Hasta La Gadget!

Nike‘s second-gen FuelBand fitness monitor will include heart-rate tracking and Bluetooth 4.0, insider sources claim, as well as the ability to feed motion data into third party applications. The sports company is already field-testing the new wearable in casings disguised to look exactly like the first model, Gear Live‘s tipster suggests, with a boost in responsiveness among the improvements mentioned.

According to what was reportedly some brief hands-on time with the FuelBand 2, Nike has fettled the speed that the LEDs react, meaning the band shows data more swiftly than the existing version. The use of Bluetooth 4.0, just as on the Fitbit Flex we reviewed earlier this week, means longer battery life, and Nike has apparently built in auto-synchronization too.

However, Bluetooth 4.0′s potential for always-on connectivity without draining the battery too quickly means that Nike can apparently open up the FuelBand 2′s sensor stream to other software. The updated API will include accelerometer data, it’s claimed, so that games and other apps can track user movements and positioning and use them for control and other features.

Meanwhile, there’s also said to be a heart rate monitor – selected from an option on the band, and used by pinching the sensor against your wrist – and the ability to check battery status from the FuelBand 2 itself. Whereas Nike said back in February it had no plans to release an Android app, the current word supposedly from the company’s campus is that an app for Google’s OS is, in fact, in the pipeline.

Nike launched the first Nike+ FuelBand back in early 2012, one of the first wrist-worn activity monitoring gadgets to reach the market. Since then, it has seen rival devices from Fitbit and Jawbone, among others, though Nike has resolutely stuck to its premium pricing: the FuelBand costs $150, versus the sub-$100 tag on the newest Fitbit Flex, for instance. Exactly when the new FuelBand might launch is unknown, and it’s unclear if it will have features not unofficially previewed, such as sleep tracking as supported on both the UP and Flex.

Nike FuelBand 2 reportedly adds heart rate monitor and BT 4.0 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nokia’s Lumia 928 is undoubtedly a foregone conclusion, with print adverts showing up for the new PureView-branded Windows Phone even as Nokia holds off on its official Verizon reveal. Latest to spill the cellular beans is a full, double-page spread in Vanity Fair, an Engadget tipster shared, confirming the handset’s Carl Zeiss optics and homemade optical image stabilization. Meanwhile, Nokia’s own site has confirmed that the phone is indeed in the pipeline.

The URL mentioned in the advert – nokia.com/lumia928 – is, surprisingly, already active, though there’s less detail to be found than in the print version. The image is the same, aside from the Verizon logo being absent, and there are no specifications; however, the filename of the image itself does confirm that this is the Lumia 928.

Chatter of the Lumia 928 has been circulating for some time now, with early talk of an aluminum chassis and a more squared off design than the Lumia 920 that the phone is presumed to be based upon. Like the 920, the 928 is expected to use a 4.5-inch display, though there has been talk of Nokia using AMOLED panel technology rather than the ClearBlack LCD of the older device.

Nokia will hold a Lumia event on May 14, though given that will be in London it would imply that either the Lumia 928 is intended for regions beyond Verizon’s coverage, or that the phone will be the support act for another, more broadly available phone. That could well be the device believed to be codenamed EOS, a more photography-centric handset that, so the speculation suggests, could have a waterproof aluminum coating.

Waterproofing may well be something Nokia is looking to push in its new 2013 line-up. The beach photography shown in this Lumia 928 commercial could be a hint that the phone will have a weather-resistant casing.

Nokia Lumia 928 gets PureView-focused official nod is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

An LG prototype smartphone that could be the new Optimus G2 or even the Google “Nexus 5″ has been spotted in the wild, though exactly what the sizable handset is still remains a mystery. The image – as well as a close-up of the front camera assembly, shown after the cut – shared by evleaks comes with no hardware specifications nor branding beyond the LG logo in the lower bezel, and there’s no telling whether Google’s Nexus logo gets a mention on the back.

If, though, this was the next-gen Nexus, or “Nexus 5″, the positioning of the LG logo would be a minor coup for the manufacturer. On the current Nexus 4, the fascia of the phone is completely logo-free, with the only mention of LG and Google on the back panel.

Of course, that could also mean that this is the LG Optimus G2, the oft-rumored successor to the Optimus G. That phone was functionally all but identical to the Nexus 4 inside, differing only really with branding (and pricing); since Google and LG are said to have renewed their Nexus collaboration and already be working on the fifth phone of the series, the same internal components in this prototype might – if authentic – end up in both handsets.

Estimates of scale suggest the mysterious phone is around 5.5-inches, which would be a considerable step up from the 4.7-inches of the current Nexus 4 and Optimus G. It would also put it on a par with the display size of the newer Optimus G Pro; indeed, one possibility is that this device is a variant of the G Pro, complete with the slightly curved glass that we know from the Nexus 4.

Should Google opt to refresh the Nexus line more imminently, that would break the roughly year-long lifecycle of the previous phones. However, it would also give the company a high-profile handset to reveal at Google I/O, as well as a time advantage over the next-gen iPhone which isn’t expected until later in 2013.

[via Android Community]

Mystery LG phone leaks: Nexus 5, Optimus G2, or something else? is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Hello, what’s this? While many of us were out enjoying the spring weather, @evleaks was busy posting photos of an unknown LG smartphone that, if real, represents a notable shift in the Korean company’s design language. The device shares the Nexus 4‘s slightly curvy outline and lack of front-facing hardware buttons, but appears to have a taller screen, a new speaker grille and a different sensor layout. It’s not very likely to be part of the Nexus program with that conspicuous LG logo at the front, but there are few other clues as to where it would fit in LG’s phone family — is it an Optimus G sequel, an Optimus LTE2 follow-up, or something entirely fresh? We may well see more of this mystery hardware in the near future, though, and there’s already a close-up of the top bezel to be found after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

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Source: @Evleaks (Facebook), (Twitter)

Jaguar’s striking F-Type may already be wowing drivers as a convertible months out from launch, but it’s taken some premature patent digging to see exactly what the eventual coupe version might look like. The car company has previously conceded that a hard-top F-Type will eventually reach forecourts, but has played it coy on how close to the original C-X16 concept it might be. Fortunately for us, while Jaguar’s designers may be tight-lipped, its lawyers are a little more open.

A cluster of renders expected to closely resemble the final coupe have been dug up as part of a design patent Jaguar filed ahead of the car’s expected 2014 release, Germany car site Auto Motor & Sport reports. Things don’t deviate too far from the C-X16, thankfully, with a tapering rear window that notches in crisply with the distinctive light clusters.

It’ll be a handsome beast in profile, too, if the patent CGI is anything to go by. One of the concerns had been how the relatively flat trunk lid of the convertible F-Type might work with the extra metal of a coupe, but Jaguar’s design team has handled that well.

By starting out with a drop-top and only bringing a coupe on later, Jaguar claimed it was making sure both would have the sort of on-the-road dynamics that drivers expect from a two-seater. Curb weight for the coupe isn’t known, but given the car company opted for a fabric hood rather than a folding metal roof – arguing that it helped keep the center of gravity low – there may not be the common difference between the two versions.

As well as the photos, the car site also claims to have heard that Jaguar will be offering a different engine option alongside the supercharged 3.0-liter V6 and supercharged 5.0-liter V8 already announced. A 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, the new engine is borrowed from the Range Rover Evoque – albeit with some fettling involved in the process – and should help bring the cost of entry to F-Type ownership down to less than the $69,000 starting point that preorders opened at.

[via Jalopnik]

Jaguar F-Type coupe unofficially previewed (but you’ll have to wait until 2014) is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.