Microsoft Band vs. Apple Watch vs. Jawbone Up vs. Fitbit Surge

Microsoft Band vs. Apple Watch vs. Jawbone Up vs. Fitbit Surge

John Patrick Pullen

Time 

Microsoft on Thursday announced its entry into the already-crowded fitness tracker space with Microsoft Band , a full-color touchscreen bracelet driven by cloud-powered data smarts. Looking to beat the Apple Watch to market, Microsoft's wristband is already available in the U.S., but that still puts it months, if not years, behind other fitness devices.

With so many options on the market, it’s difficult to tell which wearable has the upper hand — or upper wrist. Here’s how the four biggest names in fitness tracking stack up:

Capabilities: With an entire app ecosystem in the works, the Apple Watch would be the clear favorite here, potentially providing everything from Snapchat-like disappearing scribble messages to telegraphed heartbeats right out of the box. But there’s one major caveat: the digital timepiece won’t be available until early 2015. Jawbone Up, meanwhile, has been around since late 2011, is used by hordes to track sleep, movement, and even limited notifications, but is hindered by the fact that it has no digital display. And even though Fitbit Surge can control music, display notifications, and take a pulse, it’s also not yet on the market (though rumor has it that could change any day).

That leaves the Microsoft Band, which, like the Surge, has GPS and heart rate monitoring, all sorts of notification tools and other features. It also has a cloud-based data engine, the king of intelligence that has made Jawbone Up so beloved by its wearers. But doesn’t have any user data, yet, so there’s only so much that engine can tell users thus far. Still, with a mobile payment feature (at Starbucks, at least), a UV sensor, and voice controls if you’re using it with a Windows 8.1 phone, Microsoft Band sets itself apart from the pack.

Winner: Microsoft Band (until Apple is actually in the game)

Price: Microsoft seems to be using its vast riches to sell its band at a cut-rate price, because $199 is a heck of a deal for all the features the Band packs. In comparison, the Fitbit Surge is priced at $250, making it the company’s most expensive fitness tracker to date. The Jawbone Up, meanwhile, costs just $130, and the Apple Watch starts at $350 — but that’s the price for the Sport model, which lacks the sapphire crystal face and packs a rubber watch band. Apple hasn’t announced how much its mid- or high-end smartwatch will cost, yet.

Winner: Jawbone Up

Looks: Of course, this is completely subjective, but with 18-karat gold cases at the high-end and the same eye-popping graphic interface on the low-end, no other wrist-worn fitness tracker comes close to Apple Watch. For people who want a more subtle bobble, the Jawbone Up completely and totally lacks flash, which makes it go with just about any outfit. But come on, Apple’s effort even reinvented the watch band, for goodness sake. It’ll be as close to electronic jewelry as we'll have to date.

Winner: Apple Watch

Compatibility: For all Apple’s category-conquering successes over the past ten years, they will come up as a big loser when it comes to wearables, but that’s partially by design. Apple's wristwatch is only designed to work with its iOS ecosystem, nothing else, which means only iPhone owners would buy it, and even then, most of them won’t. Meanwhile, Jawbone isn't in the phone business, so they’ve made the Up compatible with Android and iOS so they can rope in as many smartphone users as possible. The Fitbit Surge boasts compatibility with more than 120 phones across Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. And in a new strategy for Microsoft, it's making its wearable compatible with Android and iOS, in addition to Windows Phone, of course. Determined to ensure Microsoft Band doesn’t meet the same fate of its doomed Zune media player, Microsoft hopes to woo users on competing platforms while rewarding Windows Phone users with additional features like Cortana, its voice-activated assistant.

Winner: Microsoft Band

Durability: Despite the fact that these wearables are aimed at active users, none of them are water- or dust-proof. They are all water-resistant, but that’s the difference between wearing them in the rain or dropping them in a puddle. Other wristbands that boast better durability than these four are on the market, so if that’s a concern, steer clear of all of these. But of the devices covered here, at least (some models of) the Apple Watch have sapphire crystal watch faces. This material is supposed to be hard and scratch proof, though that’s yet to be seen as it hasn’t gone through real-world testing by a wide range of users.

Winner: Apple Watch

Battery Life: The harder they run, the faster they burn — that’s not an official law of computing, but it should be. The Jawbone Up, which charges via USB and a little headphone jack on the bracelet, last up to 14 days. The Fitbit Surge holds a charge for up to five days after charging by its USB cable. The Microsoft Band boasts up to 48 hours of battery life with normal use, but activating its GPS functionality will suck down its juice much faster. And Apple’s only comment on the Apple Watch's battery life, so far, has been “charge nightly.” So take those times under advisement, because there’s nothing more useless than a dead wearable.

Winner: Jawbone Up

Smarts: From heart rates to calories burned, these wearables all collect scads of data, but it’s how they use the information that makes them valuable to users. For the Apple Watch, which again is not yet available, its forthcoming app ecosystem will likely make the device the smartest of them all. Until then, the Fitbit Surge, also not yet available, seemingly has that app ecosystem in place by connecting to many popular apps — possibly even ones already on your smartphone. The Microsoft Band hooks onto Microsoft Health, the company’s continuously-improving intelligence engine that also harvests info from other apps. Meanwhile, the Jawbone Up — which already has one of the smartest apps already on the market — is teeming with user data, telling its users what kinds of food to eat based on their energy level or last night’s sleep. In a way, the giants like Apple and Microsoft are relying on the smarts of Jawbone (and other companies like it) to drive their own devices. Jawbone is playing along for now, but don’t expect to get the full experience while wearing anything other than an Up.

