Accessory

LetsGoDigital has unearthed a patent filed by Google for a smartwatch with a twist. Filed over two years ago but dated August 27 2019, the design looks like a run-of-the-mill watch with its circular face, but at its centre is something that could disrupt the smartwatch market.

Amazfit has just launched 2 new wearables, the GTS and Sports Watch 3. They are a follow-up to the Bip (in which this update results in extremely Apple-esque looks) and a round watch with a new type of JDI display respectively. However, the star of this launch was the X, a concept device that is to have a 2-inch curved display.

Samsung may have divulged the existence of a heretofore unreleased phone, the A91. It is included in a list of phones that work with the OEM's new 45W charger, alongside the Galaxy Note 10+. This phone may be an additional variant, or next generation of, the Galaxy A90.

The Liberate Air earphones are made from reclaimed silicone and have a bamboo finish. In addition, they have a charging case described as made from recycled aluminium, wood, cotton and plastic. These new House of Marley products are also reportedly superior in sound quality to the Apple AirPods.

Razer still hasn't broken even yet with Min-Liang Tan pointing his fingers at scaling and new investments as core contributors. The company continues to grow in terms of revenue and is looking at cloud gaming as a potential "fourth pillar" to accompany Razer's existing hardware, software, and services.

The Genki Covert Dock has taken Kickstarter by storm, with it reaching its US$50,000 funding goal in just 40 minutes. The crowdfunding campaign has since received over US$1,000,000 from backers with 23 days to go. The Genki Covert Dock is designed as a portable dock for the Nintendo Switch but will charge other devices too thanks to its USB Type-C PD support. The Genki Covert Dock costs US$59, with the device shipping to backers in December.

In a new research note written for TF International Securities, the tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has stated that he now believes that Apple will switch to micro-LED for its sixth-generation Watch. In the meantime, the Series 5 will stick with OLED screens, albeit those from a new supplier. These devices may be launched alongside the iPhone "11" line later this season.

Sony has announced that it has hit a new record for wins at the Expert Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) awards for this year. The company won 7 times at this event, 3 of which were for its innovative, extensive G-series FE lenses. Its advanced Real-time Eye auto-focus (AF) technology was also recognized at this show.

Available for just US$199.99 — down from a full retail price of US$279.99 — for a limited period, the brand-new Misfit Vapor X is an excellent deal. This Wear OS-driven smart wearable is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset and features a standalone GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, advanced fitness tracking capabilities, and more.

Huawei and Honor have gone to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) to register an impressive number of new wireless products. These certifications, which have all been granted today (August 15, 2019) cover obvious candidates such as phones, but also include others that may be the brands' next generations of headsets, earphones and speakers.

Fitbit has been linked to a second generation of its popular Versa smartwatch for some time now. Recently, rumors about it have started up again in light of new leaks. They claim to show the wearable's official packaging, as well as an image from its manual hinting at new smart assistant features.

Casio has released the EDIFICE EQB1000D-1A, a new watch with a case only 8.9 milimeters (mm) thick. It is also one of the brand's connected devices, which means it can connect to a smartphone app. This allows it to keep time accurately in over 300 locations.

The market for accessories such as screen protectors, cases and power banks in the US is now projected to attain a value of US$74.43 billion in 7 years. Headphones took the biggest piece (nearly 25%) of this space last year, and may maintain this share until 2026. However, the VR/AR headset sector is thought to be capable of the greatest growth into the next decade.

The YI Home Camera 3 is an AI-powered security camera. It notifies the user about possible intrusions - however, it solves the problem of potentially indiscriminate, unnecessary messages by using its new software to judge which ones will be important. The new YI camera also has a magnetic stand, so it can be installed anywhere.

Honor has released its latest fitness band to the Indian market, via Flipkart. This new model has a full-color AMOLED display, an estimated 14 days of battery life and 50-meter water resistance. However, it will soon have competition from an upcoming Xiaomi counterpart, which has much the same specs.

The SLAMTEC Mapper M1M1 is a ToF laser scanner with a 20-metre range that can map over 100,000 m². SLAMTEC promises that the device has a 5 cm resolution with a re-localisation accuracy of less than 0.02 m, while its inertial navigation system can compensate for up to 1 m/s of movement. The SLAMTEC Mapper M1M1 is available to order now from Seeedstudio for US$199 with free international shipping.

