An electronics, automobile, and DIY enthusiast has turned an old smartwatch into an interactive gear shift display in his 2001 Audi A4 (B5) luxury compact executive car. The project started as just a bit of digital bling for the gear stick, but inspired by fellow Redditor comments, Desmontei vibe coded a WearOS app to add gear indicator and media control gestures to the repurposed digital dial. The watch face was secured to the gear stick very carefully, using a 3D-printed mount with tight tolerances.

Don't throw away old smartwatches! 3D printed a custom housing to turn one into a Digital Shift Knob. ♻️🕹️ from r/3Dprinting

The video shared in Desmontei’s Reddit post shows the smartwatch display changing to match the current gear stick selection. It appears to work as expected, but it wasn’t easy to ensure it reliably reported the correct gear selection. The watch’s accelerometer and gyroscope read the angle of the stick to work out what gear the car is in. However, the data can be thrown off when going uphill or downhill, so dynamic calibration had to be added to the algorithm.

Desmontei’s repurposed TicWatch Pro 3 also doubles as an intuitive media controller. When driving, you can change tracks in Spotify with back, forward, and pause swipes on the screen. The techy DIYer intends to add yet more functionality in due course. Specifically, ‘Phase 2’ will link it up “to an OBD2 scanner via Tasker for live telemetry (RPM, Temp).”

For those who might wish to follow in Desmontei’s footsteps, there’s a lengthy (2 hrs) video to check out on the Desmontei YouTube channel. But, briefly, the DIYer “took an old TicWatch Pro 3 smartwatch and carefully cut the original casing with a rotary tool to extract just the OLED screen and motherboard. Then, I modeled a custom shift knob enclosure to house the electronics perfectly.”

The prototype’s tolerances had to be extremely tight “because I didn't want the screen popping out while shifting gears, and PLA was the easiest to test the fitment,” it is explained. If/when this prototype warps or breaks, “I'll use it as an excuse to reprint V2 in ABS or PETG,” Desmontei added. It’s a neat integrated solution, as the design bypasses the watch battery and is wired directly to the car’s 12V electrics.

Another change that may come in V2 could be the use of a second (reference) gyroscopic sensor in the car to make the gear shift position calculations more reliable. Desmontei's other exploits also include PlayStation and handheld modifications, as seen on their website.

Watchmaker Nubeo has put its Torrent Automatic Atari Rainbow Limited Edition timepieces on sale, so they’re all available at 20% off. Five colorways are there for the picking, each one reduced from $564 to $451 with the auto-applied coupon. If you are one of the folks who appreciates retro consoles and bold design-forward wristwatches, these designs might scratch your itch.

The Torrent Automatic Atari Rainbow Limited Edition from Nubeo comes in the following five colorways: Azure Arcade, Orange Curve, Pine Pixel, Shadow Console, and Spectrum. The watchmaker has only produced 100 of each variant.

Nubeo explains the watches were “inspired by the iconic design language of classic Atari consoles” and therefore mix pixel-era nostalgia with its modern watches, to celebrate color and culture. The firm usually specializes in designs inspired by sea and space, so these are something of a departure. However, we note it has previously collaborated with Atari on its Ventana Automatic Atari Retro Gamer Limited Editions, its Console Automatic Atari Asteroids 2600 Limited Edition, and its near-$2,000 Ventana Automatic Atari Asteroids 45th Limited Edition timepieces. Then it also has some eye-catching Space Invaders themed wristwatches.

Behind the colorful retro-future face of the Torrent Automatic Atari Rainbow Limited Edition, all these watches feature a Japanese automatic movement with three-hand date illuminated by Swiss Newlite. Their stainless-steel casings measure 48mm in diameter and are a chunky 16.4mm thick. An anti-reflection coated sapphire glass lens protects the watch face. Regarding protection, these 141g timepieces are water resistant to 20 atmospheres, and come with a 2-year international warranty.

“Each Nubeo timepiece is defined by performance, functionality yet with a design language that blends the organic and natural with the industrial in a manner that makes for a truly unique exhibition of time,” explains the firm behind these retro console-inspired watches.

Atari hits and misses

We’ve seen companies like Atari sometimes lending their esteemed brands to less than stellar products, so it is refreshing to see some high-end merchandise bearing the marque. There have been some hits and misses from Atari recently, though. I enjoyed testing the Atari Gamestation Go (from MyArcade) with 200+ games and SD card expandability last year. In contrast, the 2021 Atari VCS reboot was slated for its price, convoluted setup, and noise.

ChatGPT, the large language model from OpenAI, has been seemingly everywhere since its debut late last year. Now, the YouTube channel MayLabs has come up with a way for you to actually use it anywhere, without a phone or PC. Instead, the channel has gone the maker route and whipped up a DIY smartwatch that answers spoken questions with short responses from ChatGPT. Take that, Siri and Google Assistant.

In the video, a maker going by the alias "Frumtha Fewchure" develops the watch with processing from a Raspberry Pi 4B (it appears, at least from the kit MayLabs uses is in its video link, that it's an 8GB model). The Pi sits in a case that clips to a belt, along with an external battery to power it. From there, wires go through a jacket sleeve tether to a 3D-printed gauntlet on his forearm. 

The video's creator tells us that they "think it will work with a less powerful [P]i," but that a Raspberry Pi Zero might be too much, as the speech recognition might crash the least powerful single-board computers.

The watch portion features LED lights (to let you know when the mic is on), several buttons, a 0.96-inch, two-color OLED screen and mounts for two Apple Watch straps. The buttons are 6 x 6 x 4.3 mm tactiles.  Frumtha Fewchure told Tom's Hardware that a "secret" LED mentioned in the video is for use as an IR emitter so that the watch can be used as a universal remote in eventual updates.

Let's not pretend that the watch looks attractive. But MayLabs claims that this smartwatch is the first of its time, so perhaps there will be later, less janky iterations down the road.

The code, which runs on the Pi, checks for one of three button press. You can get some CPU statistics or a watch face, but the real magic is in the button that tells the watch to connect to the ChatGPT API to ask questions. Answers appear as text on the display, and also through audio, assuming you have attached headphones (wired or Bluetooth), as there aren't any speakers.

For speech recognition, Frumtha Fewchure says the watch is using an offline speech recognition kit called Vosk.

That being said, the device still does require an internet connection to send information to and from ChatGPT. You can connect to Wi-Fi on your home network, but when testing the watch at a coffeee shop, MayLabs connects the device to a smartphone hotspot.

MayLabs lists many of the necessary parts to build your own ChatGPT watch, including a screen, microphone, Raspberry Pi, buttons, LEDs and a breadboard in their video description (and also says you can swap many of those out). But the channel hasn't published code on GitHub or released any schematics for 3D printing the actual watch portion, so you're still on your own for some major portions of the project.

My Apple Watch may look nicer in comparison, but I've learned to relegate Siri to setting timers. I wouldn't walk through airport security wearing this ChatGPT watch, but it shows what wearables may be able to do with more powerful AI assistants on board.

Have you ever wished your smartwatch was more of a computer and less of a fashion item? Have you ever felt the need to type on keys that are surely too small for normal human fingers to use? The dream of the 1980s was a computer the size of a watch, and in the 21st century we are gifted with this and more. Chinese company Lilygo, whose products we’ve featured before, harks back to the 1980s aesthetic with this tiny Bluetooth keyboard, as spotted by CNX Software.

It's cute, but the amount of actual use you can get out of it is questionable. And sadly, you'll require a specific smartwatch, so there's no turning your Apple Watch into a productivity machine this time. The Watch-Keyboard-C3, as it's snappily known, connects to an ESP-32 C3 microcontroller and a LilyGo T-watch. The watch is included with the keyboard bundle if you don't have one. There's also an optional audio module with a mic and speaker.

The mini keyboard connects over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 4 for all your wireless networking needs, and a USB-C port for power and data. There's also a three-axis accelerometer on board, really designed for counting steps but with the right code it could be used as a gesture control input system. The tiny computer can be programmed via Arduino tools; there's no desktop OS on this one. In addition, there's some sample code on GitHub in two repositories, but not much else regarding documentation or tools. 

The ESP32-C3 was announced in November 2020 and it is part of the larger ESP32 range of boards which started way back in 2016. The ESP32 microcontrollers have become popular thanks to its low cost, plentiful supply and ease of use. The many models of ESP32 come in various configurations. Some offering single or dual-core CPUs with speeds reaching 240 MHz and up to 512KB of SRAM. With faster CPU speeds and more RAM than a Raspberry Pi Pico W, ESP32's are a good choice for the established maker.

The Keyboard-C3 is available right now from AliExpress for just shy of $50, and you can probably get it for less with an AliExpress promo code, if you want the whole package and don't already have a compatible smartwatch.

Maker and developer YamS1 has gone bananas with this 3D printed gorilla project we found at Instructables. The 3D print is designed to use a round display module for a head. The gorilla sits on top of a pedestal with a Raspberry Pi inside that's used to control the circular display. On the display we see video of a gorilla reciting Shakespeare with audio coming from the base of the pedestal. 

The inspiration is just as interesting as the project itself. Google's parent company, Alphabet, owns X Development—a moonshot factory known for a particular blog post with a metaphor beginning with the phrase, "Let's teach a monkey how to recite Shakespeare while on a pedestal."

The idea was that one might not give much thought to the pedestal when tackling such a project as they would teaching the monkey to recite Shakespeare. In other words, focus on the core product first. What does this lesson have to do with maker YamS1’s project? Not much, but they put a Raspberry Pi inside of a 3D printed gorilla on a pedestal and we love it.

The project relies on a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ and a round display module known as a GC9A01. The screen has a resolution of 240 x 240px and measures 1.28-inches across. It’s connected to the Raspberry Pi via GPIO, specifically the SPI interface rather than through HDMI like most displays.

The best Raspberry Pi projects are ones you can recreate, and YamS1 was awesome enough to break down exactly how to set up the GC9A01 display module to work with a Raspberry Pi. Thankfully, if you didn’t go ape over this project, the instructions are easily adaptable to other projects. Check out the original project page at Instructables for more details and some behind-the-scenes images of the printing process.

Samsung has been teasing its new round smartwatch for a few months now. We first got wind of it jumping on the circular smartwatch bandwagon (which started with last year's Moto 360) back in April. Back then, all we knew was that it would be round because at that time Samsung was just promoting early access to the Tizen SDK for developers.

Later this summer, when we were invited to its August unpacked event for the Note5 and S6 edge+, we were also expecting to see the new watch there. But that wasn't the case, and all Samsung did was show us some quick flashes of the watch, give us a name (the Gear S2) and a date, September 3. It looks like even Samsung got impatient and decided to drop the information about its first new smartwatch in a year on the eve of IFA instead of waiting a few more days.

Samsung has managed to surprise us by launching two models -- the regular Gear S2 and the Gear S2 Classic. The Gear S2 is the model that has already been shown and has a modern, dare we say sporty, appearance. The Classic looks more like a traditional watch. This strategy of offering two versions of the same basic design seems strangely familiar. There is also a third version, which is an e-SIM cellular-enabled model that you can make voice calls on (why?).

Specifications

The Gear S2 has a stainless steel body that is fairly compact due to its screen size, but still thicker than your average "dumb" watch at 11.4 mm. The 3G model is even thicker at 13.4 mm. The watch straps on the regular Gear S2 are what look to be either plastic or silicone rubber, and this model comes in either silver with white straps or dark gray with matching straps. The Classic also has a black stainless steel body (so at least you aren't getting a materials downgrade if you chose one over the other) and a black leather strap. It is the same thickness at 11.4 mm.

Both models have a 1.2-inch 360 x 360 AMOLED display. Because the Tizen UI, if you look at the teaser video below, uses a lot of black space, using an AMOLED display is going to be more power-efficient. As you can see from the pictures, the Gear S2 also doesn't have the characteristic "flat tire" at the bottom of its screen that is found on the Moto 360.

On the 360, in order to have its slim bezels, there is a small section at the bottom of the watch face that is not a display, but houses display hardware and an ambient light sensor. This allowed the 360 to automatically dim its screen, like a smartphone does, to save power. Succeeding circular smartwatches, like the LG G Watch R, didn't have this flat tire because their thicker bezels allowed for more hardware to reside outside the display. Unfortunately, these watches also didn't have an ambient light sensor, so their displays had to be set to a fixed brightness.

It seems, though, that Samsung has been able to overcome this challenge on the Gear S2. It has a thick bezel to hide circuitry, but still includes an ambient light sensor.

The bezel of the Gear S2 plays an important role because it rotates and is part of the input system of the watch. Although Samsung didn't detail how it works, we assume that it works somewhat like the Apple Watch's Digital Crown, used to both scroll and to zoom in and out. There are also home and back buttons on the side of the S2's case.

The Gear S2's are powered by a 1.0 GHz dual-core processor that is likely to be a homegrown Exynos SoC, and it has 512 GB of RAM and 4 GB of storage. NFC is included, allowing them to be used to make mobile payments using Samsung Pay. These new models support wireless charging (though it has not been made clear if they use a standard like Qi or a propriety system for these watches), and the lack of ports means that the Gear S2 is "IP68 Certified Dust and Water Resistant." This rating means that the smartwatch is dust tight and can be continuously submerged in over 1m of water.

