Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft’s Surface team has taken on development of the company’s upcoming smartwatch, it’s reported, with the wrist-worn gadget supposedly running a modified version of Windows 8. The Surface smartwatch is being built on an original design by the Xbox team, The Verge‘s sources claim, which had been tinkering with a “Joule” heart-rate monitor prototype for the Xbox 360.

Speculation as to the capabilities of the watch have varied, though Microsoft is believed to be making its wearable more functional than some of the existing designs we’ve seen. A modified version of Windows 8 is an ambitious strategy, where existing alternatives like Pebble are more accurately remote displays for the user’s phone.

According to the leaks, the Surface smartwatch is intended to be integrated with other Windows-powered devices, which presumably means both Windows 8 on desktops, notebooks, and tablets, and Windows Phone on handsets. Already suggested is a 1.5-inch display, making the watch bigger than Pebble and other options.

Meanwhile, there’s also talk of customization support with different colored watchbands. AmongTech claimed last week that Microsoft would offer red, blue, yellow, black, white, and grey straps, something The Verge says it has independently confirmed.

Still in the air are other suggestions from the site’s sources, which include a casing made of Oxynitride Aluminum that, as well as being tougher than glass, is also transparent, and both 6GB of storage and integrated LTE. The latter seems a tall order, given the power consumption of 4G radios and the minimal space for batteries in smartwatches, though it’s said to be part of Microsoft’s attempt to integrate the Surface watch with its various cloud services.

One workaround to the power issue is Microsoft making the smartwatch particularly easy to recharge, something implied by rumors back in April that it would use the magnetic Surface connector already used on the detachable keyboards.

Microsoft isn’t the only company believed to be working on a smartwatch. Intel has confirmed it has a design in R&D, while Dell too has said it is investing in wearables.

Most frequently rumored, however, is the Apple iWatch, which is believed to be the Cupertino firm’s attempt to bring iOS to the wrist. That, however, isn’t expected to launch until sometime in 2014.

Surface smartwatch tipped to clad tweaked-Windows in transparent metal is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Whether or not the Apple iWatch is really happening is yet to be officially determined, but the latest rumor to churn out from the mill is that the Cupertino-based company is planning to launch the iWatch sometime later next year, and they’re also hiring a bunch of new people in order to hurry up the design and development process.

The iWatch has been rumored in the past with a release date for later this year, but it seems Apple might be hitting a slight snag with development of the new wearable device, and are bringing in more expert engineers and developers to give the project a boost of juice in order to give it some speed, although the later release window suggests that the company could be throwing away the playbook and starting from (nearly) scratch.

The Financial Times reports that development of the iWatch “has stepped up”, but “questions over the ability of its own engineers to develop wearable technology” has some worried. We doubt that’s a huge problem, but considering that Apple has never focused on wearable devices — and also depending on the difficulty of the iWatch project — we wouldn’t be surprised if some engineers were led into unfamiliar territory.

The report also mentions that while the iWatch project may very well be real, it still has the chance of being scrapped, since Apple has done the same for numerous projects in the past, but the company’s persistence on trademarking the iWatch name in several countries so far says that Apple may be serious about releasing their own smartwatch.

Furthermore, Apple hired Paul Deneve, who was formerly the CEO of fashion company Yves Saint Laurent. His new job is to work on “special projects” at Apple, which could mean the iWatch. This makes perfect sense as well, since wearables are all about fashion and fitting in to match your wardrobe. However, the new 2014 launch window could make room for other companies to quickly step in before Apple to claim their smartwatch market territory.

SOURCE: Financial Times

Apple iWatch hiring spree tipped for late 2014 arrival is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Smartwatch startup Pebble revealed today for the first time that it has received 190,000 pre-orders for its wearable computing accessory through its own web store following the tremendously successful Kickstarter campaign it ran last year. That means it amassed around 275,000 pre-orders total for the smartwatch, which is impressive early traction for a device that didn’t have a proven market in place to sell into.