Huawei's first TV is in fact slated to be released by its sub-brand Honor, and is to be called the Smart Screen. It may be reasonable to assume that this product will run Android for these larger devices. However, the OEM is now rumored to deploy one of its own long-anticipated OSs on the new product.

Samsung claims that its upcoming vertically-stacked NAND (or V-NAND) for SATA-based SSDs confers improved read- and write-speeds on the resulting drives. They are composed of 100 or more layers of stacked flash cells, whereas previous generations had 99 or less. This increased scale is the new 3D memory's main advantage over its predecessors.

2019 has already seen evidence that the SHIELD TV may be getting a new refresh - with the new Tegra X1 processor - soon. Now, a new FCC filing points to a wholly new device with this branding. This putative device has its own code-name and references in NVIDIA's own code and scripts.

Samsung's Galaxy Watch Active 2 smartwatch is powered by the Exynos 9110 SoC and comes in two sizes — 40 and 44 mm — both with a Super AMOLED display with 360 x 360 pixels. Available in LTE and non-LTE versions, this new smart wearable has a wide range of features and it even allows its users to watch YouTube videos.

Nintendo is now offering the Switch Dock as a separate purchase for the first time. The Dock is an Authentic Nintendo product, albeit refurbished, so there is no chance of it bricking your Switch as is the risk with many third-party alternatives.

This year's fifth edition of the Untold festival came with a 5G VR live streaming test conducted by Samsung and Orange Romania. This test has managed to bring 5G connectivity at the disposal of many consumers eager to take the new technology for a spin. Just as expected, the speeds reached exceeded 1 Gbps.

Although Samsung's flagships usually achieve excellent results when visiting DxOMark and taking other mobile photography tests, Huawei's sensors are larger. However, this proves once again that the Chinese tech giant still has to improve its camera software to properly take advantage of its better sensors.

The Viper is the latest mouse from Razer. It is a lightweight peripheral which, as the OEM asserts, is optimized for competitive gaming. It also integrates the 5G Advanced Optical Sensor and Razer Synapse 3.

Sony has invented a product called the Reon Pocket. It is a device that can change a user's personal temperature (or their perception of it, at least) while worn on the body. This unusual product is currently a part of the OEM's crowdfunded First Flight project, by which its chances of manufacture is determined by its ability to attract backers.

Although reverse wireless charging has been around for a while, Xiaomi still has to introduce this feature. The good news is that — at least according to the information discovered in the latest beta MIUI build — the Chinese OEM is working on it and the feature might arrive sooner than expected.

Drone racing is a rapidly emerging trend in applications for civilian aerial robots. DJI has announced plans to improve its support for this new sport with the first-person-view (FPV) goggles and controller set. It allows a given competitor to see and direct a race from their drone's point of view.

GoPro has announced that it will refresh the companion app for its action-cameras. The updates will integrate Quik editing features directly into said app. This will enable the user to apply filters and convert footage into stories. This upgrade should also improve the GoPro app's UI in the future.

A study conducted by Consumers International, in conjunction with the Internet Society has reportedly found that most individuals surveyed find connected devices (mostly IoT or "smart home" products) "creepy". In addition, 53% of this group said that they do not trust these devices with their privacy. Concerns such as these put 28% of a sub-group without these devices off buying one.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 is rumored to be this OEM's next premium tablet. It is already projected to ship with the Snapdragon 855 SoC, 128 or 256 GB in onboard storage and fast charging. A new tweet posted by the renowned leaker may fill in the few blanks left on this putative device.

Some up-to-date renders of the Galaxy Note 10 are depicted as having an unfamiliar finish that appears as a gradient from pale purple to pale green. The latest rumors indicate that this is in fact an official color option, called Aura Glow. It may feature on the upcoming 2019 Galaxy Notes, as it now does on matching Galaxy Buds.

Google Nest - the new name for this company's smart-home arm - has partnered with the Reeve Foundation to help members of the community built around this organization. They are individuals affected by paralysis or movement loss disorders. As many as 100,000 of them will receive a free Home Mini as a result of this collaboration.

Honor now plans to release its first smart TV in the near future. This product is to be called the Vision, and will be powered by a newly-announced SoC, the Honghu 818. It will also incorporate a pop-up camera for user authentication.