Winner: Jawbone Up

As you can see, the fitness tracking race is moving so fast that this primer only scratches the surface. There’s no doubt that things will have change again, soon. But one thing will remain the same: The best fitness band is the one you’ll actually wear and use. Just ask any friend who’s already bought one, where is their band right now? Sadly, chances are it’s in a drawer somewhere tracking nothing at all.

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Wearing the Microsoft Band, the next big thing in fitness tracking

Wearing the Microsoft Band, the next big thing in fitness tracking

David Pierce

The Verge

 

I've been wearing it for two hours, and I'm still acutely aware that it's there. This is the first and most unavoidable thing you should know about the Microsoft Band: it's big, and it's heavy. It's not an object with a strap, like a smartwatch or a Fitbit; there's technology in every part of this rigid rubber band. It's not terribly uncomfortable, per se, it's just there. I don't think I'll ever stop noticing it.
The Band is, of course, Microsoft's first fitness tracker, the physical actualization of the company's grand plan to be the source of all the world's health data. The Band is part of the plan, but it's not the whole plan; the whole plan involves cross-platform apps, a machine-learning system that turns your data into "insights" about how to live better tomorrow, and a vast ecosystem of hardware and software developers collecting data and delivering insights. The Band is the first device, but it won't be the last, not even from Microsoft.

The Band looks and feels a bit like a prototype, a relatively unadorned wristband with a clever sliding clasp (so you can change how it fits without taking it off) and a 1.4-inch, 320 x 106 display on the front. There are two buttons below the display: one for waking the device, and the "action button," which you use to scroll through data or start and end a workout. I quickly paired it to my iPhone 6 via Bluetooth, downloaded the beautifully minimalist Microsoft Health app, and was off. It automatically started tracking my steps and heart rate, funneling the data back to the app every time I hit sync.

The hardware needs some work, but the software is already solid

Everything you do on the Band lives in a series of icon-sized tiles, off to the right of the screen. One screen shows me email, text, and phone call notifications (which seem to be stored until you look at them all). The next has my calendar, run information, and sleep data. You side-scroll through everything, only seeing a little at a time: I can't imagine doing very much with the Band, other than wearing it and letting it do what it does. Plus, contorting my hand to read the horizontal screen is already growing a little tiresome. It feels a little better on the underside of my wrist, but I don't really like banging a screen onto every surface I touch either. On the other hand, the interface is zippy and smooth, and the screen is very responsive; the hardware isn't terribly impressive here, but the software certainly is.

The Band is clearly a workout device

There are a few basic settings and a lot of notifications hidden among the tiles, but the Band is mostly a workout tool. I scrolled to the run icon, tapped the action button, turned on GPS, and was off. Doing the same with workouts was easy; I even downloaded a 14-minute ab workout to the Band and set out to get ripped. It worked well, tracking my movements and vitals, except that I don't know what a V-Up is. I'm pretty sure it's not "stand awkwardly and stare at your Band for eight sets of 20 seconds," but that's what I did. The Band did its job admirably, I just didn't do mine.

Throughout it all, notifications were coming in — text messages, emails, calls — and vibrating my wrist powerfully enough that there's no way I'm going to miss it. I couldn't do much other than dismiss them, since the Band doesn't connect to Siri the way it does Cortana on Windows Phone, but leaving my phone across the room is certainly nice.

I've only just scratched the surface of what the Band and Microsoft Health can do. We'll be reviewing the Band in much more detail in the coming days, but a couple of things are already clear. The Band is very much a first-version device, one that will benefit tremendously from refinement and improvement in the coming years. (Not to mention all the ways other developers will find to improve on the experience.) And much more excitingly, it's a remarkably powerful gadget. It knows my steps and my heart rate and Starbucks card information. It knows I'm doing a sit-up, it knows I'm not doing a V-Up, and it knows who's calling me. And it's going to do much more than that really soon.
Now for a nap. Let's see how that goes.

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Microsoft to launch its wearable fitness band in coming weeks

Microsoft to launch its wearable fitness band in coming weeks

Tom Warren

The Verge 

Microsoft is planning to launch its own wearable fitness band in the coming weeks.
Forbes reports that the announcement is due "within the next few weeks," and The Verge can confirm this is accurate.
Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the launch of Microsoft’s wearable fitness band is imminent, and the device will be stocked at retailers in time for the holiday season.
Microsoft’s wearable launch will mark 10 years since the company announced its SPOT smartwatch in 2004 that used FM radio signals to send instant messages from Windows Messenger, news headlines, stock information, and weather forecasts to your wrist.

Smartwatch features, but primarily focused on fitness
Although Microsoft’s fitness band will have some smartwatch features, it will be primarily focused on fitness activities.
We’re told the fitness band will track steps, heart rate, calories burned, and other key health attributes thanks to a number of sensors embedded in the device.

Microsoft has also been testing the ability to monitor heat rate through the day and night, and is expected to ship a final device that has around two days of battery life.

The key part of Microsoft’s fitness band will be its support for Windows Phone, iOS, and Android.
Microsoft is developing separate apps for each mobile operating system to help support the features of its fitness band sensors, and smartphone notifications to the band will also be supported.

