i want this to be real

The iWatch

Okay dear readers, i know we are all eagerly waiting for the iWatch. It is the Holy Grail of wearables,  although it still resides in rumour land. But there is heck of a lot of rumours out there, though. Only thing that maybe can be compared with that in terms of "i want it so badly i am more than willing to trade in redundant body parts if i am to get this" (just a joke people, chill out)  is Google Glass but this is a much more obtrusive piece of hi tech gadgetry and maybe, just maybe, the average Joe does not actually want to put it on, because:

• He does not like the way it looks.
• He does not like the way it looks on his mug.
• He does not like the way people look at him when he has it on.
• He does not like the fact that he has a wireless transmitter mere millimetres from his brain and he is supposed to keep it there all day long.
• He does not like the idea of being always connected. After all, taking a piss will always be something your Facebook followers as well as your Hangout contacts (as well as the World if i am to be asked) do not really want to participate in.

Still, i (beware though - i am not an average specimen, something went wrong at some point in my life) would give it try of course. After the price drops at reasonable levels and availability is guaranteed  for everyone interested. Still, if Google ever reads this and wants to make an explorer out of me, feel free guys. You know where to find me.

Anyway, back to the iWatch. I may get back to you about the Glass in another post.

What we are waiting for

Pretty simple, this one. We want Apple to present a smartwatch like device that just works. It is not easy. I know. Trust me on this one.

I will not get technical here, but what we want is a device that one can wear on the wrist that will actually provide some added value. In order to achieve this, it will have to:

• Provide some real added value.
• Biometrics comes to mind, as well as:
• GPS.
• Handsfree functionality.
• Facetime.
• Sleep/activity tracking.
• Be unobtrusive:
• Water resistance is of uttermost importance.
• Battery life should equal one week even in heavy usage / worst case scenario.
• Durability and comfort are essential.
• Look good.
• I trust Apple on this one. They are gonna make it.

Thing is we do not know anything about it, so we can only hope for the best. Thank God there are some creative souls among us that do not only hope but also have ideas and the talent/capability to present them to the world.

The iWatch mockup

Thomas Bogner created a mock up that actually looked good and seemed to be consistent with the rumours of Nike being a key force in the development of the iWatch, as well as with what we have come to expect from Apple in terms of design. You may admire it here:

There was however on major flaw that renders this concept kind of futile: The orientation of the interface makes it impossible to use, always assuming it adorns someone's wrist.

The iWatch i want

Todd (for obvious reasons his first name brings to my twisted mind  the infamous "She's not my mother, Todd!" scene from Terminator 2: Judegment day  - aka the best movie of all times) Hamilton (Linda Hamilton played Sarah Connor, let me remind you), who maintains an excellent blog has identified the problem and proposed (actually improved Mr Bogner's design) his version of the iWatch concept that you do not want to miss. I invite you to visit the guy's blog and see for yourself the fantastic concept of an i Watch that he proposed. This is how he started:

And this is kind of what the interface is supposed to be like:

iWatch Concept from Todd Hamilton on Vimeo.

Anyone listening?

Has anyone from Apple seen that? I bet so. Please make this real, people. It looks good and it looks like it would also feel good to wear and use. Yeah, yeah, yeah I know that Todd was not bound by manufacturing limitations, however i also know that if there is one manufacturer out there who can do the impossible it has to be Apple. After all you have all the money in the world (currently worth 504,770.8 million USD for Christ's sake) and maybe some more, so there are no excuses. You have also taken your sweet time with your smartwatch attempt, you have analysed other manufacturers' failures, you have had the chance to hear what people want (you are reading this fine blog, aren't you?) which basically means that you CAN DO IT. Do not screw this one up Apple. Do you hear me?

i am shocked

Choices

There are some hard choices that people have to make at some point in their lives. And decisions are not easy, but still one has to choose.

One of these lifechanging moments is when you choose whether you want your smartwatch to be more smart than watch or the exact opposite.

