Hasta La Gadget!

While smartwatches may seem like a short-lived fad, it’s rumored that Apple and Intel think the contrary. It’s said that the two companies are teaming up to release an “iWatch” sometime in 2013. The device would connect to your Apple devices via Bluetooth, especially the iPhone and iPod line, in order to relay information from these devices to the watch.

It’s said that Intel will be working with Apple to create the watch device, and it’ll come with a 1.5-inch PMOLED display made by RiTDisplays, and will feature ITO-coated glass. Low-power Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity will also be a big feature in the rumored Apple smartwatch. Sadly, though, that’s all the details that were provided.

Smartwatches have certainly gained some traction lately. We can’t forget the Pebble smartwatch, which raised over $10 million in funding on Kickstarter. Sony also released their own smartwatch. However, the market for smartwatches isn’t anything to write home about, and it may just be a passing fad that will die out in a year or two.

Of course, this is only a rumor, and we’ll remain skeptical of such a product from Apple, but we can’t say that we’d be too incredibly surprised if the company did end up releasing a smartwatch of their own. The 6th-generation iPod Nano was extremely popular as a watch of sorts, and Apple built on that popularity by releasing several watch faces for the mini music player.

[via Mobilegeeks.de]

Apple and Intel rumored to be working on iWatch for 2013 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Pebble smartwatch is a stylish, square-shaped, e-paper watch that hit $1 million on Kickstarter in 28 hours after having met its goal of $100k in just 120 minutes. The Pebble continued to soar, breaking records and garnering thousands of pledges. Now it seems the smartwatch has been delayed (again), and won’t be arriving in time for the holidays.

In April, the Pebble broke a Kickstarter record, becoming the most funded project on the crowdfunding site ever with over 25,000 backers and $3.6 million in pledges. In May, it then sold out of its 85,000 watches with 8 days left in its project. Fast-forward a few months, and the Pebble now has, at the time of writing, 68,929 backers and $10,266,845 in pledges. Unfortunately, it has been delayed again, however and will not be shipping in time for the holidays; in compensation, customers were offered the ecard shown above.

Earlier today, the final colors for the Pebble were announced, as well as the addition of SMS for iPhone. The watch will be available in white, black, red, grey, and orange. Those who have placed an order can head over to their account page and select what color they want (before December 14). In addition, the smartwatch can now receive text and iMessage notifications from the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The Pebble measures in at 50mm x 30mm, and is housed in a waterproof body. The watch supports standard 22mm watch bands, and offers Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. When paired with a mobile device, the watch will display notifications, alarms, message alerts. Alerts can be in audible mode or vibrate mode, depending on preference.

[via Kickstarter]

Pebble smartwatch delayed again, won’t arrive in time for the holidays is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Basis Science today launched a new fitness and health tracking wristwatch and accompanying web service for the health-conscience crowd. It joins an already crowded market of health and fitness gadgets, but Basis hopes to shake things up with its wristwatch that aims to get people to form better health habits.

The Basis watch also does far more than most health and fitness gadgets. It has an accelerometer to track movement, but it also has an optical blood-flow monitor for heart-rate tracking, a perspiration sensor to measure sweat, and skin and ambient temperature sensors. These different sensors help the Basis watch do things that other activity trackers can’t.

After it monitors and records activity, the watch takes the data and presents it to you in a useful way, allowing you to keep track of your health and fitness trends over time. The company introduced a web service to go along with the watch that lays out the data into a readable format. Users can also choose different habits related to their physical activity and sleep that they want to try and accomplish.

An interesting feature about the device is that it doesn’t track calories or anything to do with your diet. Furthermore, the device is launching with the internal Bluetooth radio turned off, but eventually Basis will enable Bluetooth syncing in the future. The watch costs $199, and it’s available now on their website.

Basis launches health-tracking wristwatch and web service is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Smartwatches have been gaining a little bit of traction somewhat recently. Even though Sony‘s own smartwatch was a little less than steller, the infamous Pebble smartwatch was a huge success on Kickstarter, getting over $10 million in funding. Google may also be getting into the smartwatch market, as an interesting patent filed on behalf of the search giant was just approved.

The patent in question was filed around this time last year, and it’s finally been approved by the US Trademark and Patent Office. The patent describes this supposed smartwatch as being equipped with a camera and uses a clear flip-up cover that can display augmented reality information. There’s also a “wireless transceiver” that will allow the watch to connect to wireless networks.

There’s also a “tactile user interface” that “can be configured to provide interaction between a user and the smart-watch.” Overall, it sounds like a pretty comprehensive little device, certainly more advanced than the smartwatches of today. We’re pretty curious as to how Google plans to introduce this kind of smartwatch to consumers.

Obviously, details are still pretty slim at this point. There’s no prototypes or mockups that we know of, so all we can do right now is just sit and wonder what this smartwatch will be like. If a Google smartwatch does end up hitting the market, it’ll most likely see a slow rollout with a pretty big price tag possibly — similar to how the company is handling its Google Glasses.

[via Engadget]

Google smartwatch patent gets approved is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Smartwatches seem to be hot new thing that watchmakers are releasing these days. What I like about Casio’s offering is that it doesn’t look like most smartwatches, instead looking like most of Casio’s G-Shocks.

These new smartwatches are part of Casio’s expansive G-Shock line. The GB-6900AA and GB-5600AA are able to connect to iPhones via Bluetooth. You’ll be able to receive emails alerts as well as notifications on it. There’s even an audio alert to help you find your phone in case you lose it. This can be activated by pressing a single button.

An app will be released alongside the watches, and Casio hasn’t yet announced the US pricing or availability, but they will be released in Japan in October and November for ¥18,000 (~$230 USD).

[via Ubergizmo]