It's unlikely that Microsoft will brand its fitness band under the Lumia or Surface monikers, mainly because the device will work across all three mobile operating systems. Images surfaced earlier this year of a fitness band in Microsoft patent filings, and previous rumours suggested the company was working on a 1.5-inch display with removable wrist bands.

With Microsoft on the verge of announcing its fitness band, we’ll find out exactly what the company has to offer in the wearables space very soon.
* Microsoft publishes MSN and the Bing Daily News and Finance apps

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Google reportedly confronted Samsung over its approach to smartwatches

Google reportedly confronted Samsung over its approach to smart watches:

Jon Fingas Engadget

The strained relationship between Google and Samsung over Android customization has been apparent for a while, and it now looks like this discontent has spread to the wearable world.

The Information claims that Google CEO Larry Page confronted Samsung last week over its decision to invest more in its Gear 2 and Gear Fit smartwatches than the Android Wear-packing Gear Live.
While the details of Page's discussions aren't available, it's clear that Google wants its biggest hardware partner to devote more attention to its Android-based platform.

Reportedly, Google had even wanted Samsung to avoid dipping into wrist-worn technology until Android Wear was ready. As we know now, the Korean company didn't exactly honor that request -- instead, it released the Galaxy Gear (initially using a heavily customized Android) and quickly threw most of its energy into peripherals running Tizen and other platforms.

Neither firm has commented on the disagreement. However, a scrap over wearables isn't completely shocking.

Google is trying to rein manufacturers in by requiring that they use its stock interface on Android Wear equipment; that's not going to please Samsung, which has spent a lot of time customizing Android in an attempt to stand out. The Gear Live's very existence suggests that Samsung is being somewhat accommodating.

If the leak is accurate, though, Google may not be truly happy unless that device takes center stage in Samsung's lineup.

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Android L: 8 New Features in the Next Major Android Release

Android L: 8 New Features in the Next Major Android Release

NDTV Correspondent

Android has grown from a tiny upstart to the world's dominant mobile computing platform with over a billion active users. Google isn't sitting still, though, and has just unveiled what it calls the most ambitious Android release yet. Currently known only as Android L, there's no dessert-themed codename or even formal version number yet. Android L will release later this year, though an exact date isn't known.

We hope to see new smartphones launch around the same time which take advantage of all the new features, and also updates to existing smartphones. HTC is amongst the companies committed to bringing it to its existing HTC One family, while others should announce support soon.

Here are some of the most exciting new features of Android L

Material design
Android will receive a complete visual overhaul aimed at promoting a consistent experience across Android device sizes and types. The new "Material Design" identity is bolder, more colourful, and more animated. Every transition between screens and every user interaction has been refined, down to the system-wide Roboto typeface and the Android navigation buttons.

Screen elements will be able to simulate depth, with automatic shadows and scaling, but will also inherit elements of classic magazine typography and layout. There's more emphasis on simple shapes and consistent actions that lead you from one app into another. Google's new design page offers hints of what is to come.

The change could also be aimed at discouraging third-party vendors from developing custom Android overlays which greatly deviate from Google's vision. A strong enough core UI experience could lead users to reject anything seen as inferior to it.

The Material Design identity integrates elements of responsive Web design and will extend to other Google properties including Gmail, which will be redesigned for the Web as well as mobile apps. Material Design takes into account the fact that touch, voice, mouse and keyboard are all equally important input methods, clearly illustrating goals above and beyond smartphone usage scenarios

.Improved notifications

You will be able to interact with notifications more easily in Android L. For starters, you can choose which ones show up on the lock screen and what amount of detail they'll show. You can decide whether snippets of actual messages are displayed when your phone is potentially visible to others, or whether more details will only be revealed when you unlock it. They also aren't necessarily displayed in chronological order anymore - the OS can learn which ones you're more likely to respond to urgently and prioritise those.

There's also a new type of notification altogether - Google calls these heads ups. These appear on top of whatever you're doing and allow you to take action or dismiss them immediately. These are meant to be less intrusive, and can be used for things that can't wait, such as incoming calls.

Trusted environments
Speaking of the lock screen, you'll soon be able to have your phone detect when it's in a trusted environment, which will dispense with the lock code. This could be triggered by the presence of a Bluetooth device such a smartwatch that you wear all the time, a specific Wi-Fi access point, or other factors. When the environment is deemed safe, you won't have to bother with unlocking your phone

Project Volta, battery improvements
Android L will be able to manage battery life much better, but Google's moves go beyond that to the app development stage, for which new tools have been developed that let developers track battery drain and optimise apps before they ever reach end users. The battery saver mode is similar to those implemented by third parties so far - non-essential services can be turned off or made to run only at intervals in order to save power. Android L will also be able to lower the screen refresh rate, reduce the frequency of data exchanges, or force apps to change their behaviour to match the prevailing battery state.

Google Fit
Everyone's getting into health and activity tracking, and Google is no exception. The new Google Fit framework will take Apple's Healthkit head on, tying into sensors on phones themselves as well as connected accessories to collect data which will be ready for apps to use. Major partners including Nike, Adidas, Runkeeper, HTC, Asus, LG and Motorola are already on board. Google Fit could monitor physical activity and food intake as well as health indicators such as heart rate and breathing.

