Hasta La Gadget!

It seems Casio’s G-Shock GB6900 hasn’t been mindful of its own raison d’être, turning up much later than expected. After making its first appearance way back in March 2011, rolling through FCC in July the same year, and then reportedly getting stalled by floods in Thailand, the Bluetooth 4.0-packing smart watch is finally available stateside for $180. Tardiness notwithstanding, the wearable gizmo is typically defiant of shock and water. However, its hero feature is hooking up with your iPhone (4S or newer) to sync time, throw up call / email alerts and letting you locate your misplaced smartphone. And while the timekeeper can’t let you be mayor, reveal objects’ secrets or serve up apps, at least it doesn’t hurt your wallet as much as some of its rivals.

Continue reading Casio’s iPhone-friendly G-Shock finally out, will adorn wrists for $180

Filed under: Wearables

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Source: Casio

Tearing down a device the size of an iPod nano is definitely not for the faint of heart (or shaky of hand), but none of that deters iFixit, who just tackled Apple’s latest pint-sized player. We called it the best nano so far, but if the tiny iPod with newfound Nike+ functionality calls it quits, can you do something about it yourself, or will it need to be binned or go back to the repair depot? iFixit is torn on the device, saying that it’s easy to take apart and replace the LCD or digitizer glass, but that the battery is glued solidly to the chassis, and other important parts like the Lightning connector are soldered together. That makes the replacement of those components nigh-on impossible, resulting in a repairability score of 5/10 for the device — not that we’d be brave enough to crack it open ourselves.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Apple

iPod nano hits iFixit’s dissection slab, rated so-so on the repairability scale originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Oct 2012 08:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Harman announced a fair amount of JBL-branded speakers back at IFA, but that wasn’t all it had to announce before the year goes out. Today we met with in the company in NYC, where it was ready to show off even more of its upcoming wireless and dock speakers. In fact, don’t tell Harmon that the 30-pin connector is on its way out, as its $199 OnBeat Venue (seen above and $139 OnBeat aWake are ready to pair up with your last-gen iOS devices. The Venue is rated for a peak output of 30-watts and features a stow-away dock a tweeter and woofer combo for both stereo channels, component outputs for use with TVs, an obligatory 3.5mm jack and Bluetooth if you’d prefer to go wireless. The aWake shrinks things down to about 13 watts, and features a digital clock so that you can use it on your bedside night stand — despite its small size, it’ll easily dock an iPad. Both systems also work with free JBL apps for iOS that’ll enhance the experience. According to the company, it’s also working on solutions for the Lightning connector, but wouldn’t reveal any hard details.

Moving along to dedicated speakers, you might recall the SoundFly BT, which recently got outed during its trip to the FCC. The 20-watt Bluetooth-equipped unit is strictly intended to plug directly into wall outlets, having only a status light with no inputs or buttons. It’ll set you back $149 when it hits shelves, and if you tack another another $50 you can get an AirPlay-equipped version instead. We gave the BT a quick listen and it sounded surprisingly big with a fair amount of bass extension — impressive considering it’s petite and it plug-friendly design. A Harmon rep even noted that the hotel we were in was interested in procuring some for its rooms. Sadly, the units aren’t remotely water-resistant, even though our demo area was a bathroom.

Lastly, we’re actually most intrigued by the $59 Harman / Kardon BTA 10 dongle. The nearly matchbook-sized box connects to any speaker via its 3.5mm jack, allowing you to stream over Bluetooth 4.0 on the fly. Power is supplied via a micro-USB cable, and a blue indicator light lets you know that it’s powered up. Harmon’s mainly created it to add Bluetooth functionality to its non-wireless speakers, but it can be used with any speaker of your choice. We’re also told that it overs very high-quality, despite being Bluetooth, thanks to some in-house development dubbed as TrueStream. There’s no exact word on when all of these units will hit shelves, but you can peek the galleries for better looks — check the source link for full details.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Household, Portable Audio/Video

Harman shows off its upcoming JBL docks and speakers, we go eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple has a tradition of timing FCC filings for new wireless mobile devices so that they appear just as soon as they’ve been announced, and it’s not about to let up now. We’ve got a trifecta of approvals on the way for 2012 that start with the iPhone 5. What’s hard to miss is the absurd number of cellular bands at work: as Apple had to make separate iPhone 5 models to cover every LTE carrier it supports, on top of the usual alphabet soups for CDMA and GSM, the filing combining the two devices is one of the largest we’ve seen to date. The addition of 5GHz WiFi support only compounds the situation.

A pair of iPods also made their appearances today, and they’ve been given the regulatory once-over as well. The iPod touch has the 5GHz WiFi band included and isn’t special by itself, but the new iPod nano is noteworthy simply for showing up at all — the inclusion of Bluetooth means a spin past the testing facility in addition to some wireless audio. We’re still digging to see if the iPhone or new iPods have any surprises, although you can have a first-hand look through the source links.

Brad Molen contributed to this report.

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video, Mobile

iPhone 5, updated iPod touch and iPod nano models reach the FCC right on cue originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 17:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Since we last heard about Mosoro’s Lego-brick sized Bluetooth LE modules, they’ve changed their names, picked up another member and are now making their way to iOS app developers. The 3D-Motion’s got an accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer, while the Enviro measures temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. New to the team is Proximity, useful for triggering location-based apps and tracking motion for creating alerts. All three rechargeable Bluetooth low energy sensors have “shake-to-wake” support, an RGB “glow-cap” for notifications and a humble programmable button. They are expected to hit retail in fall 2012, but “VIP” app developers can grab them now, as well as the SDK which simplifies iOS Bluetooth integration. Got the ideas and inclination to become one of Mosoro’s “rock star app-developer partners?” Then go sign up on the website and see if you make the VIP grade.

Continue reading Mosoro releases its Bluetooth LE sensors and SDK for VIP appcessory developers

Filed under: Misc, Wireless

Mosoro releases its Bluetooth LE sensors and SDK for VIP appcessory developers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 21:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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