Sony (TYO: 6758) had enthralled us with its unveiling of the newest SmartWatch 3 and SmartBand Talk wearables last IFA 2014. However, despite the announcement of its availability this fall, we were still left wondering as to when exactly we’ll get our hands on one.

Well, the wait is finally over, at least for Japan. Sony finally announces that both wearables are going to be available around the end of November in the country. There are no exact prices revealed yet, but it is estimated that the SmartWatch 3 and the SmartBand Talk will be available in Japan with an equivalent price of about $230.00 and $165.00 respectively.

Giving a recap on both gadgets’ specs, the SmartWatch 3 will have a 1.6-inch transflective display that has a resolution of 320×320. This new iteration of the SmartWatch will ditch the old proprietary OS developed by Sony in favor of the more generic Android Wear OS. It will also ditch its OS backward compatibility option, and will only be compatible with Android 4.3 and higher. On the other side, the SmartBand Talk has a 1.4-inch 296×128 curved E-ink display, and is primarily designed for voice activated monitoring. It connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth, can take as well as receive calls, and can provide interactive notifications using its glare-proof display. Both wearables are compatible with Sony’s Lifelog app, allowing users to keep track of various things while wearing the device.

While Sony’s newest wearables are by no means revolutionary, they are generally considered as a significant step up from its predecessors, at least in terms of overall user convenience. Sony’s decision to use Android Wear OS for the SmartWatch 3 for instance, is a definite plus. The HD voice support and E-ink display features also provide the SmartBand Talk with a significant functionality boost.

Most importantly, the IPX8 and IPX6 certification standards of both devices basically make them weather-proof, so you can use them anytime anywhere.

The post Japanese launch date for SmartWatch 3 and SmartBand Talk revealed appeared first on VR World.

We always have known at some point that a true, direct rival would soon rise to compete with Google Glass, and it has indeed come in the form of Sony’s SmartEyeGlass. Now, the company has finally opened the smart eyewear for developers to tinker, with the release of its SDK.

First appearing as a simple prototype earlier this year last CES 2014, Sony’s SmartEyeGlass was reintroduced again a few weeks back at the beginning of September, during IFA 2014. Despite having the same concept, one of the most obvious differences of the SmartEyeGlass to the Google Glass is its display. Both use special projectors to display a floating holographic screen in front of the user, but Sony opted to make the SmartEyeGlass look more like a pair of ordinary eyeglasses. Its thin 3mm lens provides an almost 85% transparency rate, seamlessly combining its augmented reality info stream into the present visual environment.

The SmartEyeGlass will be packed a multitude of sensors including a CMOS image sensor, accelerometer, gyro, GPS, brightness sensor and even an electronic compass. Just like Google Glass, it is capable of transmitting your location and notifying the user about it in real time. For now, the updated version runs on Android 4.1, connecting via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, though it is unknown if the final version would use a proprietary OS similar to some of Sony’s other recently developed devices.

As for the SDK, it will include an emulator and a few sample codes. Tutorials and a number of API references, usage guides and design/test guidelines will also be available to help developers grasp the overall app environment of the SmartEyeGlass.

There were several demo apps that showcased what the SmartEyeGlass could do as a final product. Most of which fall into the visual info feed category (its Cookpad app for example), providing the user with additional info related to anything seen by its mounted camera. However, with the release of its SDK, we can expect the SmartEyeGlass to show more of its potential functionality as developers release more Android apps for the smart device before its official launch.

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We always have known at some point that a true, direct rival would soon rise to compete with Google Glass, and it has indeed come in the form of Sony’s SmartEyeGlass. Now, the company has finally opened the smart eyewear for developers to tinker, with the release of its SDK.

First appearing as a simple prototype earlier this year last CES 2014, Sony’s SmartEyeGlass was reintroduced again a few weeks back at the beginning of September, during IFA 2014. Despite having the same concept, one of the most obvious differences of the SmartEyeGlass to the Google Glass is its display. Both use special projectors to display a floating holographic screen in front of the user, but Sony opted to make the SmartEyeGlass look more like a pair of ordinary eyeglasses. Its thin 3mm lens provides an almost 85% transparency rate, seamlessly combining its augmented reality info stream into the present visual environment.

The SmartEyeGlass will be packed a multitude of sensors including a CMOS image sensor, accelerometer, gyro, GPS, brightness sensor and even an electronic compass. Just like Google Glass, it is capable of transmitting your location and notifying the user about it in real time. For now, the updated version runs on Android 4.1, connecting via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, though it is unknown if the final version would use a proprietary OS similar to some of Sony’s other recently developed devices.