Battery life has long been one of the biggest smartwatch bugbears, and Samsung is claiming that the 250 mAh of the Gear S2 will offer two to three  days of battery life, and the 300 mAh of the 3 G will offer two days. While one should always take manufacturer battery life claims with a grain of salt, our previous experience with the Tizen-powered Gear 2 was very strong in this department.

The last piece of the Gear S2 puzzle is the Tizen OS. These watches won't be the first to run Tizen, but it looks like from the OS teaser video below that the UX has been completely redesigned to take advantage of the round display and bezel control. From what we can see from this video, the Gear S2's UI looks pretty slick, but the big challenge is that it's a small fish swimming in the already small smartwatch OS pond, competing with the Apple Watch and the all the Android Wear devices for developer's mindshare.

Although we expect Samsung to produce some compelling first-party apps, it remains to be seen how many other apps are ported to the S2's OS.

The other big question is if Samsung will finally open up its Smartwatch platform to work with other vendors' phones. Other than the Android Wear-powered Gear Live, every other Samsung smartwatch has worked only with Samsung phones. With Android Wear recently coming to iOS, it would be smart if Samsung supported every platform with its new watches.

Pricing and availability have not been announced yet, but may be later at IFA. Samsung Canada did say "October" for the Canadian release, but we are not sure if this timeframe is true for the rest of the world.

Alex Davies is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware and Tom's IT Pro, covering Smartphones, Tablets, and Virtual Reality. You can follow him on Twitter. Follow Tom's Hardware on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

According to IDC, a market research company, the global wearables market will continue to expand at a rapid pace and will see a growth of 173.3 percent this year alone. Last year, 24.2 million wearable units were shipped, and that number is expected to rise to 72.1 million this year. According to IDC's prediction, 155.7 million wearable units will be shipped in 2019.

IDC's research showed that it's not just "smart wearables" that are seeing a rapid growth, but "basic wearables," as well. These are sub-$100 wearables such as the Fitband or the Xiaomi bands that don't have any extra apps. In fact, this year, basic wearables will be shipped in a larger number of units (39 million expected) than smart wearables (33.1 million).

"The demand for basic wearables, those that do not run third party apps, has been absolutely astounding," said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst, Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. "Vendors like Fitbit and Xiaomi have helped propel the market with their sub-$100 bands, and IDC expects this momentum will continue throughout 2015."

Ultimately, it's the smart wearables that have seen a faster growth, and they are expected to lead the market in terms of units shipped as soon as next year. "Smart" wearables include devices such as smart watches (Android Wear watches, Apple Watch, etc.), but also AR and VR headsets, which also represent some kind of "wearable" categorization.

"We expect smart wearables, those capable of running third party apps, to take the lead in 2016," added Ubrani. "Smart wearables like the Apple Watch and Micosoft's Hololens are indicative of an upcoming change in computing, and the transition from basic to smart wearables opens up a slew of opportunities for vendors, app developers, and accessory makers."

The wearables market is still in its early days, and we're far from having established wearables features that people want, let alone an established platform. Competitors such as Google, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft and other smaller players are still throwing all sorts of wearable ideas at the market, hoping something will catch on with consumers.

They also do this to try to one-up each other and become the de facto wearable platform (at least for certain types of wearables) before the others get the chance to do it themselves. Many wearable products should either falter or change rapidly over the next few years until companies start to figure out what are the most sought after features in wearables and which can be discarded.

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Smartwatches and wearables are fairly new technology, but they are gaining traction quickly. The founders of Deus Ex Technologies weren't satisfied with the current solutions for navigating a smartwatch interface. The company feels the screens of these devices are too small to be intuitive, and voice control didn't live up to the founders' expectations.

Deus Ex Technologies is in the process of developing Aria, a gesture control system that measures the movements of your tendons rather than some form of camera or electrical sensor to track your movements. The company believes this approach is more accurate and reliable than other methods. In addition, Deus Ex said its sensors are smaller and more comfortable, while working in situations that other approaches may not, such as sweaty or wet skin.

Aria will come in two different versions. One is a clip that is designed for Android Wear devices. It slips under and clips to the strap of the watch. It connects using Bluetooth and uses battery power, which Deus Ex claimed will last 24 hours. It will be compatible with all of the available Android Wear watches.

There will also be a version for Pebble that comes in the form of a Smartstrap. This iteration uses a wired connection with the sensors embedded into the strap itself.  

Deus Ex said gestures can be used to answer or refuse phone calls, check and read email, and even control the camera app of your phone. The company has developed a gesture recognition algorithm that allows for completely custom gestures, and said you just need to calibrate the device to perform a desired task with any gesture. The software is open source, and a software development kit is available for the Android version.

Deus Ex Technologies is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to fund the development of the product. The company is seeking $100,000 and has nearly hit the halfway mark in just over a day. The campaign wraps up on July 19, and if its successful, products are expected to be in backers' hands by June 2016.

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Samsung is one of the pioneers of modern Android smartphone-compatible smartwatches. While devices like its own S9110 Watch Phone and the Sony Ericsson LiveView can be considered smartwatches, it wasn't until fall 2013, when the first Galaxy Gear launched, that the current smartwatch craze (fad?) took off.

As a proof-of-concept as to what a smartwatch could do, the Gear was a success, but it ran a custom version of Android that didn't work too well, and it had poor battery life. The first Gear was also initially only compatible with one phone, the Galaxy Note 3.

Since then, according to Samsung, there have been five more generations of Gears, which we assume means it is counting each model as a generation, even if they launched at the same time. There has been the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, Gear Fit, Gear Live and Gear S.

Starting with 2014's Gear 2, Samsung switched to its own lightweight OS (Tizen), which does perform much better on a smartwatch platform than the full version of Android. Then Samsung released the Gear Live, which ran Android Wear, which has now become the de facto standard for all Android-compatible smartwatches. However, Samsung's last smartwatch, last fall's Gear S, went back to Tizen. The S is a standalone device that can make calls and doesn't need to be paired with a smartphone.

Since the Gear S came out almost six months ago, we are about due for a new Gear smartwatch, and while no announcement has been made yet, today Samsung sent out a press release about the SDK for the "Next Generation Gear."

While in itself this means that a new Gear must be imminent, it was the image below that was the most interesting part of it. Round smartwatches seem to be in vogue now (at least they were until the Apple Watch went on sale). Motorola has the 360, LG has the G Watch R and the Watch Urbane, and even Huawei showed off a round watch at MWC, so it's been rumored for a while that Samsung's next Gear would be round, too. It looks like the pictures of the UI in this image confirm it.

Along with confirming the shape of the new Gear, Samsung also confirmed some of the partners already working on applications for it, such as CNN, Yelp, Baidu, FidMe and Apposter. While there is no indication of what OS the new Gear will be running, it's most likely to be Tizen. The current Samsung wearables SDK is Tizen, and Samsung has a vested interest in promoting its own OS on its wearables, rather than producing a new Android Wear device. Further, if Samsung plans to make another standalone watch like the Gear S, it can't use Wear because Google's wearable OS doesn't support this feature.

The SDK for the new Gear will be available to developers before the watch launches, and they "can become a member of the community by submitting an application at the Samsung Developer’s website at http://developer.samsung.com/wearable." Seeing as this was announced today, we doubt that it will be out for at least a month, if not longer. Developers will still need to spend some amount of time with the SDK to produce applications that are ready for the new Gear's launch.

Source: Samsung

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Starting Friday April 10, you will be able to pre-order your own Apple Watch. Unlike with previous product releases, however, you won't be lining up outside the store for days to be the first to receive the new product.

"We expect that strong customer demand will exceed our supply at launch," said Apple's senior vice president of Retail and Online Stores, Angela Ahrendts. "To provide the best experience and selection to as many customers as we can, we will be taking orders for Apple Watch exclusively online during the initial launch period."

According to these statements by Ahrendts in the press release, the primary reason behind this move to an online release comes out of the necessity to better manage the distribution of new devices. Although this is probably true, there are several other reasons to move to online product releases, too.

One major reason behind this change is to bring an end to the long lines outside of stores before products are released. Sometimes Apple product releases often see fans lining up outside the store days in advance.

The lines continue to grow leading up to the product launch, and ultimately the number of customers in line hoping to buy the latest device exceeds the number of devices in the store. Those towards the back of the line who have waited hours to get the device will go home empty-handed and disappointed.

With pre-ordering online, customers that cannot get the Apple Watch will likely be less disappointed than they would be had they waited several hours in line before finding out they couldn't get the Apple Watch.

Starting April 10, potential customers who want to be fitted for the new Apple Watch and try it out, can go to stores where a specialist will assist them and demonstrate the device's features. To ensure this also doesn't get out of hand, however, you have to make an appointment ahead of time.

The Apple Watch will be available in three versions:

The Apple Watch Edition, though much more expensive, is made of an 18-karat gold alloy that can be customized rose or yellow gold in color.

Pre-order starts at April 10, 12:01am PDT, and the Apple Watch will begin shipping to customers on April 24. You won't be able to get an Apple Watch in stores until a later date, however.

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In a surprise press event today in Switzerland, Tag Heuer, one of the more notable watch companies in the industry, announced that its next project would make the leap from traditional watches to smartwatches. But it's not going to do it alone; the Swiss company is partnering with Intel and Google in the hope of giving the watch a technical and fashionable edge in the market.

To help announce the partnership, Tag Heuer CEO Jean-Claude Biver invited along David Singleton, Android Wear's engineering director, and Michael Bell, one of Intel's corporate vice presidents (and more importantly, the general manager of Intel's New Devices Group).

The trio, along with Guy Semon, Tag Heuer's general manager, didn't offer many technical details about the new watch, unfortunately. At the moment, all we know is that it's coming at the end of the year, with the pricing, specs, and features revealed shortly before the launch. We also know that the device will be running Android Wear, and Singleton confirmed that the partnership will produce the company's first luxury Android watch.

Android Wear already runs on smartwatches created by LG, Samsung, Motorola, Sony, and Asus, but grabbing a prestigious watchmaker like Tag Heuer definitely gives the platform a new market angle.

But what about Intel's part in all this? Based on our interview after last year's IDF with Ellen Healy, Intel's PR manager for wearables, Tag Heuer would seem to just be the latest partner in Intel's effort to work with as many reputable fashion brands as possible to increase the demand for wearables (in this case, specifically smartwatches). Bell echoed that same sentiment at the announcement.
 
"We believe wearable technology is going to take off, but this is not something to be driven by tech companies only," he said. "We believe that it requires a real partnership between established players in the space who understand customers and fashion and objects of desire."

But that's only part one of Intel's plan. Even though its partners get support by utilizing existing technology, Intel has a roadmap for creating an SoC specifically for its wearables partners. What's more interesting is that Healy noted that it won't be just one platform for all of its products, so maybe we'll see multiple variations of Intel wearable SoCs in the near future.

By partnering up with Tag Heuer, Intel gains another foothold in the wearables market. As long as you buy an Intel-powered wearable device, the company gains a profit. Before Tag Heuer, Fossil announced its partnership with Intel last September, and even with the partnerships, Intel already has its own smartwatch in the market called Basis, which works as a sleep and fitness tracker.

With this latest development, maybe other big watch companies will take the next step and talk to Intel to power their own wearables. It will be interesting to know how this luxury smartwatch will fare compared to Apple's luxury smartwatch. Both devices are aimed at higher-end consumers, but the approaches are completely different.

Follow Rexly Peñaflorida II @Heirdeux. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Wishful Thinking

How often do we end a year thinking that the next year will be bigger and better? This got the Tom’s Hardware team reflecting on what happened in 2014, and what we hope could happen in 2015. Beyond the typical evolutionary cycle of next-generation graphics and CPU architectures, what lies ahead? Will 2015 usher in VR gaming? Steam machines (for real this time)? G-Sync- and FreeSync-capable products en masse? Windows 10? Modular smartphones?

Here’s what we’d wish for...

A Playable, Whole Game At Release

This year was the one of the crappiest for blockbuster games released by publishing behemoths loaded with bugs, omitted features, outright broken travesties being slapped into boxes and shipped out. Each triple-A title was riddled with DLC to prop up an ever-diminishing number of playable hours.

