Category Archives: Wearables

Apple Watch impacts Swiss Watch Makers Shipments – details

Apple, Wearables,

“The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FSWI) has announced today that for the first time since 2009 exports of traditional timepieces are down, and it looks like Apple Watch is to blame.

Wristwatch exports from Switzerland fell almost 9 percent between April and May, according to the FSWI numbers. The news comes on the heels of the launch of Apple Watch on April 24th, which combined with fluctuating currency markets to cause the industry’s first slump in over six years.

“Watch exports to the U.S. in the lower price segments could also have had some negative impact from the launch of the Apple Watch,” analyst Patrik Schwendimann told Bloomberg. The U.S. market might only grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, slowing down from 6 percent growth in 2014, he said.”

Just shows how much of an impact Apple has made from never selling a watch to gaining market share especially in the high profit margin area.

Source – http://www.cultofmac.com

LG Watch Urbane – All the Review Posts

Android, Reviews, Tech News, Wearables,

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Since receiving the LG Watch Urbane, I have written many posts. Below are all the links so far. This post will get updated when more individual posts go live.

– LG announce the Watch Urbane – details and specs – https://gavinsgadgets.com/2015/02/16/lg-announces-the-new-lg-watch-urbane-its-luxury-android-wear-smartwatch-details/

– Impressions part 1 – https://gavinsgadgets.com/2015/06/09/lg-watch-urbane-beauty-and-disaster-first-impressions/

– Impressions part 2 – https://gavinsgadgets.com/2015/06/10/lg-watch-urbane-part-2/

– Impressions part 3 – https://gavinsgadgets.com/2015/06/12/lg-watch-urbane-part-3/

– How to change the Urbane strap – https://gavinsgadgets.com/2015/06/11/lg-watch-urbane-replacing-the-strap/

– Decisions required on strap choice – https://gavinsgadgets.com/2015/06/14/lg-watch-urbane-be-careful-on-strap-choice/

– Gallery of all my watch faces photographed – https://gavinsgadgets.com/2015/06/15/lg-watch-urbane-my-watch-faces-shown-photographed-gallery/

– A new thicker strap and the issues fitting it – https://gavinsgadgets.com/2015/06/17/lg-watch-urbane-a-new-strap/

LG Watch Urbane – a new strap

Reviews, Tech News, Wearables,

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My second orange strap arrived the other day and this time I managed to fit it to the Urbane. Fitting it was tricky and I found that the only way to connect it, was with the strap at 90° when pushing the pins back in place.

You can also see due to the thickness of the strap at the watch end it slightly protrudes. Leather straps sit flush on the back.

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Just a reminder here are the other straps. So far brown leather is my 2nd favourite but for now orange is the new king in town 🙂

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I suppose at some point I will fit a metal strap too. So which colour option do you prefer?

Pebble Time – Unboxing & Quick Hands on Video

Tech News, Wearables, ,

Some of you may be undecided whether to buy the Pebble Time, but Michael Fisher of pocketnow.com has produced another superb video, this time of the Pebble Time. It is a quick unboxing and hands on. Personally, after owning the LG Watch Urbane that looks stylish, I am not sure I could wear such a plastic toy like design, like the Pebble Time. What about you?

LG Watch Urbane – my watch faces shown photographed – gallery

Android, Reviews, Tech News, Wearables

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Above and below are all the watch faces I have installed using an app called Watchmaker Premium. The app comes in a free and premium offering. For the value and benefits it provides I spent the price of a coffee on the app. Apart from importing watch faces, you can edit and design your own watch faces using the app.

Looking at the first collage shot, and going from left to right, these are the names of each watch faces – Breitling Chronomat 44 Raven, Ferrari Watch, Dimmed Mode sample (after a few seconds all these watch faces offer an always on watch face, but one that uses slightly less battery, sometimes the dimmed mode option is better than the actual watch face) , next row left to right – Casio Illuminator, Hansglo 2, Material, Raidillon igu, Reapur, Casio Blue. With all these watch faces there are normally extra functions too accessed by tapping the watch faces in certain spots.

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The next collage, left to right – Core Sport 4 Function Modded, Sicura no bezel, IWC Aquatimer, river watch o&b, Longines OH V2 igu, Paneraix, Omega Chrono GMT, Military Digital V3.2 pro and Breitling Emergency.

The below gif was produced courtesy of Google Photos:)

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I have other watch faces installed, but these are my favourites.

In addition, LG provide a wealth of watch faces as shown below –

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Not a bad selection on offer!

LG Watch Urbane – Be careful on strap choice

Android, Reviews, Tech News, Wearables,

I ordered 2 new straps for my Urbane. A brown leather strap which is fabulous and a sports orange dive style strap.

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The orange strap doesn’t connect to the Urbane.

