Just days after unveiling the stylish-looking Urbane smartwatch, LG has announced a second model. The Urbane LTE runs software based on WebOS, rather than Android Wear, and doesn't require a phone connection at all—it takes its own SIM and can make and receive calls.We've seen smartwatches that can operate as standalone devices before—notably the Samsung Gear S—but this is the first to offer high-speed 4G LTE connectivity. In terms of physical looks, it's very similar to the Android Wear Urbane, which itself takes its cues from the LG G Watch R.LG's decision to release a smartwatch without Android Wear isn't a complete surprise, with various leaks to that effect over the last 12 months. At CES in January, an unnamed company executive told the Wall Street Journal that "we're going to slowly try to build an ecosystem around areas we can have more control over."Whatever LG's intentions to wrestle control away from Google, it had little choice but to develop its own software for the Urbane LTE: Android Wear remains dependent on a connected smartphone. Samsung's Gear S, the most direct competitor to the LG Urbane LTE, runs on the South Korean company's own Tizen OS.LG describes its new smartwatch software as the "LG Wearable Platform operating system, developed specifically for the company's proprietary wearable products." It doesn't mention WebOS by name—and LG has played down the WebOS angle to the Verge—but it would be a surprise if the firm was working on two completely separate OSes.The Urbane LTE also features NFC, for mobile payments and identification services, and health-tracking sensors including a heart rate monitor. Both Urbane smartwatches are appearing at Mobile World Congress next week where we should learn more about the software on board.It remains to be seen just how many users jump for a smartwatch that doesn't need a smartphone. While there are certain scenarios where it comes in useful—like a morning jog—only having a 1.3-inch screen would severely restrict productivity on the go.Independent research organization The Smartwatch Group estimates thatSamsung sold 1.56 million smartwatches in 2014, but didn't say how many Gear Ses are in that figure. Independent startups are trying the same trick too; the Neptune Duo (not yet released) will also be able to make and take calls from the wrist.While it's feasible that smartwatches could become more dominant for phone calls and notifications on the go (particularly in combination with Bluetooth headphones), for almost anything else—browsing the Web, typing out emails, looking through photos—the small screen size is a crippling disadvantage.
Showing posts with label lg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lg. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 10:33 PM
The main features of the LG G Pad F 7 include a 7-inch display, a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage. On the camera front, the device packs a 5MP rear camera, along with a 1.2MP front-facing shooter. Finally, all of this runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop and comes in your choice of white or black versions — though the black option won't hit stores until April 10.
Along with the announcement of the G Pad 7 tablet, Sprint also says that it is running a limited promotion whereby customers can lease an LG G3 bundled with the tablet with unlimited talk, text, and 1GB of data for $90 per month. Alternatively, customers also have the option of leasing a LG G Flex2 with the tablet and the same plan for $95 per month.
If you're intrigued, but aren't quite sure about the tablet, be sure to check out our hands on with the G Pad lineup.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 5:16 AM
LG has announced that the anticipated Android 4.4 KitKat OS upgrade for the LG G2 smartphone is expected to roll out in Singapore from mid-March.
Here is the official press release from LG:
LG's Acclaimed Flagship Smartphone and Latest Android OS Offer Exceptional User Experience
SINGAPORE, FEBRUARY 21, 2014 - LG Electronics (LG) announced today that the anticipated Android 4.4 KitKat OS upgrade for the G2 smartphone is expected to roll out in Singapore starting in Mid March.
"The provision of timely software updates is one of the many ways in which LG is constantly improving the user experience," said Mr. Scott Jung, Managing Director of LG Electronics Singapore. "In addition to introducing useable new features, the OS upgrade for the G2 delivers a number of optimizations that enhance the entire mobile user experience. We trust that our customers in Singapore will enjoy the differentiated value offered by our latest upgrade package."
With the upgrade, the G2 plays music more efficiently and supports the battery-saving location mode, extending battery life and user enjoyment. The latest Android OS also provides a noticeable speed boost, allowing the G2 to run applications up to 17 per cent faster than before and thanks to the Chromium engine, web browsing is quicker as well, based on internal testing. What's more, a handy new feature called Google Cloud Printer makes it easy to print documents via Wi-Fi or a Bluetooth connection.
The upgrade package for G Pro, G Tablet, G Flex, is expected to be released in late second quarter of 2014. However, as requirements differ per market and operators, the exact date of availability may vary. More detailed information will be announced in the near future.
