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Huawei Watch android wear smartwatch women ladies elegant jewel
Watches

Two Models Of The Huawei Watch Announced For Women

January 5, 2016

Huawei Watch android wear smartwatch women ladies elegant jewel

The Huawei Watch is easily one of the most attractive and feature laden Android Wear smartwatches on the market. The company has announced it is expanding its Watch family with two news models designed especially for women. The new wearables feature thinner wrist bands and 10 new “feminine” watch faces. The least expensive of the two models is the Watch Elegant. The $499 version of the Watch is rose gold plated and features a face surrounded by 3 rows of fine dots. If that sounds a bit understated, the $599 Watch Jewel might be of more interest. The rose gold plated device is surrounded by 68 1.5mm Swarovski Zirconia crystals to give it a diamond-like appearance. Otherwise the two new models are identical to the original device (which starts at $350); that mean a 42mm watch face with a sapphire crystal and a 1.4inch, 400×400 display. Both new watches are set to launch sometime during Q1 of 2016.  

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by Doug Parker
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2015 Year In Review Wrap Up Most Popular Posts
Year In Review

Year In Review: The Most Popular Stories Of 2015

December 30, 2015

2015 Year In Review Wrap Up Most Popular Posts

2016 promises to be an unbelievable year for fashion tech, retail innovations, and wearable devices. The Fashion in an Age of Technology themed Met Ball in May has the potential to be the real coming out party for wearables and we can’t wait. But there are plenty of other exciting happenings this coming year – CES is only a few days away, a new Apple Watch is rumored for March, New Balance’s 3D printed shoes will soon hit the shelves, and we might finally see the reimagined Google Glass. And then there is everything we can’t yet imagine!

As we forge ahead into the new year, we wanted to take a look back at some of the stories that were most embraced here at Circuits And Cable Knit. Head past the break to see the most popular stories of 2015!  

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by Doug Parker
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Android Wear Designer Watch faces Android iOS
Fashion, Watches

9 Fashion Brands Release Android Wear Watch Faces

December 16, 2015

Android Wear Designer Watch faces Android iOS

Fresh on the heals of partnerships with iconic watch brands Fossil and TAG Heuer, Google has teamed up with 9 fashion brands to release exclusive designer watch faces. The brands range from designers such as Vivienne Tam to sportswear giant ASICS. Google’s main marketing message with Android Wear has been that the key difference between it and other smartwatches is the number of ways the device can be customized to suit one’s style, from multiple hardware designs to the software itself. These new watch faces continue to emphasize that message by allowing users to wear a professionally designed watch face that reflects each particular brand’s style. If you are of a fan of one of those fashion companies, you can now express that through the design of the watch. The new watch faces are free and available today for Android users. If you use an Android Wear wearable with your iOS device, Google has announced that the watch faces will soon appear in the Android Wear companion app. Head past the break for a full list of the partnered fashion brands and to see the various designs.  

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by Doug Parker
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Fossil Q Founder Smartwatch Available For Sale Android Wear
Watches

Fossil Q Founder Smartwatch Goes On Sale

December 8, 2015

Fossil Q Founder Smartwatch Available For Sale Android Wear

Earlier this fall Fossil announced a full line of wearables, ranging from fitness trackers to a full smartwatch. Most of the devices were available immediately but little was known about the release of the company’s marque wearable, the Fossil Q Founder. The watchmaker has just announced that the Q Founder smartwatch is available for sale starting today. Both the leather and stainless versions of the watch are available through various outlets including the company’s website and stores for $275 and $295 respectively. If you are interested it the Android Wear based smartwatch for yourself or as a gift, I wouldn’t waste too much time, a quick survey of stores seems to indicate very constrained supply of the leather version.  

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by Doug Parker
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LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition 2 LTE Android Wear
Watches

LG Pulls LTE Equipped Watch Urbane 2 From Retail

November 20, 2015

LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition 2 LTE Android Wear

With Android Wear just being updated to support smartwatches with integrated LTE and allow for the carriers’ new number sharing ability, it seemed that everything was primed and set for the launch of the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition. In fact, AT&T began selling the wearable last Friday and Verizon was planning to launch sales today. Well that was the plan at least; LG has pulled the device from all retail stores and has instructed AT&T to offer purchasers a full refund. It is not clear what the issue is, but it must be serious to prompt such a large reshuffle at launch. All LG is disclosing is that there is “a hardware issue which affects the day-to-day functionality of the device.”

There is no word on when the Watch Urbane 2nd Edition might return to the market and it is entirely possible that LG might scrap the watch all together. This is a big blow to customers looking for a smartwatch that sheds the usually-required Bluetooth connection. Not only is the LG smartwatch the first Android Wear device with a built in cellular connection, there are no rumors of any manufacturer releasing a similar Android based wearable. From a quality standpoint, it is surprising that such a serious issue was found so late. Surely the device had been strenuously tested to identify any problems before LG began shipping tens of thousands of units to stores. If it is truly a “day-to-day” issue, how could it not have been caught? Certainly makes us think that LG hastily rushed the Watch Urbane 2 out the door just to make it to market for the holidays.

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by Doug Parker
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Android Wear 1.4
Watches

Android Wear Update Adds Even More Wrist Gestures

November 18, 2015

Android Wear 1.4

While the Apple Watch was busy getting all of the press this year, Google has been doing a fantastic job constitantly pushing out amazing Android Wear updates. The platform has gained interactive watch faces, the ability to function only with a WiFi connection, always-on apps, emoji, a new interface, and hands-free wrist gestures. Google is releasing one last major update before the end of the year. The update occurs through the Android Wear companion app, pushing it to version 1.4. With the new update, Google has added few more wrist wagging gestures. Android Wear’s hands-free gestures have always been a favorite of ours; although occasionally finicky, sometimes you need to interact with your watch when your hands are full. The gestures introduced earlier this year allow you to do things such as dismiss and scroll through notification cards simply by flicking your wrist. With the new update, you can now do things such as wiggle your wrist to return to your smartwatch’s watch face and push your arm downward to interact with a notification card.

The new Android Wear update also prepares the platform for some of the new devices launching in the coming weeks. Version 1.4 of the app supports the built-in speakers included in the Huawei Watch and the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition. More importantly, it also provides the necessary support for a new breed of Android Wear smartwatches with integrated LTE cellular connectivity and phone number sharing (i.e. AT&T’s NumberSync). The update should be trickling out currently to supported devices.

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by Doug Parker
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Watches

Does Fossil / Intel Smartwatch Offer Hints About Tag Heuer?

October 23, 2015

Tag Heuer Connected Smartwatch Fossil Intel

The Fossil Q Founder smartwatch was announced this week and is one of the first such devices from a major watch producer. The Q Founder was developed through a partnership with Intel and Google. As chance would have it, Intel and Google are also Tag Heuer’s partners for their smartwatch initiative, now known to be called Tag Heuer Connected. With similar partnerships, does Fossil’s Q Founder offer hints about what to expect from the Tag Heuer smartwatch?

One of the most interesting things to glean from the Fossil device is that it appears to be running a stock version of Android Wear. Google has not been allowing manufacturers to customize or re-skin the mobile operating system and that seems to continue to be the case. Given that Fossil has not highlighted anything unique about the watch software, we have no expectations that the Tag Heuer Connected will veer from the path either. At the most we might see some digital versions of classic Tag Heuer watch faces. This is interesting given Tag Heuer’s previous vocal statements about smartwatches, at first dismissing them and then stating the company would only enter the market with something unique. While Tag Heuer has toned down their rhetoric over the past several months, is there something else unique about the forthcoming device?  

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by Doug Parker
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