wearables Stories July 18, 2016
One of the promised features of Samsung’s Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic was the ability to use Samsung Pay on the watch for NFC payments, and now — nearly a year later — Samsung is finally launching this functionality on the Gear S2 along with a fairly beefy update…
wearables Stories June 29, 2016
Design sketches show what an unannounced OnePlus smartwatch would have looked like
Earlier this month OnePlus CEO Pete Lau confirmed that OnePlus had been working on their own smartwatch back in 2015, but the company never decided to bring it to market. Now, we know the watch would have featured a circular display, as seen in design sketches from 2015. The image tweeted by co-founder Carl Pei shows roughly what the watch would have looked like as well as describes some of its functionality.
wearables Stories June 7, 2016
Samsung’s Gear Fit 2 fitness tracker is now available for pre-order
After announcing the device on June 3rd, Samsung’s latest fitness wearable, the Gear Fit 2, is now available for pre-order from multiple online retailers. You’ll be able to order the device in black, blue, and pink for $179.99, and it’s set to ship on June 10th.
wearables Stories June 6, 2016
Microsoft Band 2 is company’s latest attempt to persuade Android owners to use Cortana
With Microsoft almost out of the consumer phones business, it’s working harder to find a new home for its intelligent assistant, Cortana. After initially making it available to Android users six months ago, it has now updated its health app so that you can access Cortana through the Band 2 fitness wearable.
With Cortana on your Band, you can access your personal assistant for instant notifications of important events, communications, and voice-active info without reaching for your phone. Speak into the mic on your Band to Cortana to take actions for you …
wearables Stories June 5, 2016
Back at Google I/O 2016, Google took the wraps off of Android Wear 2.0. The Mountain View company has added a lot of new features in this version, but one thing we’ve noticed is that — despite many hands-on articles and videos floating around — most publications haven’t really shown everything that Android Wear 2.0 really has to offer.
Let’s fix that. Follow along with us as we dive into everything you already know and everything you might not already know about Android Wear 2.0…
wearables Stories June 4, 2016
We’ve seen dozens of smartwatches hit the market over the past couple years, but none of them have yet to be a real runaway hit. Just about every major OEM has one on the market, so with all of those options out there, it’s tough for smaller companies to get their chance in the game — or at least, that’s what OnePlus thinks.
According to OnePlus CEO Pete Lau, the company not only was considering a smartwatch, they also had a completed design. But as we know, they decided not to release it (via WSJ).
wearables Stories June 2, 2016
At an event in New York this evening, Samsung announced two new wearables as part of the Gear line. The Gear Fit 2 is a successor to the model released in 2014, while the Gear IconX is Samsung’s first truly wireless earbuds. At launch, both products are only compatible with Android and not iOS.
wearables Stories May 24, 2016
Pebble has just unveiled its latest smartwatches, and has done so in the most Pebble-like way possible, by launching a new Kickstarter project. The smartwatch maker has returned to the platform it used so successfully with the original Pebble, and the following iterations, with a true second generation Pebble and a second generation Pebble Time along with an all-new 3G wearable called the Pebble Core.
wearables Stories March 17, 2016
IDC: Apple Watch to hold smartwatch lead through 2019 as Android Wear closes gap
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…
wearables Stories February 1, 2016
Broncos player Emmanuel Sanders says he’s wearing the new Google Glass (Update)
Update: Turns out this isn’t Glass, but rather smart glasses made by a company called Pivothead.
At an NFL event marking the start of the Super Bowl festivities week, Denver Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders was seen wearing a rather interesting wearable that may possibly be the next version of Google Glass.
wearables Stories January 5, 2016
In an effort to get customers entirely absorbed into their ecoystem in one fell swoop, HTC and Under Armor have today announced HealthBox. Although it may sound like the brand-name for some kind of nutritious lunch, it is in fact a system which ties together a smart scale, fitness band and heart-rate monitor with a smartphone app…
MediaTek announces new processor designed specifically for smartwatches
Taiwanese processor manufacturer, MediaTek has announced that it will soon begin producing a brand new compact processor built specifically for smartwatches. The company claims that it’s the first system-in-package chip to offer GPS, dual-mode Bluetooth LE and a MIPI-supported high resolution display all in one unit.