As for the SDK, it will include an emulator and a few sample codes. Tutorials and a number of API references, usage guides and design/test guidelines will also be available to help developers grasp the overall app environment of the SmartEyeGlass.

There were several demo apps that showcased what the SmartEyeGlass could do as a final product. Most of which fall into the visual info feed category (its Cookpad app for example), providing the user with additional info related to anything seen by its mounted camera. However, with the release of its SDK, we can expect the SmartEyeGlass to show more of its potential functionality as developers release more Android apps for the smart device before its official launch.

The post Sony Releases SDK for SmartEyeGlass appeared first on VR World.

While flying from Taipei to San Francisco for the usual September round of tech events, one story in this month’s MacWorld caught my attention: one of the editors was speculating how nice it would be to have a true full Mac in an iPhone size. Of course, Apple may be a little farther from merging the OS X and iOS than we thought earlier, but, what about looking at the same thing on the Wintel platform? Perhaps a Windows Phablet?

It could be argued that one big mistake Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) did with Windows Phone is to compete with Android and Apple (NASDAQ: APPL). Windows OS, as imperfect as it is, has one big advantage over both Android and iOS: it is a content creation-oriented environment, compared to content-playback environments on the other two. After all, Apple has OS X for content creation, while Google, well, searches for already made content, isn’t it?

Come back to the increasingly popular phablets, seemingly the smallest true computer format one can accept for everyday use. A 6-inch 2015 phablet, with a Bluetooth keyboard embedded inside its protective cover instead of wasting the screen space, can also have a say quad core 14-nm Atom processor, 4 GB RAM and 64 GB flash storage, not to mention FullHD or better screen resolution. Hmm, looks as good as today’s UltraBooks, doesn’t it? So technically it should be able to run a full version of Windows 8.1 or later, including Office and many other apps, without a hitch – something utterly impossible for any ARM-based phone, phablet or tablet, no matter how powerful it is.

Now, if I want to modify my Word document, Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation on the go, and I don’t want to open my PC for that, trying to do the job on those small Android ‘Office’ apps, including Microsoft’s own one, is either pain in the neck or just not doable. But, with true Office on true Windows, on an Intel (NASDAQ: INTC)-inside phable, the ultra-compact content creation and editing becomes possible.

Now, will Intel and Microsoft jump on this advantage while they have it, before the Android world catches up?

The post IDF 2014 Murmurings: A True Windows Phablet for Content Creationists? appeared first on VR World.

A day before Intel’s Developer Forum kicked off in San Francisco, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) officially unveiled the Xeon E5-2600 v3 known previously by its code name of Grantley.

On stage, Intel’s Diane Bryant, the company’s general manager of its Data Center Group, said that the “big data” economy was driving demand for a new series of Xeon Chips.

“The digital services economy imposes new requirements on the data center, requirements for automated, dynamic and scalable service delivery,” Bryant said on stage. “Our new Intel processors deliver unmatched performance, energy efficiency and security, as well as provide visibility into the hardware resources required to enable software defined infrastructure.

“We are continuing to be the most energy efficient processor on the planet,” she continued,” promising 27 world records in performance across the product line.”

“[Intel is] excited about the role this platform is going to play as we all collectively re-architect the datacentre from static to dynamic and from proprietary to open standards,” she later said on stage.

While the previous generation of Intel Xeon chips had a core count that went as high as 12, the third generation of Xeons offers up to 18 cores with clock speeds of up to 3.7 GHz . The Xeon E5-2600 v3 will also be the first in the series to support DDR4 RAM, which offers substantial clock speeds above DDR3’s JEDEC speeds as well as power savings due to lower operating voltages.

Another new feature of the Xeon E5-2600 v3 is the update of Intel’s Quickpath Interconnect (QPI) that’s capable of transferring data at 9.6 GTps, much faster than existing front side bus (FSB) technology.

To aid in the inquiry of fault detection, Intel is including a new range of telemetry sensors to give administrators more information and metrics on CPU usage, memory and I/O.

The new Xeon is available in 22 different versions that vary wildly depending on required clock speed and cores. Pricing begins at $213 and tops out at $2,072. For the workstation, the chip is available as the Xeon E5-1600 with pricing ranging from $295 to $1,723.

