Smartwatch

Car-maker Nissan unveils new Nismo smartwatch, and it’s actually pretty awesome

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

To say the smartwatch industry is on the verge of exploding would be an understatement. In addition to the Pebbles and the i'm watches, both Samsung and Sony just made major plays in the space. And rumor has it that Apple is also working on a wearable.

But out of all of the smartwatches we've seen thus far, this new one from Nissan might just be the best-looking. That's right, believe it or not, the auto-maker just introduced a connected watch of its own called the 'Nismo.' And it's actually pretty awesome...

Samsung unveils new Galaxy Gear smartwatch for $299

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 14, 2018

As expected, Samsung unveiled a new smartwatch today, alongside the Galaxy Note 3 and other new devices, at its IFA keynote in Berlin, Germany. The watch is called the Galaxy Gear, and it performs a number of integrated and standalone functions for $299.

Looking at the hardware, the Gear has a 1.63-inch AMOLED touchscreen display and a 1.9-megapixel camera built into the strap. It also has an 800MHz processor, 4GB of storage, and 512MB of RAM, as well as two mics and one speaker. More details after the fold...

Is this Samsung’s new smartwatch?

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 13, 2018

It appears that Samsung is going to beat Apple to the wearable tech space this week. The company has an 'Unpacked' media event scheduled for Wednesday, September 4, where it's widely presumed to unveil a new smartwatch.

Now, this category is still fairly new, so we really don't know what to expect to see on Wednesday. But if these images from VentureBeat are legitimate, Samsung's Galaxy watch will feature a 3-inch display and a chunky design...

Samsung to unveil Galaxy Gear smartwatch on September 4

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 14, 2013

Perhaps looking to spoil Apple's September 10 iPhone 5S/5C party, Samsung of South Korea is reportedly set to make a major wearables-focused announcement six days ahead of Apple's press conference. The South Korean conglomerate last week sent out invites for its August 4 Unpacked 2013 Episode 2 event to launch the Galaxy Note III.

As it turns out, the firm may have another surprise up its sleeve come August 4: a Galaxy-branded smartwatch designed to act as a companion device for its Galaxy smartphones and tablets...

‘Galaxy Gear’ trademark filing reveals Samsung’s iWatch

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 6, 2013

We know from before that Samsung has been looking to beat Tim Cook & Co. to market by releasing its own smarwatch ahead of Apple's rumored iWatch device. And as Apple continues to apply for numerous iWatch trademark filings around the world, there has been little solid evidence in the form of patent or trademark filings to indicate the Galaxy maker's seriousness about wearables.

A newly discovered Samsung trademark filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) changes all that. Dated July 29, the filing seeks to protect Galaxy Gear, a name for “wearable digital electronic devices in the form of a wristwatch, wrist band or bangle capable of providing access to the Internet and for sending and receiving phone calls, electronic mails and messages"...

Hot Watch: an iOS-compatible smartwatch with some innovative features

Cody Lee ∙ August 5, 2013

If you're still searching for proof that there's a market for smartwatches, look no further than Kickstarter. We've seen a number of projects surface on the crowdsourced funding site—most of which went on to be successful—and today we have another one for you.

Meet the HOT Watch, by Dallas-based think tank PHTL. Now, don't let the cheesy name fool you, this watch is packing a ton of features. It has all of the standard smartwatch stuff, like push notifications, as well as innovative stuff like 'Hands on Talk' technology...

Pebble smartwatch gets email notifications courtesy of app update

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 4, 2013

Good news for Pebble owners this afternoon. The company just posted an update for the smartwatch's companion iPhone app that adds support for incoming email push notifications, meaning you can get alerts on your Pebble watch when new emails arrive.

The app has to be running in the background of your iPhone for it to work, and it's only compatible with Gmail and other IMAP email services. But the feature should get substantially more functionality when iOS 7 is released, as it has better accessory support...

Meet Apple’s iWatch dream team

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 18, 2013

As evidence pertaining to a rumored Apple smartwatch mounts, so do Apple's recent tech celebrity hirings. For example, the past few weeks saw the poaching of former Adobe CTO and Flash proponent Kevin Lynch, who joined Apple as VP of Technology.

Another example: the outgoing French fashion label Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve is joining Apple to work on special projects as a Vice President reporting directly to Apple’s boss Tim Cook.

Along with the company's long-time hardware guru Bob Mansfield, head of all Design and Human Interfaces across the company, Jonathan Ive, iOS/OS X boss Craig Federighi and other high-profile execs, Apple is assembling an all-star cast tasked with figuring out its next breakthrough - wearables...

As iWatch anticipation builds up, smartwatch market to grow tenfold in 2014

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

The smartwatch market is about to explode - never mind not a single device from Apple or Samsung has shipped. Despite all those troublesome facts, one analyst firm is out with a prediction that five million "smartwatches" will ship in 2014, ten times the current number. How can this be? Welcome to defining tech 2.0. The research firm Canalys defines smartwatches as "smart wearable bands" that are worn on the body and run third-party apps...

Microsoft’s Surface Watch to come housed in exquisite translucent aluminum chassis?

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 15, 2013

Microsoft's rumored smartwatch will reportedly compete with Apple's rumored iWatch by designing the product around Surface and Xbox technology, while giving it a cool translucent shell along with a variety of colorized removable wrist bands for a dash of fashion statement. Oh, and it will supposedly do LTE on its own.

Sources familiar with the matter told The Verge that prototype smartwatch testing at Microsoft has moved over to the Surface team. The move is likely in line with a recent company-wide reorganization effort that saw Xbox and Surface hardware divisions folded into a single unit, with former Windows chief Julie Larson-Green now responsible for all of Microsoft's hardware efforts...

Report: Apple hiring aggressively to tackle iWatch design problems

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 12, 2017

According to people familiar with Apple’s wearable technology roadmap who spoke to Financial Times, the company is in search of "fresh expertise" and has begun hiring engineers “aggressively” to help with the rumored smartwatch project.

Now, Bloomberg said in February Apple had tasked 100+ engineers with iWatch work.

According to one source who spoke to The Financial Times on the condition of anonymity, the project has faced “hard engineering problems that they’ve not been able to solve”, prompting the leadership to look for outside help...

Pebble announces it’s surpassed 275,000 watch pre-orders

Cody Lee ∙ July 11, 2013

Folks still skeptical on whether or not there's a real market for smartwatches should checkout Pebble's latest blog post. The company says they've received over 190,000 smartwatch pre-orders since their Kickstarter project ended last year, giving them 275,000 total.

Even if you do that math at $99 a pop—which was just a limited time early bird special price—that amounts to over $27 million. Not bad for a year's work...