For the record, Google has unveiled a new revision of Android Wear. This version ties its users closer than ever to the Google ecosystem, giving them direct access to their cloud-based Google Play music libraries, without the need for a smartphone. (You need offline playing, also part of the update, turned on.) Also, the new rev supports GPS on Wear devices, for functions like … [Read more...]
A Flexible Battery, But You Can’t Buy It
We've written about curved batteries, which are pretty cool. But Samsung is now showing flexible batteries, which not only bend, but can be bent repeatedly. The claim is that you can bend it around a cup and it will work just fine. The implications for wearables should be clear: batteries that can conform to whatever shape they need to, and that can flex along with your body … [Read more...]
Stupid Smartwatch Tricks: Windows 95
There's not a whole lot to say about this, but here it is: a Samsung Gear Live smartwatch, based on Android Wear, running Windows 95. Barely. Come back in a year, and some watch will be able to run it handily, without maxing out on memory. But we still won't know why anyone would want to... https://youtu.be/GZx-LJH5J_I … [Read more...]
Samsung Unveils Gear S Curved Tizen Smartwatch
We saw a lot of curved electronic components earlier this year; now they're finding their way into products. Samsung today introduced the Gear S smartwatch, with a 2-inch curved rectangular Super AMOLED display. There are a couple of particularly interesting things about the Gear S: It runs Tizen, not Android Wear It's not a smartphone companion; it has its own 3G … [Read more...]
Smartband Business Jumped 684 Pct This Year, Says Canalys
Fitbit, Jawbone, and Samsung are leading the smartband business, says the industry analysis shop Canalys, whose earlier work has impressed us. On a worldwide basis, the smartband market grew 684 percent from 1H13 to 1H14 -- although Canalys doesn't say if that's units shipped or revenue. Due to their relationships with distributors, Fitbit and Jawbone lead the basic … [Read more...]
CNet Gets the Behind-the-Scenes Story on Samsung Gear Fit
CNet came up with a very nice behind-the-scenes look at how Samsung developed the Gear Fit wristband. Essentially, design work happened not in Kore, but with a design team based in San Francisco who drove some parts of the global conglomerate to do some things that were not strictly comfortable. It's a mid-length read, and worth the time as you're getting back into the swing … [Read more...]
Hands-on With Android Wear Watches From LG, Moto, and Samsung
Our correspondent Melissa Perenson is at Google I/O this week, and she got her hands on the first set of Android Wear watches to be shown to the public. Here are her impressions: With the LG G Watch, Samsung Gear Live, and Motorola Moto 360, a big challenge became clear: how to differentiate themselves from each other. Price will certainly be an issue, but so will design … [Read more...]
Fleksy Keyboard Comes to Samsung Gear 2
Many devotees of Android devices love the Fleksy keyboard, which seems to be among the best at predictive text entry. Samsung picked the open-source Tizen operating system to drive its Gear 2 wristwear, but Fleksy has now shipped a messaging app that will run on the Gear 2. Our expectation is that it will be available for other Tizen devices as they hit the market. We also … [Read more...]
Forbes: Google Is Set to Dive Into the Health Data Market
Forbes has "multiple sources with knowledge of the company's plans" who say that Google will soon a health data aggregation service called Google Fit. Supposedly slated to launch later this month at the Google I/O conference, Google Fit is apparently a set of APIs that will link equipment like fitness trackers through the Google cloud. If it's as described, Google Fit would … [Read more...]
Samsung’s SAMI and Simband Try to Set Wearables Standards
It's hardly news that Samsung is serious about the wearables market, but it now appears that it intends to put its considerable global weight behind a health-tracking platform and a set of health-related APIs. The Simband reference device and the SAMI (Samsung Architecture Multimodal Interface) platform tie together sensors, software, and cloud. The president and chief … [Read more...]