Greater Web integration

There's also a change to the way individual tabs and documents in apps are handled by Android L. They'll now show up as individual entries in the Recents menu, allowing users to jump directly between them. This pulls the focus away from apps and puts it onto all the things you do with them. For example, Web apps open in Chrome tabs would appear much like native apps running on your device, and you'd be able to jump in and out of them more quickly.

Links on the Web can now also be used to launch apps instead of websites (presumably falling back to the website in case the app is not installed). For example, Google demonstrated looking up a restaurant in Chrome and then tapping a link to not only launch the OpenTable app, but also have it know that it should bring up that restaurant's booking page. Google search results can also now be links that trigger an app, rather than links to websites.

ART Runtime and Android Extension Pack
Google is ditching the Dalvik runtime which has served well for years, in favour of a new one called ART. It can make apps load and run quite a bit faster while using less RAM. ART is 64-bit compatible, and is also engineered to allow apps to work across hardware architectures such as ARM and X86. This also means that Android devices will be able to address more RAM than the 32-bit limit allowed.

With greater diversity in Android hardware obviously envisioned for the near future, the move is a welcome change. Google has worked with major hardware vendors to enable more fluid graphics, potentially paving the way for new Android-based game consoles and set-top boxes. Desktop-class graphics including tessellation, geometry shaders and texture compression will potentially be possible on Android devices.

Knox

Google also made a few announcements that indicate interesting things on the horizon for enterprise users. The company announced that Samsung's Knox feature for work and personal separation will become a part of Android itself. Knox allows corporate IT administrators to control work-related data and policies on employees' smartphones while letting the employees themselves continue to store personal data and use unrelated apps. This alleviates many of the problems with accessing secure information from mobile devices and could make Android far more attractive to businesses.

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Xolo Q1200 Review

Xolo Q1200 Review

Jamshed Avari

NDTV

We've been fairly impressed with some of the phones Xolo has released in the past six months. The company seems to be determined to break out of the mould of Indian-Chinese importers, and has stepped up to deliver good-looking, well-built devices for the mid-budget segment. 

The Xolo Q1200 follows the Q1010i and Q1000 Opus, with each iteration bringing new improvements to the company's formula. We've spent quite a bit of time with this device.

Look and feel

The Xolo Q1200 is a fairly solid phone. It feels a bit heavy and chunky in the hand, unlike many of today's devices which aim only to be light and slim. It's well constructed, but doesn't quite hit all the right notes in terms of aesthetics. Our review unit was white, and we noticed that the different plastic pieces on the front and rear had totally different shades and textures. The rear is split into three panels (with very iPhone 5-like proportions) but the white plastic ends above and below the metallic silver middle section look a bit cheap. A shiny chrome ring around the edges just adds to the confusion.

The front face is pretty standard. The three Android navigation buttons below the screen aren't backlit, but at least they're visible. The phone is completely sealed, so you can't get at the battery. There's a neat tray on the right edge which holds both, the Micro-SIM card and microSD card, and sits perfectly flush with the side of the device.

The power and volume buttons are on the left, which takes a bit of getting used to. The power button is in fact beneath the volume rocker, so it's really easy to hit the wrong key by accident. The camera lens sticks out quite a bit from the rear, which is always annoying as it could lead to scratches. The only Xolo logo on the whole device is relatively unobtrusive and placed in the centre of the silver panel. Interestingly, there appear to be twin stereo speakers on the rear as well. These are oriented in landscape mode, so we look forward to testing the audio and video playback experiences on this phone.

While the Q1200 itself looks quite solid, we can't say the same about its bundled accessories. The charger and headset feel extremely cheap, and even the bundled snap-on case isn't anything to get excited about.

Features, specifications and software

Xolo stays true to its budget roots with a MediaTek MT6582 processor with four cores running at 1.3GHz. There's 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage space, which are both standard for this price range. The 5-inch screen has a comfortable resolution of 720x1280 pixels - anything lower and we would have been quite annoyed! There's Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS, and all the usual sensors. Overall there's nothing exciting at all about the Q1200's internals.

While we don't fault the budget hardware, it's disappointing to see that the Q1200 is still stuck on Android 4.2.2. That, combined with an unusually ugly default UI skin, really detracts from the usage experience. Xolo has really overdone the customisation here - app shortcuts and widgets are mixed haphazardly across the home screens, and there's no dedicated app drawer. An analog clock widget takes up an entire home screen, for example. The default wallpaper and icon set are way too busy, and it's really hard to see what's going on sometimes

Luckily, you can swap themes, wallpapers, and even lock screens without too much trouble. These are more than just cosmetic changes, though there's no indication of it. By trial and error, we discovered that the 'Business' theme was the most similar to classic Android, and even had a distinct app launcher. However most of the available choices (and even the ones downloadable from Xolo's online gallery) are just as ugly as the default 'Simple' theme.

There are various minor tweaks - a CPU usage meter in the About page of the settings, a totally customised notification area, configurable shortcuts, a data connection speed counter in the taskbar, a floating task manager and audio/video windows, a "game mode" that locks the Back and Menu keys, and a Read Mode that just always keeps the screen on.

Xolo's big push for the Q1200 is software customisation, including gesture and voice recognition features. For some reason, there's no easy way to discover or get to these features - we found some of the gestures and "cold screen access" features buried in assorted submenus in the Accessibility section of the Settings app. Even the most useful ones, such as allowing a double-tap to phone the screen from sleep, are hidden away and poorly labelled.