My wish is that someone, somewhere in the gaming industry ships a complete title with no show-stopping bugs or stripped features in 2015. Barring this, my back-up wish would be that no one ever pre-order an MMO ever again, and instead wait one month post-launch before subscribing. - By Joe Pishgar

Oculus Rift Crescent Bay Prototype

I don't care if the consumer version of the Oculus Rift is only months away. I want unfettered access to the improved Crescent Bay prototype now, and forever. Virtual reality can't come fast enough for me, and as cool as the DK2 is, I want more. It's not for sale, so you'd have to steal it for me. But if you really love me, mom, you'll make it happen. - By Don Woligroski

The Return Of AMD

As an enthusiast, I have fond memories of AMD in its heyday, giving Intel’s highest-end host processors a run for their money. And I still remember attending the company’s FX press event, where representatives specifically avoided showing any single-threaded workloads. “This isn’t going to go well,” I thought to myself. And it didn’t. But after the Steamroller introduction, AMD told me that the CPU team was hard at work on the successor to Excavator, currently referred to as Zen, which will address shortcomings endemic to the four architectures that preceded it. Can an enthusiast keep his hopes up that lessons from the past shape a more competitive future? I think we’re all counting on it. – by Chris Angelini

Professional-Class Graphics Tablet

While Windows 8.1-based tablets like the Surface and HP Pro x2 612 G1 are great, they're really missing decent graphics capabilities for 3D painting and sculpting apps! - By Jon Carroll

Teleportation

If anything were possible, I’d wish for teleportation. Sure, it's still a ways off, but scientists are already working on making teleportation possible. Earlier this year, physicists at the Delft Institute of Technology in The Netherlands were able to successfully demonstrate teleportation of information. The Dutch researchers were able to prove the principle of quantum entanglement, or what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.” By manipulating the spin rate of isolated electrons, the scientists showed that behavior in one place can determine the spin rate of electrons at a distance. In short, the team succeeded in teleporting information between two computer chips. This is significant because the spin rate counts as information, Jeffrey Kluger explains, and whereas information in today’s computers works on a system of ones and zeros, quantum bits of information are infinite. Imagine what this could mean for computers and networks of the future: instant, secure communication and ultra-fast computers capable of solving anything. The PC I type this on would look like a child’s toy compared to one of these teleportation gadgets of the future. - By Kasia Lorenc

All-Inclusive Tablet/Smartphone Integration Interface For Vehicles

Tablets and smartphones evolve at a much faster pace than automotive infotainment systems. While Apple and Google are working on their dumb-terminal interfaces for factory and aftermarket infotainment systems, not all of us want to plug in our phones when we get in the car. Aftermarket head units with navigation cost as much, if not more than, a suitable iPad mini or Android tablet, but don’t offer as many features, connectivity or performance. The installations are much more involved as well.

Why can’t we just have a simple single- or double-DIN mount that provides Qi wireless charging, Bluetooth and USB connectivity, integrated amp, pre outs, a digital signal processor, OBD-II interface and compatibility with steering wheel controls? All of the infrastructure needed for such a device is available. Metra comes close with its single-DIN Mobile Device Pocket solutions, but it still requires a head unit to take control. There’s also the iDataLink Maestro interface, which provides steering wheel controls and access to the vehicle bus to aftermarket head units.

As soon as someone creates an easy way to get high-quality audio and steering wheel control compatibility, I’m ready to shoehorn an iPad mini or Nvidia Shield Tablet LTE in our Mazda 5 project car. - By Anh Tuan Huynh

A Smartphone That Can Run Any Mobile OS

While I primarily write about mobile devices for Tom’s Hardware, at heart, I’m a PC enthusiast who built his first gaming PC in the early nineties to run Strike Commander. Therefore, Google’s Project Ara modular phone is something that greatly interests me. Still, while being able to customize my phone’s hardware is something that could be cool for tinkerers, I’m not sure how practical a modular phone will be. I’d still probably be happier with a purpose-built smartphone powered by the latest top-end hardware.

What I would like to see, though, is the ability to install the OS of my choosing on any given hardware platform. Imagine being able to choose your phone hardware without having to decide on what OS ecosystem you have to tie yourself into. I want the freedom to install Android, Windows Phone, Ubuntu or even BlackBerry on my phone legally without having to hack anything. While it would be nice if l could either dual-boot OSes or switch whenever I want, I’d even be happy with the option to only pick the mobile OS during the initial setup. Of course, I did not mention iOS in the list above since we all know that Apple would never allow its OS on any hardware but its own. Even wishes have limits. - By Alex Davies

Google Mobile Speech Recognition That Works! (Oh, And Better Google Docs)

Many of us are Android fans, and this author, for one, has “written” over 60,000 words this year alone by dictating into Google Docs on his phone by way of Google’s speech recognition API. Now, we fully appreciate that accurate speech-to-text has plagued researchers since DARPA was funding it in the 1980s. Just check out the more than 100 publications Google has on its Speech Processing site. It’s mind-boggling! So, we admire that under ideal conditions—a silent room, a good microphone, etc.—Google’s API is remarkably accurate, especially once you get used to the speech rhythms and sound preferences needed to help it out. But is it really so hard to translate this experience to phones? Come on! Turn on a fan or crack a car window open, and Google’s recognition totally rolls over. Array mics? Noise canceling? And how about some intuitive text editing a la Dragon Naturally Speaking? This has all been done and done cheaply! We would pay an extra $50 or $100 for a phone that made this possible. The productivity gains alone would more than pay off the cost. But like so many other Google projects, the speech API is “good enough” when it could be so, so much better with only a bit more work.

Speaking of which...Google Docs. For crying out loud, Google Docs is the Chuck E. Cheese pizza of word processors. It’s only barely as good as it has to be. Is Google so reluctant to kneecap Microsoft that it can’t blend Docs/Apps with a fork in the OpenOffice/LibreOffice suite and offer a seamless mobile/local/cloud productivity suite that doesn’t suck? Again, we would pay for this! Use it as a loss leader for selling storage space, Google. Something. Anything. But get us a fully functional version of Docs that can work as well offline as on. – by Willam VanWinkle

Nvidia Support For FreeSync

Over a year ago, Nvidia introduced its G-Sync technology, allowing the GPU to control screen refresh such that problems like stutter, tearing and lag are removed. G-Sync fixes a problem that has existed for a long time, and while we like what it does, we don’t like that it’s a proprietary technology.

Neither does AMD, and that’s exactly why it launched project FreeSync. The company worked with the VESA alliance to implement adaptive-sync into the DisplayPort standard, and it succeeded in making it an optional protocol. The two technologies essentially accomplish the same thing, but AMD’s version is free to use, rather than proprietary and expensive. Nvidia, if you would like to make 2015 complete, please add support for FreeSync, even if that means cannibalizing all potential G-Sync sales. – by Niels Broekhuijsen

Apple Watch

Still in final development, this is the gift I wish was available in 2014. How much will it cost in gold? How long will the battery last? Will Apple Pay be as seamless as they say? None of that really matters. This will be the device to be had. With Apple iOS users leading the pack in mobile spending, third-party developers will create widgets to make the Watch a valuable and well-rounded gadget. – by Josh Linder

The Efficient Smart Desk

Since I spend a lot of my time in front of a physical keyboard, I’m always wishing for a better, more efficient way to work around my computer. With that in mind, Dell’s recently announced Smart Desk concept seems to fit the bill. A combination of a horizontally placed LCD touch screen, a vertical video display, and several UX enhancements, the Smart Desk provides multiple desktop workspaces for different tasks, adding another dimension to conventional multitasking. From what Dell has shown so far, I can switch from a touch-driven Photoshop editing session, to writing mode using a touchscreen keyboard, to composing music using digitally-represented piano keys, all at the swipe of my finger. If the concept of the Smart Desk takes off and advances, the days of the physical keyboard and mouse may be numbered. – by Julio Urquidi

Unlimited Mobile

Simple: I want the full 150Mb/s of bandwidth from the Category 4 LTE spec, no matter where I am. Oh, and no more data caps too, please. – by Matt Humrick

Fixing The Rhode Island Problem

Every time Tom’s Hardware runs a contest, we can’t include residents outside of the U.S. And even here in the U.S., we have to exclude Rhode Islanders. Every time we run a contest, we say this. But every time readers from outside of the U.S. complain (or worse). There are many reasons for this (our rules, not your complaints), mostly related to how each country regulates who can win prizes and how winnings are subject to tax laws. Treasure troves of money being an obstacle, we’re stuck. While I am sure there are people in the U.S. who hope it stays this way so that the pool of prize applicants remains more limited, it’s my wish that these rules just go away, or that Tom’s Hardware’s parent company hires a handful of tax attorneys to help us manage every legal jurisdiction in the world. And for goodness sake, even though Rhode Island is our country’s smallest state it feels heartless to exclude them. – by Fritz Nelson

Gigabit Internet

My special holiday wish actually isn’t all that impractical: I just want gigabit Internet.
 
To hear CenturyLink tell it, gigabit is coming to residences in my town any day now (lies!). A broadband salesperson knocked on my door the other day and told me that a competing ISP already offered gigabit in a nearby neighborhood (lies!). He also told me that no one really needs more than 100Mb/s anyway (idiocy!).
 
There are lots and lots of people in my time zone that already have those sweet, zippy Internet speeds, which makes me want it even more. Those people are sitting there in their comfortable homes, streaming Netflix on six different devices just because they can, all while uploading a year's worth of high-res family movies in mere minutes.
 
I want to be like them. - By Seth Colaner

Big Ultrabooks

These days, I regularly use two laptops a: dinosaur of a 17-inch Sony Vaio, and a sleek 13-inch Macbook Air. While I appreciate the screen size and FHD resolution of the Sony, using a PC trackpad (any PC trackpad) is simply an exercise in frustration (as is using Windows 8), and the battery life of this discrete graphics-wielding beast is also pretty darn atrocious. Meanwhile, the Macbook Air is nearly perfect, just too damn small, with an unacceptably low sub-1080p resolution and no numpad. When I’m on-the-go, the Macbook is always my companion because of its slim design, but as soon as I hit a proper desk with an available power outlet, I’m breaking out the Vaio and my trusty Logitech M570. Ultrabooks were first introduced back in 2009, that was five years ago! So, where are the 17-inch models, heck, where are the 15-inch models? - Adam Overa

Samsung is racing to beat TSMC to market with 14nm FinFET chips, after it already won this year by a hair when it launched a 20nm chip of its own in the Galaxy Alpha about two months before Apple launched its new iOS devices with the first 20nm TSMC-made chips.

If Samsung already has its 14nm chips in production, then the company will probably enjoy an even bigger lead on TSMC next year. It usually takes another two quarters or half a year to see chips land in devices, so we could see 14nm chips made by Samsung as early as next spring.

It's unclear who the first customer is, but it's likely to be Apple. The 14nm FinFET chips may not be for a smartphone or tablet, but for the Apple Watch. Right now everyone seems to be struggling to give their smartwatches more than a day or two of battery life, especially if they use LCD or AMOLED displays instead of the more efficient Mirasol panels from Qualcomm.

The main problem is that the batteries can't be too big; otherwise, the smartwatches become bulky and heavy, and the processors are too power-hungry for such small batteries. However, OEMs can't compromise too much on performance either, because these watches tend to run full-blown mobile operating systems under the simpler UIs.

Going to 14nm could either make the chips significantly more efficient, or cut the die size so the OEM -- in this case Apple -- can increase the size of the battery (which would add the drawbacks mentioned above). Samsung's 14nm FinFET chips could reportedly use 35 percent less electricity, or take 15 percent less space, compared to 20nm chips.

Samsung is currently supplying Apple with NAND flash and DRAM. This year was the first that Apple didn't use Samsung to manufacture its chips for iOS devices. If Samsung has indeed become Apple's supplier again for the Apple Watch and this deal goes well, then Apple may want Samsung to make its chips for iOS devices again. However, by autumn of next year, TSMC should have its own 16nm FinFET process ready as well, and Apple may choose to go with TSMC again or use both companies to manufacture its chips.

Samsung is also rumored to give AMD access to its 14nm process next year, although that may happen indirectly through the deal Global Foundries made with Samsung, in which it gets to use the same 14nm technology. Samsung's 14nm FinFET process, if adopted early by AMD as well, could put the company on a much more competitive track with Intel in the PC market. Intel has already begun making 14nm chips, but only in small quantities, and it won't be until the middle of next year that the company will begin mass production.

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We've finally set eyes on the much-anticipated Apple Watch. I wore it in a controlled setting — so controlled that I couldn't interact with it. In other words, I was asked to marvel at it. And I did. The Apple Watch represents distinct, compelling steps forward for this nascent technology category — steps that, once again, Apple proved only it can make. [A hands-on video from Apple's event is embedded below.]

As exciting as it was, I was left wanting more. For one thing, the Apple Watch is still probably six months away. For another, it will still be tethered to a phone (and specifically an iPhone 6 or iPhone 5). To top it all off, it will cost $349 just for the least expensive model. In hindsight, I guess I'm not all that surprised.

But none of this will deter the Apple faithful, the first movers, the hip, the rich. (Will those who follow Apple still be called Apple watchers?) The Apple Watch will do gangbusters, if for no other reason than it's Apple. Love or hate Apple, the company doesn't just rush a product to market without a few attempts at creating something iconic.

The most obvious example in the Apple Watch is the digital crown, a user interface so obvious and simple, watching it in use made me feel stupid for forgetting about it. Scrolling through notifications or within an app, zooming in and out, even pressing it as a home button all seemed pretty obvious.

The device changes from a watch to a phone peripheral by sensing that you're looking at it. There is subtle haptic feedback (via linear actuator — Apple calls this its "taptic" engine) when getting a notification. You can input with a touch, but the watch can sense force, so it can detect a tap versus a press. You can send quick, fun messages using the watch face as a drawing board. You can even send your heartbeat to another user.

The watch's 38mm face (42mm for the bigger versions) has a retina display, protected with a Sapphire lamination. The watch supports Siri in addition to typical swipe gestures and the digital crown UI.

Oh yes, Apple intends to make the Apple Watch the ultimate fitness device, too, detecting your pulse, but also tracking daily activity, helping you establish milestones and view them throughout the day.

