Learning the hard way: The downsides of Google Cardboard

If you followed what was going on at Google I/O 2014 last month, you would have heard about a really nifty contraption that Google announced called Google Cardboard. The easily assembled, cardboard accessory would essentially turn anyone’s phone into a virtual reality device and initially use Google’s own apps to virtually explore the internet and the world. The beauty of such a design is that it’s quite cheap and really doesn’t need any expertise to get going: just assemble the cardboard frame, launch the Google Cardboard app, profit (???).

With that in mind, I very excitedly got my hands on a Google Cardboard kit from www.googlecardboard.com. The kit I purchased cost $24.99 and included an NFC tag for easy linking. As it ships from Hong Kong, I eagerly waited for about two weeks before it arrived, and today I assembled the virtual reality glasses today.

For anyone who’s hoping to purchase a kit, they are extremely easy to assemble, though it took me a few minutes of stressing to realize that some bits of cardboard need to be torn off. It was a bit unusual that instructions weren’t included with this kit, but if you ever get lost, just boot up the Google Cardboard app which has a launch animation which should give you a good idea of how it’s supposed to go together. Once assembled, though, is when it all went downhill for me.

The first big issue I encountered had a lot to do with the size of my device. I had assumed that because there were gaps at the ends of the frame that my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 would fit inside perfectly. Turns out, when lying in landscape position, the Note 2 is actually too tall as well, meaning I couldn’t close the flap that holds the phone in place. No matter, as this was just a trial run, I just held the phone in place and left the flap open. Easy, right?

Wrong. I actually wear glasses, and had again assumed there would be enough space for my glasses to jam into the virtual reality headset. Again, my hypothesis was wildly wrong and I had to take my glasses off to even fit my head in. Naturally, this meant that I could barely see what was going on after I launched the Google Cardboard app, making the experience moot.

While I’m a bit frustrated, I’m not particularly surprised as it would have been difficult to cater for devices of all sizes and heads of all sizes too. That said, I did want to caution anybody out there that if you are looking at getting a Google Cardboard kit to carefully think about it first, particularly if you have a phablet or glasses. There is light at the end of the tunnel, though, as Google did provide us with the design files for Google Cardboard meaning it would be theoretically possible to scale up the design and make the whole thing a little bigger.

Are you planning to get Google Cardboard? Let us know your thoughts on it.

Gallery of Construction Photos

The post Learning the hard way: The downsides of Google Cardboard appeared first on AndroidSPIN.

[Review] L12S OLED Bluetooth Bracelet Watch from GearBest: What do you get from a $30 wearable device?

The wearable device market is currently booming, and there’s no shortage of options depending on what you want from your wearable. Smartwatches are a particularly hard fought battleground with the essential formula of smartwatches still up for interpretation. If you want a smartwatch right now, your options range from the wildly popular Pebble watch at around $150, to the brand-new Android Wear watches which will set you back around $250; obviously there are watches in and around these price points, but these are the most popular. With that range of prices in mind, what could the $30 (or $31.43 USD, to be exact) L12S OLED Bluetooth Bracelet Watch from GearBest hope to achieve in such a competitive climate? Well, that’s what we’re here to find out.

What’s in the box

The bracelet watch comes accompanied by a charging cable and a stand should you want to show off your latest acquisition. The bracelet watch is charged using a micro-USB cable, so for us Android users, it’s nice to know that we can charge it wherever we are.

The bracelet watch itself looks quite sleek. That shiny, plastic exterior definitely gives a futuristic first impression and it’s definitely something that gets noticed more often than it doesn’t; like most wearable devices, it’s a great conversation starter. There’s only one visible button on the bracelet watch and just the one port for charging, making it a very homogeneous exterior. On the underside of the bracelet watch is what is supposed to be a heart rate sensor and inside the device is a fairly robust vibration motor.

The bracelet watch also comes in other colours. We have the blue one here, but you can also get it in orange, red, yellow, white, purple, green and black.

How does it perform

This is where the review gets interesting. I’m sure many people who come across this review will dismiss the bracelet watch before even learning about what it can do. To be honest, before reviewing this bracelet watch, I might have done the same; however, I was determined to give it a chance.