There's no explanation of what some items such as "non-touch operation" are, but we eventually discovered that you can tap and hold some of them to display a pop up explanation. Without the popups, there's no way to know what the differences between "generic mode" and "performance mode" are, or how things labelled "non-touch unlock" and "non-touch switch in launcher" are supposed to work. After playing with them for a while we were left with mixed feelings - some did work, and we can see potential here for users with mobility impairments, but we wish we could have switched gesture recognition on and off more easily. There's no shortcut in the notifications shade, and sometimes it isn't worth the lag and potential misinterpretation of gestures.

Also buried in the Accessibility options are the settings for voice control. This feature is extremely limited in scope, and pales in comparison to Siri, Google Now, or even the basic voice command features of older phones. You can only accept or reject incoming calls, trigger the camera shutter (when the app is already open), and silence or snooze alarms. That's it - we wish Xolo had just worked with Google's existing features instead.

There's a Xolo Care app for registration and contacting customer service, and a Xolo Secure app which lets you back up personal data and lock your phone if it's stolen (which Google already does). The Xolo Power app is the most useful of the three - it lets you set battery-saving options such as limiting background data, shows how long you can expect the phone to stay alive in various scenarios, and even lets you know which apps have been draining the battery the most.

Camera
Xolo's camera app is fairly good. There are shortcuts for the flash and voice command feature, plus a menu of options including HDR mode, panorama mode, "smile shot", and something called "professional mode". This opens up options related to the image size, white balance, scene mode, number of shots in burst mode, exposure compensation, self timer, ISO, hue, saturation, and auto exposure metering. 

There's a lot to play with, but we can't understand why some everyday options are buried here and why others are duplicated. You also get filters and effects such as pin focus, miniature, poster, nostalgia, mirror, and fisheye. There are also a few funny cutouts that you can superimpose over people's faces as you frame your shots.

In terms of image quality, the Xolo Q1200 is actually surprisingly good. We were very pleased with the level of detail and accuracy in captured images. The phone struggled a little with closeups, and also totally flattened longer-range landscape shots, leaving no trace of depth or distance. Everything was generally sharply in focus. We managed to take some great shots in daylight as well as indoors and in low light. The flash was a bit overpowering, and you'll have to judge the distance between your subjects and the camera order not to drown them out. The front camera was far less impressive. It's adequate for video chats, but not photos that you'd like to keep or share online.

Performance

Although it feels smooth in operation, we were surprised to see that the Q1200 often stalled when we were exiting apps. There was an annoying delay and a 'Please wait' message on screen before the home screen popped up. Other than this, there wasn't anything wrong with the device.

Benchmark scores were consistent with those of the Oppo R1 which is based on the same MediaTek MT6582 processor but costs twice as much as this phone does. Graphics scores were way too weak for any kind of 3D gaming, though casual titles will work just fine. The Q1200 managed to push out only 6.4fps in GFXbench and scored only 2871 in the 3DMark Ice Storm simulation. General performance tests were satisfactory, considering this phone's price.

The speakers on the rear are certainly loud, but the sound is really thin and shrill. Mids and lows are completely absent. They also can't handle any complex music - we suffered through a lot of distortion in all our test tracks. The Q1200 can play low-bitrate 1080p video files, but with occasional stutters.

The battery lasted 5 hours and 51 minutes in our video loop test, which isn't all that great. We were honestly hoping for a lot more considering this phone's size and heft. We also noticed that it heated up quite a lot when pushing any intensive workload. Call quality was unremarkable, with no problems on either end.

Verdict

We like what Xolo has done with the Q1200 - especially its price. This is a great phone for just under Rs. 13,000 (street price), and unlike several others in its class, this one doesn't cut corners when it comes to screen resolution or storage space. The camera is also quite remarkable.

It seems as though Xolo was targeting the Motorola Moto G, which has become the de facto model to recommend in this price range. Put side by side, the Moto G's processor and software look better, but the Q1200 has a microSD slot and a great camera. It's an even match between the two.

Our impressions of the Q1200 are positive overall though we do wish Xolo would stop messing around with the software unnecessarily. The company is well on its way to becoming a top-tier player in India, but needs to fine tune its products a little more before it can get there.

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Android Wear Apps Finally Hit Play Store and Get their Dedicated Portion

Android Wear Apps Finally Hit Play Store and Get their Dedicated Portion:

While the initial batches of Android Wear devices have finally started to get shipped, Google is making sure users don’t miss out on the fun.

To keep users busy, it has created a dedicated section at the Play Store for Android Wear apps specifically.

The number of apps currently tops out at around 30, and includes Google Maps, Hangouts, Pinterest, The Guardian, Path and Rustastic PRO. It comprises mainly free apps but there are exceptions. Expect that number to increase in the near future as big, announced names like Twitter and Gmail are curiously missing.

As you probably know, the apps work in the same way as in most other smartwatches. You download the app on your smartphone, which then connects with your watch and syncing ensues. You’ll need to install the Android Wear app first of all. The webpage currently seems to only open via the URL given above; there isn’t a section shown individually.

Android Wear can currently be experienced on only three devices, which includes smartwatches from Motorola, LG and Samsung. Only the latter two’s smartwatches are on sale currently and cost $199 and $229 respectively.

Google’s Play Store version 5.0 is also live now, which mainly includes Google services and enhancements to Google’s new products. Notable additions include cross-device synchronizing in Play Games and new time-based “Quest” challenges.

