android wear Archives - Argyll Free Press

New Smartwatch Released by Fossil

December 8, 2015 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

The new smartwatch released by Fossil comes in two versions: leather and stainless steel.

If you are wondering what new piece of Android Wear to get next, you should check out the new smartwatch released by Fossil. Named Fossil Q Founder, it already has two options that are available on the Google Play store.

While usually smartwatches come with a modern, high-tech look, the Fossil Q Founder actually looks so elegant you could wear it at a fancy dinner party. The watch was released on the market as the interest in Android Wear has recorded an important growth over the last year.

The intelligent watch comes in two versions. If you want to achieve a more elegant look, you can opt for the $275 watch with the classic leather strap. However, if you prefer stainless steel, you can choose the second option for $295. Both versions come with a smooth and round screen.

As for specifications, Fossil Q Founder has the Atom CPU from Intel, unlike other smartwatches which are powered by CPUs from Qualcomm. This makes it the latest technology for Android Wear up to this moment. It is expected to run quite smoothly, since it is equipped with 1GB RAM and 4GB of storage. Its screen has 1.5 inches and 240ppi, and its battery can last for 24 hours.

Furthermore, the smartwatch features a gyroscope, an accelerometer and ambient light. There is one downside to it though: the part of the screen resembling a flat tire. The problem is similar to the one the Moto 360 had, which was heavily criticised by users. However, it does not look as unpleasant on the Fossil Q Founder, and it shouldn’t stop you from choosing it. The model also lacks a heart-rate sensor which many sports fans find useful, but you can find the option on another smartwatch from Fossil, the Q Grant.

There is one other smartwatch powered by Intel. Produced by TAG Heuer, it comes at the painful price of $1,500. Overall, the Fossil Q Founder is best option on the market at the moment. The new smartwatch released by Fossil will surely be bought by many Android Wear enthusiasts, especially since the Christmas holidays are soon upon us and we will find ourselves in need of buying the perfect gift for our loved ones.

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Luxury Android Wear Smartwatches from Tag Heuer to Rival Apple

March 30, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Ranging from $200 to a maximum of $300, “Android Wear software” is available since almost a year ago, on a lot of different smart-watches. They are mostly built by traditional smartphone manufacturers like Sony, Motorola or LG Electronics. Yesterday, on the 19 of March, 2015, Google announced that they will collaborate with Tag Heuer in order to create the first Android Wear luxury smartwatch.

Tag Heuer in the Android Wear Industry

Tag Heuer is a renowned watchmaker from Switzerland very popular within the luxury watch business and also known for their association with different sports, but mainly with Formula 1. Their collection’s price ranges from a bit under $1000 to their crown jewel called “Tag Heuer Mikrogirder 10000 Watch”, that costs more than $100,000. They are not as renowned as Rolex, but nonetheless they are more than capable of producing amazing watches as well as different accessories.

This partnership also includes Intel. They are responsible for the technical part of the watch, providing the necessary hardware, then Google will come up with the software and last but not least, Tag Heuer will make the design. Previous Android Wear smartwatches came with a Texas Instruments or a Qualcomm processor, so this will be the very first smartwatch that utilizes an Intel chipset. This is not at all Intel’s first attempt to make wearable devices, being responsible for the “Mica bracelet”, released in 2014 with a price of $495, but it was marketed only to women.

So far there is no viable information about the release or cost of the device, but we can safely assume that it will be the most costly Android Wear watch ever made. In a recent interview, David Singleton, who is the chief of engineering at Google regarding Android Wear, said that their watches will mainly “focus on the quality and performance that are expected from Tag Heuer” . He went on to say that the price will be reflected by that.

We can only speculate regarding the design of the watch. Nothing is for certain and all of the companies involved are keeping everything a secret. Reuters released a report that stated that the watch could be nothing more than a digital replica of Tag Heuer’s “Carrera”, a device better known for its large, sporty design.

It is no coincidence that this announcement came just a few weeks after Apple released their luxury watch, but Singleton said that they have been working on this partnership way before the release of the “Apple Watch” in April, 2015. The Apple Watch has a golden version that costs $10,000 or more, so we can only imagine that Google’s version will not be at all cheap.

