Sony updated its smart watch Tuesday, introducing the Sony SmartWatch 2 at Shanghai's Mobile Asia Expo.
Designed to be used as a second screen for your Android smartphone, the water-resistant smart watch has NFC (near-field communication) connectivity, and can be personalized with apps based on how you want to use it.
“Competitors are only now launching first-generation devices, while we are already launching a third-generation device with all the insight gained from over half a million customers combined with Sony’s wealth of technology expertise to create the best ever smart-watch experience,” Stefan K Persson, head of companion products at Sony Mobile Communications, said in a press release announcing the watch.
“We have over 200 unique apps dedicated for Sony SmartWatch, with over one million downloads to date, and we are continuing to work with our strong developer network to deliver ever more compelling smart-watch experiences."
These experiences include the ability to answer calls by touching your wrist, take photos with your phone remotely via the SmartWatch and control presentations remotely using Sony’s “Presentation Pal.”
For fitness buffs, mapping apps for the SmartWatch can help track your biking excursions, while apps such as Runtastic can make it easier to monitor progress towards your fitness goals.
The watch also includes basic features, such as displaying caller ID information, calendar entries, as well as Twitter and Facebook notifications.
The Sony SmartWatch 2 will be available worldwide this September.
Last December, most tech journalists rounded off 2012 with the prediction that 2013 would blow the socks off anything that 2012 had to offer. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is put and selling millions, the HTC One has made serious waves, BB has the Z10 and the Q10, Microsoft has announced the Xbox One, Google Glass has intrigued the world, the Basis Band is out to rave reviews and the world of personal trackers is on fire! Do we have much left for 2013? Actually we've just scratched the tip of the iceberg. Here's how the rest of 2013 will look like.
SCANADU SCOUT
Place it on your forehead to get an immediate analysis of your body
The Star Trek tricorder comes alive to the bridge the link between techno and health. Place it on your forehead and it gives you immediate analysis of your body; all the stuff a doctor does. It measures your temperature, blood oxygenation, stress level, gives you a medical-grade electrocardiogram (ECG) and BP reading, and gives you a full blown urine analysis (with an add-on kit). This disc-like device could predict you're coming down with something before it happens.
COOL LEAF TOUCHSCREEN KEYBOARD
A step forward, but typing on it is still awkward
Almost everyone seems to think that this seductive looking device is the next big thing. What's not to like? It's flat, shiny, touchscreen keyboard , very light with beautiful backlighting modes. The only problem: typing sucks like it does on all touchscreen devices. With no tactile feedback, this is like drumming your fingers against the your table - never a good sensation.
LOOXIE LX2 WEARABLE VIDEO CAM
It's a camera for your ears and you wear it like a Bluetooth headset
It's camera for your ears and you wear it like a Bluetooth headset. It streams EarCamlevel video right to your phone (iOS or Android), has internal memory and can also upload directly to the web. It's a hybrid of Google Glass, Sports Action-capturing cams, and a plain weird accessory.
Blackberry Q5
This is a nice looking device, thin, hip and easy on the pocket
The BB 10 phone for the rest of us. After breaking the hearts of all BlackBerry users who don't have Rs. 40,000 of spare change to plonk down for the Z10 or the Q10, the Q5 may well be the tipping point. By the time this economy BB phone is out, BBM will be on all other platforms and the true test of the BB strategy will come into play. Overall this is a nice-looking device. thin, colorful and very hip. Has to be sub-15k to make a difference.
IPAD MINI RETINA
One of the most awaited device specially for me.
This one is a given. The real thrust of iPad sales are from Mini. Expect the same body and shell, slightly souped-up specs, more internal storage and a retina screen. On the smaller sized display, that will be a feature to make those on the fence jump right in.
One of the reasons for the success of the iPhone and iPad is the operating system, iOS. Praised for its ease-of-use and revolutionary interface when it launched, it was a long way ahead of the competition. However, in recent years, the OS hasn't evolved much. In fact, iOS 6 (available for current devices, such as the iPhone 5 and iPad 4) is more a tweak than a new OS.
With Android 4.2 providing plenty of new features and the big threat of the Samsung Galaxy S4, it's no wonder that Apple is looking to revamp its OS. The new OS should help with its upcoming products, the iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2.
iOS 7 FEATURES
While it's generally easy to use, iOS is rather basic and hasn't changed much since it was launched. For iOS 7 Jonathan Ive is said to have been given a free-hand, allowing him to completely redesign the OS and interface. That will mean something completely different to what we've seen so far.
The first rumour is that iOS 7, codenamed Innsbruck, will ditch the 3D and skeuomorphic design of its predecessors. A skeuomorphic design is where one object is made to look like another, such as the digital Notes app being designed to look like a real notepad.
Instead a flat approach will be used instead. This will make the OS more streamlined and cleaner.
While the appearance of the applications is going to differ dramatically in iOS 7 - the Notes app is unlikely to look like a yellow pad of lined paper, for example, and the Calendar app won't have a 'leather' binding - their usability is thought to be unaffected. Users upgrading from a previous iOS release should adapt to the new interface rapidly, according to sources who have used pre-release versions of the software, while the core functionality of the operating system is unchanged.
Apple is also rumoured to be looking to overhaul the notification system in the software, providing more information and actionable notifications to the pull-down bar - a similar approach taken by Google for recent versions of its open-source Android mobile operating system. Rumours of OS X Mountain Lion-inspired swipeable gestures are also spreading, although it's not yet known how such functionality would translate to a mobile device.
One of the big rumours about the upcoming iOS devices is integrated NFC and the ability to pay for goods with your phone. This would most likely require an updated version of Passbook that supports these kinds of payments.
iOS 7 CONCEPTS
All of these rumours of a complete change has inspired some people to visualise what the OS could look like. One of the most interesting is the app-switcher concept, which you can see in the video below. Rather than switching between apps using plain icons, the concept shows what the iPhone would look like if it had large live-preview thumbnails of the apps. It's certainly impressive to watch, although it is completely unofficial.
Another video (below) shows another concept of how iOS 7 could work. One of the key things is quick settings, which lets you access common settings from the home screen (or any app), without having to delve into the settings menu. It's something that's needed, as it's currently quite annoying having to pile through lots of menus to make a change or connect to a wireless network.
iOS 7 RELEASE DATE
We'd normally expect a new version of iOS to come hand-in-hand with a new iPhone or tablet, which could mean the iPhone 5S or iPad 5. However, the most recent information seems to point to iOS 7 being unveiled in June at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). According to date from Onswipe, which uses HTML5 to create mobile-friendly websites and reported by TechCrunch, there has been a massive spike of traffic from iPhones and iPads running iOS 7. In particular, the traffic came from the area surrounding Apple's offices.
Apple usually tests new operating systems internally, before releasing them to developers, with consumers following a few months later. The increase in web traffic from iOS 7 devices suggests that Apple is getting ready to unveil its next-generation operating system.
With WWDC just round the corner, it would be the ideal place to show-off the OS, followed by an official launch in Autumn to coincide with new mobile devices.
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