Sony Smartwatch 2 vs Samsung Galaxy Gear

The smartwatch has been around for some time but the technology of the devices brought to market so far haven’t been the Secret Service/James Bond style that everyone pictures when they say the word “smartwatch”. Now though, Sony and Samsung seem to have stepped up their game and are going head to head in a considerably more exciting battle of the smartwatches than we’ve seen to date.

Sony Smartwatch 2 Spec Overview

• 1.6 inch display 220 x 176 pixels


• Aluminum body with interchangeable straps


• Micro USB Charging with 3- 4 day battery life (average use)


• NFC and Bluetooth connectivity


• $262 out late September 2013

Samsung Galaxy Gear Spec Overview

• 1.63 inch display 320 x 320 pixels


• Stainless steel body


• Snap-on USB 3,0 charging with 24+ hours heavy use


• Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity


• $299 out October

Battling It Out

So what does it all mean? Well for a start, the Samsung Galaxy Gear seems to have a sharper display. In fact Samsung are proud to say that the display is bright enough not to be affected by sunlight. No cupping your hand over the smartwatch’s face to tell the time.

Both the Samsung and the Sony are nicely designed although the Sony Smartwatch 2 offers a little more flexibility for its users with interchangeable straps.

Both watches are extremely app friendly (of course), but Samsung have an advantage with this as they’ve secured partnerships with some of the more popular app developers. Also, when it comes to running apps, the Samsung model might be slightly better as the CPU is faster than its competitors.

Bond, James Bond

For anyone who wants to pretend they’re a spy, the Samsung features some brilliant tools. There’s a 1.9 megapixel camera contained in the strap of the camera for the photo opportunity that needs instant capture without fiddling around for a camera or smartphone. Users can also make calls directly from the watch which has a built in microphone and speaker, as well as the Samsung ‘S Voice’ voice recognition tool.

The second version of the Sony Smartwatch doesn’t feature these benefits although users can use the watch to call friends and family but only with a Bluetooth headset as there isn’t a mic or speakers. But what kind of spy could do without a waterproof watch? Sony’s watch allows its user to swim whereas the Samsung will only protect them from a shower.

Which is Best?

The one thing that will undoubtedly let the Samsung watch down is the fact that it is only compatible with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 . A short way down the road there will be updates to make it compatible with the S3, S4 and Note 2. In comparison, the Sony watch is compatible with any android phone that operates Android 4.0. the options are almost endless.

Now though, other companies are hot on the heels of Sony and Samsung trying to push the limits of the smartwatch all the time.

[Image via Product Reviews Net]

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Voyager Officially Leaves Solar System

In 1977, two unmanned space crafts were launched to explore space and report back to NASA with information about the major planets: Voyager 1 and 2. Within the first 12 years of launching, both Voyagers returned information about Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Now though, after 36 years of being in space, NASA is extremely proud to announce that Voyager 1 has left the solar system.

Delayed Response

In actual fact, although NASA announced the Voyager’s departure from the solar system quite recently on September 12^th 2013, it appears the leaving date itself was way back in 2012 – August 25^th to be precise. So why the big delay on the celebrations?

At the moment, Voyager 1 is over 11 billion miles or 17 billion kilometers away from Earth. NASA can’t see the spacecraft at all. All that is visible is a radio signal that is being bounced back to Earth from the Voyager which looks like a pale blue light.

Unlike travelling out of town, there are no signs which tell concerned onlookers exactly where the Solar System ends. Instead, scientists must look for clues in the direction and number of cosmic rays as well as a difference in magnetic fields. However, the signs just didn’t appear to be there. It wasn’t until information from a plasma blast that hit the voyager in April 2013 that NASA had any indication that the Voyager was outside of the solar system.

The Clue Is In The Plasma

In March 2012, the sun emitted a huge blast of plasma which took 13 months to hit the Voyager. When it did hit though and the information was read by NASA experts, they were astonished to see that the density of the plasma was 40 times what they expected it to be. In short, it was the density of plasma they expected to find outside of the solar system.

Following this discovery, NASA quickly began to backtrack and look for any other signs of interstellar activity and found another similar event back in October to November the same year. A rise in tone from the plasma instrument on the voyager indicated that the spacecraft left the solar system on August 25^th 2012 which is now known as the day when the first man made object went into interstellar space. Officially.

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