At this time there is a balance between iOS and Android users regarding smartphones, but there is a big difference on what kind of customers the companies attract. It is well known that iPhone users have more money and generally tend to spend much more on their devices than Android owners. Many may disagree with this assumption, but recent research data as well as both of the companies’ own figures will confirm it.

You can jump over to Mapbox.com and see for yourself that Android users are more common in low income areas while iOS users can be mostly found in richer zones. With this in mind, we can only ask ourselves who will be the targeted customers for Google’s luxury watch and if they will copy certain aspects from Apple’s playbook of business.

At the moment the biggest problem is that you cannot even start the watch without connecting it to an Android device, so it is more than likely that it will face a low popularity among the masses. I can see how Tag Heuer’s customers will definitely be interested for it expands the heritage of the brand by adding a hot new model, but the vast majority of high income iPhone users will probably just stick with Apple.

Some time ago Google partnered with LG and together they made an Android Wear smartwatch called “G Watch R”. It was a huge disappointment and LG had serious problems selling it even at the low price of $300. Now, in the UK if you buy an LG G Flex 2 with a Vodafone sim-card, you will receive the “G Watch R” for free.

They seem to go for a different approach by increasing the price as well as associating with a prestigious manufacturer, but as long as it is impaired by the need of a smartphone with Android OS, it will not work.

Combining iPhone with Android Wear is not unheard of. Android developer Mohammad Abu-Garbeyyeh, better know under the alias MohammadAG, released a short video on the 22 of February, 2015 showing his smartwatch, a Moto 360 taking a notification (for a text message) from his iPhone 6. All he did is use the ANCS (Apple Notification Center Service) to connect via Bluetooth to the device by installing a small application on his smartwatch. This being the case we can conclude that Google’s refusal to make the Android Wear application compatible with iOS has more to do with the company’s polices than technical limitations.

It is most likely that Tag Heuer will remain Google’s only luxury associate in their endeavor to break into high-end watches market, but anything can happen although they did not announce any other partnership so far. Luxury brands seem rather desperate for a younger clientele and in this endeavor they are inclined to partner up with software and hardware developers. Recently Gucci also announced their partnership with “will.i.am” in order to create a smart wristband capable of making phone calls.

As this particular market expands more and more, these types of collaborations are expected. Google’s decision to make their watch incompatible with the iPhone is regarded as a bad marketing move and analysts estimate that at some point they will rethink their position and remove this barrier. Some expect this to happen this summer during the “Google I/O” but there is no official statement as of yet.

15 Most Popular and Loved Watch Faces for Android Wear

December 18, 2014 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Smartwatches are the not that recent, yet they are still considered pretty new additions in the world of tehnology. Basically, what we’re referring to is a computerized wristwatch that does more than just tell time.

We’re talking about more than just calculations, translations and calendars; we’re talking mobile apps and tiny game platforms held by a strap on your wrist wherever you go. And yes, I guess it also tells time while you’re at it.

That’s where it all started. More recent models also run a mobile operating system and act very close to what you would expect from lower end smartphones – they are just as capable as becoming portable media players, whether we’re talking audio, video or radio, and can replace your music player of choice by connecting a pair of Bluetooth headphones to it.

Image Source: swide.com

And because that wasn’t enough, some companies have also incorporated a full featured mobile phone capability allowing you to make or receive calls straight through your smartwatch.

Of course, you cannot expect the same performance you would get in a 4GB of RAM, 2.8 GHz processor smartphone because in the end, the smartwatch isn’t here to replace your mobile phone, but it’s a very nifty, albeit situational device. A device that probably got its inspiration from the original fitness trackers (and maybe the iPod Shuffle had something to do with it as well) is now a powerful, upgraded version of it.

Main Features of Smartwatches

Also known as a sport watch, these smartwatches track your physical activity day by day using GPS and other sensors to record your training and exercise sessions. Other features that might be included in a performant smartwatch vary from cameras, SD cards, microphone, modem, all the sensors that you would ever wish for – accelerometer, thermometer, altimeter, barometer, GPS navigation, compass – all accompanied by a touch screen that helps you navigate and make use of the gadget.

