Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has announced several new features for its upcoming smartwatch, the Apple Watch, during the manufacturer’s Spring forward event.

Tim Cook called the smartwatch “the most advanced timepiece ever created,” detailing how the device is a “comprehensive health and fitness companion.” The smartwatch is accurate within 50ms of the Universal Time Standard, and comes with many different watch faces and offers users the ability to customize watch faces.

Apple showcased a Glances feature that is accessible by swiping out from the bottom of the watch face. Glances allows users the ability to check heart rate, weather and other information that can be customized. With the built-in speaker and microphone, you can answer calls through the watch directly.

Apple Pay integration was also mentioned, as well as interaction with Siri, and the ability to receive notifications from iPhones on the watch.

Given that the Apple Watch SDK has been available to developers for months, app functionality was also highlighted. For instance, Apple Watch can be used as a digital boarding pass, and can be used to book a cab directly through services such as Uber.

If you’re traveling, hotel information — such as confirmations as well as room numbers — are available directly from the watch. You even have the ability to bypass a hotel’s front desk entirely by using the watch to unlock your room. There will be a dedicated section on the iTunes Store that will allow you to browse apps tailored for Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch comes with a new magnetic connector that automatically clicks into place upon brining the watch in the vicinity of the connector. The watch itself has a battery life that is touted to last 18 hours on a single charge.

There are all-new ways of communication, with the side button coming with the ability to connect your Apple Watch with another Apple Watch through a feature called Digital Touch.

In terms of fitness tracking, the Apple Watch tracks your daily movements and comes with a reminder feature that lets you know if you’ve been idle for too long. There are also weekly statistics that highlight your activity, and based on the amount of exercise you’ve received, the following week’s schedule is set.

Apple Watch Sport edition features anodized aluminum, with prices starting at $349 for the 38mm model and $399 for the 42mm variant. The stainless steel model comes in 38mm and 42mm, will cost $549 and goes up to $1,049 based on the band.

Apple Watch edition — with 18-carat gold cases — comes with custom designed bands that are also made of solid gold. The Apple Watch edition will be sole in limited quantities, and will be priced starting from $10,000. Pre-orders begin April 10, with the devices available at retail locations for customers interested in viewing the watches on display.

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Samsung (KRX: 005930) is in a tough position in the smartwatch market. The company has released more devices than any other major player — a total of six — but not all of them have been a stunning success. In fact, it’s first venture into the field, the Galaxy Gear, had a stunningly high return rate of 30%.

But there have been some successes in the field. The Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches had a much better reception than the initial Galaxy Gear. But this year with the launch of the Galaxy 6 and Galaxy 6 edge, there was no companion smartwatch.

Why? Because Samsung says it needs to take a pause from the market.

“We’ve been introducing more devices than anybody else,” Samsung Mobile Marketing Executive Vice President Young-hee Lee said to the Wall Street Journal in an interview. “It’s time for us to pause. We want a more perfect product.”

The smartwatch market is about to become a lot more competitive. As VR World discussed earlier there is still a demand for smart watches. The success of the crowdfunding campaign for the Pebble Time is proof of this. Samsung is wise to decide to step back from the market  and reassess its strategies. There will be a lot to learn from the Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) Watch, as well as the upcoming release of the Pebble Time.

Samsung’s first product, the Galaxy Gear, felt rushed. It was buggy and was light on functionality. It will be interesting to see what lessons Samsung can learn during its pause.

The post Samsung’s Smartwatch Strategy: ‘Pause’ appeared first on VR World.

People visiting Barcelona this month for the Mobile World Congress 2015 will be greeted by Huawei’s (SHE: 002502) new smart watch, which introduces a mix of old and new in a very good way.

The new wearable was simply introduced as the “Huawei Watch”. The basic overall design of the watch exude a classic look and finish, something that we are accustomed to with old-century type watches. The screens are even glazed in sapphire crystal, as well as being encased in stainless steel, which clearly introduces it as more than just another wearable. What’s obviously different though is that this is a smart watch, and has all the nifty perks modern wearables have today. It has a 1.2 Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage. The screen itself shows off its bright and crisp 1.4-inch 400×400 AMOLED display.