Although exact power and specifications aren’t mentioned, MediaTek claims that its chip is 41 percent smaller than solution from its competitors and can also enable much longer battery life. The press release states that devices with the MediaTek MT2523 chip can last more than a week on a single charge. If true, this could be a game-changer. Manufacturers will be able to make smaller, slimmer watches that last more than just the standard two days on a full charge.
“The MT2523, with its combination low power and rich features, marks a significant step forward for the smart watch and wristband industries, said JC Hsu, MediaTek’s corporate vice president and general manager of IoT business unit. “Power combined with efficiency has always been the hallmark of MediaTek technology solutions and we are leading the charge in bringing this know-how to IoT products.”
MediaTek’s MT2523 product family is based around a highly integrated system in package (SiP) that contains a micro controller unit (MCU), dual-mode Bluetooth, GPS and a power management unit (PMU). The MCU enables wearable devices with lower power consumption and smaller form factors than Android Wear. The display component supports MIPI-DSI and serial interfaces, resulting in a high-resolution mobile screen. It includes 2D capabilities of true color, per pixel alpha channel and anti-aliasing fonts, plus 1-bit index color to save memory and computing power.MT2523’s low power comes from its ARM® Cortex®-M4 processor, which combines high-efficiency signal processing functionality with low power, low cost and ease-of-use benefits.
The new SiP will be available to manufacturers at some point during the first half of this year.
wearables Stories December 29, 2015
Samsung’s new ‘Bio-Processor’ is an all-in-one chip for health wearables
Samsung makes a lot of technology on the consumer side, but it also has a semiconductor division that makes chips comparable to Qualcomm. Their new Bio-Processor is meant for health wearables and can compute numerous health data and “bio-signals” without the need for any other chips.
wearables Stories December 10, 2015
Pebble bringing new timeline to old watches this month, Android beta test open now
When Pebble announced its new Pebble Time watches and (later on) the Pebble Time Round, it also released a brand new operating system for its popular wearable. This new Timeline was a drastic departure from its original user interface. Sadly, it was a UI only available to those with the new Time models, although the company did promise that the new OS would make its way to older devices too.
wearables Stories December 1, 2015
Android Wear smartwatches may not be as much of a “hot gift” this year as the Apple Watch is, but if you have friends without an iPhone, going with an Android-based smartwatch is pretty much your only option if you want to gift them a wearable. There are a lot of options to pick from across many different price points, but we’re here to help you pick out the perfect combo of fashion and tech for your loved one… expand full story
wearables Stories November 25, 2015
Deal: Samsung’s Android Wear-powered Gear Live is now just $79
When Android Wear was initially unveiled as a smartwatch platform, only a couple of manufacturers were ready with hardware right at the outset. LG had the plastic square G Watch, and Samsung had the Android-based version of its pre-existing Galaxy Gear. Of those two, the Gear Live was certainly the more appealing.
As new companies jump onboard and new watches are released, that usually means tasty discounts for the old gadgets. In this case, it’s a very healthy discount. Samsung’s Gear Live is available now from a trusted seller on eBay for just $79.
If you’re an Android user who isn’t certain on the benefits of having a wearable connected device (or a smartwatch), snagging an older generation for little outlay is a fairly safe way of testing the water. Sure, you won’t get the sharpest screen, the fastest processor or the classiest design, but you will get a very basic taster for what Android Wear is like to use every day. It’ll certainly save you from spending $250 or more on something like the Moto 360, Huawei Watch or recently released Fossil Q Founder.
It might even make a decent stocking-stuffer to go alongside some of our other favorite ideas for holiday gifts. Of course, be sure to keep an eye out on 9to5Toys’ Black Friday Deals page for up to date news on all the best deals over the next week.
wearables Stories November 23, 2015
Get up to $100 off Huawei Watch in company’s Black Friday promotion
Update: The discounted prices are also now available at Amazon.
