Samsung Gear S prepares for US arrival as AT&T and T-Mobile share sales details

Samsung’s new Gear S smartwatch bucks trends in more ways than one, giving users not just a curved wrist-hugging display, but also a wearable with integrated cellular connectivity. We saw the smartwatch launch back around IFA-time, and a few weeks later we started picking up on news about the model’s path towards a US release. What we didn’t have, though, were a lot of details, ...

Continue reading »

The post Samsung Gear S prepares for US arrival as AT&T and T-Mobile share sales details appeared first on Pocketnow.

Golden Moto 360 returns as “champagne” before once again vanishing

A little over a month ago, we got what sure seemed to be an early look at a new flavor for the Moto 360, as Motorola was spotted showing off a 360 with an unmistakable golden tinge to its metal body. When confronted about the pic, Motorola removed the image from its servers, and while the company remained cagey about its ultimate intentions for a golden 360, acknowledged that it liked to experiment with different materials and confirmed that new styles for the Moto 360 would be available in the future. ...

Continue reading »

The post Golden Moto 360 returns as “champagne” before once again vanishing appeared first on Pocketnow.

Microsoft Aims for a Different Kind of Wearable with $200 Microsoft Band

Smartwatches and other wearable devices are allowing consumers to track their movements and activities even more precisely than they can with smartphones. As such, numerous apps, devices, and programs are being developed to help individuals better manage their health and exercise — like Microsoft Band and Microsoft Health, introduced by the Redmond company this week.

Microsoft Band

Microsoft Band

The Band is a wrist-worn device that keeps tabs on your heart rate, daily exercise stats, and sleeping patterns, among other expected fitness tracking capabilities. It’s more than that, though: According to Microsoft’s announcement, the Band will also include a built-in GPS, UV sensor, stress monitor, and a fair amount of smartwatch-style notifications for things like text messages, emails, and social media alerts. It’ll even support a handful of apps, ranging from MapMyFitness to a Starbucks app that lets you pay for drinks with a scannable barcode.

All of this comes in an 18.5-millimeter plastic band that comes in three separate sizes and includes a relatively small 1.4-inch, 320 x 106 touchscreen. Two 100 mAh batteries are built in along with that.

Microsoft Band

Microsoft Band

The device is one piece of Microsoft’s cloud-based Health initiative, which allows consumers to obtain what Microsoft calls “actionable insights” based on data gathered from health- and fitness-related apps stored on their phones and other devices (such as the Band). This means that — without any need for a phone — you could, say, use GPS to track the distance and speed of your daily run, then transmit that data to your Health account in the cloud, which will then match it up with other data and provide you with analysis.

You can try these features out immediately: The Band is on sale at Microsoft stores and its official website today, while the Health app, crucially, works in conjunction with Android, iOS, and Windows Phone devices. The wearable is priced at $200, less than much of Apple and Google’s offerings, though this is much more of a hybrid device than something like the Apple Watch or LG G Watch R. In all, though, this may be the ideal smartwatch for people who don’t want a standard smartwatch.

Source: Microsoft

The post Microsoft Aims for a Different Kind of Wearable with $200 Microsoft Band appeared first on Brighthand.com.

Google Inbox Hands-on: Swiping Your Way to Inbox Zero

There’s an abundance of email apps designed to help you reach the fabled “Inbox Zero,” but it’s not always easy when you have to lose hundreds of unread messages. Between Mailbox, EvoMail, Mail Ninja, and their ilk, you have plenty of options, but few of them work as well as they should.

Even Google’s struggled with this. One of the common complaints about Google’s own Gmail app is simply how plain it is. It’s traditional at best, a bit boring at worst. However, the web giant has taken major strides to address that with Inbox, its newest email app. Regardless of how much you use Gmail, it’s worth testing the new app’s latest beta version.

Google Inbox

Google Inbox

We’ve been using the iOS version of Inbox over the past week, and our initial impressions are positive. It‘s simple to set up three Google accounts at a touch of a button. The main menu lets you easily log in and out of multiple accounts simply by touching the log-in picture.