A SMARTwatch or a smartWATCH?

I have had more than my fair share of SMARTwatches, so it was time to see what a smartWATCH may offer.

There are not quite as many smartWATCHES as SMARTwatches but still there are some out there.

The Citizen eco proximity, the Casio G-Shock GB-6900 and some more.

The Casio bluetooth enabled watch

So, i have the Casio in my hands (not wrist, mind you) and i am going to give you the general idea.

First of all let me confess that i have never been a fan of the whole indestructible G-shock watch concept. Let me tell you why: Why should i care if my watch can survive -40 degrees Celsius, being submerged a hundred meters underwater or being run over by a monster truck? Why? I do not want to be in these places and since i feel this way there is no need for my watch to be there as well. Meanwhile, if i happen to be in any of these places then i really do not care how the intact G-Shock will look on my dead wrist which (hopefully) is attached to my even deader body. Get the picture? I do not want my legacy to humanity to be a watch, always thought it shall be something spiritual (i am referring to this fine blog, of course). (The whole issue of what happens with your digital life when you die comes to my mind, but i will skip it for the time being.)

The review

Anyway, let me start the damned review of the Casio GB-6900AA smartWATCH.

The good: 

• The battery lasts forever. Casio says it will outlast humanity by a few thousand years. Nuhh, just kidding. But it still has enough juice for approximately two years. Yes. You are not drunk. (Too early in the day, maybe?) Your eyes are still good. Let me just tell you that there are SMART(?)watches out there that have a battery life of half a day on a good day.
• It is tough as nails. You can act normally while wearing the Casio. You can have a shower, go swimming, wash the dishes, dance in the rain, accidentally bang your hand on a door frame and it is guranteed to survive with remarkable ease. World War 3 may present some more challenge but i am fairly confident it can withstand anything less than that. Even that is not entirely out of the question.
• The vibration motor is strong and really does perform the way you'd want it too. Yeap, i know how that sounds. But it is the truth.
• The screen is always on. After all it's mainly a watch, right?
• It works (kind of) with both iOS and Android, as long as the phone supports BT 4.0 of course.
• It comes in many colours.
• If the watch loses connection with the phone, because for example you left it on the back seat of the cab that just achieved warp speed 9.6 the watch vibrates. You will never find the cab, but at least you will know where you lost the phone.

The bad:

• It has a tiny screen that serves as notification window. Text scrolls all the time and it is quite annoying, to say the least.
• The notifications themselves are severely limited when you use it with an iPhone. Casio is not the one to blame here, still all you get is email sender info (provided your mail service is Gmail or smth quite as big), a social notification icon that only shows that smth happened in FB or Twitter or Weibo (which should be popular in the East), a notification that a call or an SMS is coming but of course no caller ID or even number. Calendar notifications are also available. If you use the watch with a Galaxy S4 you get Caller ID and SMS sender as well, if you can follow the little scrolling text for as long as it takes for you to actually ready the damned ID.

The ugly:

• It is ugly. No, wait. That was quite an understatement. It is very ugly. This is a strictly personal opinion of course, but i think most people past their years of early prime will agree. Especially the glossy black i have. By the way, glossy seems to contradict (at least superficially/visually) the whole G-Shock appearance thing.
• The buttons on the watch itself are very hard to press, since no water is allowed to enter the watch after the fish have long picked your bones clean in the abyss. G-Shock and all that...
• Setting up the initial connection takes at least three attempts before you can start actually hoping it may work this time.

The unbearable:

• If you turn BT off on the iPhone side or close the Casio app you have to re-initiatate the connection. (It is supposed to auto re-connect but i did not ever see that happen.) And as i've told you, it is going to take more than three attempts. Oh my God. I know it sounds crazy but it is the truth. 
• The watch is not at all comfortable. On my wrist, at least. No matter what i do, it just feels wrong. Although it is light, it just feels awkward. I think it has to do more with the band (it is supposed to work as an absorber for these times that the watch (person who wears it preferably not included) drops from 10 meters high onto concrete) than the watch itself, but the problem is always there. Again: This is a strictly personal opinion, but the damned watch could not sit on my wrist without feeling bad and looking awful.