A very fun feature of smartwatches is the capability of collecting information both from the outside world through sensors, but also be fed data from other devices such as mobile phones, computers or tablets. Through WiFi and synchronizing capabilities you can turn your smartwatch into a remote system to control other aspects of your tech-blessed life. All these really make it feel like the future is happening already.

Many mobile device manufacturers have already started building up reputation on this market, propelling the development of smartwatches forward at an impressive rate. Giants such as Apple, Samsung, LG and Sony are not skipping on the new trends and improving the hardware in the tiny contraptions day after day.

For example, the latest Samsung smartwatch production and part of the Android Wear line, Samsung Gear S – announced on August 28^th this year – is by all means a small mobile phone by itself, featuring a dual-core 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM and packing a nano-SIM in its core which, unsurprisingly, has 3G capabilities.

So now that we have a more ample overview of the milestones smartwatches have reached up until the end of 2014, let’s move on to a more select subject of attention.

Android Wear – Frighteningly Smart

If you decide to watch Google’s Android Wear promotional video you’ll be introduced to just how powerful the operating system Android Wear is offering you in less than 50 words. If schedules could talk and acted like a careful butler that is literally following you around all day to appeal to all your needs, even give out the occasional advice without you asking for it, his name would probably be Android Wear.

The software is amazingly intuitive and picks up on your surroundings perpetually, always ready to answer any question you would think of asking. The Android Wear will help you get a cab when you’re in a hurry, point you in the right direction or even tell you when you have to get off the bus when you’re heading somewhere.

You can make more of your life by always knowing how long travelling to your destinations will take, how much spare time you have left until that important meeting and even what chores or other scheduled activities you can fit in until then. Leaving your city has never been safer before, because the GPS-gifted smartwatch is now letting you know what to pack according to weather, special events or phenomena, giving you directions when you need them and packing your flight tickets and passes inside well-kept QR codes.

Image Source: bwbx.io

Keeping in touch with media, sending texts to your contacts, recognizing tunes in your vicinity and even remotely controlling connected devices are all possible through simple voice commands. Your smartwatch would wake up as soon as it heard the key phrase “Ok Google” and would swiftly respond to your queries.

Right now, the Android Wear is present on 6 models of smartwatches, including the G Watch, Gear Live, Moto 360, G Watch R, SmartWatch 3 and the ASUS ZenWatch. Thankfully, the Android software that make these devices so incredibly useful is not restricted to a single type of screen, and can work just as well on both round or rectangular ones. But let’s not get to the point where we forget the original idea that gave birth to these wonderful contraptions.

They are still watches; and just like any other watch, over the years it has lost some of its utility, becoming more of a fashion statement rather than a useful tool for the simple telling of time. Smartwatches aren’t backing off in that respect the slightest, proving that they can also look beautiful, elegant and fashionable while still being one of the smallest and useful gadgets you can pack into your daily routine.

Android Lollipop 5.0 is Rolling Out for Android Wear

The Android 5.0 Lollipop for the Android Wear platform has started rolling out and be made available on all compatible smartwatches on December 10^th and will be free to download and apply to your device, regardless of model, by the end of this week. This particular update is bringing us a big number of Android Wear Watch Faces, besides the additions in terms of user experience and the watch’s utility – if what we just described didn’t feel like it was enough.

Google has made these Watch Faces available in the Google Play Store so anyone with the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop update on their smartwatch can grab them and enjoy the new faces of technology, easily changeable when you feel the need for a fresh look.

We have compiled a list of 15 of the most popular and loved Watch Faces so far, so let’s see where this takes us.

#1 Watch Face – Minimal & Elegant

This particular watch face works on both round and square displays and gives off a very stylish way of displaying the time and date as you take a glance at your wrist. It was developed by Studio eXtreme and is highly configurable in terms of color patterns and custom text, also including a feature that allows you to schedule dynamic color changes, making it a very stylish and clean design for your smartwatch.

#2 Pujie Black

Designed by Pujie, features a customizable animated black watch face with battery, date and weather indicators. Also customizable, including several settings and color, the watch face contains an optional digital clock – both 24h and 12h formats, optional analog clock hands, weather indicator, optional circular indications of the time of day, battery indicator, dimmed state and animations from dimmed state to visible state. It has over 5,000 downloads up to date and recently just received its Android 5.0 Lollipop update.

