Tag: wearable

Five Things We Learned About Apple Watch Via A Leaked App

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: 9to5Mac

An iPhone companion app for the yet-to-be-launched Apple Watch purportedly offers more clues as to how Apple’s first wearable will work, including some novel new functions. Highlights includes:

  1. Mobile Payment: As previewed, Apple Watch will support Apple Pay. You will need to set up a 4-digit passcode (like on iPhone) for the Watch in order to use it.
  2. Haptic Navigation: Users will be able to enable or disable Taptic Engine’s tapping of the user’s wrist for turn-by-turn directions.
  3. Notification: A subtle red dot will appear atop the Apple Watch’s clock face whenever a new notification is received on linked iPhone.
  4. Messaging: Without a keyboard, the Watch will allow users to respond to messages via voice, with either transcribed dictation or actual audio messages.
  5. Storage: The About Screen within the watch companion app confirms that the Watch itself will have usable storage space, presumably for music and photos.

All these new details fall pretty much in line with what we learned from the WatchKit back in November. Apple Watch is reportedly set for a March release this year, and we will continue to keep an eye on its development.

Update 2015/01/22:  Apple targets Watch battery life of 2.5 hours heavy use and 3.5 hours standard use; pure standby battery life likely to be 2-3 days; CPU said to be A5-caliber

CES 2015: LG Debuts Functional Open webOS-based Smartwatch

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: The Verge

LG has unveiled a sleekly designed, fully functional smartwatch, powered by the open source webOS. It features a smooth and innovative circular interface that is unlike anything you have seen on smartwatches before. Plus, it also comes with integration with Audi’s new connected cars. Sources report that LG plans to launch this unique smartwatch by early 2016.

CES 2015: Shazam To Conquer Physical World With Wearable Integration

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: The Next Web

Shazam, the go-to app for identifying unknown tunes, is looking beyond music. At CES 2015, the company is showcasing its ambitious plan to connect the app to the physical retail experience with some more visual Shazam features.

They are also looking to optimize the Shazam app for the wearable market. Rather than having users pull their phones out and stick it to the nearest speakers, they are aiming to let users to simply use voice command on wearables for Shazam.

Tech And Fashion Need To Work Together

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: TorrentFreak

Pirated luxury watch faces for smartwatches are now on the watch list of luxury watchmakers, as several high-end brands, including Omega, Tissot, and Certina, have teamed up in an effort to take the unauthorized designs off from the Internet.

While revealing issues in digital design copyrights, this development also signals a missed opportunity for luxury brands to actively work with tech companies that are developing smartwatches. This piracy proves that there’s a demand for luxury brand association in the growing wearable market. And as we spotted in a recent trend report, it’d be a good thing for the fashion and tech industry to work together.

Samsung Launches New Wearable, 360-Degree VR Camera, And More

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: CNET

After announcing their own beacon platform earlier this week, Samsung continued to launch shiny new products at its second annual developer conference this Wednesday. From digital health to smart home, and from virtual reality to wearables, every area that Samsung has been dabbling in resulted in a new development:

  • Simband: First introduced in May, the updated tracker is loaded with numerous sensors that gather users’ biometric data, including blood flow, EKG levels and skin temperature, which will all be stored on SAMI, the company’s newly-introduced open and cloud-based database.
  • Project Beyond: This 3D-capturing 360-degree camera is designed to capture videos and stream them on the Gear VR. The company is also setting a Gear VR “Innovator Edition” for an early December launch.
  • SmartThings: Every new connected Samsung device will now be incorporated into the company’s smart home platform, which is now opening up to developers with a beta SDK. In addition, Samsung introduced software development kits for various sectors, including the Samsung Digital Health SDK, a Gear S SDK, and an S Pen SDK.

It’s clear that Samsung is doing all it can to support and motivate developers to build up an ecosystem that is rich and diverse so as to compete with Apple, but only time will tell if all these efforts pay off.

 

 

TechWreck: What To Do With All That Wearable-Generated Data

Posted on by Richard Yao

As The Verge writer David Pierce pointed out in his Microsoft Band review, the newly launched fitness tracker—like dozens of other wearables currently available—generates a boatload of biometric data, providing users with a heightened sense of the quantified self. But beyond that, it doesn’t do really much, leaving users bewildered and lacking insights they can act on. In his own words:

That’s the thing about all fitness trackers: even the most powerful ones are only measuring internal data, data about me. …  If the Band knows my heart rate and my sleep stage, why can’t it wake me up at the perfect moment in my sleep cycle?

Indeed, “what am I supposed to do with all that data” has become a question frequently asked by the early adopters of wearable tech. Wearable makers need to go beyond basic functions such as tracking, syncing and data-gathering. Only by fully exploring the actionable insights the data can provide, or by building a rich narrative for the users to engage with, will wearables find a mass audience.

Header image taken from the linked review on The Verge

Quantified Self Movement Continues As Microsoft Unveils Fitness Band

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: The Verge

Microsoft has just become the latest major tech giant to enter the E-Health and fitness market, unveiling new platform called Microsoft Health as well as a fitness wearable dubbed Microsoft Band. As with Apple and Google, Microsoft’s health and fitness device will be closely tied to its OS — in this case, Windows OS with Cortana integration. But with apps available for all major mobile platforms, it appears Microsoft is serious about building a fitness device that works with almost every device out there, which would certainly help with the general adoption rate.