Pebble co-founder Eric Migicovsky told me the company wanted to reveal the total order volume now as a follow-up to its Best Buy availability announcement, in order to provide some context around the challenges the startup has faced in terms of shipping product to backers. Response at Best buy has also been very good, Migicovsky says, though the team isn’t yet ready to talk about specific numbers. The Pebble is sold out at many of Best Buy’s retail locations already.

For the first six to ten months following the close of the Kickstarter campaign, the focus for Pebble was exclusively on shipping; it wasn’t a priority, per Migicovsky, but “the” priority. Now, the startup is getting to a point where it can change its focus to start working towards accomplishing its longer term goals as a company. Part of that includes meeting demand and making sure everyone who pre-ordered receives their device, which should happen over the next year, Migicovsky says. But developers are the other big priority to whom Pebble is now turning its attention.

“Our focus as a company is now shifting to supporting third-party developers,” Migicovsky says. The company has seen over 1 million watch apps downloaded to Pebble devices, as measured by installs made through its iOS and Android apps. There’s already an active community around the Pebble SDK, and Migicovsky says that fostering that will be where the startup shifts spending and development efforts.

“This means our developer tools will get better, we’ll be focusing on how developers can get their tools out to users,” he said. “It’s in our best interest,  as well as in the interest of developers to share this these stories.”

So now that Pebble has made good on getting to market, it will focus on these two goals to help build the smartwatch into a lasting, robust platform. Of course, those 275,000 pre-orders, while impressive on their own, might not look so amazing should Apple release an iWatch as it appears to be preparing to do. But that’s still an unknown quantity, and Pebble doing their best to solidify their current market positioning is the best thing the startup can do right now.

Migicovsky will also be doing an AMA on Reddit starting at 12 PM PDT, so that should be an opportunity for him to expound further on what the future holds for his startup.

It’s time for Sony’s second effort in the SmartWatch business, this time with a device that – once again – comes out well before any comparable efforts in wearable industry take shape. This device is appearing this week with Clove, an international web-based spot for sales of such devices, with the company suggesting they’ll have the machine in-stock starting on the 15th of July. This device is also suggested – and remember, this is all preliminary – to be coming in at just 120 pounds in England.

With this machine essentially standing alone in the market as both a smartwatch that can act as its own self-contained device and as an Android-based mini-screen still supported in a major way by its creator, the pricing may surprise you. Sony’s SmartWatch 2 is said by Clove to be well under two bills – that’s right around $180 in USD. With a launch date at July 15th, it’s also surprising that this machine hasn’t been added to any other store stock anywhere else, either.

This device is bringing on a display that’s 1.6-inches large with 220 x 176 pixels to its name, bringing along Bluetooth 3.0 and NFC for wireless connectivity. This device can indeed act on its own, but pairing with a smartphone for internet will allow you to get updates for items like email and Facebook messaging.

Pairing with the Sony SmartWatch 2 will be a tap away with Android devices using NFC on their own and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or above – and it’ll all pair with your smartphone for notifications straight from it, too, if you like.

This device has been called out as an early strike against Apple’s so-called iWatch, a device whose trademark has been filed for in several countries across the planet in the past couple of weeks. Sony has, on the other hand – of course – already released their first SmartWatch which was also joined in the market by Motorola’s own MOTOACTV sports watch in 2011. So it’s not as if this is anything new.

VIA: Geekygadgets; Clove

Sony SmartWatch 2 hits Clove early with July launch date is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Wearable technology is all the rage these days, and Dell isn’t immune to the peer pressure: its global VP of personal computing, Sam Burd, tells the Guardian that his company is “exploring ideas” in the field. While it’s not clear just how serious plans would be at this stage, Burd notes that the idea of a Dell smartwatch is alluring. He can’t champion his firm’s tablet sales, however. Dell has reportedly sold just “hundreds of thousands” of Windows 8 and RT slates like the Latitude 10 and XPS 10. The executive predicts a sales boost as corporate customers adapt to Windows’ new interface, but he’s cautious — he believes that the young platform has to grow before clients (and rivals) take notice.

Filed under: Tablets, Wearables, Microsoft, Dell

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Via: SlashGear

Source: The Guardian