HTC, back in March, unveiled its Grip fitness tracker in partnership with Under Armour, the clothing maker that's been making a big noise in fitness apps. It was slated for a "spring" release. Now on the cusp of July, HTC acknowledges that it's pulling back, saying the product needs more work and will come out later in the year. At the same time, HTC is teasing a new line of … [Read more...]
Anandtech on Apple Watch: A Geeky Thumbs-Up
Anandtech was one of the web's first deeply geeky tech sites, and its review of the Apple Watch is about what you'd expect: long on speeds and feeds and kind of unsophisticated about usability case. The bottom line: the Watch is the first wearable to sell the millennial author on the idea of wristware, but the overall package is first-generation. In typical Anandtech style, … [Read more...]
Cheap Smart Shoes Coming from Xiaomi
Xiaomi is best known in the US for a $9 smart band that's only sold in China. Now there's word that the company's getting into the athletic shoe business. According to the International Business Times, Xiaomi is teaming up with sporting goods maker Li Ning to equip a sneaker with a motion sensor, which will send data to a smart phone. The concept's hardly new: Nike and … [Read more...]
Is Garmin Signaling A Price War?
We noticed yesterday, while looking for something else entirely, that Garmin took a big hit in its stock price, dropping from about $46 to as low as $40 before recovering to $43. While we try to stay away from stock analysis (being much better at product than finance), the reason for the drop signals something interesting in the smart band market. It turns out that on … [Read more...]
Details of Samsung Orbis Smartwatch Are Emerging
SamMobile, a site that tracks Samsung's mobile business, is out with tech details of the upcoming Orbis smartwatch, which will apparently be called the Gear A. An SDK indicates that the watch, which will have a circular screen, will continue Samsung's commitment to the Tizen operating system. It will use Exynos 3472 dual-core processor with 768MB of system RAM, 4GB of user … [Read more...]
Misfit Adds Control App and Smart Button, Cuts Prices
Misfit, the activity tracker company, today delivered on a January promise to add smart home connectivity to its products. The company announced Misfit Link, software that lets the Misfit Flash fitness tracker also control camera, presentations, and music on your smartphone. And iOS version is available immediately, the company said; Android will follow next month. The … [Read more...]
The Apple Watch Story May Be Turning Back
We wrote last week about how the media's narrative seems to be turning against the Apple Watch, despite a lack of good evidence that the watch is "failing." The more mainstream press finally appears to have caught up with this story, applying some actual fact and reporting to the story. And guess what? The watch is doing pretty well after all. Re/code dug a little into … [Read more...]
Woven Niobium Super-capacitors Could Help Power Wearables
The question of how to power tech-enabled fabrics is one of the larger problems facing smart garment makers. Science Daily is reporting on researchers who have made yarns from niobium nanowires to create super-capacitors that may do some of the job. There has been a fair amount of work on using graphene as super-capacitors, but this research suggests that niobium, which is a … [Read more...]
Withings Activé Watches Now Track Swimming
Very few fitness trackers -- and fewer still at the lower end of the pricing spectrum -- can withstand extended encounters with water. The Withings Activé line has been the exception, but even they didn't actually track swimming activity. Now, though, Withings says its software will now recognize swimming motions, and track them against your daily goals. The Activé sells … [Read more...]
The Third Shoe Drops: Jawbone Sues Fitbit in the ITC
Jawbone said it would, and how it did: sued Fitbit in the International Trade Court in an attempt to keep Fitbit's products from being imported. Since Fitbits (like most, if not all, electronics products) are made abroad, a victory would essentially keep Fitbit off the U.S. market. Jawbone has previously sued Fitbit, the market leader in smart bands, for poaching its … [Read more...]