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Huawei Watch: Design Styles and Pricing Announced

huawei watch steel and leatherThe much teased Huawei Watch is official! Announced at IFA, this circular displayed fashion piece will be joining the Android Wear ranks soon, with pre-orders shipping September 17th.

We also have confirmation on styles, and pricing. A classic stainless steel body with a black leather strap will start at $349, moving to a steel bracelet will bump up the price to $399. The Black Steel body and bracelet will cost $499, and the rose gold watch will cost $699 and $799 with Alligator leather strap and rose gold bracelet respectively.

The tech on board seems like ballpark Android Wear. A 1.4″ AMOLED screen with a 400×400 resolution should look nice and crisp. The Snapdragon 400 CPU is well known, and with current software is a snappy performer on other watches. Plus, we’re happy to see WiFi and 4GB of storage listed as features.

huawei watch blackHow this all pairs with the 300mah battery for run time will be interesting to test as Huawei claims “up to two days” of battery life.

It’s a good looking timepiece. You can read Huawei’s full announcement below!

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Sony Showcases 4K screen, Cameras, and Waterproofing on Family of Xperia Z5 Smartphones

Announced today. Sony took the wraps off their newest flagship phones. The Z5, Z5 Premium, and Z5 Compact.

04. Z5_white_groupSony is first to market with a 4K display on a phone. The Z5 Premium will sport the Qualcomm 810 with 3GB of RAM, 32GB of built in storage, and the ability to add more via Micro SD card. Quite a feat shrinking that resolution down to a 5.5″ screen.

The bread and butter Z5 shrinks down to a 5.2″ display and reduces the resolution to 1080p, but retains largely the same overall experience.

The 4.6″ screened Compact also returns, continuing Sony’s track record of producing a smaller form factor phone which matches most of the specs found in their larger flagships. Always happy to see a smaller premium phone rather than gimped “mini” budget phones.

12. Z5_Z50c_WhiteWhite_Group 2For all three, Sony’s hard edge rectangular design retains the Xperia feel we all understand. Water resistance seems to be improves ala Samsung, where ports no longer require awkward flaps.

Sony produces most of the top tier camera sensors found in competing phones, so it makes sense they would save “the good stuff” for themselves. Their newest sensor is a half inch 23MP beast with an f2 lens aperture, and they’re touting the world’s fastest smartphone auto focus. Combined with OIS, it should make for a solid competitor to the current crop of flagship phones.

Lastly, the side mounted power button gets upgraded to include a fingerprint sensor, a fairly ingenious design, providing one action for turning the phone on and unlocking, without resorting to a hardware Home button or rear mounted scanner.

The family of Xperia Z5 phones should be shipping in October, with country and pricing info to follow. You can catch Sony’s full press release below.

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#SGGQA Podcast Now on Player FM

My little show is growing up!

Each week I select some of my favorite comments and questions from social media (those little green squares on the left of this blog), and my Youtube channel, to produce a show. It’s a live stream every Friday, and you can watch via the Youtube Playlist, or subscribe to an audio version via RSS, iTunes, or listen to the most recent episode on SoundCloud.

I’m happy to announce that #SGGQA is now available via Player FM! It’s a terrific app for tracking your favorite shows, and now you can find mine on there too!

#SGGQA Podcast on Player FM!

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Android Wear Smartwatches Now Work With iPhones

AndroidWearforiOSIt’s a good day for iOS users who like choices.

Sure Apple has their own watch, but if you’ve been eyeing the diversity of hardware in the Google ecosystem with envy, now you can use Android Wear without giving up your precious iPhone.

Starting today, any iPhone running iOS 8.2 or higher can install the Wear companion app through iTunes. Compatible with all current Wear watches, and you’ll have access to features like your notifications, fitness tracking, and “OK Google” voice search.

I know you’ve been checking out those round watch faces like the LG G Watch R… Don’t lie… You can catch the full press release below.
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Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Note 5 MEGA CAMERA REVIEW in 4K! (AT&T Versions)

Functionally the hardware on the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and the Note 5 is almost exactly the same, so we’re going to combine footage from both of these devices into one big MEGA CAMERA REVIEW! Samsung has a pair of monster phablets on their hands. Are these the best smartphone cameras available? Let’s take a look at the most comprehensive collection of video and photo samples in Ultra-HD resolution


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#SGGQA 09: Note 5 “PenGate”, The Post Smartphone World, and Answering YOUR Tech Question!

On this week’s show we talk about where NOT to stick your S-Pen, what the future might hold for technology AFTER smartphones, and we answer your tech questions from comments on my videos! Make sure you’re charged and ready! It’s PODCAST TIME!

Download this week’s show as an audio podcast!
Subscribe to #SGGQA via iTunes!
Subscribe to #SGGQA via RSS!
#SGGQA on PlayerFM!
Most Recent Episode on SoundCloud!
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Where Leo Laporte “Demonstrates” How Easy it is to Damage the Note 5’s S-Pen…

After writing my cranky rant about this S-Pen problem yesterday, I got a number of tweets and replies about how this issue is completely overblown, and everyone should just know (I guess innately?) that you shouldn’t do this. Apparently we’re all born with the evolutionary knowledge NOT to EVER slide an S-Pen into a Note 5 backwards.

Thankfully Leo Laporte from This Week in Tech was gracious enough to sacrifice his Note 5 for the cause. Live on the air, in discussing the story, he was fiddling around with his Note 5, and fell for the S-Pen trap.

This video should stand as a clear warning to NOT even THINK about TRYING to insert your S-Pen backwards, even though it slides in easily. There is no tactile feel for when you’ve gone too far, or when the internal latch system will clamp and ruin your day.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 5 “PenGate” – Doctor it HURTS When I Do This…

So the Doctor replies “then stop doing that”.

Why is this joke funny? Because we all recognize that the doctor isn’t really addressing the problem, and we’ve all shared in situations where we’ve felt an issue has been ignored or dismissed.

The Galaxy Note 5 suffers from a design flaw. If you insert the S-Pen into the stylus cavity the wrong way, it breaks the sensors in the phone which detect the S-Pen has been removed. In some cases, the Pen can become lodged in the slot, making removal extremely difficult.

samsung s-pen pengate galaxy note 5 design flaw somegadgetguySamsung’s official response to this issue?

We highly recommend our Galaxy Note5 users follow the instructions in the user guide to ensure there are no issues.

“Just don’t do that, and you’ll be fine.”

Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy Note 5 “PenGate” – Doctor it HURTS When I Do This…”

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