If you’re thinking of maybe buying an Android Wear smartwatch in the near future, you may be happy to hear that its essentials, even though embryonic still, have finally been given birth.

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Samsung Reveals its Budget Smartphone Line-up for the Summer

fter Motorola had thrown its cards, it’s now time for Samsung to show its skills this summer with its new budget line-up.

The 4 phones: Star 2, Young 2, Ace 4 and Core II – will cater to the needs of a wide range of users, run Android 4.4.2 KitKat out-of-the-box with the company’s TouchWiz Essence UI on top.

Further, the Galaxy Core II, Galaxy Star 2, and Galaxy Young 2 are dual-SIM devices, while the Galaxy Ace 4 is a single SIM device and has been launched in 3G and LTE variants and will also be more widely available than rivals such as the Moto G.

The South Korean consumer electronics giant, as of now, has not revealed any pricing or availability details of the four smartphones.

Galaxy Star 2

Inspite of that fancy name, the Star 2 is the most humble offering, having a 3.5″ HVGA display at the front and a single-core 1Ghz processor. Also at home are 512 MB RAM and a 2 megapixel camera at the back, to remind you of 2010.

Storage is set at 4 GB expandable. A 1,300 mAh battery powers it up. Dual SIM compatibility is also on-board.

Galaxy Young 2

The Young 2 is the successor to the popular Galaxy Young. Packing a larger 3.5″ HVGA display, the phone retains the 1Ghz processor and 512 MB RAM of its younger sibling.

A 3mp camera can be found on the back. 3G, Bluetooth 4.0 and Dual SIM compatibility are onboard, as is the 4 GB expandable storage and a 1,300 mAh battery.

Galaxy Ace 4

The fourth iteration of Samsung’s popular phone finally brings notable specs, packing a 4″ display with 480 x 800 res. at the front. Under the hood sits a 1.2Ghz dual-core processor with 1 GB RAM and 4 GB expandable storage.

At the back is a 5 megapixel with 720p video, along with a VGA shooter at the front. Connectivity modes include Bluetooth 4.0 and, more importantly, 4G LTE.

An 1,800 mAh battery powers the phone.

Galaxy Core II

The top-end phone of the line-up comes with a 4.5″ display of 480 x 800 resolution. Underneath, you’ll get a quad-core 1.2Ghz processor with lesser, 768 MB RAM and 4 GB expandable storage.

At the back lies with a 5 megapixel camera with 480p video, as is the VGA shooter at the front. It has skipped 4G but comes with a 2,000 mAh battery.

Needless to say, the line-up is truly puzzling, hence, of you have your heart set on a phone, take one after judging your needs and wants. You’ll (still) be better off with the Moto G or E, though.

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ASUS might undercut the competition with low-priced Android Wear smartwatch

ASUS might undercut the competition with low-priced Android Wear smartwatch

Timi Cantisano

Neowin

With Samsung, LG, and Motorola entering the wearables category with Android Wear, it was no surprise that ASUS would try to add itself to the mix by introducing a smartwatch of its own. Although the former three devices have been unveiled at this weeks Google I/O, the ASUS smartwatch is still a complete mystery. While there isn't any hard evidence, a source is stating that ASUS will release a Android Wear device by the end of the year.

According to TechCrunch, ASUS will be aiming to release their Android Wear smart watch in September. Although there weren't many details, the source claims that ASUS is intending to undercut its competitors by a large sum. ASUS could unveil its smart watch somewhere in the neighborhood of $99 to $150 USD. This would be a significant difference, considering that the Samsung Gear Live will sell for $199.99 and the LG G Watch for $229.99.

While LG and Samsung might have the jump on the competition for now, Motorola, ASUS and others could potentially be rewarded for their delayed releases later this year. Although it's unclear what type of device ASUS will unveil, Motorola has a fairly unique Android Wear device that features a round display with rumored wireless charging.
The ASUS smart watch is expected to release in the later part of the year with a rumored price point of $99 to $150 USD.

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Samsung to Try Out Tizen Smartphone in Russia

Samsung appears to be edging away from Google with the announcement of a new smartphone that runs on the Tizen OS rather than on Android. The System Z has a long and difficult path ahead if its developers want to set it up as an independent smartphone system. "Historically [Samsung has] sucked with developers, which dramatically lowers their likely success here," said tech analyst Rob Enderle.

Samsung this week officially launched its long-anticipated Tizen phone, at the Tizen Developer Conference being held in San Francisco through Wednesday.

One description of Tizen is that it's an open source Linux-based operating system from Samsung -- but that might be open to debate.

The Samsung Z Tizen phone initially will debut in Russia in the third quarter. In the meantime, Samsung will boost its efforts to attract developers to create apps for the operating system.

Products already running Tizen include Samsung's NX300M smart camera and the Systena Tizen tablet, both launched in October; and the Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch, released in April.

The move to Tizen "is really about wresting control over the software that underpins [Samsung's] devices," Carl Howe, a research vice president at the Yankee Group, told LinuxInsider. "Samsung wants a platform that it can control instead of waiting to hear what comes out of Mountain View."

The Z's Specs

The Samsung Z has a 4.8-inch HD SuperAMOLED display with 1,280 x 720 pixel resolution. It runs off an Intel 2.3 GHz quad-core processor.

