Amazon’s war on e-books, LG’s G Watch R and other stories you might’ve missed
This week, we reviewed the HTC One for Windows, investigated Amazon’s controversial e-book-pricing model, played around with Hyperlapse, learned about LG’s G Watch R and more! Read on for Engadget’s news highlights from the last seven days. Oh, and be sure to subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
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German press release suggests the LG G Watch R will cost €299
Phone manufacturers appear to piling on the smartwatch news ahead of IFA 2014, with ASUS, LG and Samsung all making surprise announcements and teases before the festivities have even started. The LG G Watch R was one of the more striking devices to be announced – what with its almost watch-like appearance – but the real question is: how much does it cost? Well, if a German press release is anything to go by, the LG G Watch R will cost €299. While a direct exchange does translate to about $395 USD, a corrected estimate would probably be closer to $300 USD.
That is still a relatively high premium to pay for the G Watch R over the original G Watch – which costs $230 USD – particularly seeing as they are almost the same on the inside, but we assume there is a cost to pay for including a heart rate sensor and the technology for the circular OLED display. That said, the high price is sure to deter some people who were perhaps thinking it to be an alternative to the equally circular Moto 360, which is expected to cost $250. But in the end, it’s all about subjective tastes.
Are you a fan of the LG G Watch R? Is €299 too expensive for you? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.
Source: LG Germany via Android Police
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LG is getting out of plasma TVs too, expect an official announcement soon
On the B-side of LG’s announcement that it will start selling two 4K OLED TVs, is the bad news for plasma. Korean papers Yonhap News and The Korea Times report home entertainment division lead Ha Hyun-hwoi’s comments that the company will end production of plasma TVs soon. According to Ha, LG is conducting an internal study to decide when it will end plasma production — not a bad run after rumors said it would shut down in 2008 and 2009 — and will make an official announcement on the issue soon. LG is the last major brand making plasmas after Samsung announced its exit earlier this year, and Yonhap says that once LG shuts down, China’s Changhong Electric Co. (the same company once on the receiving end of $1 billion worth of stolen plasma tech from LG) will be the only major manufacturer left in the game. If you don’t love LCDs and you’re not ready to drop $3,500 on a 55-inch OLED, it may be time to grab one of the few remaining plasmas and ride that out for the next few years.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, LG
Source: Yonhap News, The Korea Times
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Smartwatch Mania with ASUS, LG, and Samsung! – ManDroid Daily
Welcome to Smartwatch Mania! Wow. Passed couple hours have been very intersting indeed, folks. ASUS, LG, and Samsung all teased new smartwatches today that will be officially unveiled at IFA. Not bad designs for these smartwatches. I kind of dig LG’s new design with that circular face. Let us know which watch will be landing on your wrist, or will you still go with the Moto 360. Enjoy the Daily!
Android News
ASUS ZenWatch
LG G-Watch R
Samsung Gear S
Import G+ videos to YouTube
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LG sort of officially announces the LG G Watch R, releases hardware specs
After teasing its latest wearable device on Facebook earlier today, LG has gone and done something rather unusual. It has kind of announced the LG G Watch R, releasing its specs and images, though its press release is worded such that the “official” announcement will only happen at IFA 2014. Still, we’re not complaining now that we can see the device in it’s full glory, and glory it is. Rocking that circular shape we had been suspecting, the G Watch R looks a lot more like a mainstream watch with its raised circular frame, which maybe be a point of familiarity for potential smartwatch buyers.
LG is proudly flaunting the 1.3-inch circular display of the G Watch R, saying it is the first wearable to use a P-OLED (Plastic OLED) display for “stunning image clarity”. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact the G Watch R is powered by a Snapdragon 400 clocked at 1.2GHz, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage, 410mAh battery and will also be IP67 rated. What all this technology is going to do to the battery life remains to be see, but the G Watch R is certainly an impressive engineering feat. Naturally, the device will run Android Wear and can also monitor heart rate thanks to a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor.
LG hasn’t released pricing for the device, but it says it will be available starting Q4 2014, so keep your eyes and ears open for new information in the coming weeks.
What do you think about the LG G Watch R? Are you swayed now that you know what it looks like? Let us know your opinion.
Source: LG Newsroom, The Verge
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LG officially reveals circular G Watch R with improved design and familiar features
Not one to wait around for trade shows to officially begin before flaunting its new products to the world, LG is no longer teasing the G Watch R, its upcoming circular Android Wear smartwatch — it’s showing it off in all its glory. And just as the company hinted at on Sunday, it comes with a 1.3-inch Plastic OLED (P-OLED) full 360-degree display. LG says that it isn’t trying to replace the original G Watch, but rather offer another choice: The R is an elegant device that looks and feels more like a classic watch than its squarish predecessor. Good timing, too, since it’s going to be competing head-to-head (wrist-to-wrist?) against the Moto 360, a similarly shaped watch that will likely be available next week.
Admittedly, the R’s design looks like a substantial improvement over the original — the first one looks and feels much more like a reference device than a consumer watch — so we’re excited to see how it is in real life. Unfortunately, the components don’t seem to be much better than the original G Watch. The single most important factor on any smartwatch is battery life, and just like it is on LG’s and Samsung’s existing Wear devices, the outlook doesn’t look promising; the R comes with a 410mAh battery, a mere 10mAh improvement over its square counterpart. That means we shouldn’t expect to get more than a day or so on a single charge.