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At IFA in Berlin Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) shared more details on its upcoming Broadwell chip — but didn’t expand much above and beyond what was already shared at Computex — while promising “more Broadwell” for next year.

Intel’s Broadwell promises big gains in power efficiency. Under the “Core M” line, targeted towards notebooks with Intel’s Ultrabook moniker, Intel says that Broadwell can achieve CPU performance that’s 50 percent faster, GPU performance that’s 40 percent faster and battery life that’s up to 1.4 hours longer. All of this will be done in hardware that’s fanless thanks to the ultra-low TDP.

But that’s old news. At IFA, Intel launched three Core M CPUs: the 5Y70, the 5Y10a, and the 5Y10. The naming scheme Intel has chosen for the new chips breaks down as the following. The “5″ roughly refers to the fact that it’s similar to a Core i5;  whereas the“Y” is the chip type (Broadwell-Y). The “a” at the end of 5Y10a means it’s scalable down to a TDP of 4W. All the parts come with Intel’s HD 5300 graphics and the clockspeeds range from 2 GHz with the 5Y10 and 2.6 GHz with the 5Y70.

The chips will also come with Intel’s new audio DSP called Smart Sound Technology (for more on that see the author’s previous coverage here).

As far as design wins go, HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Asus all announced machines using Broadwell at IFA in Berlin targeting release dates for the late fall and Christmas season.

But the real launch of Broadwell won’t be coming until 2015 owing to delays in the manufacturing process. Intel has publicly stated that “more Broadwell” will be coming in 2015 — but is keeping its earlier promises to launch the chips this year. Broadwell chips for desktop PCs, known as the “Broadwell U,”  be under Intel’s Core brand early next year.

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Sony (NYSE: SNE) had a lot of surprises for us during the past few days, and one of it is the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact. Unveiled just a few days ago during a press conference at IFA 2014, this new sleek tablet offers the usual underwater functionality, plus a level of thinness that would literally make you feel like it’s nothing.

The Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact has an 8-inch full-HD (1920×1080) screen, which quite typical for most tablets today but nevertheless great. It has a miniscule thickness (or thinness) 6.4 mm and an equally almost insignificant weight of about 270 grams. This provides the unit with a brand new level of thinness, which, when combined with its handy form factor, makes it one of the lightest high-spec devices ever built yet.

But that’s just part of the hype. As part of Sony’s standard way of providing multi-platform integration feature to their devices, the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact will have a PS4 remote play option. A simple Wi-Fi connection would enable a user to play PS4 games on the tablet while using a Dualshock 4 controller. A special game mount (GCM10) is even available so you can simply snap the tablet onto the controller to make gaming more comfortable.

The Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact even has other audio and video enhancement perks, such as Sony’s propriety Triluminos display and DSEE HX (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) technologies. Oh, and let’s not forget its IP68 rating standard, in case you’re interested in streaming PS4 gameplay videos as you take your morning shower.

For its innards, the unit is powered by a 2.5 Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor. It has 3GB of RAM and holds a basic storage capacity of 16 GB. Outer ports and peripherals include an 8-megapixel rear camera, 2.2-megapixel front camera, a Micro USB 2.0 port, and a micro SD card slot (128 GB max). Available wireless options include Wi-Fi, NFC, LTE (4G), and TD-LTE (4G). OS is Android 4.4.

The Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact will be available internationally this fall.

The post Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact is PS4 Remote Play Compatible appeared first on VR World.

At its Unpacked 2 event in Berlin, co-hosted with an event in New York City, Samsung (KRX:005930) unveiled the Galaxy Note 4.

The hotly anticipated fourth edition of Samsung’s genre-defining tablet comes with a quad-core 2.7 GHz Snapdragon 805 SoC that packs a 620 MHz GPU, a 5.7-inch 1440p display, a 16 megapixel rear facing camera and a 3.7 megapixel front facing shooter.  Samsung will be packing 3 GB of RAM onto the device, and giving users the option for 32 or 64 GB of internal storage. The phablet itself  comes it at 6 inches by 3.1 inches wide by 0.34 inch thick. It weighs 6.2 ounces. The phone will be runing Android 4.4.4 KitKat.

Arguably the defining feature of the Galaxy Note 4 is its high-resoluton AMOLED screen. The 1440p resolution — the highest in the industry — means the Galaxy Note 4 will be displaying things at 2,560×1,440 pixels. The Galaxy Note 4 isn’t the first device to use this ultra-high resolution, but the inclusion of that resolution with the phone effectively makes it now a gold standard.