And I haven't even talked about the choices — choices in size and style, from the strap to the face of the watch body, including 18-karat gold. There's no telling what Apple's legion of developers will do with Watchkit, the new SDK for Apple Watch apps. Apple showed off customized versions of Twitter, American Airlines (check in from your watch), and Starwood Hotels (you can not only check in, but you will be able to unlock your room door by waving your watch in all W Hotels by next Spring). Control lights in your home, your Apple TV and so on. Like the iPhone 6, the Apple Watch will make payments using NFC.

With Apple's S1 chip for the Apple Watch, along with the normal assortment of gyros and accelerometers, and using the GPS and Wi-Fi from an iPhone, the roads are certainly being paved. If the smartwatch industry moves as fast as the smartphone market did, we'll have it all baked-in in short order.

Until then, the Apple Watch will remain simply the most compelling accessory to an iPhone ever created, and that's where I still grapple with the smartwatch, no matter what bells and whistles are included: it still seems like it solves a need that doesn't quite exist. But then again, isn't that where Apple truly thrives? Tell me: Will you be lining up to buy the Apple Watch?

Apple delivered everything we expected during its product launch event today in Cupertino, proving that not only is Apple CEO Tim Cook's administration more porous — perhaps on purpose — but that it is also growing more ambitious. There were two new iPhones (iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus), and the much-anticipated Apple Watch, and a fairly comprehensive mobile wallet scheme, called Apple Pay.

While the Apple Watch had the typical Apple wow factor, both in design simplicity and elegance (at least as smartwatches go), and Apple Pay delivered on a simplified and secure contactless payment system, the iPhone 6 did offer a few solid updates, even if some of the important details under the hood are still unknown. For Apple fans the iPhone 6 may be a benediction, or further support for continued fawning. For those waffling or migrating, it might actually justify a move back. But there are too many unanswered questions to jump to conclusions.

In the iPhone 5s Apple revved all of its engines, but still housed them in an itty bitty living space. This time around, with the iPhone 6, the company tuned up a bit more under the hood, some of it in less obvious ways, but much of it to support a complete re-do of its overall chassis.

The biggest and least surprising change is that Apple is changing the iPhone size. Before, you could get any size you wanted, as long as it was four inches. Now, you can get them in 4.7 (iPhone 6) and 5.5 inches (iPhone 6 Plus). The phone edges are rounded, and the overall device is smoother and slimmer than the iPhone 5s (6.9mm and 7.1mm for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, respectively, vs the 7.6mm thickness of the 5s), and surprising light for its size at 4.55 ounces, or 129 grams for the iPhone 6, and 6.07 ounces/172 grams for the iPhone 6 Plus (vs 3.9 ounces for the 5s). [A quick video walk through of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is embedded at the bottom of this page.]

The screen resolution is now 1334 x 750 for the iPhone 6, at a pixel density of 326 ppi, and 1920 x 1080 at 401 ppi. Apple calls this Retina HD, for whatever that terms is still worth in pixel battles. The iPhone 5s has a 16:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1136 x 640. The big questions here, then, revolve around how Apple has scaled all of this, and whether that will leave any noticeable artifacts in apps, especially apps that haven't been updated for the latest sizes, and games in particular.

When Apple moved to retina displays originally, it used a 2x scalar. Apple is using a scalar again here, and it looks like the  4.7-inch iPhone 6 has a 1.17x multiplier (over the 5s resolution). This could impact bitmap graphics, at least initially, and will require some GPU heavy lifting. The 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus has almost three times as many pixels compared with the 5s, which means even more work for the GPU. In our brief hands on with the devices, we couldn't see any artifacts, but we also didn't expect to see any on preloaded devices, especially on mostly static app experiences (like CNN and BBC and MLB) and we were forbidden to download any older apps.

Apple didn't talk about any changes to the screen panel design, and Apple didn't talk GPU details, other than to say the GPU was 50% faster than the one in the 5s. That GPU is part of another announcement we expected, the A8 SoC. When Apple came out with its 5s, the company shocked everyone with the A7, the very first (and still only) SoC based on the 64-bit ARMv8 ISA, with the Cyclone CPU core, running at 1.3 GHz. 

The A8 uses a 20nm process, as we expected it might, and Apple claims it is 25% faster than the iPhone 5s CPU. We're not sure if there was a clock bump, or any other underlying changes. Apple was tight lipped about details after the event. 

We were wondering if the A8 would use the newest PowerVR GX6650 to match Nvidia's Kepler and and Qualcomm's Adreno 420, or even ARM's Mali-T6xx. The PowerVR Series 6 is already what's in the Apple A7. Usually Apple doubles GPU performance each year, and since this is only 50% higher it may just be the same as the one in the 5s, with more cores, or higher frequency.

The iPhone 6 is 50% more energy efficient, Apple said, and claimed that its ARMv8 doesn't throttle performance the way other SoCs will, providing for more sustained performance over time. This will continue to be a battleground in the next evolution of 64-bit SoCs.

The company also talked about its new graphics library, called Metal, for 3D apps and games, the idea being that developers can get closer to the metal without the performance penalties of higher level APIs like OpenGL. Disney, Unity, EA and Gameloft, among many others, are using Metal, and Apple brought out Super Evil Megacorp to show off Vain Glory, a battle arena mutiplayer game designed for smartphone touch experiences.

Apple's M7 co-processor — essentially a hub for managing sensor activity — also got an upgrade to M8. Among other improvements, M8 allows the iPhone 6 to estimate distance, and, using a new barometer built into the phone, also detect relative elevation using the air pressure.

One glaring disappointment: Apple did not mention whether it was moving up from the 1GB LPDDR3 in the iPhone 5s, which could mean that it didn't see the need to change this. Actually, this memory has been around for two generations of iPads and iPhones, and the move to a bigger screen size, as well as the coming onslaught of 64-bit binaries, seems to dictate a change here soon — we thought soon would be now. We'll see if Apple has more to say here.

Apple promised that battery life wouldn't recede, and should get better — 24 hours of talk time on 3G, web and other Internet use up to 12 hours on LTE, 14 hours of video playback. Again, we shall see.

Many of us were expecting Apple to step it up on the connectivity and communications side, and for the most part we weren't disappointed here. First, the new iPhones will support 802.11ac, and LTE Category 4. The latter will bring 150Mbps theoretical speeds (but not the expected 300Mbps speeds of LTE Category 6), and carrier aggregation. In short, every communication will be faster. Apple supports 20 LTE bands, which the company said covers over 200 LTE carriers. Using VoLTE (voice over LTE), voice calls can be moved from 3G to 4G for better quality. Apple also supports WiFi calling, with seamless hand off between the mobile network and WiFi — this will actually only be available with T-Mobile in the U.S. for now.

As always, Apple continued to step things up on the camera. This is still an 8MP iSight, with True Tone flash. But it has a new sensor, featuring what Apple calls Focus Pixels, which is the company's phase detection auto focus. Apple claimed the camera can focus twice as fast as previous generation iPhones. It also includes improvements in things like local tone mapping and advanced noise reduction. Apple also bumped up the resolution on panoramic photos, and the camera uses the gyro for seamless stitching to create the image.

Apple includes an image signal processor in the A8, and it includes a hardware block just for face detection, for example. It also includes advanced blink and smile detection for better burst mode photo selection. Even the front facing camera, which got its own improvements, can do burst mode selfies. God help us all.

The iPhone 6 includes digital image stabilization, but the iPhone 6 Plus gets optical image stabilization, and that can move front to back, up and down, and side to side. It works with the M8 co-processor and gyro to adjust and focus images. Oh if only OIS was in the smaller iPhone 6!

Much of this improvement also finds its way into video capabilities. For example, in the iPhone 5s you could capture slow motion video up to 120fps, but with the iPhone 6 you can get up to 240fps. Focus Pixels lets you auto focus continuously while you're taking video. I saw some of this in action in brief hands-on demos, and it was pretty remarkable — as always, Apple puts a great deal of thought into camera innovation, especially in the connection between the software and the hardware capabilities.

In another expect move, Apple has included an NFC radio antenna across the top of the phone to support contactless payments. The phone includes a Secure Elements chip, which stores all of your payment information in an encrypted form. You keep your credit cards, reward cards and so forth in Apple Passbook. Apple Pay combines the use of the TouchID, the Secure Element, Passbook and NFC. Secure Element creates a one-time payment number, using dynamic security codes – so essentially you've got one-time token for security. None of your private information gets stored on the phone, and Apple has no knowledge of the details of your transaction.

The phone is available for pre-order this Friday, Sept 12, and will ship on Sept 19. There are 16, 64 and 128GB configurations, and the iPhone 6 (in gold, silver and space grey) goes for $199, $299, and $399 respectively (with a two year contract). The iPhone 6 Plus (same colors) starts at $299, $399, and $499. They will ship to the U.S. and eight other countries, with a goal of 115 countries by the end of 2014. The iPhone 5s will now be $99 and an 8GB iPhone 5C will be free on contract.

LG Electronics announced on Thursday that it plans to launch another Android Wear smartwatch next week during IFA 2014 in Berlin. Called the LG G Watch R, this device will feature a new circular Plastic OLED (P-OLED) display measuring 1.3 inches. Unlike many smartwatches on the market, this model's screen will span across the entire face, not just a portion.

The circular P-OLED display will have a 320 x 320 resolution. The watch will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chip clocked at 1.2 GHz with 512 MB of RAM and a 410 mAh battery, and it will run Google's Android Wear platform. There will also be 4 GB of internal storage and a handful of sensors including a gyro, accelerometer and compass.

The specifications also show that the watch has an IP67 rating, meaning it is resistant to water and dust. The watch can also keep running for 30 minutes while submerged in 3.28 feet of water. That said, don't go into the deep end of the pool while wearing this gadget; stay in the shallow side where the kiddies play.

"With an artisanal elegance, the LG G Watch R boasts a refined aesthetic that is reminiscent of traditional timepieces," the press release said. "Replete with a circular watch face, this elegantly crafted Android wearable has classic curves encased in a strong, durable stainless steel frame and carries a suite of watch faces that are accessible with a simple touch of the display. Its interchangeable 22 mm calf skin leather strap also complements its overall aesthetic, giving it an air of modern prestige."

Google introduced Android Wear back in March, an Android platform designed specifically for wearables. Features include the ability to get answers when the platform is asked a question, means to monitor the user's health and fitness and to access and control devices, and more. LG Electronics was one of the first to use this platform by launching the $229.99 G Watch earlier this year.

By comparison, the original G Watch features similar hardware: a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of internal storage, a 400 mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.0 and an IP67 rating. However, this model has a square 1.65-inch IPS LCD screen, and the overall dimensions are 37.9 x 46.5 x 9.95 mm.

IFA 2014 will take place from September 5 to September 10. Expect more coverage on this watch (and more) during the event.

Follow Kevin Parrish @exfileme. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Today, Samsung announced yet another smartwatch, called the Gear S, that comes with a higher-resolution Super AMOLED display that curves around your wrist, has Wi-Fi, is dust and water resistant, and has up to two days of battery life.

The Gear S also brings 3G connectivity as one of its main features, which is a rarity in the current smartwatches on the market. Most of them just get their Internet connection through Bluetooth 4.0 LE, from your phone.

Samsung has used a curved AMOLED display before in the Gear Fit, but that form factor is not particularly practical. While it looks good and stylish like a band on your hand, it’s hard to see what’s on the screen from its side, and the narrow display poses a bit of an ergonomics problem. The new Gear S adopts part of that form factor, but this time it’s a lot wider, so you shouldn’t have a problem using it.

Round smartwatches are all the rage right now, and almost everyone interested in smatwatches seems to want either the Moto 360 or the recently announced LG G Watch R. However, the Gear S, with its curved display and wide band, should appeal to a lot of people, too. It also sets the company apart, as not many other companies are able to make curved Super AMOLED displays. It’s a technology Samsung has been working on for years, and this year it finally seems ready for the mainstream market.

There is one aspect of the Gear S that may be a deal-breaker for some - its Tizen operating system. Most of this year’s smartwatches should come with the Android Wear operating system, and while Samsung’s Gear Live has adopted it, too, it seems the company still wants to push its own Tizen operating system into the wearable market.

Recently, Huawei’s boss said that Tizen is a dead-end, and it doesn’t look like many other companies are interested in it. However, while Tizen may not stand a chance against the dominating Android OS in the smartphone market, it may still be able to take part of the wearable market, if Samsung pushes it hard enough. This market is so new and underdeveloped, without a clear winner, that is may give Tizen a fighting chance.

Samsung also announced a pair of "smart" Bluetooth earbuds, called "Gear Circle" from which you can answer calls, listen to music, and use voice commands that are tied to your smartphone. It even has a magnetic lock that clasps around your neck, and vibrates when you receive calls or notifications. The play time for the Gear Circle is rated at 9 hours.

No pricing has been announced yet, but the new Gear S and the Gear Circle earbuds should come out in stores in early October, according to Samsung.

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In addition to launching the LG G Pad 10.1 Android tablet on Monday, LG Electronics also unleashed a new Google Wear-based LG G Watch, which is now available on the Google Play Store for $229 USD. The watch sports a 1.65-inch screen that is "always on," meaning users can glance at information without having to press buttons or wake the screen.

