SUBSCRIBE

Category

Watches

Watches

Best Buy To Start Selling Apple Watch August 7th

July 27, 2015

Best Buy Apple Watch

Been thinking about an Apple Watch but you want to check one out in person first and you don’t live near an Apple Store. Well good news, Best Buy announced Sunday it will be the first national retailer to sell the Apple device. Initially it will only be for sale in 100 locations, with another 200 added by the holidays. In total the chain will carry 16 models of the stainless steel and, less expensive, aluminum versions of the Watch. They will also stock approximately 50 accessories, including bands and watch charging stands. The additional sales outlets follows reports of conflicting sales estimates, with Slice Intelligence claiming a sharp drop in sales while Apple states that sales are stronger than ever. The Apple Watch is now for sale in 19 countries with New Zealand, Russia, and Turkey being added to the list at the end of this week.

Continue reading
by Doug Parker
Leave a comment
Watches

Despite Reports, Apple Watch Users Extremely Satisfied

July 21, 2015

Apple Watch Satisfaction Wristly

Despite conflicting reports of sluggish sales numbers, editorials of waining interest, and proclamations of a dud, according to a survey released this week user satisfaction with the Apple Watch is actually largely positive. In fact according to Wristly, who conducted the survey, the satisfaction numbers beat those of the 1st generation iPhone and iPad. 97% of Apple Watch users stated that they were either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the device. Wristly also broke down those numbers by user type and the “Non-tech User” group had the strongest response to the device (99% satisfaction). This is an important category for Apple since at the end of the day the Apple Watch is a consumer electronic that needs to be embraced by the mass populace to be successful. It is also worth noting that the “Tech Insider” group also viewed the device favorably, with a 96% satisfaction rating. Not all the numbers are rosy though; clearly Apple is loosing grip on its famous “ease of use” (also an issue for its Apple Music service). Head past the break to see the numbers broken out:  

Continue reading
by Doug Parker
Leave a comment
Watches

Apple Announces watchOS 2 With Native Apps

June 11, 2015

Apple watchOS 2 Announcement

At Apple’s WWDC conference this week the company announced watchOS 2. The new operating system will allow 3rd party developers to create apps that fully live on the Apple Watch and utilize of all the sensors and inputs available. With version 1 of the operating system, 3rd party apps only had access to the touch screen and were required to stream from an iPhone. This change will have a huge impact on the depth, quality, performance of apps. It will be exciting to see what developers dream of! The beta of the new OS is available now to developers and will officially launch this fall, likely along side iOS 9. Besides development tools, watchOS 2 does not offer much else new. The update, announced 6 weeks after Apple Watch started shipping, is likely comprised of features that were originally scheduled to be included at launch (the “new” watch faces, for example, had already been shown last September) but were not ready in time.

Continue reading
by Doug Parker
Leave a comment
Asus ZenWatch 2
Watches

Asus ZenWatch2 Makes Questionable First Impression

June 3, 2015

Asus ZenWatch 2

This week at Computex, Asus showed off their new ZenWatch 2 smartwatch. The original ZenWatch was released last fall and was easily one of the best looking smartwatches that had been released at the point. It featured a beautiful, slightly curved, square screen and impressive detailing along the sides. The Android Wear device’s biggest issue, stylistically, was its large size and the giant ugly bezel surrounding the screen. Our hope at the time was the when version 2 hit, Asus would trim down the size and the bezel.