An upcoming Samsung smartwatch with the model number SM-R830 has been approved by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This registration shows that the watch has a 40mm variant, and will come in stainless steel or aluminium casings. It also confirms that this device will not have the adjustable crown seen in earlier watches of this series.

The TicPods Free are some of the most prominent AirPod alternatives out there. They are made by Mobvoi, also known for the Ticwatch Pro. This OEM is selling their wireless earbuds at US$99.99, or $30 less than their recommended price.

With up to 60 auto-focus (AF) or auto-exposure (AE) calculations per second and 20fps shooting, Sony claims to have packed flagship speeds into its latest compact camera. The RX100 VII has a 20.1MP Exmor RS sensor and the latest generation BIONZ X image processor. It also has native 4K recording and real-time Eye AF capabilities.

Microsoft has marked an important NASA anniversary by taking part in Project Egress, in which engineering teams were challenged to re-make a component of the Apollo 11's landing module. The Redmond cohort were charged with making the craft's hatch, a small but complicated part that required advanced CNC to replicate.

The Denmark-based gaming brand wants your social media clicks in return for a chance to win some of its gear. Its grand prize consists of $400 USD of fancy PC accessories with RGB lights galore.

The ASUS ROG Phone II looks set to be a gamer's dream, with a 6.59-inch 120 Hz AMOLED display, 49 ms touch latency, a Snapdragon 855 Plus SoC, 12 GB of RAM, 512 GB of UFS 3.0 storage and a vapour chamber to minimise throttling. Oh, and a huge 6,000 mAh battery. ASUS has developed a brand-new set of gaming accessories too, with the Chinese version of the ROG Phone II going on sale on July 23. Expect a worldwide release in early September.

The 50th Anniversary watch by Xeric is the result of a collaboration between the watchmaking company and NASA. This already looks like a success: with 16 days to go, the Kickstarter project that involves this (non-smart) wearable is at over US$970,000. To get one of these special watches, one should pledge at least US$169.

With more than two weeks until the release of Samsung's next-gen flagships — which are also supposed to feature a 64 MP camera — Xiaomi's unveils the first 64 MP image sample taken using an upcoming Redmi device. The sensor used in its camera is the Samsung GW1 and the result looks simply great.

Google's Director of Product for Stadia, Andrey Doronichev, completed an AMA on Reddit yesterday (July 18, 2019) to shed more light on the company's new streaming-based gaming platform. The executive took pains to liken it to Xbox Live Gold, as opposed to a gamer Netflix. It was also revealed that the system's proprietary controller will not support Bluetooth.

Internet-protocol (or IP) cameras shipments are thought to grow to over 100 million by 2025, or 20% more than there are now. These projections are part of newly-published research on the IP surveillance market. It is thought to be mainly driven by commercial buyers, although domestic products may also play a role in their growth.

Toshiba Memory has unveiled plans to rebrand itself in 2019. Its new name, Kioxia, is a blend of 2 different words for "memory" and "value". It will take effect from October onward.

Playmaji, Inc. and extreme Co., Ltd. have announced the release of their new product: the Polymega. This new kind of console supports various classic CD-gaming platforms, including Neo Geo, PS1 and Sega Saturn. However, it also allows the user to slot in a number of modules that take cartridges from other legacy systems, including NES and SNES.

Samsung is apparently to give consumers one more reason to hate it: the company is planning to launch the Galaxy Note 10 with 45 W fast charging support, but without a charger to meet the requirements in the retail package. The 45 W charger — codenamed EP-TA845 — will be available separately and is expected to cost over US$55.

Samsung is now thought to have a successor for the Galaxy Watch Active in the works. The latest leaks on the subject claims that one variant of this putative wearable will be produced in collaboration with the sportswear company Under Armour. It may come with an exclusive band and 6 months' worth of free MapMyRun access.

Sony has launched the Alpha 7R IV (or a7R IV), its latest 35-millimeter full-frame camera. It is the first such product to feature the new, back-illuminated, Exmor R CMOS sensor with a 61.0MP resolution. The a7R IV is also capable of professional-grade 4K video, an APS-C mode and USB 3.1 Gen 2 transfer speeds via a type C port.

For today's useless fact, Razer has sold about 1,050,000 kg worth of Deathadder mice to be its most successful accessory to date. The Deathadder is the manufacturer's least expensive mouse at $50 USD.