"As one of the first Android Wear devices to market, we see this as the beginning of a long-term commitment to making wearables running Android Wear a household name," said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. "We're confident that once consumers see how useful and compelling LG G Watch can be, it will be integrated into their daily lives, just as smartphones have done."

In addition to the screen, the smartwatch is powered by a snappy Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, 512 MB of RAM and a "large" 400 mAh battery. Also included in this watch is 4 GB of internal storage, Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, three sensors and a dust and water resistance rating of IP67. The watch arrives in Black Titan and White Gold.

Some of the watch's main features include compatibility with any Android phone using Android 4.3 or higher. The device also provides a simple new user interface that relies on cards, which provides useful information to the wearer when needed. The watch also boasts accurate voice recognition that allows users to get things done by asking questions.

As a comparison, Samsung's Gear Live, which is available now, also uses Google's Android Wear platform, and costs $199. This device includes a processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of internal storage, and Bluetooth 4.0 LE connectivity. Unlike LG's model, Samsung has included a heart rate sensor along with the accelerometer, digital compass and gyroscope. The 300 mAh battery promises one full day of use.

"LG G Watch will be available both online and offline in twelve countries: United States, Canada, France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Japan and South Korea," states the press release. "In fifteen other countries, among which include key markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Singapore and New Zealand, the LG G Watch will be available at retailers. Prices will be announced locally in each market."

To purchase the LG G Watch now, head over to Google Play Store here.

Follow Kevin Parrish @exfileme. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Currently, we don't know anything about the upcoming Asus smartwatch, only that the device will land in September with a price tag of $99 to $149, and use Google's new Android Wear as the operating system. The device will be competing with the LG G Watch and the Samsung Gear Live, both of which are already on the market.

However, Asus Chairman Jonney Shih shared a few details on Thursday during the Taiwan Economic Summit in Taipei, stating that when the smartwatch debuts, it will (naturally) be an innovative product. As reported by Focus Taiwan, the device will have the right balance between price, form factor, technical feasibility and launch timing.

"With so many requirements to think over, we need to find out the right trade-off in order to make what we call a 'hero product,'" he said.

He added that the smartwatch will have a number of features such as notifications and the ability to understand users so that the device can help them solve real-time problems. That seemingly builds upon a brief description of the device back in March when he said it could be controlled using voice commands and customizable hand gestures.

Shih also expects that consumers will replace their watch with the Asus gadget, which is why the form factor really matters. However, he previously pointed out that it's not meant to replace the smartphone, but to compliment the device because phones have "mature applications" that customers want to use.

Shih added on Thursday that Asus is considering new options for the user interface on the smartwatch due to the screen's small size. He didn't go into details, but seemingly indicates that the company is shooting to offer services and features that are best suited for a watch form factor.

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On Wednesday night, Asus confirmed with an unnamed source that it's currently working on a Google Wear smartwatch, and will possibly release the device sometime in September. Sources claim the watch may cost between $99 and $149, undercutting LG's G Watch ($229) and Samsung's Gear Live ($199), both of which are Android Wear devices.

Sources told TechCrunch that Asus waited to release its solution on purpose, as it didn't want to rush development. Previous reports pointed to gesture control, and how the company wanted to include this technology to make up for the small screen. Whether or not the upcoming Android Wear watch will be the same project is currently unknown.

Both the LG G Watch and the Samsung Gear Live were launched on Wednesday sporting Google's new Android Wear platform. Both are similar to each other on a hardware level save for the screen sizes, resolution and the battery. The Samsung unit also has a heart rate monitor, a detail that LG left out possibly due to the company's need to meet the launch deadline.

As reported on Wednesday, LG's G Watch includes an always-on 1.65-inch IPS display with a 280 x 280 resolution. This screen is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, 512 MB of RAM and a 400 mAh battery. There's also 4 GB of internal storage, a handful of sensors, and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity.

As for the Samsung Gear Live, this smartwatch features a 1.63-inch Super AMOLED display with a 320 x 320 resolution. Powering this screen is a processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, 512 MB of RAM, a 300 mAh Li-ion battery, 4 GB of internal storage, several sensors and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity.

With those two now on the market, Asus can focus on making its Android Wear solution better than the current competition. The price point is definitely interesting.

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TKTechNews reported on Friday that some people already have access to the device. With Google working on its own platform for smartwatches, Samsung's Gear line already available and rumored devices from manufacturers like Apple apparently on the way, the smartwatch space might be the next major electronic battle ground. In Q1 of this year alone, smartwatch shipments jumped over 250 percent.

So far, Android has taken a strong lead and runs on more than half of all devices. As the name implies, HTC's One Wear will be running Android Wear and generally set to compete against the Motorola 360, also set to come out later this year. With the battle over what people wear around their wrists set to heat up in the coming months, just about anyone could still take the gold.

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In preparation for Computex, Acer on Friday announced that its first wearable device, the Acer Liquid Leap, will be sold in a bundle with the Acer Liquid Jade smartphone in selected markets. The company's first wearable is a touchscreen-based smartband that provides fitness tracking, SMS and phone notifications, and music control.

"The Liquid Leap emits an understated elegance with its modern linear design," states the press release. "The slim 1-inch touch screen is nestled in a durable rubber wristband for comfortable everyday usage. It's the ideal smart wearable device for active digital users wanting to maximize their efficiency, and for whom staying connected is absolutely essential."

According to the company, the music control aspect allows the user to access their music library and start, pause, stop, skip to the next song, or skip to the previous song. As a fitness tracker, the device will count the user's steps, track their running distance, track calories burned, and track the user's sleeping cycle. The device also comes in a number of different colors including Moonstone White, Mineral Black, Aquamarine, Fragrant Pink, and Vivid Orange. The smartband even promises up to seven days of battery life on a single charge.

As for the connected smartphone, the Liquid Jade will feature a 5-inch IPS screen with "Zero Air Gap" technology, which promises better, brighter visuals that are protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass 3. On the back is a 13MP camera with 0.3 second focus and F1.8 aperture. Acer says the phone measures just 0.295 inches thin.

Acer is expected to ship the Liquid Jade and Liquid Leap in Q3 2014, so stay tuned for more details.

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We got our first glimpse of LG's smartwatch offering when Google announced Android Wear, its dedicated Android build for wearable devices. Unfortunately, with Android Wear the star of the show, we didn't hear an awful lot about LG's hardware. Dubbed the G Watch, LG told us it would be a low barrier to entry for developers but revealed nothing else. This week, the company gave us another little peek at the device.

LG has released an official promo video for the G Watch, and though it's short, it does give us a little more to go on than what we had before. For instance, we now know that the device will feature a metal body and will be waterproof (essential if you're going to be wearing this device while doing sports). Yes, the video does specify waterproof as opposed to water resistant, so we're anxious to hear more about that. Not mentioned is anything to do with dust, though we're sure the device is dust resistant, too. The video also mentions 'ready for anything on a single charge,' though it's not clear if that means the device will last all day on one charge, or much longer. Given most smartphone users still aren't happy about the fact that their phones need to be charged once a day, we can't imagine a watch that needs to be plugged in at night will go over. Lastly, it's not mentioned, but it looks like the device might have an 'always on' display. Check the video below to see for yourself. We're hoping to hear more about the G Watch at LG's G3 event later this month. We'll keep you posted!

Follow Jane McEntegart @JaneMcEntegart. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

On Tuesday Sony upgraded its Android-compatible Smartwatch 2, making it even more customizable than it was before. Actually, this update is probably the biggest yet since the watch's debut back in October 2014. If you remember, we took this device for a stroll and loved it… enough so that yours truly actually purchased the watch. I still love it, and even more now that Sony has released this update.

"This latest update represents a significant step forward in the capabilities of SmartWatch 2 and we’re very pleased in where we’ve brought the platform in terms of user experience," states Sony’s blog. "However, we’re always looking at new options in this sector and there are all sorts of exciting developments coming from our smart wearables teams."

The update, which can be downloaded from Google Play here, fixes a few bugs and brings forth a number of new features including customizing the watch face. Now users can add the date, weather, calendar, Bluetooth, notifications, battery indicator and an alarm as well as a host of other options to the watch face. Sony reports that owners should keep an eye out for additional widgets and watch faces given the platform is open to third-party developers.

Also new to the Smartwatch 2 are wallpapers. Now users can decorate the Home screen with a choice of six… sorry, that’s all Sony offers. Still, it’s better than the drab default backdrop. In addition to the wallpapers, the company has also thrown in a native calculator so you’re not scratching your head trying to figure out a tip at a local restaurant.

"Thanks to some of your feedback, we’ve made some slight tweaks to the Gmail and Facebook functionality on SmartWatch 2," states Sony’s blog. "Tweaks include improving the Gmail synchronization between phone and watch, and making the posts on the Facebook app more ‘scrollable’. Have a look around and tell us what you think."

Other notable changes include a better notification drawer, allowing wearers to stroll through all events and mark them as read. Sony also tweaked the Bluetooth connection settings, allowing owners to turn off the vibration whenever Bluetooth connects and disconnects.

Sony’s blog states that the Smartwatch 2 now has over 400 dedicated apps listed on Google Play. That’s quite an impressive load of apps dedicated to just one device. “When we launched SmartWatch 2 our developer partners were pretty much averaging production at one extension a day,” states the blog.

For more information about Sony’s Smartwatch 2, head here.

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Between rumors, the MWC announcement, and the month-long wait from unveiling to launch, it feels like we've been talking about Samsung's Galaxy S5 for ages. Despite the heavy coverage, up until today, Samsung's GS5 hasn't actually been available for purchase by the general public. All that changed this morning when Samsung released the device in a total of 125 countries.

The Galaxy S5 is Samsung's flagship phone for 2014 and replaces the Galaxy S4, which was released this time last year. While the Note 4 will probably land later this year to keep the GS5 company in its flagship status, the Galaxy S5 is currently the only 2014 Galaxy phone available.

More: Samsung Galaxy S5 benchmarks

Announced in February at MWC, the Galaxy S5 packs a 5.1-inch full HD Super AMOLED display with an intelligent ambient light sensor that adjusts both brightness and color based on your environment; a 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC; a 16-megapixel camera with real-time HDR for pictures and video as well as selective focus and 0.3-second autofocus; a fitness tracker; heart rate sensor (via the LED on the back of the phone, underneath the camera); a nutrition tracker working via Samsung's own S Health app; IP67 dust and water resistance; support for LTE Category 4 (150 Mbps) and 802.11ac WiFi (2x2 MIMO); the ability to combine LTE and WiFi in what Samsung calls 'download booster' mode; and a 2800 mAh battery, which the company claims provides 10 hours of web browsing over LTE and 12 hours of video playback.

More: HTC One M8 vs. Galaxy S5

The Galaxy S5 isn't hitting stores all by itself, either. Also available are Samsung's second generation smart watches, the Galaxy Gear 2, the Galaxy Gear 2 Neo, and the Gear Fit. While the Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo are largely the same (both run on Tizen but the Gear 2 Neo ditches the onboard camera and is a little bit lighter), the Gear Fit runs on a completely separate OS and is for fitness enthusiasts.

More: Gear 2 vs. Gear Fit

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The Galaxy S5 is Samsung’s newest flagship smartphone, and while the company did say at MWC that the S5 would be coming to 150 countries on April 11th, there were no specifics as to which countries those would be. Now Samsung Canada has confirmed that the Galaxy S5, along with the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit smartwatches, will be available from nearly every Canadian carrier on the 11th. While no official information has been released about the US launch, it’s safe to say that the GS5 will be available in the US on the 11th too, at least from one carrier.

The Galaxy S5, like the GS4, is more of an iterative rather than radical update to its predecessor, but it does pack a quite a few new interesting features, such as a fingerprint scanner, a heart rate sensor and IP67 dust and water resistance. It also has what Samsung is calling “Download Booster” that bonds your Wi-Fi and LTE connections for faster downloads. The rest of the phone’s specs are a 5.1-inch 1080p screen, either a 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC (the faster AC variant) or a 2.1 GHz octo-core Exynos 5422 SoC, 2GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage with a microSD slot, a removable 2,800 mAh battery and a 16 MP camera.

In yesterday’s release, Samsung Canada only said that the S5 will be coming to “multiple carriers” in black or white, but we do know that nearly every Canadian carrier will be carrying it, of course including the big-three of Bell, Rogers and Telus. In the US, the S5 is also expected to be available on every major carrier, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. We are not sure which colors will be available in the U.S., but along with the white and black, Samsung also announced at MWC that the GS5 will also come in gold and blue. It is also possible that one of the exotic colors with be a carrier exclusive.

As for pricing, Samsung Canada only said that it will be available on select 2-year plans for $230. However, Telus had said earlier this month that the pricing would be $250, so it looks like the final pricing has yet to be decided. Telus will also starting taking pre-orders for the S5 on April 1st. Rogers also announced its pricing for the Galaxy S5, which will be $250 on a 2-year term, along with a bonus for first 10,000 customers who reserve it. The Rogers Galaxy S5 will be enabled to for Rogers suretap mobile payment system, and those 10,000 S5’s will come a $50 Rogers Prepaid MasterCard (yes, in Canada carrier have their own credit cards!) pre-loaded in the phone’s suretap wallet. As for U.S. carriers, no pricing has been released, but seeing as U.S. pricing is usually a little less than Canadian for a similar term, we can expect the Galaxy S5 to be $200 on a 2-year term.