Inbox’s user interface is clean, colorful, and playfully reminiscent of the Google+ app. It includes numerous tidy features that help users keep their emails organized and grouped without making it seem like a chore.

The app automatically bundles similar emails. Google previously did this in Gmail by grouping these into separate tabs like “Social” for social media alerts or “Forums” for updates from message boards and mailing lists. With Inbox, those groupings are still there, but they’re each presented as if they were a single email by default, not as separate tabs. Only by tapping on them will you be subject to the whole list.

For instance, if you subscribe to a number of shopping and deal sites like Groupon, LivingSocial, and TravelZoo, any emails you get from those are sorted into Promos, and the app tells you how many new messages you have waiting. You also can create your own personal groups based on your most relevant senders.

While your ultimate goal may be to attain Inbox Zero, Inbox gives users the choice on where and when they want to deal with an email. A left swipe brings up a “Snooze until” window with choices to deal with an email later in the day, the next day, the next week, or even just “Someday.” The email also can be dealt with at a location such as home, in the office, or elsewhere, based on the device’s location.

A right swipe places the message into the Done category, taking it away from the screen. What’s missing, however, is an equally simple way to delete a message. Right now, it’s a relatively cumbersome three-step process. First the user needs to read the email, then select the menu option, and then hit the trash button. Google needs to have an icon or a simple swipe capability — a la Mailbox, which also deploys these kind of shortcuts — to delete messages that just don’t need to be read.

You can also flag a particular email by pinning it. An on/off pin button at the top of the app allows you to do just that and see a list of messages you’ve flagged.

Creating an email is easy. At the bottom right hand corner of the screen is a big hamburger icon with a plus sign on it. Tap on it and a list of recent and popular recipients appears.

Furthermore, Inbox also integrates aspects of your to-do list in as reminders. You can select the reminders feature from the main menu to see their list for the day or create a new one.

After using the app for a few days, we can see how anyone might actually think that going through their emails to achieve Inbox Zero could actually be fun. And one other side benefit: Google could tell we used the app for several days. It asked whether we wanted to convert its standard web-based Gmail client into the new Inbox once. Our answer was a resounding yes.

The post Google Inbox Hands-on: Swiping Your Way to Inbox Zero appeared first on Brighthand.com.

Using an Acer smartphone in the US

I walked into my local T-Mobile store in little Syracuse, Utah, USA and set a nondescript smartphone down on the counter. “I need a SIM for this, please.” The clerk picked it up, observing how light and thin it was, rolling it slowly in his hands, looking for the SIM tray. Then his eyes fixed on the bottom of the screen. “Acer makes smartphones?! Where did you get this?!”Before long the store manager was over looking at the little black slab. He, too, had never seen an Acer smartphone and took a good long time taking it all in.

Continue reading »

The post Using an Acer smartphone in the US appeared first on Pocketnow.

Can HERE Maps compete with the likes of Google?

HERE Maps has sort of been the salvation for navigation for Windows Phone users, especially offline navigation. The praises of this feature are sang across the internet almost any time the service is mentioned. Many prefer Nokia’s take on mapping over the baked-in Bing Maps on Microsoft’s mobile platform and understandably so. Although Nokia’s mapping services, such as navigation or transit directions, are divided across multiple applications, it’s typically a more reliable and renowned service.HERE Maps is one of the ...

Continue reading »

The post Can HERE Maps compete with the likes of Google? appeared first on Pocketnow.

Nexus 6 Play Store stock shortages a consequence of carrier involvement?

Yesterday we saw Google begin accepting pre-orders for the Nexus 6 through the Play Store – or, at least, we assume that’s what happened, because as soon as we had the chance to check things out, Google was already reporting that all configurations of Nexus 6 hardware were out of inventory, no longer available for pre-order. Just how could Google have such very, very low stocks at its disposal that the pre-orders couldn’t even last through half a day? As it turns out, there might be a very good ...

Continue reading »

The post Nexus 6 Play Store stock shortages a consequence of carrier involvement? appeared first on Pocketnow.

