Android Wear update is coming soon, bringing always-on apps, Wi-Fi support, and gestures
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The Android Wear family is growing with every passing month and with so many new faces, Google has seen fit to announce that a Android Wear update is on its way. The update will bring three main areas of improvement for Android Wear users, including support for always-on apps, Wi-Fi, and gestures to control your wearable and how you interact with it.
First up, always-on app support will allow apps to stay on screen, meaning you will be able to see them on your watch display even after the screen has dimmed. This is not dissimilar to the option which allows your watch face to remain visible after dimming. This will definitely be an important feature once Android Wear apps start to get better and more useful, but we’ll have to see if battery life incurs any kind of penalty with this new feature.
Next on the list is Wi-Fi support. Unbeknownst to many people (including me), most of the Android Wear smartwatches out there support Wi-Fi, which means they can independently connect to a Wi-Fi connection. What this means is that after this Android Wear update drops, as long as your phone has a data connection and your smartwatch is connected to Wi-Fi, you will be able to get notifications.
Gestures looks to be one of the more interesting parts of this Android Wear update. The first gesture feature will allow you to scroll through notification items just by flicking your wrist. Google is also finally adding some easier phone capabilities into Android Wear, adding an apps list and contacts list once you tap the screen.
The last gesture feature Google elaborated on is emoji support, which will allow you to reply to messages simply by drawing an emoji with your finger and your smartwatch will figure out what emoji you meant.
All-in-all, this Android Wear update looks like it’s going to introduce a lot of neat features that are going to make your Android Wear experience just that much better. What do you think about these updates? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Google
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The new Asus VivoWatch offers fitness tracking and 10 days of battery life
Asus has unveiled their newest VivoWatch (that’s actually not part of the Zen family of devices) that’s focused on fitness tracking. The watch is water and dust resistant, offers a heart rate monitor and several other health services, and features a stainless steel frame. Asus is also making a pretty bold claim with this watch, saying it will last 10 days on a single charge.
Other details are pretty scarce about the device, such as pricing and how Asus is going to squeeze that much battery life out of the this thing. We do know that it won’t be an Android Wear device, so maybe Asus has their own extremely power-efficient software on the VivoWatch to keep it going. It’s supposedly going on sale later this year, so we should hear more sooner rather than later.
source: Phone Arena
Come comment on this article: The new Asus VivoWatch offers fitness tracking and 10 days of battery life
Moto 360 drops to $165 on Google’s store
If you’ve been toying with getting an Android-powered smartwatch but have been turned off by the $200-plus price tags, now’s a good time to dive in. Google’s device store is offering the Moto 360 with a leather strap for $165, or $85 off — not bad for wristwear that’s several months old. And should Google run out, you can score the wearable for a slightly higher $180 at Amazon and Best Buy. Motorola is likely just clearing out stock ahead of a sequel, but that’s not a bad thing if you’re more interested in putting a device on your arm than owning the latest and greatest.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Lenovo
Via: Droid-Life
Source: Google Store
Samsung takes gentle dig at Apple in welcoming them to smartwatch market
In a recent interview with CNBC, Samsung’s VP for mobile in Europe Rory O’Neill indicated the tech giant is “delighted” to see Apple entering the wearable market. O’Neill says the source of the pleasure Samsung derives from Apple’s move is because it confirms there is a market for wearable devices.
“Great competitors offer great things to consumers and the fact that there are so many great competitors in this space mean that there is absolutely a market. I mean, that’s what it tells you.”
The presence of Apple as a competitor in the smartwatch space means everyone, including Android Wear device manufacturers, will have to step up their game. That will be a win for consumers everywhere no matter which platform they opt to buy.
