, most candles and incenses don’t cost $150.

SmartBeings WooHoo Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Josh Miller/CNET

At CES 2017, a SmartBeings rep called WooHoo “an Amazon Echo combined with a Nest Cam, combined with a touchscreen.” That’s an impressive description, and it doesn’t even account for lots of other features. WooHoo has facial recognition and voice recognition. WooHoo’s head has motion detection and spins all the way around. WooHoo also works as a smart home hub.

WooHoo’s goal: conquer the smart home. You’ll be able to use it as a security cam, and the touchscreen has Android built in and lets you make video calls. In will connect to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-Wave and more. It’ll even have a cellular signal and a battery backup.

As for its Echo-like functionality, it’ll listen for a wake word, like the Echo, and you’ll be able to command WooHoo to control your smart home. Since it can recognize your face and your voice, you can even create personalized commands.

SmartBeings reps didn’t offer any confirmed smart home partnerships at CES, and the device itself is still very much a prototype. That’s understandable — it’s still being crowdfunded on Kickstarter. But I’m still worried. Face recognition is a tough technology to get right, as is voice recognition, and so is voice assistance generally.

WooHoo aims to do everything, but that won’t be worth much if its not as good as the Echo or the Nest, or anything else at any one task. Commendably, the preorder price is enticingly low — $50 (converts to AU$70, £40) on Kickstarter or the company’s site. But you’ll need to pay a monthly fee to take advantage of all of the services. That makes sense, given the cellular connection, but it’s still an ongoing cost not shared by the many devices it’s combining.

SmartBeings has ambitiously set summer as a release goal. I’d like to believe WooHoo will be able to hit on all of its promises — it would be an amazing device if so — but the SmartBeings team still has a long, difficult road to get to that all-in-one promised land.

Netatmo Smart Smoke Alarm Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Josh Miller/CNET

Can Siri finally find a smoke detector to take on the Nest Protect? The Netatmo Smart Smoke Alarm hopes to be that detector, has all the features you’d expect: an app with remote notifications, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. You can silence the alarm over Bluetooth, though not over Wi-Fi as a “safety feature.”

I found Siri’s voice controls disappointing in the OneLink Wi-Fi Smoke and CO Alarm, and the Netatmo won’t add any extra options. You can ask Siri to check on the status of the alarm. I’d hope that if the alarm was sounding, you wouldn’t have to ask.

Lackluster voice controls aside, the OneLink alarm was disappointing in more ways than one, so the Netatmo detector could still be worth it for HomeKit fans if its push notifications are snappier. I’d like to be able to silence the alarm from anywhere, but I understand limiting that functionality to Bluetooth’s range. The Alarm comes with a battery that’s supposed to last 10 years.

Netatmo’s newest smart safety product will be available to purchase later this year. It’s on display at CES, though Netatmo wasn’t yet ready to confirm a price. A rep did say it would be “under $100.”

The Siren and the Welcome.

Josh Miller/CNET

Along with the Smart Smoke Alarm, Netatmo also showed off a new Siren that’ll work with the company’s Netatmo Welcome Cam. The Welcome recognizes faces, and you can set the alarm to start ringing if it sees a stranger. The Siren’s also due out later this year with an unspecified price “under $100.”

Samsung Q9 series Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Samsung is the number one TV maker in the world, but when it comes to luxury, high-priced televisions that pack the most prestige, and profit, LG is coming on strong.

To battle LG’s OLED televisions, which deliver the best picture quality we’ve ever tested at increasingly affordable prices, Samsung brings its A game in the form of Q.

The company’s new QLED TVs introduced at CES 2017 include the Q7, Q8 and Q9 series. Pricing, availability and sizes were not confirmed, but the company did divulge plenty of claims about picture quality and other features.

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All Q’s boast a new quantum dot technology said to improve light output (up to 2,000 nits in highlights, double that of OLED) and color performance. Samsung talks up “100 percent color volume,” claiming more accurate color reproduction at different light levels compared to OLED. How much of a difference those extras make in real world program material still remains to be seen.

Unlike last year, Samsung’s best line of TV, the Q9, has a flat instead of a curved screen. The Q8 series is curved, while the Q7 offers both flat and curved models. Samsung didn’t elaborate on image quality differences between the three.

It did mention that all three Q sets, including the flagship Q9, use edge-lit local dimming technology, which in our experience is often inferior to the full-array local dimming found on many other high-end LCDs.

Samsung’s optional easel stand for QLED TVs.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Installation sensation

Beyond image quality, Samsung has addressed what it calls “common pain points.” One innovation is a super-flush “No Gap” wall mount, included in the Q9 and an optional accessory on the other sets. In addition to hugging the wall closely, it eases installation with tilt and simpler leveling functions.