#3 Aviator Watch Face

Developed by German company Zuhanden and designed by Florian Cordier, the Aviator Watch face turns your Android Wear device into an advanced pilot watch. Basing its concept of watches used in the pioneering days of aviation, this watch face prides itself with legibility, accuracy and reliability, while also giving off a spectacular look. The features of the Aviator Watch Face include pilot watch face with superb readability, a battery indicator, date and day of the week, weather conditions, all combined in an advanced and luxurious design.

#4 Weather Wear Watch Face

This one definitely places a focus on your local weather; besides the time and date indicators on the screen, it includes a 3 day forecast – along with pressure and humidity – to keep a look on and a battery percentage indicator. All its weather information is gathered from Yahoo and OpenWeather, and gives you the ability to set the weather refresh interval and several settings that determine when your watch should vibrate to alert you of weather updates.

#5 Minimus360

Minimus360 is a very clean, very minimal watch face that incorporates style in accents of color – turning it in a very refined feeling watch. It includes a dim screen mode but not that much optimization when it comes to colors. It maintains its originally thought out design with a dark background, dark gray indicators, along with the white watch hands. The hues of red used on the sides and for various indicators give the smartwatch a solemn, dignified and professional look.

#6 Stealth360

Developed by the same company as Minimus360 – FlyingRhinoCMG – this one incorporates the same basic idea as the previous: a minimalistic look, dark backgrounds with an electric blue accent to make it stand out. The watch face features date and month along with a smooth second watch hand.

#7 Numeral Watch Face

Continuing the trend of minimal elegance, the numeral design is a beautiful, elegant digital watch with the same few-color idea that the FlyingRhinoCMG Company seems to utilize in most of their watch faces. The latest updates include a quick view status of the time, date and day, but also settings panel, color options, battery indicator and percentage, smooth second on / off option, second hand fade in after wake, European date format option, weather along with a weather sync frequency, Celsius/Fahrenheit unit options.

#8 Speeds Watch Face

The look offered by the Speeds Watch Face turns your smartwatch into a sporty time machine, uniting classic sportive design with modern smartwatch functionality. It features an iconic custom watchface with suporb readability, easy to use speedometer application, “adventurous spirit and explosive design”, and luckily works on both round and squared watches. The watch face functions are classic wear watch face, battery level indicator, numerical date and day of the week.

#9 Roto 360

Developed by Krishna Prajapati, the Roto 360 is a beautiful rotating dial watch face for Android Wear that comes in two themes – light and dark. The concept behind it was putting the minutes on a dial to match the current hour and give you a quick, intuitive way to read the time. It is a very wild idea to be applied to watch faces, and also features the date and day of the week in the center of the dial.

#10 Pure Watch Face

Brought to you by Zuhanden, Pure is a free watch face designated for rectangular smartwatches that can switch between digital and analog. It has a puristic design and turns your Android Wear smartwatch into a delightful time piece in a minimal, extremely clean manner.

#11 Rich Watch face: Theme Concrete

One of the more elaborate watch faces currently on the market and relatively popular as well is CollamoApp’s Rich Watchface. It can be downloaded and used on both round and squared watches and it allows you to set two different timezones for sub-watches. It has a multitude of color themes the white, green and dark-green coming for free, and the other being made available for either purchasing a color or a set. It also involves an energy safe theme, allowing the watch to turn to dim mode to save on battery.

#12 Planets Watch face

Zuhanden’s Planets Watchface brings the solar system to your wrist. The tiny planetarium will display rotating planets, mimicking the movement of the planets in our solar system in real time, the center of the watch representing the sun.

#13 Golden Beauty Watch Face

Elegance with a nuance of steampunk arrive on your smartwatch through the Golden Beauty Watch Face displaying gears and a steam-powered-like look to your device, displaying the time in either analog or digital format. The watch face also includes several set colors.

#14 Binary Watch Face

A watch face for the clever and awesome with a trickier to figure out way to read the clock. It has customizable color patterns, vertical or horizontal layouts and a backup digital clock to teach you how to read time in binary.

#15 Matrix

A very neat and simple theme for the Matrix series fans that will display time in a cascade of symbols and digits just like the featured program in the movies.

Image Sources: GooglePlay