Nearly all of the other guts are the same, too. It comes with interchangeable 22mm straps, a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset with 512MB of RAM and 4GB internal storage. It’s also rated IP67 for water resistance (up to one meter of water for thirty minutes), just like the last one was. However, there’s two notable new features: It comes with a heart rate monitor underneath and what appears to be a power button on the side.
One of the more interesting aspects of the R isn’t what it has, but what it lacks: A black bar at the bottom of the 1.3-inch, 320 x 320 display. Motorola uses this “flat tire” on the 360, so while the front of the watch is circular, the display itself is not. Reps have explained that this bar houses the ambient light sensor and some drivers for the display. We’re not sure yet if the bar’s absence means that the R simply won’t have these same features, or if they’ve been relocated elsewhere on the device. We’ve reached out to LG for more details. LG says that the R will go on sale in early Q4 of this year, which suggests that it’ll be out in October or early November. The company isn’t ready to disclose pricing, but it says that cost will vary by market.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Wireless, Mobile, Google, LG
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The LG G Watch R will be the first wearable to “fully utilize its circular shape”
I am so excited for IFA 2014. Not only because it is IFA, but because there are several devices that I am genuinely excited about seeing. One of these devices is the LG G Watch R, a wearable device that LG has started teasing just before the main event. LG has since put up another teaser on its Facebook page, this time showing even more of its circular frame, and has accompanied the picture with a phrase that says the G Watch R is the first device to “fully utilize its circular shape”, whatever that means.
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The most striking thing about the G Watch R is of course the fact it is circular, a trait that only the Moto 360 had previously. Now you may argue that shape is a purely subjective characteristic, however many agreed that when the first Android Wear devices were announced the Moto 360 was still the device to wait for. That thought process may have to change now that LG is set to launch it’s own circular device, and we’re intrigued as to whether the device will do anything different to the other Android Wear wearables.
What do you think about the LG G Watch R? Which do you prefer: the Moto 360 or the LG G Watch R? Let us know your thoughts.
Source: Facebook via TalkAndroid
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LG’s big screen phone-of-the week gets a laser camera
Now that LG’s flagship G3 is a big success, it’s pulling a Samsung by throwing esoteric spin-offs like the G3 Stylus against a wall to see what sticks. The latest is the not-so-brilliantly named Gx2 (the company already has a G2x) that packs a huge, 5.7-inch screen and laser camera focus borrowed from the G3. Other specs are run-of-the-mill: a quad-core 1.2GHz CPU, 1.3-megapixel front camera, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB memory, 720p screen resolution and a 3,200mAh battery that should run forever. Oddly the meek 8-megapixel camera doesn’t seem to deserve the laser system, but maybe there’s a “focus buff” market we’re unaware of. Pricing and availability have yet to be revealed, but it’s likely to stay in Asia.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
Source: LG (Translated)
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The LG G3 will be LG’s first smartphone to sell over 10 million handsets
If you were ever wondering exactly how well the LG G3 has been doing for its manufacturer, LG, you need not look past this news courtesy of The Korea Times. According to the Times, the LG G3 is on track to sell 10 million handsets, the first of LG’s smartphones to achieve the feat. This comes on the back of LG shipping 14.5 million handsets in one quarter earlier this year, resulting in a 16% profit increase and snapping a streak of quarterly losses.
It wasn’t specified exactly when the milestone will be reached, but given the sales pace that it showed in Korea, it’s clear that the device is by far LG’s most popular and should cross the threshold sooner rather than later. Thanks to selling points like being the first smartphone to launch with a Quad HD display and featuring a OIS+ enhanced 13MP camera with lots of gadgets, the LG G3 was supremely equipped to take the smartphone world by storm pre-IFA – we’ll see if anyone has an answer to LG’s best in a few weeks in Berlin.
What do you think about the LG G3 making the 10 million handset milestone? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: The Korea Times via Phone Arena
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LG unveils a cheaper G3 that comes with a Galaxy Note-baiting stylus
Have we reached complete, utter, smartphone product launch saturation? Nah. Here’s another one. LG’s latest (and not unexpected) announcement has some charm of its own, fusing a G3-esque body and UI with a 5.5-inch screen and a new stylus that looks like it’ll slide into the phone. (LG’s prior stylus models sometimes had the pen accessory float around separately — it wasn’t a good thing.)
It won’t house the same incredible screen as the G3 flagship, unfortunately. In fact, the display is a less-than-mediocre 960 x 540 resolution, yeesh. LG’s pegging the giant phone at a keener price-point — one it hasn’t shared in the announcement — which could make an interesting option for those pining for sketching skills sans flagship prices. There’s a quad-core processor, and a 13-megapixel camera without the laser-beam focus to round out the notable hardware points and it’ll first land in Brazil, before rolling out across Asia and Europe. Oh and it will be making an appearance at IFA — as will we. We’ll let you know how it fares in the flesh.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
Source: LG
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AIVAnet 