iPhone 6 Was Launched 3 Years Too Late, Apple Watch is Not Exciting, Says Steve Wozniak

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said in an interview with CNN that Apple launched the iPhone 6 three years too late and that he is not excited about the upcoming Apple Watch.

“Apple could have had a much bigger share of the smartphone market if it had a larger-screen iPhone for the past three years,” Wozniak said.

He looks back and thinks Apple could have been in a stronger position especially when it comes to competing with Samsung which has twice the market share, 24% vs 12% for Apple.

Wozniak isn’t too excited about the Apple Watch. He said he has bought a number of smartwatches but quickly ditched them. He called the Apple Watch a luxury fitness band but he was still going to give it a try when it comes out. He does however think it will sell well.

Source: CNN

Sony SmartEyeglass Available March 2015

Google glass will get a competitor in the coming years with Sony looking to make the SmartEyeglass devices available to developers by March 2015.

The Sony device can be paired with any Android device and turns into a second screen. The glasses come with a 3 MP camera, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

 

Apparently Sony has been working on the SmartEyeglass for 10 years now. Will it be able to compete with Google glass?

 

Motorola Moto 360 Revealed – Price, Availability, Comparison with Samsung, LG and Asus

The Moto 360 has been the most anticipated smartwatch since it was first shown at the Google I/O conference back in June. While the smartwatches launched by Samsung and LG were available immediately, Motorola would not confirm the availability it launched a few teaser demo videos in the weeks following the event instead.

Other than the fact that it would obviously run on Android Wear, not many specifications were published either until the product appeared on the website of Best Buy in mid August. That revealed two things: Motorola was going with a Texas Instruments processor rather than Qualcomm and the price would be $249.

That has now been confirmed as the Moto 360 has been officially revealed. The much talked about classic round display is 1.5″ with a resolution of 320 x 290 which is below most competitors.

It comes with 4 GB of storage and 512 MB RAM and is IP 67 certified. IP67 certified devices are dust and water resistant, they can be completely immersed under water for 30 minutes. If you want to read more about IP certifications, you can do that here. The only smartwatch which is not IP 67 but IP 55 certified is the Asus ZenWatch.

The Moto 360 is going to be available at the beginning of October. Check out the video from Motorola and a detailed specification comparison with LG, Samsung and Asus below.

 

	Motorola Moto 360	Asus ZenWatch	LG G Watch R	LG G Watch	Samsung Gear S	Samsung Gear Live
Design	Round	Square	Round	Square	Square	Square
OS	Android Wear	Android Wear	Android Wear	Android Wear	Tizen	Android Wear
Display	1,5″	1,6″	1.3″	1.65″	2″	1.63″
	320 x 290 AMOLED	320 x 320 AMOLED	320 X 320	280 x 280	360 × 480, Super AMOLED	320 x 320, Super AMOLED
Processor	Texas Instruments OMAP 3	1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400	1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400	1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400	1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400	1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400
Storage	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB
RAM	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB
Protection	IP67	IP55	IP67	IP67	IP67	IP67
Battery	320 mAh	369 mAh	410 mAh	400 mAh	300 mAh	300 mAh
Size	46 x 46 x 11mm	39.8 × 50.6 × 7.9 mm	NA	37.9 × 46.5 × 9.95 mm	39.8 × 58.3 × 12.5 mm	37.9 × 56.4 × 8.9 mm

 

Intel and Opening Ceremony Release Smart Snakeskin Bracelet

Intel and fashion house Opening Ceremony have partnered up and designed a smart bracelet which they hope women will actually want to wear.

MICA (“My Intelligent Communication Accessory”) is going to be available at Barney’s later this year but the companies have not released pricing yet.

The bracelet features a 1.6″ curved touchscreen sapphire display and has built in 3G.

Two versions will be available, black and white snakeskin. One features pearls and lapis from China, the other tiger’s eye from South Africa and obsidian from Russia.

“We wanted something that felt luxurious and modern that could fit into the lives of many different women,” Opening Ceremony co-founder Humberto Leon told USA TODAY. On Sunday, the Intel bracelets will be worn by models as part of Opening Ceremony’s New York Fashion Week show

 

Samsung announces new smartwatch Gear S – Curved AMOLED, Tizen OS and 3G

Samsung Electronics has announced the smartwatch Gear S which has a curved 2″ AMOLED display and rather than running on Android, it operates on Tizen.

The Samsung Gear S also offers 3G which is a great feature as you can stay connected to your smartphone even when you are out of Bluetooth range.

We like the curved design, next to the Moto 360 and LG G watch R this is amongst the best looking smartwatches we have seen so far.

Here are some images:

 

 

LG and Samsung comparison

	Samsung Gear S	Samsung Gear Live	LG G Watch R	LG G Watch
Design	Square	Square	Round	Square
OS	Tizen	Android Wear	Android Wear	Android Wear
Display	2″	1.63″	1.3″	1.65″
	360 × 480, Super AMOLED	320 x 320, Super AMOLED	320 X 320	280 x 280
Processor	1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400	1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400	1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400	1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400
Storage	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB
RAM	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB
Battery	300 mAh	300 mAh	410 mAh	400 mAh
Size	39.8 × 58.3 × 12.5 mm	37.9 × 56.4 × 8.9 mm	NA	37.9 × 46.5 × 9.95 mm

The smartwatch market continues to gain momentum. Apple is expected to release the iWatch on September 9^th and Asus is rumored to release the most affordable smartwatch on September 3^rd, priced at $99 – $149.