Like with many other wearables, it will feature various kinds of sensors and monitors, including a barometer, a heart rate monitor, and a standard accelerometer/gyroscope. It will also use the Android Wear OS.

As the advertisement states “classic design and impeccable craftsmanship” meshed with “state-of-the-art wearable technology”. So far, at least according to the demo announcement, the “Huawei Watch” does not disappoint. The old, stylistic look certainly warrants it the premium treatment, as quaint as it may seem to be. Performance-wise, it should be able to handle the Android Wear OS, though we may have to see the actual commercial version to firmly assess this.

Ad placements at the Barcelona Airport have been welcoming arriving guests with a discreet announcement for its “Huawei Watch”, even since before Huawei’s official announcement of the new product a few days ago. The billboards, which has the slogan “Timeless design. Smart within.” written on it, are basically teasers that introduced one of its three possible color versions: silver, gold, and black.

No prices announced yet, but Huawei announced that it will be available very soon.

The post Huawei Teases New Yet To Be Released Wearable appeared first on VR World.

Fujitsu Labs has announced its development of a ring-type wearable device that is designed to provide visual interface input to eyewear type wearable devices.

The concept of using head mounted displays, or at the very least eyewear tech for work related activity has been already discussed and proposed as early as when the devices are still being demonstrated a few years back. However, even though these devices remove the need to use a tablet or another handheld device for data access, the method for manipulating the data visually on these devices are currently limited. Even if there have been a handful of other smart rings that can provide convenient input, the function is usually just in the form of pre-set gestures.

Fujitsu Labs, aiming to solve this inherent problem, developed a new smart ring that can be used to make the user’s fingers ‘interact’ with the wearable device screen. This allows the user to view the information displayed on the device and write data as if it was actually in front of them.

Packed with an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and magnetic sensors, the wearable tracks the user’s hand and finger movements. It then follows a trail, which is promptly analyzed and interpreted as manual input for an eyewear device’s screen. The intuitive controls make the device easy to use, as it does not require special training. It can be especially useful in workplaces where calculations, inventory/item organization and manual number crunching are frequently required.

Additionally, when inputting letters and characters (currently in Japanese), Fujitsu Labs has also developed its own correction algorithm for the device. This would allow the device to properly display inputted letters without the need to worry about visual spacing, a previously common problem with apps having similar functions in tablets and smartphones.

The ring-type wearable device will have NFC tagging functionality, as well as Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) connectivity. Fujitsu Labs plans to test the device early this year, following its eventual implementation later during the same year.

The post Fujitsu Labs Develops ‘Writing’ Smart Ring Wearable appeared first on VR World.

Two concerned fathers temporarily lost their children – one in a parade crowd and the other in a crowd of shoppers. Both created a wearable tracking device to prevent this from happening again. The products are amazingly similar and are competing for attention at CES 2015 and on Indiegogo.

The companies sit on two sides of the world. Child Angel is out of Staffordshire in the UK. Kiband is out of Utah in the US. The companies base their technology on two different approaches. Child Angel tracks a child’s movements by combining GPS, GSM (Global System for Mobiles) and Wi-Fi hot-spot triangulation technologies. Kiband uses Bluetooth 4.1 and an audible alarm approach.

Kiband, named for the CEO’s four year old child Kimball, argues that coverage, accuracy, and cost of GPS are questionable. Their smartband technology covers 5 to almost 200 feet in any direction and you don’t need to interpret a map on your cell phone to locate a child who wanders too far. Kiband lets out an 85 decibel alarm alerting the parent and those around the child until it and the child are back with the parent. The band displays contact information for do-gooders trying to return the child to his parents.

Kiband smartphone display of child’s proximity.

Child Angel, on the other hand, has no distance limitations. It notifies parents via its cell phone app and displays the child’s location on a GPS map. The battle has begun with Child Angel adding comments on its project site regarding the limitations of Bluetooth … as we’ve noted is used by their competitor, Kiband.

Its exact pinpoint location is sent by Child Angel wrist band to smartphone.