First of all, I’d like to talk about the interface. While the curved glass panel takes up about 40% of the outside surface of the device, the actual screen of the device makes up a very small portion of it. In fact, it’s positively tiny, which means you have to scroll through menu items one at a time. It must be said, though, that the same has to be done on the Samsung Galaxy Gear, which made spectacularly bad use of its screen real estate.

Despite the small screen, quite a large area of the glass top case can be used as a touch interface. Yes, a touch interface on a $30 device. It’s not perfect, but it does register up, down and long press commands, and it appears to be of a capacitive nature, making it quite responsive. It takes a bit of getting used to exactly which areas are for which function, but overall it is quite a nice control scheme.

The bracelet watch connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth and as easy to connect as any Bluetooth device. Unfortunately though, the Bluetooth radio in the bracelet watch doesn’t appear to automatically reconnect (despite the Bluetooth indicator on the screen sometimes staying on).

The features that are said to be available on the bracelet watch include:

• Mobile sync music player
• Call remind, answer and ID display
• SMS remind and read
• Pedometer

Of all the functions that are available to the bracelet watch, being able to answer your phone on the smartwatch is kind of neat, though I don’t think I would do it in public. The microphone is very clear from a reasonable distance away from your face, though the speaker is very quiet and wouldn’t be usable in a moderately crowded place. Not that you would. In the car, depending on how noisy your car is, the road noise may slightly drown out the diminutive speaker. This speaker is also supposed to be used as a music speaker, but I would again say that it lacks the power to truly do this effectively.

Of the other features, none of them really strike me as particularly well implemented; the pedometer feature is a bit rough and the SMS push notifications only work for SMS, and in an age where most people use third party messaging apps, that’s a bit inconvenient. That said, there are digital watches that cost $30 and don’t do half the things this bracelet watch is able to.

What I like about the L12S OLED Bluetooth Bracelet Watch

I like the touch screen on the bracelet watch. Perhaps it’s just my amazement that a $30 has a functioning capacitive touchscreen and my $150 Pebble watch doesn’t, but it really was quite convenient and nice to use throughout the time I reviewed this device. Sure, it could have had swipe and other functionality as well, but for what it is, I was impressed.

I also do like being able to answer calls on the bracelet watch as a Bluetooth headset. Yes, it’s kind of gimmicky and perhaps isn’t that practical, but I haven’t had enough experience with answering calls on my arm to to say otherwise.

What I don’t like about the L12S OLED Bluetooth Bracelet Watch

I don’t like that there isn’t a mute, or volume function at all, for the key tone that happens when you interact with the device. This makes it particularly conspicuous in office situations, especially when the tone that is made sounds like the key pad tones from a Nokia 5110.

I also don’t like how tight the mouth of the bracelet watch is; while it’s not uncomfortable to wear, it is quite difficult to put on and take off. My wrists are quite skinny already, so people with thicker wrists might struggle as the band is not adjustable; sure there’s a little give in the band, but it’s not the most comfortable device to be removing regularly.

Final Thoughts

The review of this L12S OLED Bluetooth Bracelet Watch has been very interesting for me; I’ve often wondered how there are always dirt-cheap versions of devices that exist and how they can possibly offer even part of what the more expensive devices do. The bracelet watch we reviewed here is not going to blow your mind; it says it can do quite a few things, and while it can, it doesn’t quite do it to the same level we might expect from other, more expensive devices. But then you remember the price.

I’m not saying the device’s shortcomings are made legitimate by the price, as there’s quite a lot that could be improved, but if you’re wondering if the wearable craze is right for you, there are worse ways to spend $30 and get a taste of what that world is like.

If you’re interested in trying the L12S OLED Bluetooth Bracelet Watch out, you can visit the product page on GearBest here and pick up the bracelet watch today for $31.43 USD.

Gallery of Photos

The post [Review] L12S OLED Bluetooth Bracelet Watch from GearBest: What do you get from a $30 wearable device? appeared first on AndroidSPIN.