Black Friday is just a few days away, and tech companies are now tripping over each other to make sure they get products in to people’s hands when the made shopping rush begins later this week. Several retailers have kicked off their Black Friday deals early, including the likes of Amazon.
Now, Huawei has revealed its planned discounts for Black Friday, and it looks pretty good if you’re in the market for an Android Wear watch or an affordable smartphone. Here are the products discounted, and their prices:
The deals go live on Black Friday, November 27th and are only live for 24 hours at GetHuawei.com, Huawei’s official US online store. You should also keep an eye on Huawei’s products on Amazon, as we’re expecting prices to drop there too.
To stay on top of all things Black Friday, be sure to bookmark the 9to5Toys Black Friday page which will be updated constantly to include all the best and latest discounts anywhere online.
wearables Stories November 10, 2015
A new smartwatch prototype experiment from Disney Research and Carnegie Mellon might just be the smartwatch use case we’ve all been waiting for.
The technology, called EM-Sense, which is currently being shown off running on a Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch, uses electromagnetic (EM) noise from electrical and electromechanical objects to determine what you’re touching. This gives your theoretical future smartwatch a glimpse into what you’re doing and allows the device to be context aware beyond just your email inbox, your calendar, and your geographical location. It’s also maybe a little creepy. expand full story
wearables Stories November 9, 2015
After months of teasing us, TAG Heuer — in partnership with Intel — finally announced its Android Wear powered smartwatch in New York. It marks the first time any luxury watch maker has officially unveiled an Android Wear watch, and comes with TAG Heuer’s world-renowned build quality. Despite being a smartwatch, TAG also wanted to make sure the device was a great watch and so ensured that it displayed time very accurately. It claims the watch is accurate to 1/100th of a second. expand full story
wearables Stories November 6, 2015
Google has updated its Play Services to allow developers to make use of some very useful new enhancements to the overall experience of using Android. Google Play Services 8.3 includes updates to the way users sign in to apps, as well as new functionality for app invites, wearable data layer APIs and improvements to location services…
wearables Stories November 3, 2015
Nexus 6P buyers get $50 discount on Huawei Watch
Huawei has taken a leaf from Apple’s book with its latest promotion, offering discount on its wearable product when customers order a smartphone. Buyers who order the Nexus 6P direct from Huawei can get $50 off the Huawei Watch when they buy both devices at the same time. That means you’ll be able to get one of this year’s best Android Wear smartwatches for as little as $299.
This deal, of course, is more than likely being launched to counter Apple’s very similar promotion in which customers purchasing an iPhone and an Apple Watch at the same time receive $50 discount in select stores. Overall though, there’s still a huge price difference between buying the new Nexus and buying the new iPhone. Nexus 6P models start at $499, where the iPhone 6s begins at $649. Huawei Watch begins at the same price as the Apple Watch Sport, and is $200+ cheaper than the stainless Apple Watch models.
If you want to take advantage of the deal, head on over to GetHuawei.com and add the Nexus 6P and Huawei Watch to your basket. The $50 discount will be applied automatically. All in, the cheapest combination will set you back about $800, that’s only $50 more than the price of the cheapest 16GB iPhone 6s Plus on its own. That’s really not bad when you’re getting two of the best Android/Android Wear products available right now.
wearables Stories October 26, 2015
Google may have made leaps and bounds already in the development of future automotive technology with its autonomous vehicle program, but that’s not all it’s working on. A patent recently published by the USPTO reveals a concept for an in-car tool which uses your wearable device’s movements to work out if you’re the driver or passenger…
wearables Stories October 14, 2015
AT&T is announcing a new network-level advancement called NumberSync capable of sharing one phone number with all connected devices. With NumberSync, AT&T customers will soon be able to use what’s called mobile twinning to share a single phone number with multiple SIM cards in smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, and other connected devices. The goal is to let you send and receive phone calls or messages from all your connected devices without relying on a specific app or operating system feature. expand full story
wearables Stories October 5, 2015
ASUS ZenWatch 2 now available from Google Store
Asus’ ZenWatch 2 is easily one of this year’s best value Android Wear smartwatches. With prices starting at just $149, it’s about half the price of the other Android wearables launched in 2015. Now, it’s available to order from the Google Store.