Another differentiation is the ability to remove the band from the child’s arm. Child Angel sends an alarm to the parent if the band is removed and marks its location, whereas the Kiband cannot be removed until unlocked by the parent via their cell phone.

The free downloadable Child Angel app is compatible with Android, Samsung, Apple iPhone, and iPad. The band’s rechargeable battery can last for 48 hours. The band is “splash, sand, and sticky proof” and geared to those 3-13 years. Kiband is fashioned for children from 18 months to 7 years. Child-friendly Child Angel can be customized with a click-on image. It can also be imprinted with a licensed business partner’s logo.

Both provide boundary settings such as Geo Fencing on Child Angel. If your child goes beyond your pre-set safe zone an automatic alert goes to your cell phone. Kiband differentiates itself by claiming to alert you to your child’s location before they disappear, not after. Its goal is to prevent a lost child, rather than trying to find one after they go missing. The band involves the child in their own safety by vibrating when they wander too close to the perimeter set by their parents. It is not only water resistant, but if submerged will put out an alarm.

Child Angel’s wrist band design.

Spencer Behrend, Founder and CEO of KiLife Tech, claims a background in entrepreneurship, technology of an unspecified nature, finance, and corporate leadership. Heather Palmer has the unique title of CMO – Chief Mommy Officer – bringing a mother’s touch to the company. None of the bios of the rest of the team mentions any technology experience, leaning on backgrounds in operations, finance, and social media. However, the company profile claims to be “a diverse collection of tech entrepreneurs.”Andrew Purcell is the father and CEO behind Child Angel. His team consists of persons with financial, organizational, and sales skills. No one mentions having technology expertise, but their project site shows how the device was developed. Child Angel’s Indiegogo project has raised $2,572 USD towards its more aggressive $100,000 goal with 24 days left.

Kiband reveals its electronic composition.

Kiband on Indiegogo has raised $10,754 USD towards its $25,000 goal with 10 days left. Its sale price is pegged at $110.

As a parent, you have choices to make regarding your child’s safety. Child Angel and Kiband offer two slightly differing ways to keep track of a busy and mobile kid. Which would you choose?

The post Two Lost Kids; Two New Wearable Tracking Devices at CES 2015 appeared first on VR World.

Eyewear tech may be convenient and look snazzy, but we can’t help but feel like these wearables aren’t supposed to make you it look natural on those who are wearing them. There are of course exceptions, but the limitations of using a specific eyewear for these devices don’t really make it more appealing to those who already wear one.

Thankfully, Sony (TYO: 6758) has a new concept that might just solve this very fundamental problem. The company had recently unveiled the Single-Lens Display Module concept, which is basically a device that can be attached or equipped to any existing eyewear, effectively turning it into eyewear tech. The technology introduced by the concept is quite similar to what other wearables have today, and functionally it even bears a slight resemblance to Sony’s previously developed EyeGlass wearable concept. However, the critical difference is that it uses an OLED microdisplay to project an image onto any glass, instead of displaying it to an already fixed eyewear build.

As for its specs, there are no technical announcements just yet, but Sony claims that its 0.23-inch OLED screen can produce an image with a resolution of about 640×400 pixels. From the way Sony introduces it, the device may function more of a digital augmentation device for providing environmental information. It can, for example, provide standard wearable tech functions like visual health tracking, or provide analysis of your surroundings when doing certain activities. The central control board shown in the sample images will have its processor, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth receivers, as well is its sensor hub.

Of course, as it is still a concept, additional features, technical specifications, as well as its final design may still be in the works. However with Sony officially announcing its demonstration at the upcoming CES 2015, we might not have to wait long to see what it really does, and how it would differentiate itself from all other wearable tech that already preceded it.

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Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has decided to throw its hat into the wearables arena with their own smartwatch/fitness band called the Microsoft Band — no it isn’t a new music group made of Microsoft executives. Microsoft doesn’t specifically call the Microsoft Band a fitness band, but the repeated focus on fitness and health across this product’s features makes it clear that’s Microsoft’s focus and that productivity comes second.  This is most evident in Microsoft’s launching of Microsoft Health, which is a platform to help users of the Microsoft Band to track their fitness and health all in one app, which also happens to work on Android, iOS and Windows Phone.

