In January, ZTE CEO Lixin Cheng told CNET that his company would release its first Android Wear smartwatch in 2017 — one with an LTE cellular connection and longer battery life than typical, so you can use it independent of a phone. Now, we may be getting our first glimpse of the device, which will …
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It’s time for the Apple Watch to support Android
The smartwatch race should be over. Apple should have won, but that hasn’t exactly been the case. While the Cupertino company remains the leading smartwatch maker, shipments of the Apple Watch have fallen and its market share is slowly diminishing due to increased competition from Samsung, Garmin and traditional watchmakers such as Fossil. Apple’s market share could be further disrupted …
Read More »Android Wear 2.0 may arrive on February 9
The next version of Google‘s smartwatch operating system will arrive on February 9, according to known and generally reliable leaker Evan Blass. Android Wear 2.0, which was originally announced last May, looks to completely revamp the operating system and help make watches less reliant on phones. In addition to a revamped user interface, the update will add an on-watch app …
Read More »LG’s G6 phone will lose the modular gimmick
LG is backing away from what made its previous top-of-the-line phone unique. The company last year launched the G5, which ventured off the beaten path of phone design: Owners could swap out its bottom “chin” for other parts that added a camera grip or a souped-up speaker. In a sea of similar-looking phones, LG hoped that its unusual approach would …
Read More »Google to release two new flagship smartwatches next year
Expect two new flagship smartwatches from Google in the first quarter of 2017. Plus, Android Wear 2.0 — a significant update to Google’s wearable software — will debut on the new watches, said Jeff Chang, product manager of Android Wear at Google, in an interview with The Verge. Google confirmed it’s working with a manufacturing partner on flagship devices for …
Read More »How Fitbit, Samsung, Apple and Google misfired in watches in 2016
Fitbit’s latest earnings reports weren’t good at all. Pebble sold itself at a firesale price (to Fitbit) and cancelled its future watches. Microsoft, Motorola and Intel appear to have halted (or at least suspended) their wearable product lines. The Samsung Gear S3 slid into the holidays with a whimper, not a bang. And while Apple claims it just had its …
Read More »Samsung Gear S3 first impressions: A bigger, bolder smartwatch, but few apps
One of the late arrivals to the 2016 parade of ho-hum smartwatches is the Samsung Gear S3, announced back in the late summer. It just went on sale last Friday, and it’s on my wrist right now. You might see it advertised in holiday sales, or in stores. Should you buy one? And what can it offer next to the …
Read More »Everyone’s saying smartwatches are over, but they’re wrong
You may have read reports claiming the smartwatch market is “tanking”, “crashing” or a number of other synonyms describing a decline. Numbers have been thrown around, and they’ve been interpreted like tea leaves: questionably. The numbers aren’t wrong, but don’t prepare for a smartwatch-free future just yet. Apple shipped a whopping 3.9 million Watches in Q3 2015 and accounted for …
Read More »Google’s tweaks to Android Wear watches won’t arrive till 2017
Now playing: Watch this: Tick, tock, Apple Watch: Google’s new watches may land… 1:17 Google’s planned revamp of its Android Wear watch software, called Android Wear 2.0, has been pushed back to early 2017. But when it does arrive, compatible smartwatches might start doing a lot more apart from phones. Ahead of next week’s big Google news of what could …
Read More »The Apple Watch gets updated…now what? (The 3:59, Ep. 106)
Okay, time for a breakdown of that other Apple announcement. CNET’s review for the Apple Watch Series 2 is out, and who better to have on as a special guest than Scott Stein, the man behind the reviews for both the iPhone 7 and new Apple Watch. Ben and Roger mostly stay out of the way as Scott digs into …
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