Category Archives: Wearables

Apple Watch – Manufacturing issues curb supply

Apple, Tech News, Wearables

I had to laugh when the story broke yesterday of supposed manufacturing issues of the Apple Watch. It is the classic Apple move. Leak a rumour and voila it gets picked up by the global tech press.

Except lets step back one moment. I cannot think of any new product releases by Apple where there is a story leaked about supply shortages. Whether the story is true or not is irrelevant, since rumours of a supply shortage will spur people on to buy the Apple Watch, to ensure they get one before supplies run out.

A thumbs up for marketing is due here.

Vector Watch – Stunning Design & 30 day battery life

Tech News, Wearables

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The Vector Watch is an adventurous and bold idea. The Watch has the capacity to understand whether you are at work, sleeping, running or at home, and to present the information accordingly. You will be able to receive, answer and set notifications that you can then acknowledge with the turn of the wrist. Vector watches are equipped with activity tracking, measuring the likes of steps, distance, goals, calorie expenditure and sleep.

Vector also offers traditional watch functionalities such as a chronograph, stop watch, countdown timer and multiple time zones, as well as multiple alarms. Your watch will learn what kind of apps you are checking and at what times, in order to adjust the information it is delivering you and when. We are working on various third party app integrations, such as Nest, IFTT, stocks, weather and sports.

The pre order pricing is £169 to £299 depending on finish and version. If Vector can deliver on the battery life alone,  then that’s an achievement. But I would be concerned about the operating system and longevity.

Source –  https://www.vectorwatch.com

Tag Heuer, Google and Intel to launch a Smart Watch to take on the Apple Watch

Android, Tech News, Wearables, ,

Via 9to5mac.com

“TAG Heuer, Google and Intel have announced a partnership to launch a Swiss smartwatch powered by Intel technology and Android Wear. The effort signifies a new era of collaboration between Swiss watchmakers and Silicon Valley, bringing together each company’s respective expertise in luxury watchmaking, software and hardware.”

Take whatever you like from this announcement. My only thoughts is competition is always healthy and who wears a watch nowadays????

Samsung Gear VR (Virtual Reality Headset) – First Impressions

Android, Reviews, Tech News, Wearables,

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The Samsung Gear VR (Virtual Reality) headset arrived over a week ago. I have been keen to try this out for ages to see what all the fuss is about.

The Gear VR sits comfortably on your head. The controls are simple. You have a trackpad on the side, a back button and an adjustment for the screen on top. Before you purchase/use the Gear VR, Samsung provides the longest document warning you of all the potential dangers of using this product, the importance of short sessions and plenty of breaks, sickness and all the potential side effects. Enough warnings to put you off using the product!

The Gear VR costs £169 or £199 with the Samsung Game Controller which you will need for some of the games. Starting off you have a screen in front of your eyes giving you access to the special VR store and all the options/games/apps available.

It is really easy to control and select different games and so, just by using the track pad on the Gear VR and/or moving your head.

The experience of using the Gear VR is out of this world. Virtual Reality is clearly the future of gaming. It is hard to describe how dramatic the vision is and how real it feels. At times, I felt like I did not want to move as I would fall off the cliff edge!

But there are the negatives. My Note 4 battery life had the juice sucked out of it at a rapid rate. You really will be using the fast charging mode on the Note 4. The Note 4 does get hot but nothing that worried me. The Note Edge does not fit/work with the Gear VR. Side effects. Samsung mentions sickness as a potential side effect. Temple Run VR is awesome to play, but OMG its super vomit territory. It is one of the worst games for side effects. If you manage to play for 5 minutes without at least feeling really sick, you deserve a gold star. One of my twitter friends James Burland, suggested I tried Titans of Space. That was a great recommendation, so be sure to play that game yourself if you do get one a Gear VR.

At the moment, it really is a developing product and it is definitely one I am excited about. Just note the side effects might impact your enjoyment.

Apple Watch from £299 to £13,500 – My views based on all my wearable devices

Apple, Tech News, Wearables,

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So yesterday Apple held its Spring Forward event. And officially launched the Apple Watch. It comes in 3 pricing tiers. Cheap, Expensive and if you need to ask, you cannot afford it. Or Apple Sport from £299-£339, Apple Steel from £479 to £949 and Apple Watch Edition from £8,000 to £13,500. You can also buy extra straps and a spare charger for the Apple Watch.

The included apps by Apple are messages, phone, mail, calendar, activity, workout, maps, passbook, siri, music, camera remote, remote, weather, stocks, photos, alarm, stopwatch, timer, world clock and settings. The Apple Watch allows you to take calls, see your notifications, respond to them, share your heart beat, download third party apps and a whole lot more. The US version has Apple Pay app included.

If you want to learn more about the Apple Watch click here – http://www.apple.com/uk/watch/

So what do I think based on the Spring Forward Event and all the information released on the web.