A pair of optional stands is also on offer, one with an easel design and another a squat rounded base with a swivel.

All of the Q sets use Samsung’s One Connect box to house inputs, which, new for 2017, connects to the TV via a 5 meter fiber-optic umbilical that’s nearly invisible. A 15-meter option will also be available. The One Connect box can also blast out IR commands to control cable boxes and other devices, to more easily stow your components inside a cabinet.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Smarter sports and music

The Smart TV system is largely similar to 2016, complete with the unique ability to automatically identify gear you plug in. The company has improved its phone app to mimic the look of the big screen layout, and you can even search and cast apps like Netflix to the TV from your phone, much like with Chromecast.

New for 2017 is a Sports function that lets you enter your favorite teams and receive notifications when their games air live (unfortunately, it doesn’t automatically program your DVR too). Meanwhile, the Music feature uses Shazam to automatically identify music from any source, and it can even find the song and play it back if you have Spotify or a similar app installed.

Samsung QLED TVs

• New quantum dot technology
• Edge-lit local dimming
• 1,500 to 2,000 nits peak brightness
• Wider color volume
• No Gap wall mount (optional on Q8 and Q7)
• Sports and Music smart TV functions

Luke Roberts Smart Lamp Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

The Luke Roberts Smart Lamp.

Chris Monroe/CNET

It seems like color-changing smart lights are everywhere you look at CES, but a $700 hanging lamp from an Austrian startup I’ve never heard of before still managed to catch my eye.

That Vienna-based startup is named Luke Roberts, and its smart lamp is called, fittingly enough, the Luke Roberts Smart Lamp (it was originally called “Fluxo,” but it hit a trademark issue shortly before launch). It’s an Indiegogo success that lets you cast light of any color in any direction by picking a shade in the companion app, then swiping your finger across your phone’s screen like a paint brush.

Though it isn’t cheap, it’s a pretty impressive product with plenty of color-changing horsepower. Inside are over 300 light-emitting diodes — for comparison, a color-changing Philips Hue LED only has a few dozen. The lamp’s co-creators, Lukas Pilat and Robert Kopka (get it?) claim that it will put out 2,000 lumens of full-color light above the fixture, and another 3,000 lumens of white light that gets cast downward.

You can “paint” the lamp’s light across specific parts of the room using its companion app.

Chris Monroe/CNET

You can pick and choose where that light goes, too. If you only want light in one spot of the room, just swipe in that direction on your phone. If you want red light on one side of the room and blue light on the other side, you can do that, too.

The obvious question is whether or not this lamp will work with any larger smart home platforms, especially since it’s meant to play such a central role in your home. The lamp uses Bluetooth LE to connect with your phone, which limits its range, but that wouldn’t keep it from connecting to a Bluetooth-compatible hub.

Compatibility with
Apple HomeKit
is another possibility. HomeKit is the set of smart home protocols built into iPhones and iPads, and compatible devices enjoy native, unified controls in Apple’s Home app, along with Siri voice controls. HomeKit already has a couple of Bluetooth gadgets to its name (and can even use Apple TV to extend their range outside of the home), and it’s already been shown to work especially well with color-changing lights like Philips Hue and Nanoleaf Aurora. It’s this lamp’s optimal landing spot.

Still, I want to see it finish shipping out to its surplus of backers, first. The lamp’s creators tell me that they’re on track to meet that goal in March. Until then, units are available for preorder at a discounted price that comes out to about $500 (or £410/AU$690, converted roughly).

Hydrao First Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

The Hydrao First showerhead’s LED lights change color to let you know how much water you’re using.

Chris Monroe/CNET

A series of Bluetooth-connected showerheads will give you a light display when it’s time to cut your long shower short. The Hydrao showerheads, which were on display at CES in Las Vegas on Tuesday night, have built-in LED lights that change from green to blue to purple to red based on how much water you’ve used. Smart and Blue, the French company that created the showerheads, wants you to use the light as a visual cue to take shorter showers to reduce your water and energy bills.

The $160 Hydrao Loop will be available for preorder in the US later this year.

Chris Monroe/CNET

The Hydrao First is available for preorder in the US (it’s previously been available in France) for $99, which converts to AU$140, £80. Two other models — the $99 Hydrao Drop that fits onto existing showerheads, and the higher end, $160 (AU$220, £130) Hydrao Loop — will be available later in 2017.

The Hydrao will also work with Alexa, Amazon’s voice-activated digital assistant. It’s a fairly limited integration — you can only ask Alexa how much water you’ve used and how much money you’ve saved on your water and energy bills (if you do shorten those showers, that is).