According to IDC, the wearables market is growing quickly and set to triple this year to 19 million units, by 2018 it will reach 111.9 million units. But if we believe Morgan Stanley analysts, Apple alone can sell 60 million units of the iWatch in the first year alone. Apple has created entire new market segments in the past and propelled existing product groups to new heights through innovation. Can they pull it off again or is it a more even playing field with the likes of LG, Samsung and Motorola already putting huge focus and resources on smartwatches.

 

Asus Smartwatch to be released September 3rd – Cheapest Smartwatch yet?

Asus posted an invitation on Twitter with the following quote: “Time has been transformed, and we have changed.”

Back in June we reported on the fact that Asus was planning to enter the smartwatch market. The price war is in the space is about to begin as Asus is said to launch their device at between $99 and $149.

According to IDC, the wearables market is growing quickly, set to triple this year to 19 million units and by 2018 it will reach 111.9 million units. To get a piece of the pie manufacturers are going to go up against each other when it comes to price amongst other things.

Nothing has been leaked in regards to the design from Asus yet. When it comes to that, everyone is still drooling over the Moto 360 which is set to be officially released on September 4th.

 

Moto 360 listed at Best Buy – $249, WLAN and Texas-Instruments Processor

The launch of the Moto 360 smartwatch is expected to take place on September 4th.

Best Buy has however already listed the product. The price tag is $249 and from the product page we can also see a number of other things that had not yet been confirmed.

Unlike the Samsung Gear Live and LG G Watch which are both running on Android as well, the Moto 360 comes with WLAN.

The processor is said to come from Texas-Instruments, previously it was assumed it would feature the Qualcomn Snapdragon 400.

September 4th can’t come quick enough so we get confirmation of all specs and most importantly, availability.

Smart headphones that measure your heart rate from SMS Audio and Intel

SMS Audio which owned by rapper 50 Cent has partnered up with Intel and launched the SMS Audio BioSport In-Ear Headphones.

The smart headphones which are going to be able later this year will be able to measure your heart rate and connects to an app which will be able to track your exercise patterns and based on that give you recommendations in which areas you might be able to improve.

The headphones are also going to be sweat and water resistant, obviously an important feature when working out.

With the engineering power of Intel though we would have expected a bit more innovation and more features though. In March this year, The Dash raised almost $3.4 million on Kickstarter. The wireless smart headphones that include a 4GB music player, monitor your heart rate and acts as a Bluetooth headset at the same time.

Here is what the companies had to say:

“Intel is focused on driving innovation in the wearable technology segment by partnering with lifestyle brands like SMS Audio that complement our technology and design expertise. With SMS Audio, we will bring smart headphones to market that eliminate the inconvenience of add-on devices with an integrated, one-device fitness accessory offering high-end style and premier sound quality for an exceptional fitness experience. This is a prime example of Intel driving innovation in wearable devices while being a forerunner in merging lifestyle and technology,” said Michael Bell, corporate vice president and general manager of the New Devices Group at Intel.

“The wearable technology collaboration between SMS Audio and Intel elevates our capability to bring smart exercise to consumers. With the introduction of the SMS Audio BioSport In-Ear Headphones powered by Intel, we’re now the first to provide this level of integrated, seamless and helpful biometric information to inspire customers to advance their fitness experiences,” said Brian Nohe, president of SMS Audio

Motorola set to release Moto 360 on September 4th

Smartwatches have been amongst to most popular articles in recent month and the hit amongst them has definitely been the Moto 360. The classic design took people by storm and everyone was eagerly waiting for Motorola to confirm the official launch.

Now it seems the company has finally set the date for September 4th.

That means the beginning of September is going to be crazy in terms of new product launches. Samsung is holding an event on the 3rd where they will unveil the Galaxy Note 4, while Apple is rumored to release the iPhone 6 on September 9th.

Here is the invitation Motorola has sent to media partners:

 

Apple planning for iWatch launch with Tag Heuer Executive

We reported earlier how Apple is playing catch-up with the iWatch release in the fourth quarter this year. The wearable technology market is set to triple this year to 19 million units sold and research firm IDC forecasts 111.9 million units by 2018.

By the time Apple comes around we are already going to have a number of interesting devices on the market, already shipping now are Android based devices from both Samsung and LG and later this summer the Moto 360 is coming, that is the device which most people are waiting for as the classic design went down well with consumers. You can read more details about all the Android based smartwatches in our Google I/O report.

So Apple is late to the game but they intent to come in with a bang and as usual charge a premium for their product. According to CNBC, they have hired an executive from Tag Heuer and will approach the market with “Swiss made” which for traditional watches stands for quality and it is where most of the luxury watch makers are from.

According to 9to5Mac the executive CNBC was referring to is Patrick Pruniaux, Vice President of Sales and Retail.

Luxury goods analyst Mario Ortelli told CNBC:

“For sure they are trying to approach the Swiss manufacturers, but the Swiss have got no great interest in working with Apple – if you are a luxury producer and you cooperate with Apple, you have got a dilution.

They (Swiss watchmakers) do not want to create a device like the iPhone, the iPhone is designed in California and assembled in China – so they don’t want to dilute the value of the Swiss name,” he said.

Apple still is one of the strongest brands in the world and have a huge loyal customer base and a connected ecosystem with their other devices. So even if they will be late to the game the iWatch can still be a huge success.