Pocketnow Weekly: MWC 2014 preview, #ANHO, and Binging Jack Ryan’s Icon

Posted on by Michael Fisher

MWC 2014 is already upon us, with Anton D. Nagy and Jaime Rivera hitting the ground in Barcelona just as this podcast goes under the mic, and we’re here to bring you mobile mavens all the pre-show rumor and speculation that you’ve come to expect. But there’s also plenty of news of the non-Mobile World Congress variety, from the endless leaks focusing on the “All-New HTC One” to speculation surrounding the Galaxy S 5 launch date – and we’ll be spending plenty of time on that, too. Plus, Taylor Martin has finally spent enough time with his ...

Continue reading »

The post Pocketnow Weekly: MWC 2014 preview, #ANHO, and Binging Jack Ryan’s Icon appeared first on Pocketnow.

Office for iPad, Galaxy Gear 50% off, Apple and Samsung CEO meeting & more – Pocketnow Daily

Posted on by Jaime Rivera

Our apology for the late upload due to technical difficulties. Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we talk about Best Buy’s insane price-drop of 50% off the Samsung Galaxy Gear, aside from other AT&T’s deals. We then talk about the new iBeacon deployment at two MLB stadiums for a game in March. Apple and Samsung follow the news as both company’s CEOs met last week to discuss patents. Then we talk about Samsung and its new patent that plans to bring signature unlocks on the Galaxy Note line-up. We end today’s show talking about Microsoft Office for iPad, and ...

Continue reading »

The post Office for iPad, Galaxy Gear 50% off, Apple and Samsung CEO meeting & more – Pocketnow Daily appeared first on Pocketnow.

New Galaxy Gear deals push smartwatch below $200 mark

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

A little earlier this month we caught wind of some pricing shake-up hitting Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch internationally, bringing prices down by $100 or more. Granted, some of those prices were initially starting higher than the $300 the watch went for in the States, but we were still hopeful that similar discounts might find their way to the US. Today we see something along just those lines, as AT&T and Best Buy each offer some big savings on Samsung’s Android smartwatch. The Best Buy deal offers the ...

Continue reading »

The post New Galaxy Gear deals push smartwatch below $200 mark appeared first on Pocketnow.

Custom ROMs for smartwatches will soon be available

Posted on by Joe Levi

As I sit here writing this article, my Pebble smartwatch is on my wrist and my mind is racing back to my time with the Galaxy Gear — and finally getting it to “work” with my Nexus 5. I love my Pebble. It’s a watch that does so much more than a standard wristwatch, and helps keep my smartphone in my pocket, rather than in and out, over and over when I check notifications. Samsung’s Galaxy Gear is a different breed of smartwatch. ...

Continue reading »

The post Custom ROMs for smartwatches will soon be available appeared first on Pocketnow.

Using the Galaxy Gear with the Nexus 5 (video)

Posted on by Joe Levi

The Galaxy Gear is a really interesting and fun wearable, but it only works with a select few devices. Only a couple of Samsung phones and phablets are currently supported, but what if you’ve got another phone? In general, you’re out of luck, but thanks to some tinkering by some pretty talented folks, if you’ve got a Nexus 5 and a bit of patience, you might just able to use your Galaxy Gear with the Nexus 5. This work-around (dare we call ...

Continue reading »

The post Using the Galaxy Gear with the Nexus 5 (video) appeared first on Pocketnow.

Galaxy Gear price cuts could be coming (but is it too late?)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch has a lot going for it, but two major obstacles have been responsible for really holding it back: its very limited smartphone compatibility, and its quite lofty price tag. We already find ourselves looking forward to the next big thing, anticipating a second-gen Galaxy Gear to launch early this year (and possibly alongside the Galaxy S 5), but that doesn’t mean that the original ...

Continue reading »

The post Galaxy Gear price cuts could be coming (but is it too late?) appeared first on Pocketnow.

Smartwatches will not be a fad, if done right

Posted on by Taylor Martin

Love or hate them, smartwatches are a growing thing. Many of us here at Pocketnow have or will soon own a Pebble, and Michael Fisher also has a soft spot for the Galaxy Gear. And Joe and I share similar theories on the future of smartwatches, wearables, and the personal area network. But it’s not just us those of us who are obsessed with technology either. As new generations of devices have come out and they ...

Continue reading »

The post Smartwatches will not be a fad, if done right appeared first on .