The company has also already gotten themselves partnered up with Runkeeper, Gold’s Gym and MyFitnessPal in order to give you the best guided fitness experience possible.

In terms of hardware, the Microsoft Band appears to be right up there with their competitors featuring a 1.4″ LCD with a 320 x 106 resolution and 48 hours of battery life, without GPS enabled. It also comes jam packed with more sensors than virtually any other device out there. It features an optical heart rate sensor, a 3-axis accelerometer and gyro, a gyrometer, a GPS sensor, an ambient light sensor, a skin temperature sensor, a UV sensor, a capacitive sensor (display), a galvanic skin response sensor and a microphone. It also features Bluetooth 4.0 (LE) which is what allows for the 2-day battery life. This is all powered by dual 100 mAh batteries, which is why the band cannot be adjusted too much in terms of size. As a result, the watch will come in three sizes and you need to figure out which one fits the thickness of your wrist best.

The Microsoft Band also has a ton of other features which include the 24-hour heart rate monitor, run tracker, step tracker, calorie tracker and sleep tracker. It also has guided workouts and goal setting for the fitness conscious person that takes working out seriously.

There are also tons of alerts and notifications that are also available on the Microsoft Band, which include text messaging, calls, calendar, email and smart notifications for certain apps. There is also — shockingly — a watch mode where you can actually use it as a watch.

The Microsoft Band unsurprisingly also has Facebook and Twitter integration, allowing you to stay up to date on all your social media without needing to take out your phone. There’s also Cortana integration for Windows Phone 8.1 users, allowing you to take notes and set reminders using the Microsoft Band.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, the Microsoft Band also has weather, finance, and a timer/stopwatch functionality, which is admittedly expected of almost any wearable nowadays. The interesting tie-up that Microsoft did make, however, was with Starbucks to allow you to integrate your Starbucks card into the Microsoft Band, adding their own Seattle touch to this device and possibly pleasing a lot of caffeine addicted users.

The $199 Microsoft Band can already be purchased online via Microsoft Store or in person at any Microsoft Store. Be aware that there are three different sizes and that you should get yourself sized before buying one.

The post Say Hello to The Microsoft Band, a Fitness Band for All appeared first on VR World.

“Close your eyes and tap your heels together three times. And think to yourself, ‘There’s no place like home.’ And let all people know where you are”

Many of you might remember Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the classic Wizard of Oz.  Well, it’s coming to the real world, but instead of sending its wearer home though, this one will let everyone know you’re coming home instead.

Dorothy is the brainchild of iStrategyLabs, a Washington-based social-media marketing firm. The “ruby slippers” here is actually a small, pocket-sized wearable Bluetooth device, which is slipped inside your shoes. You use it much like how Dorothy uses the original one: you tap or lightly stomp your feet three times to initiate a command or action. By default, it sends the wearer’s smartphone a fake phone call notification, which we assume would be useful in social situations where straight withdrawal isn’t exactly the most polite option.

Alternatively, tapping your shoes with the device inside can also let you automatically create a custom message to your contacts. Along with your location data, the device can let your folks know where exactly you are at the moment using the same smartphone connection.

As interesting as its prototype may be, the Dorothy wearable protoype shown in the video is still at its earliest stages. In fact iStrategyLabs is currently looking for new ideas for added features, and are planning to further shrink down its size as it gets further developed. Also, there is also no word about its commercial release at the moment.

One additional feature the development team plans to do though is to connect the device with Uber’s ridesharing service. So, not only can you broadcast your location with it, but it might just be able to literally send you home in the future, albeit using the taxi that it called.

The post Dorothy Wearable Lets You Tap Your Feet For a Message appeared first on VR World.

From the legendary movie ‘Grand Prix’ in 1966 to controversial Breaking Bad TV series, TAG Heuer watches are presented as objects of desire. Today’s ad campaigns feature select number of actors, race drivers, F1 teams, pilots and the like, all touting the precision brought by TAG Heuer. Yet, the most precise watch you can buy is one of digital, not the analogue kind. Secondly, there is not one, but two generations of people that are growing up using a mobile phone to check for time, reducing the need for watches in its entirety.

