Hasta La Gadget!

At GDC 2014, Sony dropped a bomb in the VR world by introducing its VR headset concept to the world (this was preceded by its share of Sony rumors). Called Morpheus, the VR headset is Sony’s way of saying that Virtual Reality came make a comeback after more than a decade after being shelved by the gaming industry. The the moment, the Sony Morpheus is still a concept, but as you can see, the Industrial design already looks pretty slick and the graphics are powered by a PS4, although nothing would prevent it from running with PS3 and the Eyetoy webcam. I tried it at GDC with the “Deep” demo, and here are my impressions: (more…)

Hands-On: Sony Morpheus Review original content from Ubergizmo.

Two days ago, Motorola announced the Moto 360, its smartwatch powered by Android Wear. Except for the few pictures and the few Android Wear functions that Google and Motorola described in their official blog posts, we do not know much about the exact specifications. We were invited yesterday to a hangout with Jim Wicks, CVP Consumer Experience design at Motorola and we were hoping to learn a little more.

“TIME WAS THE INSPIRATION”   Unfortunately, except for the concept and the ideas behind the round shape and the Android Wear interface, he did not share the main information we are all waiting for: no pricing, no exact release date, no battery life, no display type, no processor type no resolution were provided.

We learned a few things though: the round interface is standard in Android Wear, the SDK for a choice of a square or a round interface, the Moto 360 will be compatible with Android 4.3+ devices, it will probably only feature wireless charging or a new type of connector-less charging system, the casing is made of stainless steel with a brushed finish and a gloss finish on the edges and you will be able to see the time constantly.

Last but not least, time was the inspiration for the round shape and since 80% of the traditional watches sold in the world are round (according to Jim Wicks), we predict that Android Wear will power watches made by traditional manufacturers in the future. To learn more details about what Jim Wicks had to say about the Moto 360, read the full article.

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Motorola Moto 360 Smartwatch, presented by Jim Wicks, Design Chief at Motorola original content from Ubergizmo.

Another day and another Smartwatch… less than a month after MWC, where numerous wearable devices were launched, Motorola just unveiled its own Smartwatch, powered by Android Wear, also announced today.

We have received the information this morning and Motorola is sharing absolutely no information about the specifications, the exact availability date and the price. According to the dedicated website, the moto 360 will be available “this summer”.

From the official blog post and what we learned this morning about Android Wear, we know that users will be able to activate voice commands by saying “Ok Google”,  to ask for a game score, a flight schedule, to set up an appointment in the calendar, to write a text message or a note or to set the alarm clock.

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Motorola Moto 360 Smartwatch Launched, powered by Android Wear original content from Ubergizmo.

At Mobile World Congress, LG was demonstrating  the G Pro 2, its latest large-display smartphone (aka “phablet”) that represent its tip of the spear for this category for some time, possibly until the next G Flex comes out.

The LG G Pro 2 builds on the software progress that was made with the LG G2, and pushes the boundaries in two main areas: First, the camera has received an upgrade and can now record 4K videos, along with 120 FPS 1080p videos and better photography overall, including low-light photos and selfies.

On the software side, LG has refined the user interface to provide slightly improved productivity. Of course, the new handset design remains the most important change, so let’s take a look at how it feels in the real world: (more…)

G Pro 2 Review original content from Ubergizmo.

Mobile World Congress 2014 is will soon end, and before we leave Barcelona, we wanted to take a look back on the products that we think will have a great impact on the market, or set some trends in 2014. There are several takeaways from MWC 2014:

1. “Raw performance” has a longer cycle
2. The mid-range smartphones is where the growth is
3. There is still much room left for meaningful innovations
4. LTE is now a win-win story for everyone involved

These factors induce a tremendous pressure on the industry to innovate at the “usage model” level, and not only in terms of features and speed. Manufacturers now compete on “meaningful” aspects such as durability, ease of use, cloud services, design and everyone’s favorite: battery life. Here are eight products that we think you should not miss at MWC 2014, in no particular order: (more…)

Best of MWC 2014 @ Ubergizmo original content from Ubergizmo.