It supports 2D and 3D graphics and has a built-in fingerprint sensor similar to the one in the Samsung Galaxy S5. It also has a heart rate sensor.

Other sensors include an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a compass, barometer and proximity sensors, as well as an RGB ambient light sensor.

The Samsung Z also has GPS Glonass. It supports WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n HT40 and MIMO.

The Samsung Z has an 8-MP rear camera and a 2.1-MP front camera. It has 16 GB of internal memory, and a 64 GB microSD slot. It will be available in black or gold.

Tizen will let users browse the Web faster and use applications more effectively, according to Samsung -- but it did not say which OS it was comparing it to.

What's a Tizen?

Tizen grew out of work done by the Linux Mobile Foundation, which was founded by Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone to work on an open, hardware-independent mobile OS.

LiMo and the Linux Foundation announced the Tizen project in September 2011.

In January of 2012, the Tizen Association replaced MeeGo, a Linux kernel-based free mobile OS project that was the love child of Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo OSes, with the Linux Foundation's blessing.

Tizen is not a continuation of MeeGo; instead, it builds on Samsung Linux Platform, a reference implementation delivered within LiMo.

The Fuss About FOSS

Tizen is said to combine the best open source technologies from LiMo and the Linux Foundation while adding a robust, flexible HTML5 and WAC (Wholesale Applications Community) development environment.

However, some of the technologies used in Tizen reportedly have conflicting licenses.

"Samsung is a predatory company, and their model suggests their open source rhetoric is just that and little else," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told LinuxInsider.

"Samsung benefits from open source, but it's not yet clear that they are becoming big contributors to that corpus of software," the Yankee Group's Howe pointed out. As a result, Tizen "will simply be a derivative work of open source."

Stumbling Toward the Market

Samsung's efforts to make Tizen a viable alternative to Android have not gone smoothly. NTT DoCoMo and other supporters have pulled out of the association.

However, the Tizen Association gained 15 new members in February and reportedly gained another 37 in May.

Samsung also has had problems attracting developers. It has promised a special promotional program for all devs to run for one year with the Smartphone Z's launch, and plans to host Tizen local app challenges in Russia and other markets.

"Historically they have sucked with developers, which dramatically lowers their likely success here," Enderle said, "but, if they try and fail with this, Android could suffer a serious hit anyway, because Samsung drives most of the Android market."

On the other hand, if Samsung's strategy succeeds, he suggested, "they plan to largely replace Android with Tizen, locking out companies like HTC."

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Smartwatches the next big idea as sales of smartphones slacken

Smartwatches the next big idea as sales of smartphones slacken

Oh, you've got a Pebble," said the security researcher, Mikko Hypponen, looking at the smart watch on my wrist. "Me too. But mine" – he pressed a button on the black device on his wrist, and the small black-and-white screen washed over until a familar shape appeared – "mine has Flappy Bird."
He proceeded to demonstrate how he could play the maddening smartphone game on a wrist-sized screen, pressing the two buttons at its side to make the frequently ill-fated bird avoid the deadly pipes. Hypponen's quirky use of his Pebble is at least one answer to the question: what are smart watches for? As sales of smartphones slacken, because almost everyone who wants one has one, hardware companies are looking around for other gadgets to sell us. And the smartwatch is their latest idea. If they can sell us one each they're in the money. And if they can get us using apps on them, that would be even better.
It is hotly anticipated that LG will join the select group, which includes its South Korean rival Samsung, the US-based Pebble, Japan's Sony and a host of smaller players with names like Meta, Cuckoo and I'm Watch (sic). Motorola, which Google is selling to China's Lenovo, is also expected to introduce a smartwatch – the Moto 360 – this summer.
Although Google's Android software runs about three-quarters of the smartphones on sale outside China, there is more of a battle to see who will dominate the supposedly emerging smartwatch business. There were about 1.1m Android smartwatches shipped in 2013, according to the research company Strategy Analytics, compared to 190,000 Pebbles. But Samsung's new Gear 2 watch, released in April alongside its Galaxy S5 smartphone) uses Samsung's own software, not Google's; Pebble too continues to push ahead.
That could all change imminently: Google is releasing the Android Wear operating system software for LG's G-Watch and Moto 360 – both of which have only been glimpsed so far as Photoshopped mockups. Experience suggests that the real things will probably be less pretty, significantly heavier and have less battery life. But Android Wear will bring information about transport delays, weather and so on via the Google Now software presently found on Android phones.
Two questions about smartwatches. First: what are we really going to do with them? The answer, according to their makers, is see notifications from your smartphone, but without having to take it out of your pocket or bag. Using a low-power Bluetooth wireless connection, your watch can know about the emails, tweets and Facebook updates your phone has received, and show them on its screen. And, perhaps, play Flappy Bird.
Alternatively, the watch can control a phone, answering or rejecting calls, changing the music that's playing, or changing the volume. And with suitable apps on board, the watch becomes a tiny computer in its own right.
But perhaps the most important question is: if smartwatches are so great, why hasn't Apple made one? The answer may be that it just doesn't feel the time is right. Senior Apple executives have expressed interest in my Pebble (they've already bought their own, for experimentation) but Apple tends not to do anything until it judges that a market is ready. However it has registered the "iWatch" trademark in Europe and Japan.
Fewer people will want a smartwatch than a smartphone. A wander through eBay soon turns up people selling their first-generation Samsung Gear ("used once" is a common refrain). No one has yet figured out how to make a wearable computer desirable. Will Android Wear – or an Apple iWatch – change that?
It may be a problem with this whole generation of wearable devices. After six weeks wearing Google's Glass – which has a camera and small screen fitted just above the right eye – the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones has regretfully decided that "in its present form with its current software, Google Glass is a failure".
It's too early to say that about smartwatches. But there is the risk that like Google Glass, their manufacturers will promise much and find the devices fly no longer than the average Flappy Bird.