Not even a week after Apple’s event, Reuters passed the comments made by Jean-Claude Biver, founder of Hublot and current head of watchmaking for LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) . His statement “We want to launch a smartwatch at TAG Heuer, but it must not copy the Apple Watch.” confirmed that the LVMH concern will make a smartwatch using the TAG Heuer brand. We believe this will not be just one product but a ‘platform’ which guarantees its reappearance in multiple watches not just in TAG Heuer, but across LVMH brands. Furthermore, the company is also pushing its electronics team to create another six-figure smartphone to rival Vertu.

Today, most avid watch buyers are ones that grew up in 1980s, with Casio G-Shock and Swatch creating a generation of buyers that are in their 30s and 40s – going for the collectable editions with prices measured from thousands even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Generation growing up today would probably skip on watches entirely, until we start seeing wearable devices such as FitBit followed by Pebble, LG and Samsung smartwatches, and now Apple entered the frame with its Watch (does the lack of ‘I’ means Apple’s 2015 phone will simply be called – Apple Phone? Apple Pad?). All of the smartwatch/wearable device push from the manufacturers is bringing horologie back into fashion, and if you are a smart manufacturer (pun intended) – you will have to react.

We don’t expect the smartwatch to make appearance before annual watch gathering in Baselworld (March 19-26, 2015) while the new smartphone is planned to make an appearance at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (March 2-5, 2015).

All in all, luxury giant LVMH is reacting. The question is, how long until every other watch vendor starts following? We can only hope they won’t engage into a race to the bottom, like the standard consumer electronic companies.

The post LVMH Brand TAG Heuer to Launch Smartwatch in 2015 appeared first on VR World.

After failing to secure any major hardware wins with its mobile processors, Intel is shifting focus to the wearable segment by announcing a collaboration with watchmaker Fossil. Although details on any upcoming products were divulged it is likely that Intel will be leveraging wearable technology from Basis, a wearable technology manufacturer that Intel acquired earlier this year.

The wearable market itself is in its nascent stages, and although we saw a flurry of new device staunches at the IFA earlier this week, manufacturers are tinkering away at new form factors, like Samsung has with the Gear VR. In the smartwatch segment, the South Korean vendor recently unveiled the Gear S, a Tizen-based smartwatch that has a SIM-card slot for standalone connectivity. Meanwhile, other vendors like Motorola and LG have focused their attention on design, with the Moto 360 and G Watch R featuring a more traditional watch design.

A collaboration with Fossil isn’t Intel’s first entry into the wearable segment, as the hardware vendor announced a high-end smart bracelet earlier this week. Set to debut later this year, Intel’s smart bracelet is set to cost in the vicinity of $1,000. With the bracelet, Intel is looking to fuse high-end fashion with wearable technology, although it isn’t the first time both industries have collaborated — Google teamed up with designed Diane von Furstenberg in launching a more stylised version of Google Glass earlier this year.

Intel’s collaboration with Fossil is more indicative of a general trend in the wearable segment, one that is seeing more and more manufacturers looking to the fashion industry for new ideas. The oft-rumored iWatch is set to debut next week, and it should be interesting to see the features it offers.

As for Intel’s offerings in this segment, we should be hearing more about the vendor’s plans at the Intel Developer Forum, which is being held next week in San Francisco.

The post Intel Teams Up With Fossil For Wearable Technology Products appeared first on VR World.

Apple has been pushing heath and fitness heavily with their most recent campaign for the iPhone. This can be most noticeable in their recent ad campaign featuring Apple’s iPhone and a series of fitness applications and accessories, which include a multitude of wearables. Their campaign states, “You’re more powerful than you think.”

So, what is Apple getting at here, exactly? That the iPhone, and Apple, can be at the very core of your physical and health success. Surely, there are plenty of people that are already using many of these devices on both their Android and iOS devices, so that doesn’t necessarily set Apple apart from the rest. What will set Apple apart from the rest is how they will very likely incorporate a lot of these different wearables’ functionality into a single device.

