Tim Cook thinks the Apple Watch is the first smartwatch that matters
Well at last Tim Cook acknowledges that there are other smartwatches out there, but Tim seems to think the upcoming Apple Watch is the first one that matters.
Why? Because it has the Apple logo? In an interview with Fast Company, Tim reasoned it by saying that Apple didn’t make the first MP3 player, the first tablet, or the first smartphone. He then argued that they made the first modern smartphone and now they are making the first modern smartwatch.
Tim is party correct in that Apple did redefine the MP3 player, the smartphone, and the tablet. Looking back at the smartphone, they completely revamped what we thought we knew was a smartphone. When it came to tablets, they might not have been the first, but they pretty much were. No Android tablet came out before, and Apple made a lot of noise with the iPad, again changing the game.
But the smartwatch is a different animal. I have personally been wearing smartwatches for the past two years. The Apple Watch might be high quality, but it certainly doesn’t offer anything else that Android Wear doesn’t already offer. Apple Watch doesn’t change anything. Let’s also not forget that the Apple Watch is square, while we already have high quality round Android Wear smartwatches.
Now I will agree that the Apple Watch is the first smartwatch to get a decent amount of buzz, and that’s because it’s Apple. Apple will sell a decent amount of smartwatches, but let’s face it, consumers aren’t that much into them.
Mark my words, the Apple Watch will follow the pattern we have seen from Apple’s most recent products. The iPhone sold like hotcakes. The iPad did fantastic, but a far cry from what the iPhone did. Now it’s time for the Apple Watch, which will do well, but will be much less successful than the iPad. It’s not because the Apple Watch stinks, it’s because it’s not something the mainstream consumer needs to spend $350 or higher on.
source: Fast Company
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New gaming studio, Everywear Games, founded to focus solely on wearable games
Wearable devices are becoming more and more popular as time moves forward. See what I did there? Anywho, we are all pretty familiar with Android Wear, Samsung’s Tizen and the upcoming Apple watch. In the past we had a few off shoot attempts from the likes of Motorola and others that didn’t really take flight. […]
The post New gaming studio, Everywear Games, founded to focus solely on wearable games appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
LG G Flex 2 to be available in India later this month, Watch Urbane in April
LG has announced the G Flex 2 for India. It will be available later this month for Rs 55,000 ($877), and you will have your choice of either silver or red.
The more important part of this news it the announcement that the Watch Urbane will be released in April. This should hopefully mean that it will launch in the U.S. and other areas at the same time. Unfortunately no price was specified, but we are expecting it to come in around $299 to $349.
source: android.in
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More progress being made on pairing Android Wear with iPhones
If you’re an iPhone user that’s just not happy with the current selection of smartwatches, well, you’re probably on the wrong website, but there’s some good news on the horizon. Developer Mohammad Abu-Garbeyyeh recently released a video showing off how he paired a Moto 360 with an iPhone through some clever workarounds. Most of the functionality was borked, but you could at least check some text messages.
Today, he’s shown off some new progress on pairing the two together. It’s not a ton of improvement, but he’s able to answer a phone call made to the iPhone right from the Moto 360. There’s no jailbreaking, rooting, or anything else done to make this work. Just a simple APK sideloaded onto the Moto 360.
While developers like this are working at making Android Wear compatible with iOS, Google is supposedly working on their own iOS app to enable compatibility. Who do you think will get things working first?
source: Techno Buffalo
Click here to view the embedded video.
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Deal: Get $50 in Google Play credit with purchase of a Nexus 6, Nexus 9 or Android Wear device
If you’re in the market for a new smartphone, tablet or wearable, the newly-announced Google Store may have a deal for you. From now until March 31st, if you purchase a Nexus 6, Nexus 9 or any Android Wear device, you’ll receive $50 in credit to be used on anything in the Google Play Store. Once you purchase your new device, you’ll get a confirmation email from Google with your promotion code, which can then be added to your Play Store balance.
There are a few rules and regulations to go over before you make your purchase, though. Just to clarify, the $50 credit can be used in the Google Play Store, not the new Google Store where you buy devices. Your $50 credit can go towards anything, whether that be new apps, games, movies, shows, music or magazines. Your Google Play credit must be added to your account by April 20th and used by September 1st.
In addition to this sweet deal, Sony’s SmartWatch 3 can also be yours for a discounted price. Right now, the SmartWatch 3 is being offered at a $50 discount ($199.99), and includes the $50 in Google Play credit. That’s not a bad deal at all!
If you’d like to take advantage of any of these deals, head to the link below to start shopping. Is anybody picking anything up?