Should you buy it?

If you really love the G-shock design then maybe yes. However, you should always keep in mind that it is mainly a watch. The smart side is not that smart, if you see what i mean. If it looks and feels like a monstrosity on your tiny wrist (that was my case), please do your self a favour and go buy a Pebble. Or go get the Galaxy Gear (if you have a compatible phone) or do the right thing: Just wait for the iWatch (i know we may all have grandchildren by the times it becomes a real product, but hope dies last).

What about the latest models?

It seems to me that Casio is selling the same hardware (paint job excluded) with some additional BT profiles in two more variations. The latest one that can show fitness tracking info from your phone could be smth a die hard triathlete could maybe consider mainly because of it's endurance to wear and tear and weather elements and water and mud and snow (and you get the meaning). However one would also need a (not even close to equally) die hard phone to feed the data to the watch in the first place, which renders the whole concept kind of futile. Why pay for both when one can buy a dedicated fitness watch that can withstand the elements?

Dedication: 

This post is dedicated to Fanis. Nice talking to you man.

i am back

Writer's block

Yeah, yeah, yeah i know people. This blog has been inactive for a long time. I guess i had a writer's complex, sort of. Or something like that. 

Though some interesting gadgets found their way to my house in the meanwhile, i could not write about them or anything else. Just couldn't.

I will say no more about the God damned block.  Anyway, i think it is over now and i am back.

Back to the basics

Yeah baby i am back to the iPhone! The whole (not quite) family is here to welcome the lost sheep...

Yeap, i am the exact same person who thought that the iPhone 5S is anticlimactic, to say the least. I know i am changing my mind faster than the national debt doubles itself, but yes: I am proud to be now telling you that i am back in the bright track. 

Let me give you the executive summary. In August i grew too damned tired of the iPhone 5 and swapped it for an HTC One. Possibly the best (not i) phone there is out there. Then Samsung presented to the amazed masses the Gear. And i had to have this one. So i was forced to exchange the One for a Galaxy S4. And i was happy for some time. But (and this is a big but) the truth is that what the Gear (actually the Gear & Galaxy S4 combination) offered in terms of user experience was significantly less than what i was losing by not having an iPhone anymore. Sad but true, people.

Fact:

The iPhone still remains the best phone money can buy.

(Definition of phone: A device capable of making phonecalls, that can be easily handled onehandedly by an average sized person.) 

For those of you still wondering, a phablet is not a phone. It is just some  tech abomination Samsung came up with and yet miraculously people liked it. A cross between a phone and a tablet. A triumph of convergence over practicality. Still, many people seem to like phablets. Then again, i have actually met people who claim to enjoy eating this, so i rest my case.

Okay now that you have puked your guts, welcome back onboard. I am deeply sorry for what you went through by just looking a the "dish" on the left. So, again: A "look mom, no more hands available" slab of plastic with an LCD on top is not a phone. It is a God damned burden. Simple as that. In my book, at least.

       

 The iPhone 5S 

Where was i, now? Uhmmm, yeah, the iPhone. Yes people, my phone now is the iPhone 5S. I admit it is pig ugly, especially in the gold (desperately need to show off i have the latest model) variation. I have extensively elaborated on that in the past, so no need to repeat myself.

But it is lightning fast! The 64 bit architecture may or may not be something to write home about, but i am thinking it could be the first because other manufacturers seem to be ready to jump onto the 64 bit train as well.

The UI is what you have learned to expect from the latest iPhone: Smooth as butter, rather intuitive, pleasing on the eye. iOS 7 is old news so i will say no more on this one.

For people who want deeper control and parameterization over their iPhones the latest evasion jailbreak is out there available for every iDevice.