According to some of our sources, Apple is looking to make the iWatch a very health-centric device rather than one that is about accomplishing tasks and being an extended digital assistant (See: Google Now + Android Wear). However, there are concerns that Apple’s focus on health with the iWatch may actually hurt them and could have sent the company back to the drawing board in order to increase the overall daily ‘usefullness’ of the device outside of health applications. But even so, Apple is rumored to be purchasing certain types of sensors that will be able to measure your heart rate and sweat in addition to movement data. They’re also becoming ever more serious about how they test these sensors and the functionality of their platform as they’ve been rumored to be spending millions on medical equipment from various manufacturers. The idea that Apple is buying medical equipment should be a pretty ridiculous one, but once you think about how serious Apple is about launching their first new product line in over 4 years, you’ll realize that they don’t want to make any mistakes.

So, there’s no doubt that Apple’s iWatch is going to have a health focus. The real question will be whether or not the iWatch will be almost entirely health focused, or if they will try to build in Siri integration and make the iWatch both functional and health conscious. Because, right now, Google and Microsoft don’t really have much by ways of health applications of their own, let alone hardware. So if Apple can build an iWatch that is health focused, they may already have a significant leg up on Google and Microsoft. Now, if you add heavy Siri integration and other helpful features there’s a good chance that Apple could once again set the standard for a new type of technology, but this time in wearables.

As of right now, I don’t think anyone has any concrete idea of when Apple will launch the iWatch, but from what it looks like it is still majorly in development and we probably won’t see it until next year. Obviously, if they launch sooner, it will put a greater burden on their competitors, but as of right now most of the smart watches from their competitors either haven’t launched yet or lack a native health functionality. Samsung and Qualcomm certainly have the lead in terms of health focus with their smartwatches, but it remains to be seen how far they’ll go and how they’ll compete against an Apple iWatch.

The post Apple's iWatch to Have Major Health Focus, A Mistake? appeared first on VR World.

When I found out that I’m actually going to Computex Taipei 2014, my first thought was – well, nothing. The fact is that through all of my journalist years I’ve heard news bits about an IT conference that is held in Taiwan every year for the last 33 years. Somehow, I couldn’t imagine myself being actually there on that very spot. I’m aware that as for all of you BSN readers, I don’t have to explain what it’s all about. Somehow though, I still like to think that I’m not the only one who’s been IT ignorant so maybe this typically chick-lit text will find its readers.

Computex Taipei 2014 Intro Page

If you’d ask someone who knows me in person, they would probably call me a geek. A girl, but, still a geek. It is true though, that even I am a great final user of many gizmos and gadgets, I couldn’t call myself a geek. Nowadays, when a girl needs a huge amount of gadgets and related applications, it is practically impossible to stay a total idiot. Or lives under a rock.

In that way I’m pretty much trying to go along with the news in the IT industry. For me, the most important thing that a gadget should have is accuracy. I want my mobile/laptop/tablet (etc.) to act fast, be accurate, simple to use and – to look nice. It’s not the matter of benchmarks, which as we know – today can be owned by the manufacturers of the said gadgets.

Yes, I can understand some guys drooling over some really ugly (but still very cool, expensive, hip, mega extra wanted) notebook as it was some hot chick from AVN Expo. Still, for me, my gadgets have to be pretty, and has to match my other accessories and has to be noticed.

That is way I’m pretty happy because of attending of this years’ Computex. I you consider that it’s my peer, and that every year it gathers top ICT elite, different innovators and entrepreneurs from all of the world – I believe that there is a hope of finding some very cool and useful stuff. As organizers announced during their press conference, this Computex should be impressive for launching the new ‘SmarTech’ area featuring smart wearables, 3D printing and the rest of the smart technology at all levels of everyday life. Who knows, maybe 3D printing opens our ways to some new fashion era.

Teuta wearing Google Glass at the W Taipei Hotel.

All in all, through the next few days, I will be there having my Google Glasses on – assuring that nothing comes out of my way. And of course, I’ll be in my feminine way informing you on what have I learned and found out.