Google offering $50 in Play Store credits with purchase of select devices
Google is giving buyers of the Nexus 6, Nexus 9, and Android Wear $50 in Google play credit if purchased between now and March 31, 2015. The credit will be emailed to you once the device ships, and must be added by April 20, 2015. The credit cannot be used towards the purchase of another Android device, but it can be used on apps, movies, music, books and magazines.
Check the deal out here.
The post Google offering $50 in Play Store credits with purchase of select devices appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Feel The Wear Brings Custom Vibration Patterns to your Smartwatch Notifications
There are a number of things one can do with a smartwatch: text, call, post on social media, and set reminders for later. However, all of those actions require you to be on the ball for when your smartwatch starts buzzing with a notification.
The issue is that smartwatches were created for convenience, and when you have to keep checking to see if you’ve received a notification, your device isn’t accomplishing its job. Presenting: Feel The Wear.
Now you can choose from between five preset vibration patterns that have enough force to actually alert you of an incoming item, unlike the preset vibration patterns that might not grab your attention. Once you’ve installed the app and set the permissions, you can start customizing your vibration settings.
The app itself is new—only about a month old—but as far as usability goes, it is a stellar and stable application that is a joy to put on your wrist. If you’re enticed, check out these screenshots and follow the link below.
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Walkman update allows users to view songs in a playlist on Android Wear
The Walkman application received a new update today that moves the build from 8.5.A.2.10 to 8.5.A.3.2. While there are visual improvements to the app, the key part of the update is the ability for Android Wear users to view songs within a synced playlist and start playback from any song in a playlist. Some users are reporting seeing other things as well.
Users are reporting that Spotify is listed as a usable service in the settings portion of the app and is a likely precursor to the Spotify powered Playstation Music coming at the end of the month. For those of you who want the update it’s 14.1MB.
Let us know if you know if you find anything else.
source: Xperia Blog
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5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly
Welcome back to another episode of Android Apps Weekly! Here are your headlines for this week:
- Cyanogen has announced that they will begin using Boxer as their default email app.
- PlayStation Mobile is shutting the doors for good. Goodbye PlayStation Mobile, you had a rather underwhelming run.
- Amazon is tossing a $25,000 contest. How do you enter? By downloading just one application from the Amazon Appstore.
- An application is under development from Google called Interactive Events. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do anything yet.
- Pocket Casts, one of the best podcast apps ever, received a huge Material Design overhaul.
For more headlines, updates, and news, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter by clicking here. We put out a new issue every Friday that we personally curate. If you’re interested in getting it straight to your email, click the subscribe button below!
Subscribe to our Android Apps Weekly newsletter!
Android System Webview
[Price: Free]
Android System Webview is an app powered by Chrome that allows other apps to display web content. If you’re running Lollipop, this has already been installed on your device but now it’s officially in the Play Store so it can be updated. There’s really not much to do on your part. It’s already there and now it’s in the Play Store.
Blood & Glory: Immortals
[Price: Free with in app purchases]
Blood & Glory: Immortals is an action RPG out of GLU Mobile where you play as one of three heroes that take on the armies of Zeus, Hades, and Ares. It features decent graphics, plenty of game play, and you can create your own guilds. It’s free to play so it costs nothing to check out.
Corgi for Feedly
[Price: Free]
Corgi for Feedly is a free lock screen replacement app that brings you news stories from your Feedly feed straight to your lock screen. It has a colorful, fun design and it works fairly well. It is a newer app which means it has newer app problems, but it’s totally free so it’s worth a shot.
Street Art watch face
[Price: Free]
Street Art watch face is a new Android Wear watch face and it’s the first that’s been released by Google. It features some colorful, fun visuals along with an analog, minimal, and digital option. There aren’t a lot of customization features but it’s a nice addition to the watch face collection. Especially if you like urban scenes.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 3
[Price: $2.99]
Five Nights at Freddy’s 1 and 2 were huge hits in 2014 and we imagine that the third iteration will be a big hit in 2015. The game play is a lot of the same kind of stuff with some new game play elements mixed in. There are even multiple endings that you can try to go for. It’s $2.99 with no in app purchases.
Wrap up
If we missed any great news, let us know in the comments!
Google releases reference sample to show how apps can work on multiple devices
Since last summer, we have seen Android makes its way to new form factors. The operating system now works with phones, tablets, wearables, and vehicles. With so many form factors now supported, it makes sense that Google wants apps to have seamless experiences. The company has introduced a sample multi-device application called Universal Music Player that offers a continuous experience across Android, Android Wear, Android Auto, and Google Cast devices.
Hit the break for looks at the mult-device approach in action.
The sample uses features such as MediaStyle notifications, MediaSession, and MediaBrowserService. These features are what allows content to be spread from device to device.
Source: Android Developers Blog
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