You can use the Hydrao’s app to adjust the amount of water that will trigger each color. If you leave the default settings and reduce the length of your showers, a family of four can save about $200 a year on utility bills, said Eric Burkel, who leads international strategy and development with Smart and Blue. If that turns out to be true, the Hydrao First will pay for itself in a year — and then some.

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U Smart Shower Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Today, one floor below the shark reef at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, the way you take showers may have changed forever. Moen unveiled its U connected shower. It allows you to control water temperature, shower duration as well as preheat the water all from your smartphone. That means you can turn the shower on before you even get out of bed.

The U is made up of two pieces of hardware: a digital value (this attaches to the water pipes) and a digital controller (it comes in either a two or four function button model). To be absolutely clear, the U is something you’d have installed when rehabbing a bathroom. It can support up to four showerheads, body sprayers and so on.

Once installed, the U is operated via its digital controller or from an app on your smartphone. And this is where the fun starts. You can store presets with info on water temperature, shower duration and which heads are on and off. There is even a digital timer that will turn the shower off after a set time — a great tool for limiting the length of your kid’s shower.

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What really caught my attention was the warm up and pause feature. This pauses the water flow once the shower reaches your desired temperature. No more cranking the handle and walking away while the water gets hot — which can waste gallons of water.

A spokesperson for Moen said that the U gets its name because “it’s all about creating a personal experience for you.”

At this time, the U is not compatible with the Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Apple HomeKit. But there is a strong possibility that functionality will be available in the future.

The U by Moen starts shipping March 1st. The two function version will retail for $1,160 which converts to £950 and AU$1,600. The four function version will cost $2,200, or around £1,800 and AU$3,850. Now you just need to update your Spofity shower playlist.

Honor 6X review

Huawei is on a roll with their mid-range sub-brand Honor, which includes a slew of high-quality yet affordable smartphones that only get better with every iteration. The latest addition to the series, the Honor 6X, may share some similarities with its predecessor, but a more refined design and quite a few hardware improvements are available this time around.

• Honor 8 review
• Huawei Mate 9 review

Is that enough to make the latest Honor smartphone a worthy contender in the ever-competitive mid-range segment? We find out, in this in-depth Honor 6X review!

Design

The Honor 6X retains the composite metal design of its predecessor, which means that while the design does feature metal elements, it doesn’t come with a full metal unibody construction. The metal back plate is surrounded by plastic windows at the top and bottom to help with network reception, and with the metal now wrapping around to the front, you will find a plastic frame that goes around the outer edges of the glass instead.

See also:

honor 5X review

February 1, 2016

It may not feel as “premium” as its full metal unibody counterparts, but the build quality is excellent nonetheless. There’s very little to complain about on the design front, especially when you consider this phone’s low price point.

The 6X may not feel as ‘premium’ as some of its competition, but the build quality is excellent nonetheless

The 6X also sports a slightly more curvy design when compared to its predecessors. The back plate tapers along the edges and corners, resulting in a far more comfortable in-hand feel.

Overall, the buttons on the 6X don’t feel very tactile and don’t offer the satisfying click that many users look for, which is unfortunate. On the left side of the device, you’ll find the power button and volume rocker, while the headphone jack is placed at the top. On the bottom of the device you’ll find the microUSB port, flanked by two grills – one that houses the speaker unit, and one that hides the microphone.

Finally, the right side of the device houses the dual-SIM card slot/microSD card tray. There’s also a fingerprint sensor on the back, which sits below the dual-camera sensor.

Display

Up front is a 5.5-inch LCD display with a 1080p resolution, and it is a fine display overall. Sharpness isn’t an issue and it gets bright enough to allow for comfortable outdoor visibility. However, my main gripe with this screen is that the colors appear to be pretty washed out. That said, it does get the job done, and the large display provides a good experience when browsing the web, playing games and watching videos. Considering the affordable price of this device, any flaws with the display are easily forgiven.

Performance

Under the hood, the Honor 6X comes with Huawei’s own mid-range processor, the Kirin 655, backed by 3GB of RAM. There’s also a global version of the device available with 4GB of RAM. This is a significant upgrade in processing power and RAM when compared to its predecessor, and it shows in the performance, which is impressive for a mid-range smartphone.

Everything is as fluid and responsive as expected in everyday use, and the device also handles graphically-intensive gaming with little issue. Performance is easily one of the highlights of the Honor 6X, especially when you consider the price to performance ratio.

Hardware

As mentioned, the Honor 6X comes with a hybrid dual-SIM card slot, which means that users will have to make the choice between dual-SIM capabilities or expandable storage.