Well, we got one of our wishes; the ZenWatch 2 now comes in two sizes, 45mm and 49mm, both of which are smaller than the original’s 51mm size. Considering that a lot of people felt the 38mm Apple Watch was too large, these sizes will not work for everyone. Also, we are left wondering who the person is that feels like a 45mm watch is just not large enough for them. The bezel, on the other hand seems, to only have gotten bigger. And, man is it ugly. In fact, the whole watch seems to have got uglier. Gone are the beautiful recessed metal side, replaced by a disproportioned “digital-crown” knock off that makes the whole watch look cheap. With the ZenWatch 2, Asus seems to have only emphasized the things we disliked about the original. That combined with the knock off product video of watch bands connecting while floating in a white space and rumored near-identical tech-specs, we are left with a bad taste in our mouths. Head past the break to see the video: (UPDATE: someone must of agreed that the product launch video seemed a little too copycat; it has been removed from YouTube. Thankfully someone has reposted it. Video is now working again after the break)  

Continue reading
by Doug Parker
Leave a comment
Disney Testing Other Wearable Devices As MagicBand
Watches

Disney Explores Using Guests’ Existing Wearables As Magic Bands

June 1, 2015

Disney Testing Other Wearable Devices As MagicBand

Disney has invested a tremendous amount of effort and money ($1 Billion) over the past 5 years to develop their Magic Band technology and ensure it is so compelling that the RFID bracelet would be the must have accessory when visiting a Disney theme park. In the two years that the band has been available to guests, more than 11 million of them have been used. The band is designed to make the process of visiting Disney as frictionless as possible, with the band serving as a FastPass entry, room key, park admission, and payment for food and merchandise. There are even restaurants where the tech allows the hostess to know who you are when you walk in and preordered food to automatically be brought to whichever table you seat yourself at.

But as wearable technology likely becomes more and more common place, why should guests have to wear two pieces of tech, especially when they have redundant internal circuitry? According to a report, this is a question that Disney hopes it can solve. The goal is to test whether a comparable all-inclusive experience could be provided through other wearable technology, such as our smartwatches. The concept would provide an even more seamless experience to park guests. Even though Disney is exploring feasibility, there is no timeline for the project – if it ever comes to fruition.

Continue reading
by Doug Parker
Leave a comment
Watches

Rumor That Pebble Is Having Financial Troubles

May 27, 2015

Pebble Financial Troubles

Despite the staggering $20M that Pebble recently raised through Kickstarter, word is the company is facing a financial hurdle. According to an article by TechCrunch, Pebble has been making the VC rounds looking for a $5M loan with a $5M line of credit and has been facing a lot of closed doors. The young company eventually settled on a bank loan “in order to stay afloat.” Failure to raise VC money paints an unfavorable view of how the company’s current direction and roadmap are being perceived. Apparently there is a feeling from both inside and outside of the company that Pebble is not doing enough to directly compete against the completion, including Apple and Android. Besides battery life, it is tough to pin point exactly what the competitive advantages of the Pebble Watch are. They are not the cheapest, the most advanced, or uniquely durable. One of the feathers in Pebble’s cap used to be the company’s “indie” status but now there are other “indie” companies offering better and more competitive watches, such as Olio.

Pebble was one of the first true smartwatches to market and helped define the market segment. Hopefully the company will continue to innovate and shape the market and not end up like other first movers (i.e. Rio Audio).

Continue reading
by Doug Parker
Leave a comment
Olio Devices Model One Smartwatch
Watches

Olio Devices’ App-less Model One Smartwatch

May 27, 2015

Olio Devices Model One Smartwatch

Recently Olio Devices entered the smartwatch market with their first device, the Model One. The watch is extremely impressive, with a clever interface, strong battery life, and true water resistance. The concept behind the device is unique in that Olio Devices believes that 3rd party apps do not belong on a watch. The company wants the watch to be able to control your Hue bulbs, drive your Sonos, and display your boarding pass but they want to control that experience and have it directly integrated into the watch design. It is a pretty daring idea, especially in the very app driven world we are all living in, but makes some sense. The team behind Olio have impressive pedigrees; the CEO was a product designer at Apple and HP and the staff comes from places such as Movado and Pixar. The Model One falls into the premium end of the smartwatch spectrum (pricing starts at $595) and the first batch of 1,000 watches has already sold out. It will interesting to see more about the Model One. The concept is intriguing and the watch seems to be very well designed. Head past the break for the company’s launch video:  

Continue reading
by Doug Parker
Leave a comment