Pocketnow Weekly 081: Lenovo buys Motorola, Galaxy S5 fingerprints, & interview with special guest Ryan Negri

Posted on by Michael Fisher

When you can kick off a tech podcast with a string of expletives taken right from your publication’s teamwide chat records, you know it’s been a crazy week in the news. The Lenovo Motorola deal, announced late yesterday afternoon, threw our whole week -and perhaps our whole world- into disarray, and we’re grateful for the chance to sit down and talk it through on today’s show. But the news doesn’t stop there. Galaxy S 5 speculation is still coming fast and furious, with details like Samsung’s rumored fingerprint scanner beginning to take shape; ...

Continue reading »

The post Pocketnow Weekly 081: Lenovo buys Motorola, Galaxy S5 fingerprints, & interview with special guest Ryan Negri appeared first on .

Wearables will not replace smartphones … yet

Posted on by Taylor Martin

When talking with Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky at CES, one thing he said stuck with me: Pebble’s vision is not to replace smartphones, but to remain a peripheral. It’s a controller or remote for your smartphone – nothing more, nothing less. The company prides itself in how simple and “out of the way” its wrist-mounted notification device is. Frankly, that’s one of my favorite features of Pebble. I set it up and it just works, reliably … for days and days on a single charge. When I get ...

Continue reading »

The post Wearables will not replace smartphones … yet appeared first on .

Pocketnow Weekly 080: HTC M8 x, Galaxy Note 3 Neo, a $50 Motorola smartphone & a resurgent BlackBerry

Posted on by Michael Fisher

 ”Our revels now are ended, Kirk.” That’s a quote from Star Trek VI, paraphrasing a line from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. In the latter instance (minus the “Kirk” bit) it’s a conceit of sorts, an admission that the play is a falsehood – and an observation that so, perhaps, is life. In the former example it’s a wisecrack from a Klingon bent on shooting our favorite captain’s ship out from under him. In both cases, it’s a kind of farewell. And in today’s example, it’s also a goodbye – to the old times. ...

Continue reading »

The post Pocketnow Weekly 080: HTC M8 x, Galaxy Note 3 Neo, a $50 Motorola smartphone & a resurgent BlackBerry appeared first on .

iPhone 6 will be bigger, $50 Moto, Galaxy Note 3 KitKat issues & more – Pocketnow Daily

Posted on by Jaime Rivera

Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we talk about the official launch of the Moto X wooden back variants on Moto Maker. We then talk about the plans Motorola has just made public where a $50 smartphone is in the works. Up next we go through some analyst talk of the iPhone 6 sporting a bigger display, and how this is non-negotiable. The Google Nexus 5 and the Galaxy Gear make the news next since it seems that XDA-Developers has figured out how to make them work together. We end today’s show talking about Samsung’s plans to kill-off functionality to third-party cases of the ...

Continue reading »

The post iPhone 6 will be bigger, $50 Moto, Galaxy Note 3 KitKat issues & more – Pocketnow Daily appeared first on .

Smartwatch on-screen keyboard demo actually seems pretty usable

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

The small size of smartwatches makes them extremely portable (and we wouldn’t strap them to our wrists if they weren’t) but that’s also what leads to numerous problems: if we could give smartwatches batteries the size of those we use in smartphones, our power concerns would go out the window. Size also plays a role in how we enter text on these devices; voice-based text entry sure can seem like an elegant solution, but not every social situation is going to be appropriate for speaking text aloud. Is there any hope for on-screen keyboards with screens this small? ...

Continue reading »

The post Smartwatch on-screen keyboard demo actually seems pretty usable appeared first on .

Partial Galaxy Gear compatibility comes to Nexus 5 (with a little work)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Samsung Galaxy Gear? Cool little smartwatch, and what it lacks in battery life, it tries to make up for with attractive features like that strap-mounted camera. But maybe the largest hurdle it’s yet to overcome is that of compatibility; unless you’ve got a Samsung smartphone – and even then, only one of a few select models running the latest software – the watch is practically going to waste. That is, unless you’re willing to get you ...

Continue reading »

The post Partial Galaxy Gear compatibility comes to Nexus 5 (with a little work) appeared first on .

Verizon Galaxy Gear update brings Twitter app support, improvements and fixes

Posted on by Anton D. Nagy

Those rocking a Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch from Verizon should be on the lookout for a software update that will install version V700XXUAMK to their wrists. A Verizon support document for the refresh has been spotted (at the source below) and it lists the changes included with this release, under three categories: stability and performance improvements, solved issues, and changes made. Improvements include advancements for S Voice search, pedometer accuracy, screensaver turn on time, battery life, NFC pairing animation, messaging application, and Today’s Schedule connectivity. ...

Continue reading »

The post Verizon Galaxy Gear update brings Twitter app support, improvements and fixes appeared first on .