As is customary these days with new smartwatches, there are two sizes of ZenWatch 2. The 45mm and 49mm versions sport slightly different specs, with the smaller model featuring a 280 x 280 resolution screen, 300mAh battery and support for standard 18mm watch bands. The larger watch supports 22mm bands, has a 400mAh battery and a 320 x 320 display. Both have 4GB storage, 512MB RAM and the same Qualcomm processor, IP67 water resistance, Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g.
If you order the 49mm model from Google, the predicted shipment timeframe is 1-2 business days, while the 45mm model just says ‘coming soon’. If you want to save a little cash, NewEgg is offering pre-orders for the ZenWatch 2 for $129 and $149 for the rubber and leather-strapped models respectively.
If the ZenWatch 2 isn’t your style at all, and you’re on a tight budget, there are a bunch of last year’s Android Wear watches available at similar prices.
wearables Stories September 30, 2015
Samsung has announced that its latest smartwatch, the Tizen-based Gear S2, will go on sale at a number of retail locations from this Friday, October 2nd. The regular S2 and the S2 Classic will cost $299 and $349 respectively and will be available from Samsung direct, Amazon, Best Buy and Macy’s. What’s more, customers will be able to get their hands on the devices exclusively at Best Buy and Macy’s Herald Square on October 2, and 50 Macy’s store’s across the States from October 16.
We’ve been waiting with anticipation to hear when Tag Heuer would officially reveal its first foray in to the world of smartwatches. In an interview with CNBC the company’s CEO, Jean-Claude Biver announced that the Android Wear-based digital Carrera will be unveiled on November 9 at the LVMH building in New York. The luxury wearable will cost $1,800, a price which Biver claims is no longer a concern after watching Apple Watch’s successful launch…
wearables Stories September 28, 2015
Fossil Q Android Wear smartwatch teased, will be available this holiday season
Fossil, one of the world’s best-known fashion brands has teased an upcoming set of wearables which should be available by the time this year’s holiday shopping season swings by. Fossil Q is a range of connected devices made up of three separate products. There will be a connected bracelet (think Jawbone UP), a connected non-display watch (think Withings Activité) and a connected display watch (traditional touchscreen smartwatch). The latter of these three is the one we’re really interested in here, since it will run Android Wear when it hits the market later this year.
wearables Stories September 17, 2015
Samsung’s recently announced Gear S2 has stirred a lot of attention for itself over the past few weeks. The sleek, round design, attractive user interface, rotating bezel and non-discriminatory Android support all sets it up nicely to be one of this year’s most desired wearables. Samsung is yet to announce when the device will hit retail stores in the States, but if a leaked internal training video is anything to go by, it looks as though the company is prepping for an October 2 release…
wearables Stories September 15, 2015
9to5Toys Lunch Break: LG G3 (unlocked) $250, UP3 by Jawbone activity tracker $120, more
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wearables Stories September 14, 2015
9to5Toys Lunch Break: Samsung Galaxy S6 $430, Fitbit Charge activity tracker $100, more
Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
wearables Stories September 4, 2015
Runtastic, the maker of popular fitness apps that was acquired by Adidas earlier this year, is today announcing the launch of its latest companion hardware with the new Runtastic Moment fitness tracking smart watch. expand full story
wearables Stories September 2, 2015
After months of speculation and leaks, Motorola has officially launched the second generation Moto 360. Its first generation was easily the best-looking and most fashion-forward Android Wear smartwatch of its time, and this year’s models could easily reclaim that crown (if it ever lost it). For the first time, there’s also going to be a more fitness oriented Moto 360 Sport. expand full story
ASUS ZenWatch 2 to cost around $170, available from October
ASUS gave us an early sneak peak at its next generation ZenWatch a couple of months back, and today at IFA in Berlin, the company officially announced pricing and availability details. ASUS has stated that the ZenWatch 2 will be available in two sizes from October, with pricing in Europe starting at roughly €149 (approx $170) for the large 49mm model while the smaller, 42mm model will seemingly cost more at €169 (around $190). Screen sizes are 1.6-inches and 1.45-inches respectively and they’ll be available to buy from October.
