Are you Ready for Android Wear?

It seems that Apple is not the only tech giant with plans to create smart wearable devices in the near future: Google recently announced they want Android to become the leading operating system for wearables!

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In contrast to Apple which keeps its work secret, earlier this month Google said they will soon release the Android software development kit for wearables to developers so they can connect and create as many wearable devices and apps as they want. (Some rumors have been circulating that Google is also working on a smartwatch, but other than a few alleged leaked pictures nothing else is known about this.)

Furthermore, two days ago Google revealed a new concept called ‘Android Wear’, and Motorola presented the first Android Wear Smartwatch, which will be available in a few months. Android Wear can connect a multitude of wearable items; it’s all left to the imagination of the developers what sensors and apps they will include in our everyday items. There’s already talk about a ‘smart jacket’ that will pack many sensors and batteries, health bands and more.

Android Wear will inter-connect all wearables you will own and your Android phone, and will include the ‘OK Google’ functionality, meaning that you will be able to dictate requests or send messages and emails without touching any buttons, and because all devices will be inter-connected you’ll be able to send commands or request to all of them from one place, without having to handle each device separately.  For example, you’ll be able to ask your watch to start playing music on your smartphone or to play a YouTube video on your TV. Of course, besides all this Android Wear will also include many health and fitness-related items and apps that can enhance your diet or your workout, whether you enjoy cycling, running or going to the gym there will be an app for everything. Here’s a video from Google introducing Android Wear:

The first devices that will take advantage of the new Google Wear will be smartwatches. Samsung rushed to be the first major tech company that releases a smartwatch some months ago but their device wasn’t as successful as they expected, it has to be paired with a Samsung smartphone all the time and displays the same things the smartphone does, and besides this the battery lasts just a day. The next wave of Android Wear powered devices promises to be a lot better, and it will start this summer.
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Motorla already presented their first Android Wear smartwatch, and LG also said they are close to finishing work on their own smartwatch. The Motorola watch will be called Moto 360 and it looks great, they kept the classic, premium-quality watch design and at first look you may be fooled into thinking it’s just a bulkier-looking classic watch, but it packs a good-quality display, supports gestures and voice-commands, and by using Google Now it can predict what you need and give you just the info you need right when you need, it on your wrist! It can send messages, set alarms, give you sports scores, weather info and a lot more. Here are a few shots of the watch:

The Quickest Way to Dial Your Friends or Family

If you like to talk to your friends or family all the time you’ll be pleased to discover a quicker, more comfortable way to call them without opening the phone app and searching through your contact list every time you want to chat to a loved one: these quick-dial apps for iOS or Android!

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Touch2Call is a new iPhone app that’s very simple to use to quick-dial your friends. After installing it you can create icons in your springboard for each of your favorite contacts. You can re-arrange and move these contact icons as you wish, put them in a separate folder or just leave them together with the other apps, it’s up to you. Touching any of these icons that can have your friend’s pictures on them will be enough to start a call with that person. And you don’t need a jailbreak for it. Simple, right?

Android users can also place quick dial icons on their home screen with an app called Speed Dial. Speed Dial offers many customizable options for your icons (both visual and functional) and can also place widgets that make it easier for you to find and call numbers from different groups and circles, such as friends work or family. The app is free and there’s also a PRO version with no ads.

Samsung Unveils the Galaxy S5

This week in Barcelona Samsung unveiled the highly anticipated Galaxy S5, their new flagship smartphone, which packs a bigger screen, a better CPU and more sensors than its predecessor. While the S5 probably won’t convince iPhone owners to switch to Android it will be a serious competitor to Apple’s 5S. The Galaxy S5 reflects the latest advancements in mobile technology (a better screen, camera, battery, CPU) and although Samsung advertises its own originality and claims others are borrowing ideas from them we can see some similarities between the S5 and the 5S: Samsung’s smartphone also has a fingerprint scanner and a gold version of it will also be available after launch. The main differences are that the S5 is much bigger and it also has a heart rate sensor.

It’s hasn’t been that long since Samsung gave us the Galaxy S4 and the two devices aren’t too different, their front design is almost identical, but the S5 has a bigger 5.1“ screen and its back cover feels more like leather, while the S4 feels like plastic. The biggest differences between the S4 and the S5 are the fingerprint reader included in the S5, (which is reportedly slightly less accurate than Apple’s fingerprint reader found in the iPhone 5S, but it can be used for more things, such as securing PayPal payments), and the heart rate monitor that can be found near the smartphone’s flash LED. That’s right, the Galaxy S5 can read your heart rate if you place your finger on the sensor and use an app called S Health. This isn’t new to smartphones though, there are a few apps in the Apple store that can use an iPhone’s flash to do the same thing.

Here are some technical details about the device: it has an 1920×1080 AMOLED 5.1-inch screen, a quad-core 2.5 GHz CPU, a powerful 2800mAh battery and a 16 MP front camera that can shoot 4k videos. It comes with the latest Android Kit Kat installed and a lot of Samsung Apps despite some complains about the large number of Samsung apps and the space they take on previous galaxy models. Samsung claims the device is dust and water-proof, and if submerged in water that’s less than 3ft deep it can last up to 30 minutes, but I wouldn’t be willing to try this with a new S5 considering it’s not going to be cheap. So far Samsung hasn’t said a thing about the price, we’re going to have to wait until the 11th April when the S5 will be available in stores around the world.

An interesting feature new to the S-series is the Ultra Power Saving mode, a mode in which 10% of the battery will be enough to keep the phone powered for 24 hours, but in this mode you’ll have to sacrifice most features: the screen turns a dim black and white and most sensors and apps will be disabled. This could prove very useful in emergency situations or when you can’t find a compatible outlet.

Judging by the success of the previous Galaxy models Samsung will surely sell a lot of S5 devices in the months following the launch and the new sensors and water-proof features are likely to attract some new customers too, as the general opinion is that Samsung is the best when it comes to Android smartphones. Here’s a short video from CNET reviewing the Galaxy S5: