Apple was working on making the Apple Watch, along with various health features, compatible with Android before the project was canceled.
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The feature that makes the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 what they are is something called “Double Tap,” which allows you to perform actions without ever touching the screen. Funny enough, the Galaxy Watch already has a sort of Double Tap feature under a different name.
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Since its inception, Apple’s WatchOS for the Apple Watch has had a pretty consistent core. A focus on apps with notifications, fitness, and other features surrounding it. With the upcoming release of watchOS 10, though, it sounds like Apple is going to be adopting an experience a lot more similar to Google’s Wear OS 3.
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It’s hard to disagree with the common sentiment that Apple’s smartwatch lineup is the top dog when we discuss wearables. Incompatibility with Android and a resurgent Wear OS headed by the Pixel Watch begs the question of just how far Google’s latest gadget stacks up against similarly new Apple Watch Series 8. Here’s everything you need to know.
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Apple today unveiled the iPhone 14 lineup, Apple Watch Series 8, Watch Ultra, and Watch SE 2. All of these new products bring with them a long-standing feature from Google’s Pixel lineup, Car Crash Detection, in a case of tech companies copying each other to the benefit of everyone.
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To follow a big Android TV update yesterday, Google has just released an Apple Watch app for YouTube Music. It provides basic playback controls and browsing of what’s on your phone.
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The Apple Watch is one of the most coherent and attractive wearables on the market, so there are sure to be plenty of Android users tempted by its sleek lines and genuinely useful functionality. However, do you need to give up your Android phone to embrace the Apple Watch? Can you use an Apple Watch with Android phones?
This week, Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 5. It’s the perhaps the most modest year-over-year upgrade for the Apple Watch yet, adding little more than an always-on display. But that’s the thing: Apple doesn’t need to make major strides with its smartwatch offering — they’re far enough ahead that it doesn’t matter. And they could leverage that lead to destroy Wear OS if they wanted to…
Over the past month, the new “Google Nest” replaced Nest.com with the Google Store and gained a new Help Center. The unified brand has now killed its Wear OS and Apple Watch apps for home control right from your wrist.
Back in 2017, Google and many initial launch partners for the Apple Watch pulled their wearable applications. The company is now back with a full-featured Google Keep experience for watchOS.
The Apple Watch is the best-selling smartwatch on the planet, but I don’t use an iPhone, nor do I actually want an Apple Watch. Personally, I use a Gear S3 Classic on the day-to-day (previously a Gear S3 Frontier), and I love it. However, there is one thing I’ve wanted from the Apple Watch, one of its bands, specifically, the “Leather Loop.” Now, I’ve finally found one.
A number of iOS apps are suddenly pulling support for the Apple Watch, and the latest to have its Watch app suddenly disappear is Google Maps. While one might see this as a sign that a major player has abandoned development of an Apple Watch companion for one of the most-used apps on the App Store (currently sitting at #9 on the free charts), Google says support will be coming back later…
We’ve previously reported that the Samsung Gear S2 would be gaining support for iOS later this year, and it looks like that support is coming soon. A member of the XDA-Developers forums has shared a link to a potentially early version of a Samsung Gear S2 specific app that would allows iOS to pair with the device. While the app appears to be in the early stages (indications of the app’s creation dates back to March 2nd), it could potentially show us what the final app will look like.
Based on discussions in the forum, users looking to attempt the pair the devices may have to restore their S2 to factory settings before having it pair with the leaked iOS application. This may require having another Android device on hand, but the results seem to be mixed at this point. Some forum members are also indicating that they are able to receive notifications pushed from iOS, but have no way to reply.
The Samsung Gear S2 Lite iOS application can be installed through iTunes, or by side-loading through Xcode. Before launching the application, a Samsung specific enterprise profile must be accepted through settings. We cannot stress this enough, installing applications from unverified sources is not guaranteed safe. Proceed with extreme caution.
The Samsung Gear S2 is available refurbished from Best Buy for $159.99, or new from Amazon at $249.
Reuters last month reported that Google has been bolstering its self-driving car team as of late, and now as April rolls in, we’ve uncovered some more information on new hires as the team continues to expand. In one case, Google has added an ex-Apple global supply manager for the iPhone and the Apple Watch to the self-driving car supply management team…
IDC’s latest report is out today with new estimates based on worldwide wearable shipments, and in it is a prediction that Apple Watch will hold the market lead this year and through 2020 as Android Wear begins to close the gap.
While the report shows estimates based on overall wearable shipments, which IDC says will go from 72.2 million last year to 100 million in 2016 for watch and wristband products, it also shows a breakdown of estimates for leading smartwatch platforms by operating system…
This is one of the best deals yet on our favorite all-in-one home security system and air quality detector.
Just in time for the holidays, get $20 off Canary. That brings the price down to $179 from the regular $199. Better yet, you can save a total of $50 off regular price when purchasing the Canary Two-Pack.
This Wi-Fi, smartphone connected security system does a whole lot more than the webcam style security cameras gaining popularity recently, and it does it all with gorgeous industrial design and slick companion apps for Android and other mobile devices…
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Google has released an updated version of its mapping application for iOS that includes several new features, including an Apple Watch app. Along with the new watch app comes the ability to compare ETAs for different modes of transportation, such as biking and walking.
Samsung’s recently revealed smartwatch, the Gear S2, has seemingly had its European pricing outed by German electronic retailer Saturn. The Tizen-based wearable will be available as a standard and more premium Classic model – with similar pricing to the entry-level Apple Watch …
Now that Android Wear is officially compatible with iOS devices there’s a lot more smartwatch love to go around, at least for Apple fans. Android users have had a taste of the first generation, but Motorola’s new Moto 360 is one of the many new options available for both sides for the fence. The question is, should you give Motorola your money?
Runtastic, developers of several popular fitness apps, today announced it has been acquired by Adidas for € 220 million. The move, according to a press release from both companies, will help Adidas bolster its efforts in offering connected products and its vision of “the convergence of sport, digital and data in an always connected and always on-demand world.” Or in other words, Adidas now has a strong software component with a large user base to integrate with its digitally enabled sports products including balls, wrist devices, apparel, and shoes.
Adidas already offers several of its own mobile apps that cross over into Runtastic’s territory, such as the miCoach train & run app and the Adidas Go app that integrates with Spotify to offer music matched to a user’s running pace. Runtastic, however, has around 20 mobile apps related to fitness and health and claims around 140 million downloads and 70 million registered users. The company also offers a few hardware products, including a scale and fitness tracking devices, that compliment its fitness apps that integrate with other third-party hardware including Android Wear devices and other wearables.
It’s unclear what Adidas has planned for the company and its apps, but Runtastic will be joining the Adidas teams and building new experiences as part of the brand going forward. What exactly that means for the Runtastic brand and integration with Adidas products remains to be seen.
Nest founder and former Apple iPod lead designer Tony Fadell has intimated in a BBC interview that the decision to make an early version of Google Glass available for public sale may have been a mistake.
He said that while Google has always launched beta versions of its products and gathered feedback from users, there was a very big difference between software and hardware.
If you are only doing services based on electrons, you can iterate quickly, test it, and modify it and get it right. But when you are dealing with actual atoms – hardware – and you have to get manufacturing lines and it takes a year or more to develop that product, you better understand what it is and what it’s trying to do and specifically what it’s not going to do.
Customers have to spend money to buy those atoms. They want something that delivers value or you end up with a real disappointment and you can spoil the market.
He was, however, “very bullish” about the product, and believes it has a big future …
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Google is working on some tantalizing new features for upcoming versions of the Android Wear software, according to a new report published by Phandroid. Citing anonymous sources, it claims that the next update to Google’s wearable OS will include direct watch-to-watch communication along with some new interactive watch faces. Purportedly, these features were due to arrive on July 28th, but are now not likely to appear until August.
Following the launch of Shazam for Apple Watch just last month, the long-time well-known music recognition app has finally made its way to Android Wear. With the app, you can recognize songs without ever taking your phone out of your pocket, see the list of songs you’ve tagged in My Shazam in the Android app, and watch the lyrics for the song that’s playing right on your Android Wear device.
High five, Shazam is now on Android Wear!
- Keep your phone in your pocket – see what’s playing with 2 taps
- Songs are added to My Shazam, and to your My Shazam Tracks playlist for connected Rdio or Spotify users
- Watch lyrics unfold in real time, right on your wrist
You can grab the app right now by downloading the latest version of the Shazam app for Android, and the Android Wear counterpart on your watch should appear soon after. We’ve tried it out and it doesn’t look like the update has rolled out quite yet, but it will likely pop up very soon.