The bottom-firing speaker is very easy to muffle when using the phone in landscape

The single bottom-mounted speaker unit seems to be a lot quieter than most other smartphones I’ve used that feature single speakers. As is the case with any bottom-firing speaker, it is easy to muffle with your hand when using the phone in the landscape orientation. Apart from the weak speaker, another hardware miss is the lack of NFC, which means that if you are someone who is used to features like tap to transfer or various mobile payment systems, you are unfortunately out of luck with the Honor 6X.

Of course, there are some positives on the hardware side as well, starting with the fingerprint scanner. Placed right below the camera unit on the back, the fingerprint sensor is very fast and accurate, and I rarely had any issues with it misreading my fingerprint. In fact, it would even be safe to say that the quality of the fingerprint scanner is at par with what is found with most high-end flagship smartphones out there.

Apart from unlocking the device, the fingerprint scanner can also be used to capture photos and videos, answer phone calls, stop alarms, bring down the notification shade by swiping down, and browse through photos in the gallery by swiping left or right, which are all useful features to have. These are the kind of small touches that make the phone much easier to use with one hand.

Battery

Another plus for the Honor 6X is battery life, with the device coming with a large 3,340mAh unit. Huawei claims that the Honor 6X can last for as long as two days with moderate usage and for 1.5 days with heavy usage, which is certainly a very lofty claim. I did get around 1.5 days of battery life quite consistently though, with usage that involved a lot of gaming and a fair amount of watching videos on Youtube.

Not many smartphones live up to the battery life claims of their manufacturers, and the fact that the Honor 6X manages it is certainly noteworthy. It uses very little power when in standby mode, which can be attributed to the efficiency of the Kirin 655 processor, but even with constant use, the device can last a long time. Most of my days ended with the phone still having at least 50% of battery left. It’s quite a nice feeling to have to charge your smartphone every other day, and not have to frantically look for  charger at inopportune moments.

Camera

We’ve seen a lot of smartphones release this year featuring dual-camera setups – many from Huawei itself – but what Huawei claims is impressive about the Honor 6X is the fact that it is the first smartphone in its price range to come with this feature. Every dual-camera setup utilizes the secondary camera differently, and the Honor 6X comes with a 12MP primary shooter and 2MP secondary unit, with the latter being used purely to capture depth information that can be taken advantage of when using the camera’s wide aperture mode.

The Honor 6X is the first phone in this price range to come with a dual-camera setup

The wide aperture mode lets you dial in the aperture from f/16 down to as wide as f/0.95, which allows for a very large bokeh effect. While changing the aperture does give you more or less depth of field, it doesn’t allow more light into the camera, so it’s not a true aperture change in the purest sense. However, the bokeh effect does work quite well and looks very convincing.

See also:

Best Android smartphone cameras

1 day ago

For the best results when utilizing the bokeh effect, it is recommended to keep the focus point on subjects in the foreground, as switching the focus point to subjects in the background can make the bokeh effect look artificial.

The rest of the camera app is easy to navigate. Swiping to the left takes you to the general camera settings, and a swipe to the right will give you access to a good selection of shooting modes, including a beauty mode, night shot, manual mode, and a mode for scanning documents.

The overall camera experience has been quite impressive. It is fast to focus and capture photos, and the photos are surprisingly very pleasant, especially for a mid-range smartphone. The photos come with excellent color reproduction, are well detailed, and the camera does a great job with balancing highlights and shadows, which certainly wasn’t expected from a device in this price range.

It also performs fairly well in low-light situations. Highlights are mostly kept in check, with only a few rare occasions where they would appear overexposed. It is only in the poorest of lighting conditions where the camera falls apart completely, but most low-light shots are perfectly usable, with pictures coming with a fair amount of detail and minimal noise.

Software

On the software side of things, you get the Emotion UI skin on top of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but an official update to Android 7.0 Nougat is expected to arrive shortly. The user interface is very bright, colorful, and somewhat cartoonish, and you get everything that we’ve seen from the EMUI in the past, like the transparency effects and the lack of an app drawer.

EMUI 4.1 is bright, colorful, but slightly polarizing if you’re not used to it

The notification panel is still split into two tabs: one tab for notifications, and another for Quick Settings, which is a layout that doesn’t feel as easy to use as what we have with stock Android. Especially if you have a long list of notifications, it becomes nearly impossible to swipe over to the Quick Settings page without accidentally clearing out all the notifications. For an unlocked smartphone, the Honor 6X also comes with quite a few bloatware applications, including Booking.com, CNN, TripAdvisor, News Republic and Lyft.

If you are used to the Emotion UI already, then the software experience will be entirely familiar, but it may not be your cup of tea if you are someone who prefers something that is closer to stock Android.