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 4:35 AM
Finnish smartphone maker Jolla says its Sailfish OS has
exited beta and will soon be available to install on Android devices.Jolla has been selling its devices in Europe for a few months now, but
today the young company outlined how it will get its operating system to more
remote markets without the help of carriers and OEMs.So far, there have been three main parts to Jolla's plan:
the device, the Sailfish operating system, and the Sailfish alliance. Last November it started selling its Jolla
smartphone, which carried its beta OS, and was available for
purchase in Europe.Not so much appears to have happened yet on the alliance front —
other than in Finland with carrier DNA — since it signed
up Chinese retailer D.Phone as a partner in 2012. Jolla
hoped the alliance would attract OEMs, carriers and others to extend the OS to
the giant Chinese market.However, today Jolla said it will soon open online sales
in Russia, India and Hong Kong. It's negotiating new channels in main European
markets, the company said, presumably referring to retail or carrier partners.Jolla also has a fourth and fifth component to its plan,
announcing that from March version 1.0 of its OS will be available to install
on Android devices. Jolla says the Sailfish community has already ported the OS
to some Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus, and Sony Xperia devices, while a port for
popular Xiaomi handset is in the works.The move is similar to Ubuntu making the developer
preview of its OS available for Nexus devices, except Jolla's will be a full
commerical release. Jolla's move has parallels to how Android users can install
custom ROMs, such as CyanogenMod, on to their devices, although the ROMs are
actually based on Android Open Source Project builds.Still, Jolla is hoping the
popularity of re-flashing Android devices with custom ROMs will benefit it,
particularly in China.
"Last year in China alone, about 100 million devices
were re-flashed after the purchase with a new operating system. This approach
allows Sailfish OS to scale into volume fast without limitations. This is a
scaling opportunity in a similar way as we have seen in the mobile gaming
industry recently," Antti Saarnio, chairman of Jolla's board said.
The fifth leg in its plan is a new Sailfish app launcher
for Android devices, which will "simulate the Sailfish OS experience on
Android devices", according to Jolla. That puts it on par with the dozens of app launchers available
on Google Play, which offer different ways of presenting and organising apps on
the home screen.While Jolla device owners can't install Android apps from
Google Play, there's no reason why Jolla couldn’t put its own app launcher
there, though Jolla only says that it will be available in the near future from
jolla.com and "common Android market places".
"We see this as a huge volume opportunity for
Sailfish OS as there are close to a billion Android users globally. Many of
them are looking for new user experiences to freshen up their existing
devices," said Saarnio.In any case, the app launcher carrying the Sailfish UI
will be made available ahead of Sailfish OS ports for different hardware, which
will be released in phases during the first half of 2014. Good news may be on the way for current owners of the
Jolla device, especially if they've noticed stability
issues with some of the apps.
Its fourth software update to released at the beginning
of March will included "improved performance, extended landscape support,
lots of visual improvements, lots of new camera functionalities, enhancements
to the Jolla store, new general settings" and other fixes.
Posted by Arslan Ahmad on 3:37 AM
LG recently launched the much-awaited G Pro 2 smartphone without revealing the price and availability of the device. Now however, the price of the latest phablet from LG has been revealed thanks its official launch in Korea.The G Pro 2 is listed at a price of 999,900 South Korean Won, which translates to roughly Rs. 58,000 without contract. The LG G Pro 2 is now available in Korea via the country's three major mobile carriers: SKT (SKTelecom), KTF (Korea Telecom Freetel) and LGT (LG Telecom). Notably, the South Korean electronics giant is yet to reveal details of the LG G Pro 2 release in other markets, including India.The LG G Pro 2 runs Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box. It features a 5.9-inch full-HD IPS display with a 1080x1920 pixel resolution and sports a slim bezel. A quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor powers the phablet, clocked at 2.26GHz with an Adreno 330 GPU and 3GB of RAM.LG's new phablet sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with OIS+ (Optical Image Stabiliser Plus) and LED flash, while there is a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera. The G Pro 2's rear camera supports 4K Ultra HD recording, Magic Focus, Natural Flash, Flash for Selfie, and Burst Shot.The 5.9-inch handset comes in two storage variants: 16GB and 32GB. The G Pro 2 further supports microSD card (no word on maximum storage capacity supported).The G Pro 2 supports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, AGPS, EDGE, GPRS and 3G connectivity options. It is backed by a 3,200mAh battery and will be available in Titan Black, Silver and White colour variants.The smartphone measures 157.9x81.9x8.3mm and weighs 172 grams. The company has included a new Knock Code feature on the LG G Pro 2 which the company claims is an evolution of the KnockON feature that was first introduced in the LG G2 last year.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