Like Samsung’s other recently launched smartphones, the Galaxy Note 4 includes a heart-rate monitor and a fingerprint sensor.

The Galaxy Note 4 will be launched globally in October. Pricing will depend on whether the end user has the device on or off contract.

Samsung, which once enjoyed one half of a virtual duopoly in the smartphone market with Apple, needs a big hit and a lot is resting on the success of the Galaxy Note 4. Samsung’s profits have weakened upon increased competition in the space, but the Note series of phones have proven to be a reliable success with many copycats springing up since their introduction in 2011.

The post Samsung Unveils The Galaxy Note 4 at ‘Unpacked’ Event appeared first on VR World.

Being the world’s largest notebook vendor, Lenovo has a great relationship with Intel, which it is leveraging by launching a new Intel-powered tablet running Android, dubbed the Lenovo Tab S8. As the name indicates, the tablet is an 8-inch offering featuring a full-HD IPS display. With most tablets in the low-cost Android segment running Qualcomm or MediaTek hardware, Lenovo is banking on Intel’s Bay Trail architecture for the Tab S8.  

Under the hood, the Tab S8 is powered by the 1.8 GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3745 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal memory, frontal speakers and Android 4.4 KitKat. Although there isn’t a 64-bit version of Android available, when Google does launch a 64-bit version, Intel claims that the Bay Trail processor will offer significant advantages even though the amount of RAM is less than 4 GB. One reason why Intel was unable to find significant hardware wins with the Bay Trail line of CPUs has to do with energy efficiency, and with the Tab S8, the situation does not seem to be rectified, as the 4290mAh battery is claimed to offer a battery life of just over seven hours. 

Other features of the Tab S8 include an 8 MP camera with auto-focus and a wide F2.2 lens, 1.6 MP front shooter, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. Those looking for faster Wi-Fi ac connectivity have to look elsewhere as Lenovo still does not seem inclined to offer the latest Wi-Fi standard in its low-cost products.

With dimensions of 209.8 x 123.8 x 7.9 mm and a weight of 299g, the Tab S8 is in-line with other 8-inch tablets in this segment, like the Galaxy Tab S 8.4. Lenovo is also offering four color variations of the tablet — Ebony, Blue, Canary Yellow and White — although availability will be based on the region.

Lenovo is targeting the US market with the Tab S8, which will be available in the country later this month for $200 for the Wi-Fi variant. An LTE version is in the works, and will be available later this year. Although the vendor is focusing its attention of the US market with the 8-inch tablet, an inter nation launch is also on the cards. 

The post Lenovo Announces Intel-Powered Tab S8 appeared first on VR World.

In an announcement for next month’s for IFA Berlin, Samsung [KRX:005930]  has unveiled a slew of 4K UHD streaming video content partners to strengthen its 4K UHD content offerings. As of right now, if you buy a Samsung 4K TV that isn’t one of the curved displays, you won’t get any 4K content at all with your TV. However, if you do buy one of Samsung’s new curved 4K TVs then you get a $300 1TB hard drive filled with 4K content containing five movies.

In the announcement, the company announced multiple partners to help expand its 4K content library through streaming capabilities. The services include: Amazon, Netflix, maxdome, Wuaki.tv, and CHILI. From Samsung’s blog:

“The company plans to launch Amazon’s UHD VOD service in October globally, and has also expanded Netflix’s UHD VOD Service in Europe, which has been available in the U.S. and other countries since last March. Netflix kicked off its UHD streaming service with “House of Cards Season 2,” a popular US TV series, which is now available on Samsung’s UHD TV.” 

Clearly, Samsung has mistakenly beaten Amazon to its own announcement and announced Amazon’s new 4K Video on demand service which will launch in October. Amazon 4K content will likely include Amazon original shows of which there are currently about a dozen.

What will be interesting is to see whether or not Amazon will include this service as part of Amazon Prime or if Amazon Prime will get any “included” 4K content as part of the Amazon Prime video service. At this point, there are very few details that talk about how and what Amazon will do, but the good thing is that all of those early adopters of Samsung 4K TVs won’t be stranded for much longer without content. Sony’s customers are already pretty well stocked with 4K content thanks to Sony’s own library and DRM’d content delivery box. However, Samsung is working with hollywood studios and hardware providers like Western Digital to standardize 4K content delivery so that it can be safely downloaded and viewed by consumers.

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