smartwatch News - Page 13 of 13 - CNX Software

June 26, 2014June 26, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Google Releases Android Wear SDK, LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live Smartwatches Are Now Available

I’ve just covered what’s new in Android L?, and I’m going to focus on Google I/O 2014’s announcements related by Android wear starting with hardware with LG G Watch ,and Samsung Gear smartwatches, followed by some details about the first official release of Android Wear SDK. LG G Watch Specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 @ 1.2 GHz System Memory – 512MB RAM Storage – 4GB eMMC Display – 1.65” IPS display (280 x 280) Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 LE Sensors – 9-Axis (Gyro / Accelerometer / Compass) IP Rating – IP67 dust and water resistant Battery – Li-ion 400mAh Dimensions – 37.9 x 46.5 x 9.95 mm Weight – 62.5 grams LG G watch will run Android Wear (as it’s the subject of this post), and it currently available on Google Play for $229 (US only?) with shipping scheduled for early July. Samsung Gear Live Specifications: Processor – Unnamed […]

June 5, 2014June 14, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Ineda Systems Dhanush WPU is a MIPS based SoC Specifically Designed for Wearables

What’s a WPU? It stands for Wearable Processor Unit, and as you may guess it’s a processor specifically designed to be used in wearables such as smartwatches or fitness trackers. Currently, many wearables are based on application processors that are used in smartphones (e.g. Galaxy Gear), and lower-end versions are based on standard low power MCUs (e.g. Pebble), but none of them are actually based on SoC specifically designed for wearables, and analysts are asserting that new types of SoC are definitely needed if companies are to provide wearables with the battery life and features consumers want. Ineda Systems Dhanush WPU is not the first Wearable SoC announced, as for instance AllWinner mentioned their WX quad-core SoC for Wearables should become available in Q4 2014 in their roadmap, and Mediatek vaguely unveiled their Aster SoC at CES 2014, but it’s the first that I know of where we’ve got most of the […]

May 30, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

$80 Zebble WaterProof Smartwatch Features an E-Paper Display, Just like the Pebble…

The Zebble smartwatch does not look exactly like the Pebble, but it still share lots of the features found in the original watch including a 1.2″ e-paper display with 144×168 resolution, Bluetooth connectivity, similar buttons placements, and sells for nearly half the price of the original Pebble at $79.99 on Chinavasion. Zebble specifications provided on Chinavasion: MCU – Unknown @ 48 MHz Display – 1.26″ e-Paper display @ 144×168 with touchscreen Connectivity – Bluetooth 3.0 Misc – Built in Vibrator IP ratings – IP67 Waterproof and dustproof Battery – 240mAh Li-on. Standby Time: 10 Days. Dimensions – 40x222x13 mm (L x W x D) Weight – 49g Temperature Range – Operating: -10 to +60 Degrees Celsius; Battery charging temperature: 0 to +45 Degrees Celsius The watch is said to support Android 4.0 and above, without mention of iOS support. It can be used for smartphone sync for texting, or answering […]

May 10, 2014May 10, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Kairos High-End Mechanical Smart Watch Features a Transparent OLED Display

Many companies have now launched their own smartwatch, and with the exception of models such as Motorola Moto 360, they are not always the most stylish you can find. Kairos, a Korean start-up, is about to change that, as it has designed an interesting and good-looking watch that, most of the time, just looks like a standard mechanical watch. But it can actually connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth LE?, and receive notifications for SMS, emails, WhatsApp, Line, WeChat etc… just like any other smartwatch via a thin 1.1m transparent OLED (TOLED) display that can turn 60% opaque. This type of watch also have some practical advantages. The Kairos watch will make use of either a Japanese (Miyota) or Swiss (SOPROD) automatic movement, which will still work, even if the battery is depleted. Since the OLED display is only used to show notifications, the battery is expected to last about […]

April 10, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Samsung Gear 2 Smartwatches are Powered by Exynos 3250 SoC

When Samsung announced their Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches running Tizen, they only vaguely mentioned a dual core processor running at 1 GHz powered the devices. SamMobile reports the two watches should be powered by a new processor called Exynos 3250 with two cores and clocked at 1 GHz as initially announced. Ifixit also made a tear down of the Gear 2 watch, and at first, it seems Exynos 3250 is nowhere to be seen, but it turns out it’s probably combined with a DRAM (and Flash?) package named KMF5X0005M, and shown inside a red square in the picture above. Samsung Galaxy Gear, the company’s first smartwatch, was a modified version of Exynos 4212 dual core processor, but using only one core and downclocked to 800 MHz. SamMobile thinks the Gear 2 can use a dual core processor @ 1 GHz, due to battery life gains achieved by […]

April 2, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Ingenic Newton Platform for Wearables is Powered by MIPS Based JZ4775 SoC

Imagination Technologies has published a blog post about Newton, a tiny reference design for wearables based on Ingenic JZ4775 MIPS SoC found in some recent smartwatches such as SmartQ Z1 (The CPU not the module). This module targets wearables, IoT, healthcare, home appliances, security, industrial control, consumer electronics and more. Newton Specifications: SoC – Ingenic JZ4775 MIPS Xburst processor @ 1 GHz with 2D GPU, and VPU supporting 720p@30fps for MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC-1, H.264, VP8, and RV9 codecs. System Memory – Up to 3GB mobile DDR3/DDR2/LPDDR1 Storage – Up to 32 GB eMCP eMMC flash Display Support – LCD or EPD, with touch panel and backlight Audio – Digital MIC and Speaker Connectivity – 4-in-1 combo with Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n at 2.4/5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 + EDR (including Bluetooth LE support), NFC, and FM Sensors – 3-axis gyroscope, accelerometer magnetometer, pressure, humidity and temperature, bio-signal detection and processing USB – USB […]