Apple’s stock (AAPL) stock reached an record yesterday, making Apple the first $700+ billion company in history.
Shares of Apple stock closed Tuesday up 1.9 percent at a record-setting $122.02. This meant its market cap became an estimated $710.8 billion.
Food for thought. Apple is double the size of Microsoft. And larger than oil companies.
Today I am having a closer look at the Acer Liquid Smartband which retails for £79. If you want to read any of my other wearable device reviews click here – https://gavinsgadgets.com/reviews-accessories/ . The reviews include everything from Pebble, Samsung Gear Fit, LG G Watch (R) to the Samsung Gear S and now the Acer Liquid Leap SmartBand.
The specifications of the Liquid Leap are as follows –
– Screen 1″ OLED Touch Screen, Surface Hardness: 6H ,Screen Resolution: 128 x 32
– Capacitive, Single Touch function
– Waterproof IPX7 – The Liquid Leap can be immersed for up to 30 minutes at a depth of up to 1 meter.
– Weight – 20g
– Bluetooth 4.0
– Up to 7 days battery life
– Processor 2-bit ARM® Cortex™ M0 CPU
– Memory RAM 16 KB RAM + 256kB flash
– Brightness – up to 70LUX (with Touch panel)
– Sensor Type- G-sensor
– Features: Email, Music control ,Camera control
– Compatibility – Android 4.4 eg. Acer Liquid X1 /Jade /E700 /Z500 /Z200, Samsung Galaxy S3/ S4 / S5, Moto X / G, HTC One M7 / M8, Nexus 4/5 – Apple iOS 7 / iOS 8: iPhone 4s / 5 / 5S / 5C / 6 / 6 Plus
As you will see from the last line, the Liquid Leap is cross platform with support for Android and iOS.
The device tracks your steps, exercise and sleep as well being able to glance and read text messages, see who is calling and view all your upcoming events. But lets take a close look at the hardware and the app that comes with the device.
The Acer Liquid Leap uses a charging cradle as shown above which connects with a micro usb cable which is included in the box. The cradle is easy to attach, just means if you are going on a long trip you will need to carry it with you. The battery is meant to last up to 7 days. I have managed 5 days but it has increased on each of the charges. The battery was totally flat when received.
So out of the packaging, the first step is to charge the band. While that is charging download the Acer Liquid Leap app from either the Google Play store or AppStore. When the Leap band first started charging a 4 digit code was displayed on the screen. This is used to setup the device with the app and your phone.
So what does the app look like and what are its features? Below is the home screen menu.
Below is the main manager screen which looks clear and concise. In case you are wondering why there are no current steps showing for the day, look at the status bar. It is 4.31am when I took the screen shots. The different sections are all self explanatory and tapping on each section reveals more information.
Here you can see the number of steps taken and below the distance travelled.
You can also setup Goals in the settings too.
Another settings options displays the battery and what notifications you would like to see on your Liquid Leap. As you can see the options are limited, so to preserve battery life I turned most of them off.
In terms of sleep recording, the stats only reveal the total time slept and not any further breakdown of sleep stats.
In terms of comfort the Liquid Leap was comfortable to wear. The strap securing mechanism is similar to that of the Fitbit Flex. In terms of what you can do with the band itself. A few taps on the device to turn it on reveals the time and date. Swiping reveals steps, swipe again shows distance, then calories and time towards your goal setup. If from the time screen you swipe right instead of left, you get to the apps section. Here you access sleep mode, notifications, settings, and music controls. The settings menus allow for the screen to be flipped, show battery level, restart device and factory reset it. It really is simple to use, one because it is easy to use, and two as the options are not extensive.
The first time you use the app, you setup as user name and password, enter your sex, height, weight and whether you want to use metric measurements or US ones.
In conclusion, this is probably one of the simplest tracking devices I have used. It was also simple to setup. However, in use I found it to track more steps than my other devices attached to my arms which included the Samsung Gear S and Fitbit Charge HR. In a day it showed 10% more steps than the other device, although every device showed a different number of steps.
The wearable space is rapidly increasing, and Acer have shown their hand with their Liquid Leap. It is not perfect but for some its simplicity may be ideal.
Via Reuters
“SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) healthcare technology is spreading quickly among major U.S. hospitals, showing early promise as a way for doctors to monitor patients remotely and lower costs.
Fourteen of 23 top hospitals contacted by Reuters said they have rolled out a pilot program of Apple’s HealthKit service – which acts as a repository for patient-generated health information like blood pressure, weight or heart rate – or are in talks to do so.
The pilots aim to help physicians monitor patients with such chronic conditions as diabetes and hypertension. Apple rivals Google Inc (GOOGL.O) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), which have released similar services, are only just starting to reach out to hospitals and other medical partners.