Lenovo completes Motorola acquisition

When we first caught wind of the news, we nearly didn’t believe it: how could Lenovo purchase Motorola? This was a company that Google had only just taken under its wing, and following the strong reception of models like the Moto X and Moto G, we were feeling extremely optimistic about what might be possible from a Google-owned Motorola. But then on one cold day in late January the rumor landed that a deal to sell control of Motorola to Lenovo was in the late stages of negotiation, and just hours ...

Continue reading »

The post Lenovo completes Motorola acquisition appeared first on Pocketnow.

Does Android Wear need to go cross-platform?

Interesting news in the world of smartwatches has been flying of late, not the least of which are rumors of a cross platform compatible smartwartch coming from Microsoft. But even more interesting was some recent news that Google was considering some Android Wear  compatibility options. As in, perhaps going cross-platform. ORLY? Well isn’t that interesting.As our news article suggests, this likely isn’t anything more than a flight of fancy on an “Ideas to kick around” spreadsheet somewhere, ...

Continue reading »

The post Does Android Wear need to go cross-platform? appeared first on Pocketnow.

Possible launch date arrives for T-Mobile debut of HTC One M8 for Windows

T-Mobile’s been in a bit of a drought when it comes to high-end Windows Phones, but that may be due to end soon – one of the highest-end phones on the market available in the Windows flavor is HTC’s One M8 for Windows, and it’s slated to be arriving at the nation’s fourth-largest carrier’s doorstep. New word has arrived through a carrier leak of the T-Mobile HTC One M8 for Windows’s launch date.According to this leaked info, you’ll be able to buy the One M8 for Windows on T-Mo on November 9, just a few short days after it’s supposed to ...

Continue reading »

The post Possible launch date arrives for T-Mobile debut of HTC One M8 for Windows appeared first on Pocketnow.

Microsoft Band goes official alongside new Health service

It seems this is the year wearables finally take flight – Apple has one, Samsung has a bunch, LG has a couple, Pebble has two, Motorola has one, and the list goes on and on. Microsoft has given us a jolt this evening with the unexpected announcement of a new fitness tracker, the Microsoft Band, along with a wellness monitoring service dubbed Microsoft Health.The device has ten sensors to measure things such as heart rate and the ultraviolet index, along with stress levels and more. It can also last 48 hours with just one charge. Both of these things haven’t quite been matched by ...

Continue reading »

The post Microsoft Band goes official alongside new Health service appeared first on Pocketnow.

Why Oppo deserves more credit than it gets

I admittedly do not have a ton of experience with Oppo. The first Oppo phone I ever held was the Find 7a I reviewed earlier this year. The first time I even heard the name Oppo was when the N1 was announced, and that was only because it had a massive 5.9-inch display and a rotating primary camera which can be likened to some flip phones from way back when.Outside that, my knowledge of the company, its products, and its perception globally is pretty limited.That’s mainly because Oppo hasn’t thrust itself ...

Continue reading »

The post Why Oppo deserves more credit than it gets appeared first on Pocketnow.

DROID Turbo camera samples: Motorola’s 21-megapixel monster goes out on the town (Gallery)

Motorola has never been known for its terrific camera performance. I’ve always appreciated the company’s other specialties: its robust hardware, its aggressive styling, and (recently) its innovative software … but from my first-ever Motorola smartphone to my current daily driver

Continue reading »

The post DROID Turbo camera samples: Motorola’s 21-megapixel monster goes out on the town (Gallery) appeared first on Pocketnow.

Your smartwatch might get you in trouble at the movies

The entertainment industry’s got a bit of a love/hate relationship with tech. While the rise of portable devices, higher-than-ever internet speeds, and ubiquitous connectivity, it’s become incredibly easy these companies to sell you content. Suddenly feel the urge to watch Caddyshack? Hop on a service like Google Play Movies, and you’re just a tap or two away from a streaming copy. But that same tech also makes it easy for pirates to capture and distribute extremely high-quality copies of the same media. As such, media companies have taken a hard-line stance against tech ...

Continue reading »

The post Your smartwatch might get you in trouble at the movies appeared first on Pocketnow.