13-inch Retina MacBook Pro review: Thinner, lighter, and faster never hurts
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Now You Can Use The Samsung Galaxy Gear With Other Phones
The smartwatch niche is a booming one, with practically every manufacturer that matters making their own version. One of the most interesting smartwatches to come out this year is the Samsung Galaxy Gear. While Pebble and Cookoo have made it to the scene first, the Galaxy Gear certainly made waves even when all we had were rumors about its specs and features.
One of the things that took away from the appeal of the Galaxy Gear was the fact that it was only compatible with the Samsung Note 3. In effect, that meant you had to spend quite a huge sum to use the Gear – counting the cost of the phone, of course. That made it the most expensive smartwatch out there.
Good news for Samsung enthusiasts – the company seems to have come to its senses, at least to a certain degree. Last week, Samsung announced that the Galaxy Gear can now be used with other phones.
Before you get too excited, though, I feel it’s my duty to quickly bring you back to earth. Sure, the Gear is now compatible with phones aside from the ginormous Note 3, the choices are still rather limited. From the official announcement:
Galaxy Gear will be available for use with Galaxy S4, S III, and Note II through the Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) update. The update came first to Galaxy S4 devices in Germany in October. Samsung will also extend Galaxy Gear compatibility to other GALAXY devices – including Galaxy S4 mini, S4 Active, Mega 5.8, Mega 6.3, and S4 zoom – through a separate software update beginning at the end of October. Software update schedules for each device will vary by country and carrier.
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Google Reveals Modular Smartphone With Project Ara
Google’s phone firm Motorola has announced a new project that will allow users to build their own modular smartphone. Project Ara will let users buy a plastic phone structure, named an endoskeleton, and then add-on modules such as a keyboard, battery or other sensors, giving them flexibility to customize the phone.
Motorola is working with the Dutch designer Dave Hakkens, who has created Phonebloks, a modular phone idea. In a blog post Motorola revealed it had been working on the project for more than a year and added: “We want to do for hardware what the Android platform has done for software – create a vibrant, third-party developer ecosystem.”
“To give you the power to decide what your phone does, how it looks, where and what it’s made of, how much it costs and how long you’ll keep it,” the post continued.
The endoskeleton or the frame of the phone will hold all the chosen modules in place.
“A module can be anything from a new application processor to a new display or keyboard, an extra battery, a pulse oximeter – or something not yet thought of,” the firm said.
A “Gimmick”
Although some are viewing Project Ara as a breakthrough, there are also those who feel it is all a bit pointless.
Principal technology analyst at Davies Murphy Group, Chris Green, feels the project is just a “gimmick”.
“I don’t see this as being a big deal. It is not responding to any particular demand and there is no real benefit to assembling your own device,” he said. “The days of DIY IT, people building their own desktop PC, are gone due to falling costs of hardware.”
Motorola’s next step is to invite developers to create the modules, which will be followed by a module developer’s kit.
[Images via Motorola]
SOURCE: http://mashable.com/2013/10/29/motorola-project-ara/
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