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Chinese Smartphones: 7 Compromises That You Make Against Lower Price

The recent influx of Chinese smartphones in Pakistan has gathered a lot of attention in the past couple of years. The main reason, just if you don’t know, is the affordable prices that come with these Chinese Smartphones.

Nowadays smartphones have changed the way in which most of us communicate and the large inventory of applications has allowed smartphone owners to make the most out of their phones. From playing games to watching videos on YouTube or surfing the internet on a smartphone has become a common practice. But the question that remains is that are these Chinese smartphones up to the task and worth their price?

Let’s find out.

No software updates

Now this might not be a huge problem for all, but all of the Chinese smartphones being launched to date are running Android 4.2 (Jellybean) out of the box which is about to be a year and a half old.

Over the Air updates are not expected to arrive anytime soon at the time of the writing of this article and might not ever become a reality since they require infrastructure which these smartphones companies do not possess.

Timely software updates have been an issue for even major OEM’s, let alone for these cheapo Chinese smartphones rebranding companies.

Performance

Most of the Chinese smartphones use Mediatek processors which are even though advertised as powerful quad core processors, are not that powerful.

They do offer good performance in light to moderate usage; however they still are unable to compete with even midrange offerings from other OEM’s. Most of these processors feature four Cortex A7 cores which are no longer competitive enough so basically it’s outdated hardware that you are going to buy.

Another hardware aspect which is a letdown is the presence of only 512mb of RAM which just isn’t good enough for multitasking. Although some companies have offered premium flagship smartphones with 2 gigs of RAM but their price is way too steep for their quality mobiles (pun intended). At that price point there are many other options to consider.

Just to let you know, that’s how these Chinese smartphone makers keep the prices low, i.e. by using inferior and out-dated hardware.

Poor Developer Support

Now this again might not be a problem for the ordinary Joe but for someone like me who prefers to be running the latest version of Android, even when their device has been discontinued has only one door to knock. Say hello to XDA Developers Forum. As the name suggests these forums are “made by developers, for developers”.

Where do we fit in? Well, as it happens you can always open the forum related to your device and checkout all the cool ROMs (ROMs are custom versions of android) made by developers for your phone. Earlier I mentioned the woes of software updates; the solution is simple just install a new ROM for your device based on a newer Android version. Pretty easy, right? The main problem is that there are no forums for Chinese phones.

Although nowadays one can find a ROM for some of these Chinese efforts, they are buggy and not to mention few in number and mostly based on Jellybean which pretty much kills the whole point.

Poor Customer Support

Most of these companies which introduce Chinese smartphones into Pakistani markets have only a couple of Service Centre’s in major cities which are filled with incompetent staff. Another issue that some handsets face are buggy software’s and corrupt firmware’s which waste a lot of time, energy and money. So buying a Chinese smartphone which works how it should is a blessing indeed.

Other common issues

Firstly, most of these handsets come with low resolution panels, which results in an overall unfavourable viewing experience. The quality of the touch panels are good in some phones whereas poorer in other models offered by the same company. Lastly, some handsets offer really poor rear camera which is a huge disappointment for all those photographer’s in us.

Pricing

Pricing was the essential factor that made these companies emerge so quickly out of the blue. Now these companies are offering smartphones for above 30,000 rupees which is too steep considering all the factors mentioned above but that must be the result of paying all those Bollywood actors, one can suppose.

Resale Value

Sooner or later the time comes when you need to and decide to upgrade your phone. At that point of time many decide to sell their old phone for some extra cash. Gone were the days when those good old Nokia phones fetched a good price. With new classified sites gaining popularity, the resale of smartphones has become very easy and the trend of selling phones after rare usage at a price lower than other sellers has increased which results in an overall decrease of resale value.

Alternatives

Now allow me to point out a few alternatives from recognized OEM’s that are lil old in age but they are still better than their Chinese Counterpart:

1. HTC One X: Equipped with an NVidia Tegra 3 processor clocked at 1.5 GHz and 1 GB of ram, not to forget the gorgeous design. This phone is a crowd pleaser and can be found for up to 25,000 rupees.
2. Samsung Galaxy S3: Even though it’s going to be two years since it was first released; this ex-flagship comes with a large developer support and a good camera is nothing to underestimate. Prices vary from 25,000 to 27,000 rupees
3. Motorola Moto G: One of the best budget phones ever made with timely updates and a striking display the Moto G is a force to be reckoned with. Prices vary from 20,000 to 25,000 rupees
4. LG Optimus G Pro: This is the most powerful and under rated device in this list. With a 1.7 GHz quad core snapdragon 600 processor and 2 GB of ram, this phone is a total beast. It can be found from 25,000 to 30,000 rupees.

Conclusion

At first glance these Chinese smartphones might look like a good bargain but the fact is that all these cons do not make them buying worthwhile especially when few old flagships pose tough competition.

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