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If you look at the part of the strap that connects to the Urbane its too thick for the spacing provided by the watch. I even tried different pins to see if that helped but it didn’t. I have ordered another orange strap which I am hoping is thinner.

More soon (hopefully).

LG Watch Urbane – Part 3

Android, Reviews, Tech News, Wearables

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So day 3 has arrived using the LG Watch Urbane.  It is starting to feel like the best watch I’ve owned, that also happens to be a smart watch. 

Last night, I attended our work summer party and a number of people commented on the watch, wanting to know more about it. I had a Breitling watch face showing and I was asked if it was made by Breitling. I do believe that the brown crocodile strap makes the watch look a lot smarter too.

The orange sports strap I ordered has arrived, but at the moment I’m not sure I want to fit it to the Urbane as I really like the brown crocodile strap. I will post some photos of the strap soon.

Battery life has settled down with about 40% used in the past 24 hours. So I reckon a 2 day battery life is possible, but I would still top it up daily. Dictating using OK Google works fine. I have replied to emails, hangout messages and dictated and sent new text messages.  I have also searched through about 20 watch faces and settled for about 10 new ones from many famous brands. This adds to the charm of the watch. One of the simplest and best features of the Urbane is the clock always been visible. 

I am still waiting for LG or Google to update their apps and or firmware so I can get heart rate data transferred off the watch. Once this happens, the watch will be near perfect. 

LG Watch Urbane – replacing the strap

Android, Reviews, Wearables,

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As you can see above and below, I have replaced the black strap with a brown crocodile strap which in my honest opinion looks a lot smarter. Some of you may prefer metal or even a sports rubber finish.

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I have an orange sports strap (£10) arriving soon which I intend to wear at some point, but at the moment, brown crocodile leather rocks my boat. I have provided links to all the straps and tool I used to remove the strap and refit.

The key point to note is buying a strap removal tool. Mine costs £2.99 Don’t try and cheat with a thin flat screwdriver. You will probably take much longer and end up scratching the casing. First, turn over the watch to access the rear. Make sure you place the watch face down on a super soft cloth so as not to scratch the watch face. Then use the tool to grip the spring bar ridge, pull back and release spring. Reverse to connect strap. This is a 5 mins job. Make sure the shorter end goes up against the 12 o’clock.

Simple but effective.

Links – remember orange strap not yet received, but I will edit this post once obtained UPDATE – orange strap is too thick at to connect to Urbane.

Orange Dive Watch Strap Orange 22mm

PROFESSIONAL WATCH BAND STRAP LINK PIN SPRING BAR REMOVER REMOVAL REPAIR TOOL

Selection of 22mm Brown Leather Watch Straps

LG Watch Urbane – Part 2 – updated

Android, Reviews, Tech News, Wearables,

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Day 2.

I have experimented with more watch faces. Basically with an app called Watchmaker Premium (link to Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=slide.watchFrenzy.premium&hl=en ) it is possible to install practically any watch face you fancy. So no shortage of custom looks.

LG Support – my call to LG Support re getting the heart rate data to sync back to the watch is ongoing. LG have called me back several times re this issue. Basically on the LG G4 is LG’s app called LG Health. It is not recognising that the Urbane is connected and therefore not pulling any data from it. Instead the LG Health app is using the inbuilt G4’s pedometer. According to LG Support, its new and therefore that makes it reasonable to not work as advertised. I would love to express myself with a tirade of four letter words here. This is not acceptable and surely should have been tested. This is another LG app that is not working correctly. QuickRemote is another app not optimised for the LG G4.

Wrist control – this works like a charm. There is no need to touch the watch, just flick wrists up and down to scroll through notifications.

Voice control – OK Google seems fairly consistent at translating my voice or dictating my messages.

Straps – I have received a brown crocodile 22mm strap. I am still waiting for the strap removal tool and another strap, a bright orange sports strap. These other items are expected by Monday. Once I get everything, I will post photos of the new straps. The black leather strap that comes with the Urbane is really lovely. Brown leather looks even better IMO. The choice is yours as the Urbane uses a standard 22mm watch strap.

I am still exploring android wear apps and options. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know.

My main frustrating lies with the heart rate monitor/steps and its data not being transferred to the phone for analysis, nor have I found a way to use it to monitor my fitness whilst undertaking activities. Google Fit is the only app that collects steps but not heart rate. Google Fit is pretty useless IMO compared to the competition. LG Health app also needs updating asap.

I don’t accept LG Support casual remark that being new it’s ok to have bugs. In my mind this is a massive bug and should have been spotted immediately as it is so obviously not collecting heart rate data. Grrrr. Or transferring any data from the Urbane back to the phone.

The only consolation is the Urbane looks like a classy mens watch. And as a watch the time is always visible. No flicking wrists or lifting hands to activate the screen.