Specifications

Display	5.5-inch IPS LCD display 1920 x 1080 resolution 403ppi
Processor	Octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 655
GPU	Mali-T830MP2
RAM	3/4GB
Storage	32/64GB
MicroSD	Yes, up to 256GB
Cameras	Rear: Dual 12 and 2MP with phase detection autofocus, LED flash, 1.25µm pixel size, wide aperture range from f/0.95 – f/16 Front: 8MP
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, 2.4GHz Bluetooth BT4.1 Micro USB GPS/AGPS/Glonass/BeiDou Navigation Satellite System
Sensors	Hall effect sensor Fingerprint sensor Proximity sensor Ambient light sensor Compass Accelerometer Phone status indicator
Battery	3,340mAh Non-removable
Software	Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow Emotion UI 4.1
Dimensions and weight	150.9 x 76.2 x 8.2mm, 162g
Colors	Gray, Gold, Silver

Gallery

Pricing and final thoughts

In the US, pre-orders for the device start January 4, while sales will kick off on January 10. The device will officially go on sale through HiHonor, Amazon, Best Buy and Newegg for just $249.99, while customers will also be able to take advantage of a number of flash sales to save some money. To get more details on the special pricing and promotion updates, sign up at store.hihonor.com/us.

In Europe, the device will go on sale tomorrow, January 4, in quite a few countries including the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. The device can be purchased from Vmall.eu and Amazon for just €249.

So there you have it for our full Honor 6X review! If you are considering picking up this phone, the great news is that it will put only a very small dent in your wallet. With its price point of just $249.99, the Honor 6X is priced low enough to not step on any toes of the budget-friendly flagships like the OnePlus 3T, the Axon 7, and even the Honor 8, which is great, because that isn’t the segment the Honor 6X can compete in. However, with dual cameras, a long lasting battery, an excellent fingerprint sensor, and an asking price of only $250 makes the Honor 6X is going to be one of the most competitive phones that you’ll be find in its price range.

Next:

The best cheap Android phones

2 weeks ago

Zigbee crafts a universal language for smart home devices

As seamless as smart home technology is becoming, the devices still tend to sit in isolated ecosystems. Zigbee-based gadgets don’t normally know how to use Nest’s Thread protocol, for example. That’s where the Zigbee Alliance wants to help. It’s launching Dotdot, a “universal language” for Internet of Things devices. The open platform lets hardware makers use Zigbee’s software layer across virtually any other IoT network, increasing the chances that the devices you want to use can speak to each other.

More details of how Dotdot works will be available over the course of 2017. You aren’t going to get all your answers right away, unfortunately. However, one of the first practical demos will involve Dotdot devices running on a Thread network — even at this early stage, it’s more than a theoretical exercise.

The Zigbee Alliance has a clear interest in creating Dotdot. While it’s open, it also makes Zigbee a go-to technology for IoT gear. Why focus on a competing network standard when you can just use Dotdot and expand its support? However, it will still help in practice. Instead of having to cherry pick smart home products based on their protocols, you can focus on their quality.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Source: Zigbee Alliance

Google is offering free training programs to get Indian businesses online

Google’s Digital Unlocked initiative is aimed at getting SMBs in India online.

At an event in New Delhi, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the Digital Unlocked initiative, a training program that aims to get Indian SMBs online. As part of the initiative, Google will provide free training courses, an easy way for Google My Business users to create mobile-optimized websites for free, and a Google Primer app that teaches marketing skills.

In a research study conducted with KPMG, Google found that SMBs can double their profits by engaging digitally, and reach out to more customers. Right now, just 32% of SMBs in the country have a digital presence, and with today’s initiative, Google is looking to get more businesses:

Today we are launching a large scale training program for Indian SMBs – Digital Unlocked. With this program, we envisage making quality training in going digital available to every single small business in India that wants it.

In keeping with the varied learning needs of the millions of businesses in India, we’ve built this program across online, offline and mobile. The offline training is being conducted in partnership with FICCI and over the next three years, 5,000 workshops will be held across 40 Indian cities.

The online training comprises a set of 90 self-paced video tutorials, curated specifically for India and is available free of charge at g.co/digitalunlocked. The tutorials cover a comprehensive set of topics ranging from building a web presence and driving online growth to reaching customers over mobile and video digital and email marketing to social media. The trainings are certified by Google, Indian School of Business and FICCI.

Google has mentioned that over the course of the last year, it has enabled over 8 million businesses to increase their online presence. With Digital Unlocked, it is providing tools to empower businesses throughout the country.

Google’s Digital Unlocked program