The 5S camera 

The camera is fantastic. Let me explain:

Normal people do not carry DSLRs. Normal people take photos for fun. By fun i mean, take a photo without anticipating the next masterpiece. Usually it is "capture the moment" kind of stuff, so there is no time to wait for the perfect angle or light. Therefore, the vast majority of normal people does not mess with camera settings when trying to capture their buddy performing (once in a lifetime) a good skate move or their girlfriend laughing in the sun or a graffiti on the wall. They just want to press the damned button and have the photo, which will most likely never be printed but is rather likely to be uploaded to a social network or cloud service or sent to someone else.

Hear me manufacturers: Most people do not want to mess with a million little settings that have a huge impact on the final photo taken. They just want a camera phone that takes good photos with minimal fuss. And the iPhone 5S is the best there is right now. Point and tap. And the photo will deifinetely look at least very good. Not perfect, but who would sacrifice the time and frustration it takes for the small leap from 80% to 95% (photo quality) for a photo (s)he took just for the fun it?

One last thing about the 5S camera. There is a 120 fps slomo video option available. Yeah i know, it has been done before. Among others, the HTC One did slomo, as well as the Galaxy Note 3. But (and this is a HUGE but) on the 5S people tend to actually use this mode. You know why? Because all it takes is to swipe to the right when on the camera screen. Yeap. Whereas in the HTC One i knew it was there but never managed to gather the courage and/or patience required to dig through the menu and find the damned option.

The Apple way of things 

This is the Apple philosophy people. iOS uses default settings for almost every little parameter that hardcore Android users struggle with, novice Android users just do not know where to find/what to choose (ignorance is bliss) and Windows Phone users are desperately trying to find (exercise in futility). However, Apple's default settings are indeed well thought and actually represent what the vast majority of normal people actually want. Then again, for the Apple loving propeller-heads (myself included) there is the jb process that allows them to tinker with their phones and get out of the "walled garden". At their own risk, of course. 

For me it is actually very simple: If you want the best of both worlds, you get an iPhone and do a jailbreak the moment you open the box.  

       

Disclaimer

I am not crazy (i think). I am not a fanboy. And i am not a hater. This is why i have the ability to change my mind. This is why i moved from iPhone to Android and then back to the iPhone. I have had more than my fair share of smartphones in the past and i really think i can be quite objective and not at all biased.

  

Of cars and iPhones...

Of cars and iPhones... 

Okay, you have the iPhone 5 and enjoy it very much. Should you exchange it for the 5x (where x=C or x=S)? 

The car analogy

For the sake of the analogy we will assume that you have a car and you are seriously considering changing it with something new. You are perfectly satisfied with your current car, by the way.

You actually have two options:

1. The same car with a facelift in five vivid, daring, funky color options with a price tag a little less than what your current car cost you.
2. An almost identically looking car (compared to your current one, that is) that has bigger and better engine, breaking system and sports keyless entry functionality.

Both the above options require selling your current car and forking out a substantial amount of extra money, so that you can afford the upgrade. Would you do that? Would you?

Before answering, please try to put yourself in the position of people who had a very nice car (iPhone4) and then upgraded to an exactly identically looking car (iPhone 4S) with a faster engine and a larger windshield that provided a better view and then again upgraded to a car (iPhone 5) that looked almost the same but was somewhat longer (so the kids in the back complained a little less) but a tiny little less wide while also boasting a faster engine and had a marginably better aerodynamic profile. Which kind of means that you have actually been driving a car rather similar to your original one for many consecutive years, while of course paying for the upgrades.

 

Would you not be bored (to death, if i may add)? Would you not want to try out something else? Come on, tell me the truth.

I for once got rid of my very nice car (iPhone 5) and bought a shiny new car (HTC One) wich was bigger and shinier and run as smooth as my previous one while boasting a SUPERB sound system and night vision assistance, but was somewhat more uncomfortable to drive around.