Although different in size, both 49mm and 43mm watches will feature the same resolution 320×320 AMOLED display with a pixel density of 277ppi. What’s more, they both ship with Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi support, a Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB RAM and 4GB storage. It also ships with a redesigned magnetic charger in the packaging and could last up to two days on a single charge.
You get a choice of three metallic colors: rose gold, gunmetal gray or silver, and the cases are compatible with standard watch straps, meaning you’ll be able to attach standard 22mm watch straps to the large and 18mm watch straps to the small model. We don’t know US-specific pricing yet, but will update once it’s available to buy in the States.
wearables Stories August 19, 2015
Latest Samsung Gear S2 teaser shows rotating bezel (Video)
Right near the end of its recent Unpacked announcement, Samsung gave us a very brief glimpse at its upcoming wearable. The Gear S2 will be unveiled fully at IFA, Berlin in a few weeks’ time. And now Samsung has published a new teaser video to its YouTube channel.
wearables Stories August 13, 2015
Samsung teases round Gear S2 smartwatch, unveiling on September 3rd at IFA
With Samsung deciding to host its own event to launch the Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge+ today, we assumed the company was ditching IFA altogether. Turns out that’s not the case. Right at the end of today’s presentation, the Korean tech giant teased its next smartwatch, the Gear S2. It will be unveiled in Berlin on September 3rd.
wearables Stories June 2, 2015
We first told you about the Blocks modular smartwatch earlier this year when we reported that the company had been in talks with Google about a potential partnership with the Ara team for cross-platofrm modules. A few months have passed since Blocks demoed their prototype at CES in January, and today they’re out to show the world the latest developments — and in just a few months, it looks like they’ve come a long way… expand full story
wearables Stories May 13, 2015
Google cares about your health and wants to help you stay in shape, which is why the company today released a set of updates and new features for the Google Fit platform across Android smartphones and Wear watches that make it easier to track your daily progress and fitness goals…
wearables Stories May 6, 2015
Google this morning officially shared the schedule for Google I/O 2015, and as you would expect, the schedule offers a handful of hints as to what we can expect to see at the event. We already told you about a few of the things Google has up its sleeve for this year’s I/O, but now we’re going to breakdown 10 things at which today’s schedule release has hinted…
wearables Stories March 19, 2015
Software engineering firm ELEKS has today revealed a new app that will allow Android Wear users to control their Tesla car straight from their wrist. The app, the idea for which was spawned after they released an app for the Apple Watch, allows users to easily see the charge status of their car. This is such an important feature, ELEKS claims, that the developers made the Android Wear watch face for the app a charging screen.
wearables Stories February 12, 2015
Google patents the craziest wearable yet: keeps you clear of friends if you smell …
Android Wear may not have been the success Google had hoped, and Google Glass may be “paused,” but it seems the company has another idea for a wearable up its sleeve–literally. If you’ve hit the gym hard and not had time for a shower, or are just sweating from rushing around the city, Google has a plan to ensure you don’t bump into any of your friends or colleagues while you’re a smelly, sweaty mess.
The NY Daily News reports that the company has been granted a patent for a portable fan attached to your body which detects exertion and sprays a fragrance to reduce body odor. Just in case that doesn’t do the trick, it connects to social networks to find out where your friends and contacts are, and provides a route to your destination that ensures you don’t run into any of them along the way.
A device is provided which includes an activity sensor, a communication portion, and a route suggesting portion. The activity sensor can detect physical activity of a user of a device. The communication portion may provide access one or more social networks via a communication network, in which the device may communicate with a social network of contacts. The route suggesting portion may provide an alternate route to travel such that the predicted odor may not offend others that are socially connected to the user and that travel the same routes as the user.
