Tag: smartwatches

Consumers can purchase new wearable devices from Google Play.

Yesterday, Wednesday, June 25, 2014, the long awaited Android Wear powered and web connected LG G and Samsung Gear Live smartwatches were made available at the Google Play store for consumers to pre-order.

Google announced that this wearable tech is ready for the market.

During its annual I/O developers conference, which was held in San Francisco, California yesterday, the search engine giant made it known that the Samsung Gear Live smartwatch and the LG G smartwatch are market ready. However, the company stated that Motorola’s smartwatch – Moto 360 – will not be going on sale until later on in the summer.

In addition, Google declared that the voice enabled Android Wear platform is available in API for developers. This feature allows users to verbally interact with their wearables in a way that is not unlike Google Now.

Furthermore, social media has been integrated into the devices. For instance, if a user likes another person’s pin about a restaurant on Pinterest, the watch will alert the user when they are near the restaurant. Also, users can ask their smartwatch to call them a car with Lyft, which knows where the user is located from the watch’s GPS. Google demoed the notifications and voice commands during the conference.

Android Wear smartwatches will be available with circular and square screens.

According to Google’s director of engineering, David Singleton, Android Wear devices will be made available with screens of different shapes and sizes. He said that both smartwatch models from Samsung and LG have square displays, but Motorola’s will be round. He also said that the devices will be available in a diverse range of “fashionable designs.”

“We’re right at the beginning of a new phase of the miniaturization of technology, which means it’s finally possible to make a small computer that can fit comfortably on your body all day long,” Singleton said during the conference.

The Samsung Gear Live costs $199 and the LG G carries a $229 price tag. Those who pre-order either of these smartwatches from Google Play should receive them on July 7.

This makes the electronics giants a massive player in the wearables sector of mobile tech.

Best Buy has recently announced that it is expanding its line of wearable technology products and as a part of the marketing campaign for this effort, it has invited consumers to visit the stores to be able to check out the features of the new Pebble Steel smartwatch.

This makes the retailer the only store that has given consumers this wearable tech opportunity.

The Pebble Steel is the latest in the line of smartwatch devices from the brand, which has taken the wearable technology industry by storm through its massive popularity, despite the fact that it is made by a relatively small startup that is up against massive competition from electronics giants such as Samsung and Sony. The company has managed to create a considerable and highly loyal user base.

This wearable technology device syncs with both iOS and Android based devices.

This smartwatch is the latest generation of the original Pebble. That first device is still available at Best Buy and is being sold in Arctic White for $149.99. The Steel, however, is designed to be more elegant and sturdy than the sportier original. Though it is designed on the same hardware platform, it doubles the memory of the original device, which was 64KB. It is currently priced at $229 in the store (though the suggested retail price is $249.

The redesign and upgrades in the Steel were a direct response to some of the issues that consumers had brought to the attention of the company. The founder of Pebble, Eric Migicovsky, said that “We noticed a lot of people saying they wouldn’t put it on their wrist when wearing a suit, in more dressed up situations, or even saying they liked it but the look wasn’t what they wanted.”

The new wearable technology watch will be only one of the many items that Best Buy intends to offer among its selection of wearables. Customers will be able to find the smartwatch in store, as well as online at the company’s new site for wearable tech. This includes other smartwatches, as well as fitness trackers and pedometers, action cameras, and other similar mobile devices.