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  • Wearable Tech: Which Tech Items are Must-Haves?

    Wearable Tech: Which Tech Items are Must-Haves?

    The hot new trend of wearable tech has gotten a ton of traction lately. Apple Watch, FitBit and countless others have made wearables hot-ticket items. They’re stylish, functional and cool all at once. Which ones are our favorites? Which ones are must-haves? Check out our roundup of the coolest wearable tech out right now! 

    Rocket Skates 

    Oh yes, these are real. Sort of like a combination of Heelies and an electric scooter, these sci-fi action-hero shoes can propel you at up to 12 mph. That’s super impressive for being shoes with wheels. These cool shoes also come with a phone app to track your route, mileage and battery.  

    These aren’t easy to use, to be sure, but if you’re looking to turn heads and jet around on freaking rocket skates, these are awesome. Just be careful not to crash into any walls or anything. 

    Lenovo Vibe Band 

    At least one smart watch had to make the list! The Lenovo Vibe Band is a stylish little device. Sporting a unique e-ink display, the Vibe looks great in direct sunlight and has a discreet display. It functions as a fitness and sleep tracker and does it all with 7 days of battery life.  

    Even better, the Vibe Band is priced under $100, giving you a ton of features without having to pay Apple Watch or Android Wear prices.  

    Bio Sport Smart Ear Buds 

    These ear buds double as biometric sensors and fitness trackers. Pretty neat, huh? They have great sound quality thrown in, too, which is always a plus for working out! These neat little ear buds can be tossed in a bag and stored easily, and they appear very discreet when in-ear. If you want a fitness tracker but don’t like wrist-mounted devices that get in the way or draw attention to themselves, then the Bio Sport Smarts are for you! 

    The Coolest Wearble Tech Device: Nixie 

    This incredibly cool little drone wraps around your wrist like a watch when not in use. When you command it, however, it unfolds and takes off. It can then snap pictures, usually selfies, before swooping back down to your wrist. It looks like something Tony Stark would have and it is amazing.  

    While it might not be the most useful wearable in the world, it tops this list for just being so cool. It’s just incredibly impressive to see it unfold, take off, and do its thing before landing back where it started. This one is still in development, so it won’t be available just yet. Hopefully it’ll get a full release soon! 

  • Samsung Gear 3 is Still Just a Timepiece

    Samsung Gear 3 is Still Just a Timepiece

    Samsung’s Gear 3 is a boldly designed smartwatch that’s ready for anything and tailored to you. There are two versions with sleep tracking ,multi-day battery life all day calorie tracking , and Samsung Pay it has all the functions and Android smartphone one could hope for.

    The Great

    • Big Bold Design
    • Always-on display
    • Decent Activity Tracking
    • Built-in LTE
    • Samsung Pay
    • OLED display is bright and crisp

    The Not

    • Poor Gps tracking
    • Lacking compatible app
    • Missing intuitive functions

    The Conclusion

    This is an average looking watch and a lack luster smartwatch. While Samsung tried to squeeze a lot into the new Gear S3 its really just not enough.

     

     

     

    More Gear from Samsung

    For the Gear S3, Samsung has decided to offer up two designs. There’s the more rugged Frontier for outdoor types, and the Classic, which aims to be the more luxurious option of the two. Both still run on Samsung’s own Tizen operating system and that rotating bezel makes a welcome return. It can be pair with all samsung and most android smartphones, even and iPhone with reduced functionality. With the LTE model of the Gear S3, you can leave your phone behind and still have complete functionality on the watch. Note: LTE is only avilable on the Frontier model.  The call quality is surprisingly decent if you turn the volume up to the highest level. It’s still weird talking to someone on your watch, but it can be handy sometimes. You can also use it to listen to music, but get some Bluetooth headphones, its not enjoyable from the watch speaker

    Not for the Weak Wristed

    the Gear S3 is a big smartwatch, its a heavy watch, and its beastly.  Its hulking 46mm frame makes it most certainly a more mans man’s watch. It’s also noticeably heavier and thicker as well, probably to house the additional sensors and a larger battery. The Frontier rocks a more  rugged look, with a knurled, rotating bezel, a chunky stainless-steel body design and IP68 certified water resistant.

    The Interface

    The Gear S3 runs Tizen, it’s very easily laid out to make the most functionality of the spinning bezel. The highlight that makes the Gear smartwatches unique is the innovative rotating bezel. Crank it clockwise and you’ll get all of your notifications in one place. Spin it the opposite direction to breeze through the widgets you’ve added. The default set up includes thee current weather, favorite contacts, calories burned and what’s up on your calendar. Sadly that is all there is to the Gear S3’s interface.

    The Apps or Lack of Apps

    According to Samsung, there’s something like 10,000 apps in the Tizen Store, but just a fraction of those are tuned for the Gear’s small display.  Whats worse it that most of them are not wort using to begin with. Its as if no developers consider creating apps with Tizen in mind.

    The Final Thought

    All in all the Gear doesn’t excite me as much as I’d have hoped. Though it has a very intuitive interface, complete with a rotating bezel for navigation, many parts of the experience still need more engineering attention, whether that’s the dreadfully useless selection of apps or the irritatingly malfunctions of  S Voice digital assistant. In the p rophetic words of american Idols Randy Jackson, This is gonna be a hard no for me dawg.