Apple has said that over 600 developers are integrating HealthKit into their health and fitness apps.
Many of the hospitals told Reuters they were eager to try pilots of the Google Fit service, since Google’s Android software powers most smartphones. Google said it has several developer partners on board for Fit, which connects to apps and devices, but did not comment on its outreach to hospitals.”
These stats are impressive. The Health Kit framework that Apple has created seems extensive. And all this testing with so many hospitals prior to the Apple Watch is equally impressive. But this could end up being a wealthy person’s benefit.
As you know, I co-host a monthly podcast with David from UKMobileTech called Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast. It is a light hearted tech podcast broadcast.
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Episode 31, MWC and Apple Mania is now live for your listening pleasure.
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Blackberry wins nearly $1 million in damages over Ryan Seacrest’s Typo iPhone case.
Seriously, how did they think they were going to get away with this copy keyboard!
Via Apple.
” Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results
Highest-ever revenue & earnings drive 48% increase in EPS growth led by record revenue from iPhone, Mac & App Store
CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 first quarter ended December 27, 2014. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $74.6 billion and record quarterly net profit of $18 billion, or $3.06 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $57.6 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion, or $2.07 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.9 percent compared to 37.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 65 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
The results were fueled by all-time record revenue from iPhone® and Mac® sales as well as record performance of the App Store℠. iPhone unit sales of 74.5 million also set a new record.
“We’d like to thank our customers for an incredible quarter, which saw demand for Apple products soar to an all-time high,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our revenue grew 30 percent over last year to $74.6 billion, and the execution by our teams to achieve these results was simply phenomenal.”
“Our exceptional results produced EPS growth of 48 percent over last year, and $33.7 billion in operating cash flow during the quarter, an all-time record,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We spent over $8 billion on our capital return program, bringing total returns to investors to almost $103 billion, over $57 billion of which occurred in just the last 12 months.”
Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2015 second quarter:
• revenue between $52 billion and $55 billion
• gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent
• operating expenses between $5.4 billion and $5.5 billion
• other income/(expense) of $350 million
• tax rate of 26.3 percent
Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $.47 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on February 12, 2015, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 9, 2015.”
Mind blowing figures. No surprises. Just how does any company compete now.
Another sad day in twitter land for Third Party twitter apps.
9to5mac.com and other Apple websites are reporting that Tweetbot for Mac has been removed from the App Store. The issue seems to relate around tweetbot reaching its token limit.
Eventually the only Twitter app that will work will be the official one. Twitter wants control of its own platform.
I reckon by the end of 2015, Twitter’s official app will be the only option.
Apple now has a website – https://mapsconnect.apple.com .
Small businesses across the UK and Ireland are able to add their firms data in to Apple Maps using the Connect service. This can also be used for editing.
Owners of a large chain or where there are more than 100 locations have to email updates to mapsconnect-business@apple.com.
From last Sunday.
As you know, I co-host a monthly podcast with David from UKMobileTech called Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast. It is a light hearted tech podcast broadcast.
To subscribe click here for iTunes or copy and paste this link into your favourite podcast app.
Episode 30, Hot Gadgets is now live for your listening pleasure.
If you have enjoyed the podcast, please leave a 5 star review in iTunes. It helps others find our podcast. Go now and leave a review !
If you have any comments, questions or feedback, please drop a line at feedback@gdtpodcast.com or in the comments below.
And finally, our thanks to Audible as today’s podcast is supported by Audible- get a FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/GavDave . Over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player. No obligation.
It’s a free trial so give it a go if you haven’t already.
Via – http://www.cultofmac.com/309512/jony-ive-called-swiss-made-watches-trouble/
“Yesterday, Biver told Bloomberg that TAG Heuer is developing its own smartwatch to counter the Apple Watch. Unnamed Silicon Valley tech companies will provide the tech while TAG Heuer will design the look.
If the name TAG Heuer sounds familiar, it’s because Apple poached one of its executives before the Apple Watch was announced.
TAG’s upcoming smartwatch will also abandon the revered “Swiss Made” label, which requires at least 50 percent of the watch’s components to be made in Switzerland. The watch will have GPS and sensors for health monitoring, although TAG hasn’t revealed any specifics yet.Biver said the Apple Watch mainly threatens watches under the $2,000 price point. Apple hasn’t revealed pricing beyond the base model’s $349, but it’s looking like Jony Ive was right when he said Swiss watchmakers are f**ked.”
It is a very bullish statement, but there is no way high end watches are dead. Maybe the £500 to £2,500 range will suffer, but there will also be room for class.
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