Pros – Beautifully designed watch, stunning looking apps and also stunning third party apps. Likely to get launched with tons of apps and likely the best watch app eco system from day 1. Just look at some of the apps here – http://www.apple.com/uk/watch/app-store-apps/ .Price points. Different prices depending on your budget and then a mega expensive version for exclusivity. I have no qualms with any of Apple’s pricing models as the Sport version looks superb and is the cheapest. Of course you do need an iPhone. If you want to know more about the finishes, Apple produces a number of videos – http://www.apple.com/uk/watch/films/ . The taptic feedback system is a clever idea, as is all the customisable watch faces/options. The heart beat sharing is cool. The hardware is gorgeous for a smartwatch. Phone calls on the watch don’t have to be just via bluetooth as the watch also connects via wifi, meaning you phone can be anywhere in the house and connect to the watch, so long as its connected to the same wifi network.

Cons – Dreadful battery life of only 18 hours. There is a powersave mode to help keep the watch alive until you get home to recharge, so at least in this mode you can still use it as a watch. Untested in real world for reliability. You need to own an iPhone 5 or later, so if you had a iPhone 4S which is only 2.5 years old, you would have to upgrade your iPhone to a newer model.

So based on all my current experience using many wearables (see my reviews on wearables, index, reviews), my main concern is its battery life. This is not good enough based on what Apple declared as all day battery life equalling 18 hours. Secondly, all these apps and services – the more you have on the Apple Watch the worse the battery life will be. Plus, it is likely the watch will drain your iPhone battery too. Also, it is trying to be everything for everyone. Maybe the smartphone is dead, and the new smartphone will be on your wrist. But seriously, if I want to check items out, the iPhone has a much better and larger screen.

I will reserve further judgement until I have seen and used the Apple Watch myself. But I stand by my thoughts for now. I also asked myself how many people actually wear watches now? I used to years ago, but now use my phone to check the time. Well that was the case, but now I can use my FitBit Charge HR if required.

What do you think about the Watch?

Update – Apple has released a new battery page for the Apple Watch – http://www.apple.com/watch/battery.html – All-day battery life is based on 18 hours with the following use: 90 time checks, 90 notifications, 45 minutes of app use, and a 30-minute workout with music playback from Apple Watch via Bluetooth, over the course of 18 hours. Battery life varies by use, configuration, and many other factors; actual results will vary.Talk Time Test -Up to 3 hours. Hmmm. Dreadful as I first thought.

And one last thing. Apple choose 10th April as the day pre-orders go live, the same day Samsung launches its Samsung Galaxy S6. Coincidence?

Apple – We’ve Re-Invented Gold for the Apple Watch

Apple, Tech News, Wearables

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Via The Financial Times –

Jony Ive had an interview with the Financial Times yesterday which revealed snip buts on his life and the Apple Watch.

Sir Jonathan hinted that Apple may have invented an entirely new form of gold just for the new timepiece. No surprises here. Apparently, the molecules in Apple gold are closer together, making it twice as hard as standard gold.

And twice as expensive probably!

Pebble announces the Pebble Steel Smartwatch – gold is similar to the Apple Watch

Android, Apple, Tech News, Wearables, ,

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Pebble announced yesterday the Pebble Time Steel. This is the stainless steel version of the Pebble Time, with the same interface and software, but in a machined metal case that comes in silver, gold and black finishes. Pebble have also increased the battery life by another 3 days to 10 days in total.

Also the new watches will have ‘Smartstraps,’ which allows third-party developers to build smart straps as add-ons to both the standard and Steel watches. The watch has a port on the back, which will allow hardware makers to access and communicate with the Pebble Time. The smart strap would add extra sensors and electronics, batteries perhaps, heart rate monitor, gps chip and more.

The Pebble Time Kickstarter has raised over $12 million so with over 54,500 backers having pre-ordered around 65,700 smartwatches. The new Pebble Time Steel will retail for $299 and will be available to early Kickstarter backers for $249. Existing backers can choose to upgrade to the Pebble Time Steel without losing their spot in the queue. However, Pebble Time Steel starts shipping in July, instead of May for the first crop of standard Pebble Time devices, and June for the current backer group.

A bold move and lets hope it works for Pebble. And that gold finish Pebble Time Steel looks fairly similar to the Apple Watch in rose gold!

Source – techradar.com

HTC Grip – Full details

Android, Apple, Tech News, Wearables,

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HTC announced their new fitness wearable in partnership with Under Armour.

The full specifications are –

– Small Size – 51.9 x 68.2 x 22.5 mm
, Inner circumference: 145.54mm
– Medium size – 60.98 x 74.57 x 22.5 mm, 
Inner circumference: 169.76mm
– Large size – 68.92 x 85.24 x 22.5 mm, 
Inner circumference: 199.51mm
– Display 1.8-inch inch 32 x 160 PMOLED mono flexible display with capacitive touch
– Platform – RTOS
– Processor – STM32L151QDH6
– Memory – 16MB Flash, 8MB SRAM
– Battery – 100 mAh rechargeable battery
– 2.5 days battery life or 5 hours w/GPS activated
– Sensors – Sensor Hub (STM32F411), G-sensor, Gyro, Compass, GPS, Light sensor
– Connectivity – BLE (Bluetooth 3.0 and 4.0),
USB charging cable
– Other Vibration notifications, IP57 Dust & Water Resistant, Shock Resistant (compliant with MIL-STD-810G 516.6 Procedure I, IV)