As for the smartwatches, the only carrier to confirm availability of them in Canada is Rogers, though, of course, the new Gears will also likely be on sale at major electronics retailers on the 11th too. Interesting Rogers did say in their press that the Gear 2 Neo will be “only available with Rogers”, which seems an odd choice for Samsung since you would assume they’d want the more affordable Gear to be available from as many places as possible. In Canada, the Gear 2 will come in black, brown and orange. The Gear 2 Neo will come in black, gray, and orange and the Gear Fit will only be available in black. Again, Samsung Canada did share pricing details for the Gear, but Rogers helpfully told us that the Gear 2 will be $330, and the Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit will be $220. In the U.S., we expect those prices to be $300 for the Gear 2, and $200 for the Neo and Fit.

Stay tuned to Tom’s Hardware for more news on the Galaxy S5 and new Gears. An official announcement about U.S. pricing and availability can’t be too far off. You can also check out our hands-on with the Gear 2 and Gear Fit.

UPDATE: AT&T has now gone live with its pre-order for the Galaxy S5. Starting March 21st you can pre-order an S5 for $200 on a 2-year term, or as low as $25 a month with AT&T’s Next Installment plan. The AT&T site says pre-orders ship on April 8th, so taking into account delivery times, it’s clear that April 11th will also be the US launch date for the S5, at least on AT&T.

AT&T is also offering pre-orders of the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit, and you can get $50 off the Gear 2 or Neo if you buy one with the S5. Pricing for the Gear 2 will be $300, and the Neo and Fit will be $200.

UPDATE 2: It looks like both T-Mobile and Sprint are joining AT&T’s party by announcing their plans for the Galaxy S5 today.

T-Mobile will start taking pre-orders for the S5 on Monday the 24th, and will have an introductory price of $0, with no contract and 24 monthly payments of $27.50. T-Mobile hasn’t said anything about the Gears or the release date of the S5.

Sprint is also offering the Charcoal Black and Shimmery White S5 to their customers for $0, with 24 months of $27.09 payments, and they are
taking pre-orders starting today. They have also confirmed the expected April 11th launch date. Sprint will be selling all the Gears too on the 11th - the Gear 2 for $300 and the Neo and Fit for $200.

Verizon has yet to release information about their plans for the Galaxy S5, other than that they will be carrying it.

_{Follow Alex Davies @alexbdavies. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.}

Currently there are around five smartwatches on the market: the Galaxy Gear, the Martian, the Pebble, the Sony Smart Watch 2 and the Qualcomm Toq. Each have their own capabilities, but none are perfect. Google's now has the opportunity to make the perfect smartwatch with Android Wear. Ultimately, what do we want to see from a smartwatch? This is our wishlist:

Standalone
We would like our smart watches to work on their own, please. That means installing apps directly on the device, making calls without having to pull the phone out of our pockets, and supporting a Wireless N (or AC) network. Tethering from a smartphone should only occur while outside a local network. Note that the Galaxy Gear and Martian are capable of making calls, but they still require a paired smartphone.

Local Storage
This goes along with the previous standalone concept: locally installed apps need local storage. But let's push that even further. What if the smartwatch had enough local storage to play host to movies, videos and music. Users could plug in earphones and listen to their favorite album without needing an MP3 player or phone. Of course, this would require a better, smartphone-class battery.

Video Playback
Eventually this is going to happen. Smart watches will provide support for the various types of video compression, allowing users to watch a purchased movie or one taken by the user's smartphone camera. Smart watches would also need a mini-HDMI output component, or perhaps a way to stream video to a smart TV or some other DLNA-certified device.

Internet Browser
Sure, the internet would be rather small on a smart watch face, but smartphones started with small screens and highly simple internet pages. This is also where the local storage comes into play: storing Internet cache so that the browser isn't burning up the battery charge by downloading pages over and over. This would seemingly need a screen capable of a decent resolution and ppi.

Remote Control
What if you could control a desktop or laptop simply by touching the screen of your smart watch? That would be an interesting feature, requiring users to install apps on both platforms. Roccat does something similar with its Power-Grid software, which requires both the smartphone/tablet and desktop/laptop to remain on the same wireless network. Using a smartwatch to turn a room's lights on and off would be a neat feature as well.

Activate the Teleporter
Ok maybe we're asking too much.

If CES and MWC are anything to go by, wearable tech is the next big thing, and smartwatches are front of the line in terms of hot new trends. Samsung has one, Pebble has one, Apple's apparently working on one, and even Google is said to be developing a watch of its own. This Nexus watch from Google has been in the news since last year, and there's been plenty of rumors since then (even some renders, as evidenced by the picture above). We've rounded them all up in one tidy spot and will update as time goes on.

Manufacturer

Unlike Samsung, Apple, or Pebble, one of the major questions with Google's rumored smartwatch is who's going to make the device. Google rarely makes its own hardware. In the past, it's contracted Samsung, Asus, HTC and LG to build its Nexus electronics (aside from the Nexus Q, but let's not go near that). The first question you have to ask when you consider a Nexus-branded smartwatch is who's going to be slapping their logo right next to Google's own? Recent reports suggest Google was going to go with a device from Motorola, and that this watch was codenamed Gem. However, February brought talk that the Gem had been scrapped in favor of a device from LG, which has made the last two Nexus Phones. It's important to remember that Google owned Motorola last year, so it could have had the team working on a watch. Now that Motorola is gone to Lenovo; it's possible Google preferred to go with its current preferred partner.

Form Factor

This is arguably one of the most important aspects of wearable tech. While a lot of it comes down to personal taste, no one is going to want to wear it if it looks like garbage. Period. Samsung has one bulkier offering, the Galaxy, Gear and one more sleek and polished smartwatch that comes in the form of the Gear Fit. Apple's also thought to be working on a curved wristwatch. If leaked images of the Gem are anything to go by, this Nexus smartwatch will look more like the Galaxy Gear and the Pebble smartwatch than the Galaxy Fit or any slap bracelet-style device Apple comes up with. But if we're to believe Google has made the switch from Motorola to LG, then what can we expect? That's hard to say, but if we look to the past, LG has already played the smartwatch game. What you see below is the GD910. It cost roughly a grand and was actually a wristwatch phone as opposed to just a companion device.

While this device isn't too dissimilar to the Galaxy Gear in terms of form factor, it's important to note that the GD910 was announced way back in 2007 and released in 2009, so LG may have a different idea of what passes for fashionable these days. Patents filed by Google feature illustrations of a watch with a round face, as opposed to a rectangular or square face.

Hardware

According to our favorite leaker, @evleaks, the Google smartwatch will pack a yet to be determined processor as well as a 1.65-inch IPS LCD with a  280 × 280 resolution, 512 MB RAM, and 4 GB internal storage. No mention of whether or not it will have a camera (Apple's offering apparently will), and given the specs, it looks like this will definitely be a companion device as opposed to a standalone piece of consumer electronics. A patent filed by Google last year mentions a smartwatch with touch sensitive areas built into the band. These areas would be used to control the device as opposed to the small touch screen, where swiping and scrolling might feel cramped.

Software

Of course, this being a Google product, you can expect it to be an Android device, though it likely won't run a full version of Android. Google's probably going to push Google Now pretty hard when it comes to the Nexus watch, which makes a lot of sense. Google Now is an integral part of the Google Glass experience, conveniently providing users with location- and time-specific information without forcing them to take out their phone and unlock the device. No doubt the idea behind the Google watch is the same. A quick glance at your wrist will tell you if your brother has answered your email or if you need to bring a coat when you leave for work. CNet cites a source that says Google will be developing an OS specifically for its smartwatch.

Release Date

Last year, there was talk that the Google smartwatch would debut alongside KitKat. Obviously, that didn't happen. Now, rumors say we can expect to see the device at Google I/O in June. This comes via CNet's source as well as our old faithful, @evleaks. Google is apparently not going to show off a new version of Android at I/O this year. Could that be because it wants to focus on its watch? The developer conference kicks off on June 25 and runs for two days.

Follow Jane McEntegart @JaneMcEntegart. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

In February, Samsung introduced not one but three new Galaxy Gear smartwatches. The first two were more or less the same. The Galaxy Gear 2 and the Galaxy Gear Neo have the same specs except for one detail: the Neo doesn't have the integrated camera that is present on the Galaxy Gear 2. This is a key difference between the two, but it's one difference and one that is clear. The differences between the Gear 2 and the Gear Fit are a little more varied. Some are obvious, some aren't. Both devices monitor and track heart rate, exercise and sleep, both display notifications from your smartphone. They seem kind of the same, despite outward appearance. So, which is better for you? The answer lies in what you want out of your smartwatch, because while there is huge overlap in functionality, these are two very difference devices.

Form Factor

Let's start with form factor, because it's the most glaring difference. The Gear 2 features the same 1.63-inch 320 x 320 square face we saw on the original Gear, though the camera is no longer built into the wrist strap. If you were happy enough with the look of the original Gear, the Gear 2 will no doubt pass your style test. Bonus: you can change the straps to suit your mood.

The Gear Fit also has interchangeable straps, but chances are the strap isn't the reason you're eyeing up this smartwatch. With its curved 1.83-inch 432 x 128 AMOLED display, the watch fits flush against your wrist and offers a more streamlined and understated aesthetic than the large-and-in-charge Gear 2/Gear Neo. It's the more fashionable of the two, and Samsung said it expects the Gear Fit to be quite popular for that reason alone.

As far as weight is concerned, the Gear 2 is 68 g (the Neo is 55 g due to the omission of the camera), while the Gear Fit is just 27 g.

Functionality

Beauty is only skin deep; a closer look at these devices reveals some pretty big differences. The Gear 2 features a heart rate monitor and the ability to track walking, running, cycling, hiking, sleeping, and stress. Pretty sporty for the non-fitness offering. It also has a music player, can act as a remote for Samsung-made products, and comes with S Voice, a stopwatch, timer, weather, and media controller. It, of course, displays alerts from your smartphone and can make calls.

The Gear Fit is more limited in its functionality. It too can monitor exercise, heart rate, sleep, and steps taken. It also has a stopwatch, a timer, and media controller, Smart Relay, and the ability to display notifications from your Samsung smartphone (SMS, call, email, apps). However, you can't actually make calls from the watch itself, like you can with the Gear 2, and it doesn't have a standalone music player. It is, when you get down to it, a fitness tracker that you can pair with your phone so you don't miss notifications.

Software and Apps

Samsung made the move to Tizen for the Gear 2. The original Gear ran on Android. This means the apps made for the original Gear aren't going to be compatible. Okay, so developers will have to develop Gear 2-specific applications, and users will have to deal with a limited number of applications at launch. But that number will hopefully grow over time. The Gear Fit is another ball game. Already stunted by lesser functionality, the Gear Fit is dealt another blow in that it runs on a different OS. It's not Android and it's not Tizen. Samsung says the Gear uses an RTOS to prolong battery life, but that means there won't be an SDK for developing Gear Fit apps. Instead, developers will be able to customize Android apps to communicate with the Gear Fit as opposed to develop apps that run on the watch itself.

Specs

Given the broader functionality and bulkier (in comparison) OS, the Gear 2 is a bit stronger than the Gear Fit in terms of specs. It boasts a 1.0 GHz dual core processor, that 1.63-inch (320 x 320) Super AMOLED display we mentioned earlier, a 2.0-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of internal storage, and a 300 mAh battery. The Gear Fit packs a 1.83-inch (432 x 128) curved Super AMOLED display, and a 180 MHz ARM Cortex M4 CPU. Samsung hasn't talked about storage or RAM, but we reckon there isn't much to report on that front, given less is required of the Gear Fit than its more capable brother.

Battery

The battery in the Gear 2 is 300 mAh, while the Gear Fit has a battery of unspecified capacity keeping it chugging along. What we do know is that Samsung has said the Gear Fit will last longer than the Gear 2. This is down to that RTOS and a lower power processor. The Gear 2's 300 mAh is apparently good for between two and three days, while the Gear Fit can go for three to four days.

Price

By now, you've probably twigged that the Gear 2, despite not being as sexy in appearance, is the big cheese, and that comes at a price. While official pricing has not been released, leaked pricing for Europe puts the Gear 2 at €299 and the Gear Fit at €199. The dark horse here is the Gear Neo, which will apparently be priced to match the Gear Fit. That's right, if you're willing to let go of the camera, you can get the Gear 2 at a pretty hefty discount.

Different Strokes

At the end of the day, these are two very different devices. The Gear Fit offers very little in the way of standalone functionality. Though both devices rely on your smartphone for an awful lot, Gear 2 users will have third-party apps, the standalone music player, the ability to make phone calls, and more, on top of the fitness tracking. However, not everyone wants a watch that can do it all. Certainly, if you're just looking for a watch you can wear while you're working out, the Gear Fit is a perfect… fit (sorry). It'll track your workouts, keep you informed of any pressing alerts from your cell phone, and it's light, attractive, and (hopefully) not too expensive. The Gear 2 does more, but the tradeoff is a higher price tag, a chunkier design, and a heavier product.

Follow Jane McEntegart @JaneMcEntegart. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

We heard rumors late on Friday of a new Samsung Chromebook with faux-leather styling. Today, Samsung officially announced its Chromebook 2 series. Available in 11.6- and 13.3-inch configurations, Samsung's newest Chromebooks use the company's own Eynos 5 Octa processors, as well as full day battery life, and $100 of preloaded software (including Air Droid Premium, Wunderlist Pro, and LittleBridge.com). 

Under the hood you're looking at a 13.2-inch Full HD 1920 x 1080 display and a Samsung Exynos 5 Octa clocked to 2.1 GHz with 2 MB of L2 cache with 4 GB of DDR3L RAM. There's also 16 GB of storage, a 720p HD web cam, HDMI, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, MicroSD, and an 8.5 hour battery. The smaller 11.6-inch model packs a 1366 x 786 HD LED panel, an Exynos 5 Octa clocked to 1.9 GHz, 2 MB of L2 cache, and the same 4 GB of RAM. It also has 16 GB of iNAND embedded storage, a 720p web cam, and the same array of ports found in its bigger brother. The battery on this model is only rated at 8 hours, though Samsung didn't provide specifics on the size of the battery in each model.  The 11.5-inch model weighs under 2.5 pounds, while the 13.3-inch model weighs just shy of 3.1 pounds.

The 13.3-inch model is only available in 'Luminous Titan Gray' (pictured up top), while the smaller 11.6-inch version of the Chromebook 2 will be available in 'Jet Black' and 'Classic White.' Both will be out next month. The 11.6-inch version will set you back $320, while the bigger 13.3-inch model is priced at $400. No word on international availability just yet, but we'll keep you posted on that front!

[UPDATE] Samsung has let us know that the battery size is 30 Wh and 36.5 Wh in the 11.6- and 13.3-inch models, respectively.

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Wearables were big at CES, and the trend is continuing here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. While Samsung is dominating headlines with the launch of three new Galaxy Gear devices, Huawei debuted its own smartwatch solution in Barcelona this week.

We stopped by the Huawei booth at MWC to check out the TalkBand B1, which is a smartwatch with a removable earpiece for accepting calls. Perfect if you can't get behind the idea of talking into your wrist like a spy.

Specswise, you're looking at a 1.4-inch OLED display, NFC, and a 90 mAh battery (six days on a two hour charge via USB). Rather refreshing is that this isn't Huawei-only in terms of what you can pair it with. The TalkBand B1 supports Android 2.3 and up as well as iOS 5 and up. 

The watch itself can tell time (of course) with the tap of a button on the side, as well as count your steps, track distance and calories burned, and monitor your sleep patterns.

It's a unique idea that allows people to carry a Bluetooth headset and a smartwatch at once. Unfortunately, there are some trade offs that come with that convenience. The band that the earpiece/watch face sits in is rubber and a bit on the thick side. The buttons were hard to press as a result, and in places the band didn't fit quite as snugly, which made the buttons a bit harder to press. We're not sure if this is a result of so many people popping it in and out of its band in such a short space of time, or if Huawei has made the bands a little on the loose side to make the earpiece easier to remove.

The TalkBand B1 will arrive in China next month and Japan, Russia, Western Europe and the Middle East in Q2. Huawei says we can expect a €99 price tag when it hits Europe.

Check out all our Mobile World Congress 2014 coverage here!

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Back in January during CES 2014, Sony teased consumers and the media with its SmartWear Experience vision. This vision would include a range of SmartWear products, Xperia phones, and a Lifelog application. The first product in the series would be a SmartBand (SWR10) that logs daily activities and represents the data visually in the Lifelog application.

"The SmartWear Experience is about emotion as well as motion. Entertainment and information; how you feel as well as what you do. It's about moving, and most importantly, being moved," the company hinted. "And, with open software and hardware, Sony is forging new in-market partnerships, to offer consumers more choice."

This week during Mobile World Congress 2014, the company announced that both the SmartBand and the Lifelog app will be released in March. Together with the SmartBand, the Lifelog Android app tracks more than just steps; it records places the user visits, the books that the user reads, music the user listens to, and so on. The app will also help set activity goals, monitor the process and make recommendations.

"SmartBand's core module is a 24/7 wearable device; fully waterproof (rated IP582) despite its exposed Micro-USB port," reads the company's press release. "It's light, unobtrusive and the independent core means it can be carried or worn as you wish, to fit your lifestyle."

Like the SmartWatch 2, the SmartBand connects to an Android phone via Bluetooth. However, this device provides information to the Lifelog app installed on the phone, and if that connection is broken (aka walk away from the smartphone), the SmartBand will vibrate (up to 33 feet). And just like the SmartWatch 2, Sony's "smart" band will also vibrate when the user receives a call, a message, or a tweet, and when the user gets a "like" on Facebook.

The band can also be used to play, pause and skip tracks in the Walkman app by pressing the button and tapping the band. The device will even wake up the wearer at the best time based on his/her sleep cycle. Sony's band calculates and measures the best time to wake the wearer up and gently vibrates to bring him/her out of sleep.

As previously stated, the upcoming band is powered by a removable "core" module that contains "advanced" sensor technology "that feels your movements and sends data to your smartphone." The band itself is just a wrist strap that holds the core tech in place on your wrist. There's also a Life Bookmark key so that wearers can mark a special moment.

The SmartBand will initially be offered in Black, but the company plans to launch models in various colors sometime after launch. For more information about the new SmartBand, head here.

Check out all our Mobile World Congress 2014 coverage here!

Samsung's Galaxy Gear isn't all that old, but the company has already debuted a second version of the device. This makes sense, given wearable tech is a relatively new market and manufacturers haven't quite figured out what customers want from their high-tech accessories.

We had heard Samsung would be unveiling a new version of the Gear 2 at MWC, but we didn't expect to see three new versions of the Gear at the show this week. First up is the Galaxy Gear 2, which packs the same 1.63-inch 320 x 320 display we saw on the first generation model, but this one is based on Samsung's Tizen, which means all the applications for the first generation Galaxy Gear are not compatible with the second generation model. Users hoping Samsung would get rid of the camera will be disappointed. It's still there, but now it takes full HD video as well as photos. The Gear 2 is expected to get two to three days of battery life, though that will obviously depend on how you use the device.

The device runs on a dual-core CPU clocked at 1 GHz, features 512 MB of RAM, and 4 GB of storage. Also new is that the band is replaceable, so users can use any 22 mm band they like with the watch. This is big news, as the band that came with the original Galaxy Gear was bulky and only available in a few colors. To facilitate this change, the camera and mic are built into the watch face as opposed to the strap. The watch face also now has a home button, is water resistant, and can change the channel on your TV thanks to an app and an IR blaster on the front of the watch. Samsung says this remote function (which features numbers as well as volume up and down) may also be compatible with other Samsung appliances equipped with infrared.  The Gear 2 also checks your heart rate as you wear it via an LED on the back of the watch face, monitors your activity via a pedometer while you're walking, running, swimming, or cycling. You can also use it to track sleep data.

If you really hate the camera that much, Samsung has another version of the Gear 2, this one called the Gear 2 Neo, which ditches the camera. Other than that, it's basically the same watch. It's a bit of an interesting move from Samsung as it tells us enough people disliked the camera to warrant making a Gear without it, but Samsung obviously felt strongly enough about the camera feature that it didn't want to get rid of it. The end result is two nearly identical Gear smart watches.

We're still waiting on price and availability but we'll let you know. So far, all we know is that these two are arriving in April.

Check out all our Mobile World Congress 2014 coverage here!

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Samsung’s first two versions of the Galaxy Gear 2 are almost identical. The only difference is the fact that one of them doesn’t have a camera and that model is called Gear 2 Neo instead of Gear 2. However, Samsung also announced a brand new fitness band smart watch alongside the Gear 2, and that one is a bit more interesting.

The first difference is that the Gear Fit has a beautiful curved display that fits nicely around the wrist as opposed to sitting squarely on top. This 1.83-inch AMOLED  panel with a 432 x 128 resolution displays the time (the most important feature of any watch) and can also show you data from a built-in heart monitor as well as track sleep and exercise. Like the regular Gear, notifications from your phone will show up on the Gear Fit when you receive texts or emails. Also like the other Gear watches, the watch strap is replaceable, though this might not be as much of an issue for Gear Fit users given the screen is wide enough that you can’t actually see much of the strap at all when looking at your wrist head-on.

Pricing and availability aren’t yet available, but we do know it will be arriving in April.

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The Broadcom BCM4771 GNSS SoC is designed for low-power wearable devices and is manufactured on the 40 nm process. It promises to cut power consumption by 75-percent compared to existing solutions thanks to an integrated Sensor Hub that puts your movement into context. By measuring things like distance and speed, it can choose to shut down certain sensors based on that information. For example, if the chip senses that you’re moving very quickly over a long distance, it assumes you’re in a vehicle and won’t bother to count steps.

Every year, CES gives us some idea of ‘the next big thing’ and what we saw in Las Vegas this past January was that wearable computing is on its way up. Unfortunately, because this genre of personal devices is still relatively new, some of the features and functionalities aren’t what they could be just yet. What’s more, a company might decide it’s more important to include one feature over another due to cost, power savings or other issues, and so the user ends up with a smaller feature set. Broadcom is hoping to reduce the cost and complexity of adding GNSS (globe navigation satellite system) with the introduction of this new chip.

The BCM4771 will be sampling by the end of Q1 2014 but Broadcom promised to show us what its ‘innovations’ at MWC, so hopefully we’ll see some reference designs or prototypes based on this new chip.

Regardless, we should see a lot of wearables at MWC and as the year progresses. This year will apparently bring the second generation of Samsung's Galaxy Gear, as well as smartwatches and companion devices from a host of other electronics manufacturers. What's more, Google Glass will move closer to general availability and hopefully come down in price, too. Even Apple is rumored to be getting in on the 

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We’ve had smartwatch dreams since the Dick Tracy days. Finally, those dreams are starting to look someway possible. Samsung’s first shot at the smartphone segment is the Galaxy Gear. Though it’s only six months old, rumor has it Samsung is about to announce the Galaxy Gear 2 at MWC. With so little time between model one and model two, what could Samsung improve upon? Here’s our list of changes and features we want to see with the next iteration of Gear.

Price

The first thing we want to change is the price. The Galaxy Gear is far too expensive for a companion device. We simply couldn’t justify spending $300 on a device that we didn’t really need. Especially with competing devices selling for less. It might be a tall order, but if you were to ask us the ideal price for a smart watch, we’d say $150 -- the same starting price as the Pebble.

Functionality

Of course, price is dependent on features. Right now, Samsung’s Gear suffers from something of a personality disorder. It hovers somewhere between LG’s full fledged wrist watch smartphone and notification-only smartwatch. Though we appreciate certain features (like the mic and speaker that enable hands-free calling), we’d be willing to ditch the camera for a discount in pricing. Though it’s good for what it is (…a watch phone??), it’s wholly unnecessary. We don’t need a camera on our wrists.

Style

Oh, do we have a beef with the Gear when it comes to aesthetics. While it’s not exactly ugly. it doesn’t scream elegance either. Especially if you’re a woman. When we talked to Samsung about the Gear last year, we asked who they were targeting with the Gear. “Everyone,” was the response. When we asked if the company expected people to wear the Gear all the time or just during certain activities (while at the gym, for example), a Samsung rep told us they hoped people would wear the device all the time. When we said we couldn’t picture a woman wearing the Gear with her little black dress on a date, our Samsung rep didn’t really have an answer. The introduction of the Rose Gold model shows that Samsung is working on this issue, but we look forward to an even more elegant solution.

Compatibility

Right now, the Gear doesn’t work with anything other than a Samsung. Even then, it’s only going to work with the Galaxy Note 3, the Note 2, the Galaxy S3, the Galaxy S4, and the Galaxy Mega on AT&T. That is a small list in a big Android world. The Galaxy Gear is Samsung’s first foray into a relatively new market. If the company wants the Gear to succeed, the device needs to work with a lot more of its own phones for a start.

Battery & Charging

The Galaxy Gear’s battery isn’t too terrible; it lasts two days. That’s not bad but considering it’s “just” a companion device, we want it to last a little bit longer than double the time our smartphone does. The current generation of Gear packs a 315 mAh battery. We’d like to see Samsung improve upon that with the nest model. However, we’d gladly trade that for an improvement on the charging situation. Right now, the Galaxy Gear ships with an a serviceable charging cradle. We’d love if this device utilized conductive charging. It’s not a big leap, and it would eliminate the cradle completely. Definitely a plus in our book.

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During a company year-end party, Asus Chairman Jonney Shih was asked about the company's progress in developing smart wearables. He said that the first device will likely come in the form of a watch, and that the company will put its entire design thought into it.

"There are actually many challenges in this area, and I don't think products that lack special features will be useful. We'll try to replace your watch by all means," Shih said

The question arrives after Asus told investors in November 2013 that the company plans to reveal several devices this June at Computex 2014. The company's rivals are already striking gold in the smartwatch sector including Sony's Smartwatch 2, Samsung's Galaxy Gear and Qualcomm's Toq.