The post Computex from a Woman’s Perspective, Part I appeared first on VR World.

According to the guys at Teardown.com the very hot Google Glass wearable computer from Google only carries a bill of materials of $80, which is about of of what we were expecting. It doesn’t really come as much of a surprise though, because Google Glass itself is incredibly old technology in terms of mobile and wearables and it really doesn’t provide much technological innovation. In fact, most people will be shocked to know that the SoC powering the Google Glass is in fact the same SoC that powers the failed Blackberry Playbook which was released more than 3 years ago with the same SoC. At the time of the Google Glass’ release, about a year ago, it was already running on 2 year old technology and was still being billed by the company as bleeding edge tech. The real truth of the matter is that Google Glass is being promoted as bleeding-edge when in reality we’re being sold technology that is at least 2-3 years old, which would be absolutely unforgivable in the smartphone industry. Imagine if someone tried to sell you a Blackberry Playbook for the same price as an iPad Air and convince to you pay way more on top of it.

Teardown.com’s Teardown of Google Glass

Sure, there was some research and development involved with the creation of the Google Glass, and the reality is that it doesn’t really have any comparable competitors. That’s why Google is able to effectively charge $1,500 for a device they could sell for $320 and still make a hefty profit. The software on the Google Glass is really where Google has put in the most effort with the device considering that a lot of its design and hardware was designed by another firm and acquired by Foxconn and then subsequently acquired by Google from Foxconn. In fact, Google recently bought more communications patents from Foxconn, which may indicate that perhaps Google needs an even stronger mobile patent portfolio than they already have. Or, they didn’t get all of the patents they needed to make Google Glass go mainstream.

Either way, Google Glass is grossly overpriced and underperforms in almost every way, mainly because of the old hardware. The battery life isn’t too great, it gets pretty hot, it isn’t very responsive and on top of all that, it looks pretty damn ugly. And when it doesn’t look ugly, it looks douchey, which is almost worse. Google Glass has a long way to go, no doubt, but it definitely gets people excited about wearables and wearable computing and hopefully there will be more actually useful apps for it soon. Oh, and Google needs to do a REAL Google Glass 2.0 hardware revision, not the one that they did late last year where they got rid of bone induction sound and added some optics adjustments and prescription glasses. Google needs to properly update Google Glass with newer hardware that gets better performance while consuming less power, they have plenty of low-power choices and it will be interesting to see whom they pick for the new SoC, if they ever do update the damn thing.

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Like it or not, we pay most of our attention to the gadgets we buy, not where we put them. Growing number of devices we have to wear daily resulted that the modern man defaults to a ‘manpurse’ – put one or two phones in, a wallet, keys and you find yourself in a bind when it comes to meeting the airline regulations of one carry-on and one personal item.

A while ago, we reviewed the second generation WTFJeans, as a way to put your phones in an easy to reach pocket which cleans the screen immediately (thanks to microfiber interior), but the innovative founder of the project came up with something even better – a double front pocketed jeans.

Third Generation of WTFJeans arrives on the market

The cellphone pocket still features microfiber interior, meaning your phone screen will be clean when you take it out, but the second pocket above it now features EM radiation shielding, meaning no radiation will hit your body as you wear one or two phones. This is a very interesting feature and we’re starting to have a question mark above our head why this was not the case with more fashion items…

Electromagnetic Radiation Shield is hidden inside the secondary pocket – but do remove it before washing!

Innovations do not stop there, as the jeans is anti-stain and water resistant, which is a welcoming innovation to the world of clothing. We like the quirkiness of the design, and while not for everyone, I will certainly get a pair of jeans which is not made in Indonesia, Vietnam or China.

WTFJeans are designed and manufactured in Europe. To use Apple’s terminology: Designed in Croatia, Manufactured in Serbia. And anyone who knows the history of South Eastern Europe knows that is collaboration effort had a difficult birth and a great result.

We wish the crew of WTFJeans best of luck in their future endavours, and in meanwhile, I’ll buy that 36/34 (I know, I know, I gained weight since V2). In meanwhile, watch the launch video…

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