“Pokemon Go launches in the UK, is now the biggest mobile game in US history.
The Pokemon Go deployment rolls on with the game appearing in the U.K. App Store overnight on Thursday, one day after the title went live in Germany.”
Finally Pokemon Go is live in the UK. And I had to download it and give it a go. It’s a fun game but it’s popularity is unbelievable considering its fairly easy to play.
Welcome to my first impressions of the Withings Activite Steel watch. The key features are –
– Automatic activity tracking – Steps, runs, swims (water resistant – 50m) and calories burned
– Sleep monitoring – Sleep cycle analysis (light and deep sleep) plus silent vibrating alarm
– Automatic synchronisation – Visualise trends and data on your smartphone with the free Health Mate app available on iOS and android
– Premium materials – Stainless steel, chrome hands, silicon sport strap
– No charging – Up to 8-month battery life
The Withings Activite Steel smartwatch arrived yesterday. Photo above shows watch on my wrist. Settings up is a breeze. You download the Health Mate app, and follow the simple instructions. I was all setup within 5 mins. Syncing is done periodically during the day using Bluetooth Low Energy. This is an analogue, swiss style watch. The watch strap is easily removable with a built in slide pin. Withings sell leather straps made from quality Barenia leather from Haas Tanneries, the supplier of the finest French Haute Couture houses. Choice of black or tawny brown colours. A single leather strap is £100. The silcone strap is also replaceable with other colour straps. Withings sell a 3 pack of coloured silicone straps for £25. The colours are orange, plum and teal.
The watch has a dial for the hands and minute hands. The other dial moves from 0 to 100% of step target. On the app you set how many steps is you goal. The Health Mate app displays a whole range of data, more of which I will cover off in my review.
The first thing I noticed is the comfort of the strap. Next the watch size is smaller than expected. I think changing the strap for orange or black leather would be a better choice. I cannot believe this doesn’t need charging and lasts 8 months. This takes all the pain out of charging a tracker. My main issue is the watch costs around £139 but just doesn’t look expensive enough.
However, seeing the analogue dial move round felt far less stressful than having an actual number of steps travelled on the screen. Opening the health app does reveal step count and more.
More soon.
“As has been widely reported, it is all but confirmed that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will not feature a 3.5mm headphone jack. This means buyers of the new iPhone will have to search for alternative types of headphones, whether that be via wireless Bluetooth or Apple’s Lightning cable. What’s apparently shown in these photos (via Weibo) is a new version of Apple’s EarPods that can connect to an iPhone via the 9-pin Lightning port.”
Whilst the removal of the headphone jack may seem annoying, the audio quality via the lightning connector is far superior. Now if Apple introduced wireless charging that would be the icing on the cake.
“New leak shows ‘iPhone 7 Plus’ with Smart Connector, no mute switch.
One day after a fairly clear photo purporting to show the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 emerged, new photos have leaked, showing what could be the larger 5.5-inch model, with a dual-lens camera, Smart Connector on the back, and the notable absence of a mute switch.”
All these iPhone 7 leaks but what nothing is guaranteed until Apple officially announce the new handset. However, I do hope all the camera improvements materialise.
“Pokemon Go expected to launch in UK and Europe in ‘a few days’ as Nintendo stock soars 25%.
Pokemon Go has become a huge hit rallying hundreds of millions of players in just a few short days. Widespread media coverage of the game (and its consequences) has made the Nintendo freemium title somewhat of a phenomenon, continuing to top App Store charts. This success — likely propelled by pent-up demand for a ‘real’ Pokemon game available on iOS — comes despite the game only launching three regions; the United States, New Zealand Australia. A new report from the Wall Street Journal indicates fans from other countries will not have to wait long for an official launch of Pokemon Go in the UK, Europe and more.”
Just shows if you have a social media hit, you can add $6 billion on to your share price overnight. Incredible success.
Apple uses the Health app to integrate other services and act as a hub. This makes sense to me. The Apple Watch acts as a fitness device and feeds basic information back into the Health app.
Google are trailing behind with their equivalent, Google Fit. But again, it is to serve the same purpose as Apple. Since Google where trailing behind, Samsung has powered ahead with its offering, S Health. It has come an awful long way in the last 4 months.
Samsung also sell a range of watches and fitness trackers.These are good devices.
Pictured above is the Garmin Fenix 3 HR. Probably one of the ultimate fitness devices on the market place, capable of so much and then some. Garmin also sell wireless scales. Garmin also sell a large range of activity devices and some of the best in class. There are many other brands too.
Other companies like FitBit also sell trackers and scales. In fact the market place is flooding with options but not everything plays nicely with each other. FitBit does not integrate with Apple Health app directly.
Why? The Health market and the data it will harness is worth millions. So before you decide what fitness or tracker you would like, ask yourself a few questions –
– What do you need it to do?
– What devices have your friends got, so if you need the social aspects, you all use the same brand
– What apps and services do you need the device to integrate into
– Apart from a fitness devices, do you need any other medical or fitness hardware / services. If so check which work with what.
So what devices are you using and why?
If you’re planning on installing the new macOS Sierra public beta. Then check out Siri on the Mac!
All you have to do to call up Siri is hold down the command key then hold down the space bar.
Simple.
Apple has released the new iOS 10 beta 2 which contains many new features, some of which aren’t as obvious as you think, but do make using and operating the iPhone even slicker.
Fortunately, 9to5mac put a video together showing all the new stuff.
Tech Addicts Podcast is back again with new episode starring Gareth Myles, Jay Garrett, Sam Pullen and I. Tech Addicts is released every 2 weeks.
To listen to the latest episode subscribe by searching “Tech Addicts” within your favourite podcast app, iTunes or use the URL “mobiletechaddicts.libsyn.com/rss” to add directly.
Have fun listening!
Apple will promote enrollment in national organ donor registry via iOS 10 Health app.
Starting with the launch of iOS 10 this fall, Apple will encourage users to become organ, eye and tissue donors by including an enrollment form in the iPhone’s native Health app.
Personally this is a great move by Apple. There is a shortage of organ donors so anything to improve this situation is a blessing.
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 