Just this week, an unnamed Acer source said that his company plans to debut a smart device in the second half of 2014, and that it would be distinctive, standing out from the competition. The device could possibly be a necklace sporting body temperature sensors and the ability to connect to a smartphone.

"We hope we could have a distinctive product when we introduce it. So we will not launch it in a hurry during the first quarter and will likely make it available globally in the second half," the source said.

2014 looks to be the year of the wearables thanks to Google and its Glass smartglasses, Oculus VR and its Rift gaming-focused HMD, current players like Sony and Samsung, and those promising devices sometime this year like Archos and Razer. Even those rumored to be working on devices, such as Microsoft and Apple, are helping fuel the wearable fires this year.

The problem device makers will have in 2014 will be in differentiating themselves from the competition. Each wearable device will need to make a lasting first impression, especially those gadgets that are up there in price. As retail products, they'll need features that consumers want and can't live without. What we don't want to see is a collection of high-dollar junk because device makers are simply jumping on the "me too" bandwagon.

Expect to see and hear more about wearables this June during Computex 2014.

An unnamed Acer Inc. source recently said that the company plans to jump into the wearable tech market in the second half of 2014. The gadget will be "distinctive," standing out from the competition.

In a report posted on Monday, the unnamed Acer source said that solutions provided by Sony, Samsung and Google will not be the only form factors. The device in question could possibly be a necklace that may sport body temperature sensors and connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth, or work independently.

"We hope we could have a distinctive product when we introduce it. So we will not launch it in a hurry during the first quarter and will likely make it available globally in the second half," the source told CNA.

Acer recently admitted that the company showcased a number of wearable tech devices to some of its clients earlier this month at CES 2014. In speaking with Taipei Times, Peter Shieh, VP of Corporate Business Accounts in Taiwan, said that Acer is currently working on "certain types of wearable devices."

In addition to Shieh, Acer's ST Liew admitted back in June 2013 that the company was looking in to jumping on the wearables bandwagon. "I think every consumer company should be looking at wearable. Wearable isn't new ... it just hasn't exploded in the way that it should," he said in an interview.

The biggest problem is not how to create a device on the technical level, but what to make that has consumer appeal. The trick, he said, is in making the right trade-off between hardware and what a consumer expects in a wearable.

"Is a day battery enough? It might be, if the charging mechanism is easy. You take off your watch at night, throw it on the side and it inductively charges," Liew said. "So are we thinking along those lines? Yes, absolutely. You should expect something like that from us as well next year."

Perhaps we'll see something at MWC 2014 next month.

Earlier this week, Archos revealed that it plans to showcase a "selection" of smartwatches next week during CES 2014. These will supposedly cost under $85, and as shown on this teaser website, may be based on e-paper technology.

In addition to the smartwatches, the company also plans to introduce an Activity Tracker that monitors daily footsteps, calories burned, and automatically displays time when the device is synchronized with a smartphone. The Activity Tracker will be equipped with a battery life of up to 7 days, and recharged via a hidden microUSB port.

The latest wearable tech rumor stemming from Korea claims that LG may call its upcoming smartwatch the "G Arch." The company is also supposedly deep into development of a fitness- and health-tracking wristband called the "G Health."

Unfortunately, there are no extra details to report. What's also unknown is whether LG will take the Samsung route and limit the smartwatch to specific LG phones, or take the Sony route and make it compatible with all Android phones. The G Health will presumably be similar to Nike's Fuel Band series.

Sources claim that in addition to the unannounced wearables, LG will supposedly introduce a prototype for its next flagship smartphone, the G3, at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014 in February. This device will reportedly be equipped with a fingerprint scanner, but unlike Apple's version, users will be required to swipe a finger.

The Korea Herald reports that the G Arch and G Health will sync with the G3. Other G3 features include Android 4.4 "KitKat," a Quad HD display, and a 2.2 GHz eight-core SoC. The two wearables will supposedly be revealed alongside the G3 prototype in February.

The report also states that more smartphone makers will likely roll out models with the fingerprint technology in 2014. Even more, Apple is expected to install its fingerprint scanner in a broader range of products next year including the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Someone asked me a few weeks ago why anyone would need a smartwatch. After all, everything you need is on the phone: why not just pull it out of your pocket or purse? That's a good argument, and to that I said that like the Oculus Rift, you don't know what you're missing until you actually experience it. The Oculus Rift will change the gaming scene much like the first GPUs did back in the 1990s. Smartwatches are trying to change the scene by the way we interact with our data, although it's really not that apparent until you actually have one on your wrist.

Sony allowed me to play around with its Smartwatch 2 for the last several weeks, and I even wore the device during AMD's APU13 summit last month. This is my very first smartwatch, so I can't personally compare it to the previous model or Samsung's Galaxy Gear for that matter, but what I can say is that this new smartwatch solution isn't locked to specific phones, but rather works on most phones with Android 4.0 or later. The previous model, according to Sony, was limited to only a number of Xperia handsets.

That said, I'm coming at this hands-on with the perspective of a newbie: someone, like most consumers, who has never laid eyes upon a smartwatch before. Of course, the ultimate question is this: Why do you even need a smartwatch? You don't really, but Sony's solution makes checking email and accepting calls that much more convenient, making your busy day that much easier to handle. This is a luxury at $199 USD rather than a necessity, but it's also hard to live without once you've become accustomed to all that visually available data on your arm.

The Watch

The good news is that Sony didn't throw a bunch of tech together to create a watch that looks similar to the old calculator watches of the 1980s. The company knows this device will be worn for most occasions on a day to day basis, and has created a smartphone accessory with lots of style. The device itself measures 1.675 inches square and .375 inches tall, sporting rounded corners, black glass, black sides and a polished silver bezel outlining the watch face. A lone circular power button resides on the right side, allowing users to power up/down the device and wake it from sleep. Complimenting this elegant device is a black silicone wristband that's extremely comfortable to wear around the clock.

The watch face itself consists of an etched Sony logo at the top, the three standard Android buttons at the bottom (Back, Home and Menu), and the 1.6 inch transflective LCD touchscreen. Normally, this screen remains black except for the actual watch face/numbers that reflect local light with a gold hue. Press the button on the side, and the screen lights up to illuminate the numbers. Press the button and touch the Home button, and the screen kicks on to render the main Smartwatch 2 interface; just pretend it's an Android phone and you're good to go. Holding the button down either turns off the device or turns it back on.

Setting It Up

Setting up the smartwatch was actually rather easy. Since I don't own a Sony Xperia phone, I was required to first download and install the Sony Smartwatch SW2 app, which acts like a driver for the following Sony SmartConnect app that actually manages the smartwatch. This app could be considered as the command center for the watch, allowing users to change settings, add and manage applications. This app also reminds me of Nvidia's Tegra Zone, which will list applications loaded on Google Play that are optimized for the Tegra chips. This app does the same thing, but lists apps developed specifically for the SmartWatch collection of devices, both the previous and the current.

Out of the box, Sony's SmartWatch 2 packs apps for Gmail, Facebook and Twitter along with apps for call handling (answer, reject, mute, volume handling), SMS/MMS retrieval, other email, viewing pictures stored on the phone in a slideshow, calendar and music handling. I also managed to install a poker game, a Magic 8 Ball, Smart Note, Runtastic Pro, Solitaire, a Spanish dictionary and several others. These MUST be installed on the phone rather than on the watch directly, which is unfortunate given how many Android devices have very little storage capacity. That said, a good rule of thumb will be to have at least 16 GB of default storage for all apps, including those installed especially for SmartWatch 2.

Software and Apps

To set up specific apps, users must first tap on Smart Connect, and tap on the "edit settings" option listed under the SmartWatch 2. Here all installed applications are listed. To set up Gmail, simply tap on the Gmail listing and select the appropriate account. All emails then appear within the Gmail app listed on the SmartWatch. Users can tap on this app, tap on an email and read it. They can also hit the Menu button, choose the phone icon, and watch the email open on the connected phone. You can't respond to emails directly on the watch; that's what the smartphone command seems to be for. However, emails listed on the watch can be marked as read and the history cleared directly from the Smart Connect app.

Because Twitter can get more insane the more people you follow, SmartWatch 2 users can choose what tweets can appear on the watch. Typically, when something arrives such as tweets, Facebook messages and Gmails, the watch will vibrate. You don't want it vibrating all day, trust me (read: annoying). Twitter users can turn off the entire timeline, or simply choose specific people they want appearing on the watch screen. Users can also elect to turn off mentions and direct messages, or just disable Twitter altogether.

The Messaging app is rather neat in that SmartWatch wearers can actually respond to messages. Generic texts include "Where are you?," "What are you up to?," "Urgent! Reply to me ASAP!," and a number of others. To respond, simply tap on the Menu button within the message, hit the message icon, and then scroll through the pre-written messages to find the appropriate response. Users can add even more message templates – and delete the current ones – by tapping on the Messaging listing in Smart Connect, tapping on Message templates, and hitting the Plus or Trashcan icons. Users can also respond to texts by hitting the smartphone icon within the message to pull up the message on the phone, or the rotary phone icon for placing a return call.

Runs Linux, but Not the Android Kind

According to Sony, the Smartwatch 2 does not run Android, but a version of Linux. The screen itself has a resolution of 220 x 176, which isn't bad considering the size of the transflective LCD display. For normal usage, the watch has a battery life of three to four days (around seven days in low usage scenarios). One of the big side effects I noticed with this device is that even though the watch battery may live for a long while, the phone does not. That's because a Bluetooth connection stays active, pumping data across the air if, for instance, the watch is set to receive every tweet under the sun, or users simply receive a lot of emails. During AMD's developer summit, I actually had to turn Bluetooth off on my phone just so that there was enough juice for my DROID RAZR HD to take pictures and perform as a phone.

Sony also claims that this watch is water resistant against rain showers, splashes and whatnot. To protect the inputs, a "plug" not only hides the microUSD port on the side of the watch, but prevents water from getting into the port. The watch also sports Bluetooth 3.0, which has a range of 30 feet. The Bluetooth connection can actually be rather comical. If the watch is on your arm and you wander away from the source smartphone, eventually the watch will "buzz" several times, alerting the user that he/she has moved out of range. Once you get back within range, the watch will buzz a few times again. Also worth noting is that apps that were installed via the smartphone are grayed out, meaning they can't be used until the watch and phone re-establish their current love connection.

To be honest, I will hate to see Sony's Smartwatch 2 return home. The gadget has become a part of my everyday life. Of course, no tears will be shed, but no simple watch will ever take its place either. I grew accustomed to checking my wrist to see the latest text from my wife, to see the latest emails storming my inbox, and to see all the chatter on Twitter. I grew accustomed to using the watch as a calculator, as a Spanish translator, and as a tiny little game machine. Most importantly, I'm going to miss the ability to see my daily consumption parked on my arm rather than having to pull out a phone or tablet to get the latest message.

So really, honestly, do you need a smartwatch? More importantly, do you need Sony's Smartwatch 2? The company has developed an awesome gadget, and will only get better with the third, fourth, fifth generations and beyond. You don't need a smartwatch right now, but they're damned convenient, and I'm all about convenience in my busy, hectic life. Hopefully, my wife is reading this and knows exactly what to get me for Christmas (grin).

Still, is the Sony Smartwatch 2 worth $199 this holiday season? I think so.

The Taipei Times reports that during an investor's conference call following the company's third quarter financial report, Asus chief executive officer Jerry Shen said that the company plans to launch new smartphones during CES 2014 in Las Vegas this January. Asus is looking to grow its smartphone business from around 1 million units in 2013 to 5 million units in 2014, a figure backed by the growing number of retail stores in China and cooperation with more tier-one telecom operators across the globe.

"We remain optimistic about the desktop and laptop market, but our priority is to make the company's smartphone business turn a profit next year," Asus chief financial officer David Chang added.

Asus also plans to launch new Chromebooks, or rather laptops sporting Google's Chrome OS, sometime within Q1 2014. The company is targeting students and teachers with two models: an 11.6 inch unit for $199 USD and a 13.3 inch unit for $249 USD. Currently, laptops are Asus' biggest source of income, making up 57 percent of the sales followed by tablets at 20 percent and motherboards at 13 percent.

In addition to jumping on the Chromebook bandwagon, the company also has plans to introduce wearable devices during Computex in early June 2014. The news isn't surprising given that many competitors have already jumped into the wearable tech pool including Sony, Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, Google and a number of others. The smartwatch market is suddenly heating up, and we're betting that's what Asus may reveal during the show next summer.

For the calendar fourth quarter, Asus expects to see its notebook shipments to grow 8.88 percent to 4.9 million units from the previous third quarter. Tablet shipments are expected to increase 2.85 percent to 3.6 million units, while motherboard shipments are expected to actually drop 3.63 percent to 5.3 million units. The company also expects an operating margin of 4 or 5 percent, compared with 4.5 percent last quarter.

Why is Asus producing Chromebooks? Shen indicated that the company wants to broaden its reach outside the traditional Windows-based envelope. However, the Chrome OS platform is struggling to gain market share, as the market is currently sitting at a mere 1 percent in Q3 2013 according to IDC numbers. Samsung led the Chromebook train during that quarter, selling around 652,000 units and others providing a "tiny volume." Asus is undoubtedly looking to change that market percentage.