In making these comments, O’Neill did manage to take a dig at Apple by noting that “Apple has followed us into that market.” Samsung has already produced several wearable devices, including smartwatches, over the past couple years. Considering all the lawsuits between the companies arguing about who was first, Samsung seems to be enjoying a position of being a relatively long-term player in the market compared to Apple.
source: TechRadar
Come comment on this article: Samsung takes gentle dig at Apple in welcoming them to smartwatch market
The Swiss Army knife of smartwatches: Victorinox is making a smartwatch, or at least something like one
When I heard the news that Victorinox is making a smartwatch, my mind immediately sprung to a Swiss Army knife like wearable with multi-purpose tools built into it. Of course, Victorinox’s portfolio extends beyond Swiss Army knives and has a very established time piece business, but looks to be adding to that business as CEO Carl Elsener said to Reuters this week that Victorinox will be entering the wearable market in 2016. Elsener stops short of outright calling it a smartwatch, instead saying:
“Our concept is something approaching a smartwatch. We’re looking… for the opportunity to expand the functions of our watches. But at the same time the watch must have a long lifespan compared to a mobile phone or a computer.”
Seems like common sense, but Victorinox has obviously identified the primary gripe with smartwatch technology to date. We’ll have to see what Victorinox comes up with – previous attempts to save battery life have ranged from more discreet notifications like on the Martian Watch and Cogito Watch, or integrating the smarts into a smart band like the Kairos T-Band, both options which haven’t quite had the uptake their touchscreen brethren have had.
What do you think about Victorinox entering the smartwatch market? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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Taking aim: Google allegedly working hard to make sure Android Wear works with iOS
World news is awash with articles about the Apple Watch today, and frankly if you manage to see this article, it will be somewhat of a miracle. However, behind the scenes Google is apparently readying its counterattack, but what is this counterattack? Well, as The Verge is reporting, the Android Wear operating system team at Google is apparently “finishing the final technical details” of making sure Android Wear works with iOS, a step that likely wouldn’t explicitly affect the popularity of the Apple Watch, but would crucially give iOS users something that their own ecosystem doesn’t allow them by nature – variety and choice.
Yes, if Android Wear worked on iOS, iOS users could choose to have a smartwatch that didn’t necessarily need to look like an Apple Watch and still have pretty much all the same functionality. Of course, there are a few glaring obstacles that need to be overcome, the largest of which would be getting an Android Wear app approved in the Apple App Store, which when said that way seems nigh on impossible. Nevertheless, it would be a brave and great move if Google were able to offer Android Wear devices on the iOS platform, but we’ll have to see if it pans out that way.
What do you think about Android Wear devices being used with iOS? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: The Verge via Droid-life
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New LG Watch Urbane commercial might have outed the upcoming G4
LG is launching the Watch Urbane smartwatch on April 27th, and what better way to tease us and maintain interest in the deliciously stylish wearable than the release of a new video. The video shows the Watch Urbane in a variety of poses, and possibly shows off the upcoming G4 as well.
In the video you can see the Watch Urbane being worn by a man standing around looking awfully smug with life. And can you really blame him? Besides wearing the Watch Urbane, he is also waving around a smartphone that I suspect is the soon to be announced G4.
Why do I say that? Because, as you can see in the image above, the audio jack is on the top of the device in the video while the G3’s audio jack is on the bottom to the left of its charging port. The glimpse of the alleged G4 isn’t enough to make any concrete assertions but we don’t have too long to wait until we find out since the LG G4 is set to be officially launch on April 28th.
In the meantime, millions of us will be waiting for more details on how to become one of the chosen 4,000 people to receive a G4 to test drive…
Click here to view the embedded video.
Come comment on this article: New LG Watch Urbane commercial might have outed the upcoming G4
The Samsung Gear A will allegedly be Samsung’s round smartwatch, have 3G and call capabilities
We’ve been hearing about a round Samsung smartwatch for what seems like an eternity, and most recently, a round smartwatch was allegedly going to be announced at MWC 2015. Of course, that never eventuated, but SamMobile apparently has the scoop which says that Samsung is still working on a round smartwatch, and that it will […]
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Render appears to show what could be the Moto 360 successor
It’s been just over a year since Motorola announced the original Motorola Moto 360 smartwatch and we’re getting a little jittery waiting for its follow-up. A few rumours have popped up here and there to suggest what the Moto 360 successor might look like, and today’s offering gives us a render which appears to depict quite […]
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Something smelt fishy: ‘Smelt’ is the alleged codename for Moto 360 successor
Android Wear looks like it is most definitely here to stay and although its first generation had a few teething issues, we’re excited to see what the second generation of devices brings to the table. Chief among these is the Moto 360 successor which will have big shoes to fill coming after one of the most popular […]
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