Google CFO Patrick Pichette recently talked of the need to make tough decisions to cancel projects; we suspect this one may not be too tough a call …
wearables Stories February 11, 2015
Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5s more reliable than current wearable fitness devices at measuring activity, finds study
If you were thinking about buying a fitness band, a university study suggests you probably shouldn’t bother: it found that the Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5s measure activity more reliably than most current fitness bands.
The study by the University of Pennsylvania (via EurekAlert!) tested the ability of the phones to measure steps on a treadmill and compared the results to six dedicated fitness bands. The two smartphones had a margin of error of 12.9%, while the error rates of the fitness bands ranged up to 22.7%.
The study tested the Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5s against the Nike Fuelband, Jawbone UP24, Digi-Walker SW-200, Fitbit Flex, Fitbit One and Fitbit Zip. Only the FitBit One and Zip performed significantly better than the two smartphones.
wearables Stories January 7, 2015
BlackBerry says Android Wear support for BBM coming in early 2015
BlackBerry, today at CES 2015, has announced that its BBM service is coming to Android Wear in early 2015. BlackBerry hopes that its Android Wear client will bring nearly the full capabilities of the messaging service to smartwatches. With BBM, users will be able to receive push notifications for new messages, read full messages, respond to messages with Google Now, and accept BBM invites.
wearables Stories December 30, 2014
Google Glass may seem to be essentially on the brink of death, but Google focusing on Android Wear for the time being doesn’t necessarily mean that the Mountain View company is done pursuing the area of smart glasses. In fact, Google’s Eric Schmidt recently said that it plans to bring Glass—described as if it’s going to see some kind of 2.0 rebirth—to the consumer market “soon,” but only “when it works.”
Google Glass has most definitely had a hard time capturing the imagination of the public (and the government), been met with countless criticisms thanks to its privacy implications, and generally created an image around itself that has made the device in its current form rather socially unacceptable to wear. But all this aside, Google X “moonshot” head Astro Teller says that it’s only a matter of time before glasses are the portal to our digital world.
wearables Stories December 8, 2014
Google Glass may seem to be fading into obscurity, but—especially with recent rumors that it may soon be getting a reboot—I don’t think we should discredit the platform and assume it has been a failed experiment just yet. In fact, Google seems to be focusing on the workplace use cases of the device, as do many of its developers, and today we’ve learned that the people behind one of the most popular pieces of Glassware—LynxFit—are joining one of the “Glass at Work” certified partners: APX Labs.
wearables Stories November 4, 2014
Stroke experts from Memorial Hermann in Houston are using Google Glass at sites of emergencies to test if the wearable can be used to help save time, money and lives. Dr. James Grotta, director of Stroke Research at Memorial Hermann’s Texas Medical Center hospital started using Glass to share critical medical information with the hospital’s staff while responding to 911 calls related to potential stroke victims.
wearables Stories October 20, 2014
FKA twigs’ #throwglass short film is Google Glass done weird (video)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99YyWeqHaBo]
London-based singer FKA (“formerly known as”) twigs is moonlighting as a Google Glass explorer and today the songstress released a new short film aptly named #ThroughGlass. At just over two minutes long, the video has an abstract feel with the artist vogueing and hitting several dance moves while cycling through the high-tech eyewear’s UI.
wearables Stories October 7, 2014
HTC is hosting a media event tomorrow in New York and while we’re pretty sure it’s related to cameras, we’re now positive that it won’t have anything to do with the company’s rumored smartwatch. The outfit has decided to put its wearable plans on ice and target a launch for next year instead of rushing an unprepared device to market.
wearables Stories October 2, 2014
After a proper pilot program, Dubai police detectives will soon receive Google Glass as standard issued gear. The idea is to pair Mountain View’s wearable computer with facial recognition software developed by the wealthy Arab emirate’s law enforcement to help cops spot bad guys when out in the field. In addition to equipping its gumshoes with high-tech eyewear, Dubai traffic officers will use Glass to track vehicles involved in moving violations.