And after a while i again changed the shiny car with the great sound system (HTC One) for another quite cheap looking and feeling car (Galaxy S4) that is as fast but with a little less gas autonomy, has a better aerodynamic profile as well as a very large windshield that allows you to see perfect in daylight (but not in low light situations) and above all supports a little scooter (Galaxy Gear) that you can always carry with you and when the car is parked nearby it can provide some of the car's functionality.

(Note to dear readers: If the whole car analogy really meant something for you, you have to see this. It really takes the whole car - phone thing to the next level!)

Somebody call a shrink please!

Does anyone get the general idea or am i completely/hopelessly lost in my gadget universe? Am i being totally paranoid in the "Just relax while help (men with white uniforms) is on the way..." kind of way? Please do not make me use the girlfriend analogy, huh? You were warned.

No more apples for you, I am afraid...

Q & A

How would you describe the September 10 (2013) Apple event?

Anticlimactic.

What about the iPhone 5S?

Anticlimactic.

Should i buy it?

Absolutely! Υou are a fanboy, aren't you?

If i am not a fanboy?

Go get the Galaxy Gear and a Galaxy S4.

The S4 is pig ugly. And plastic. I do not like it.

I know. I agree. Still, go get it if you want some real innovation on your wrist. (Charging twice a day may be mandatory, but you will be a pioneer!)

So what should i do?

I am not a shrink. Do whatever you want.

But my money is burning a hole in my pocket. What cellphone should i buy?

Go get the HTC One. Blue is great.

But i want a great camera. Can i have that on a smartphone?

Did you actually mean on a smartphone? If yes, the answer is yes. Go get the Sony DSC QX-100 lens and put it on your smartphone.

Uhmmmm, I actually meant in a smartphone. Is there something for me?

Yeap. It is called Nokia Lumia 1020. 41MP, Carl Zeiss, OIS, big hump in the back, you know the deal.

But it is a Windows Phone 8 phone. I don't really like the OS and where is Instagram?

I know. Can't have it all though.

But i want it all. iOS, great parameterisation options, best default tuning, slim body, great camera, fluid performance, affordable price, fingerprint sensor (NOT),...

Forget about it. Can't have that.

But i am following your blog so that you solve all my problems. Do something!

Ask Siri.

Didn't work.

There are 26 shrinks nearby. Do you want me to schedule an appointment with the one closest to your current location?

All i wanted was a great keynote and an iPhone 6 that would rock...

I know.  Me too.

So, i f i really must try hard enough to find the bright side of today's event, what is it?

Uhmmm. The iPhone 5C, actually. And the 64 bit A7 chip.

Is that all?

Yes.

I am unhappy/frustrated/in a bad shape.

Go get the Galaxy Gear.

Can i at least have an Apple?

Nuh, apples have gone bad.

Is that all?

Yes.

The watch is dead

The watch is dead.

The wristwatch is a burden

Okay people, i've never really been into (pseudo)macho bullshit related to the fact that "the only piece of jewellry a man is allowed to put on is his watch,  so it better be something good". If you ask me, i really do not give a damn if someone wears a Rolex or a Seiko or a Casio or a Vacheron Constantin or a cheap plastic little mermaid 2,99 euro worth toy watch or no watch at all. I for one, stopped wearing a wristwatch when i was 14 years old for two very simple reasons:

1) I really did not actually care what the time was at the time.

2) The God damned Casio i was wearing

was forcing me to look at it more than 20 times for every hour of class at school and this is by no means an exaggeration.

It was a conscious decision. I got rid of the watch and magically class sessions became shorter and more interesting.

So i stayed away from wristwatches mainly because i could not (and of course still cannot) justify the existence of a device that i am forced to carry on my wrist all the time that only (or at least basically) tells the time. If i want to see the time i can look on my computer screen or on my cellphone screen or on the wall where a clock is hanging or at the town square with the big clock tower or make a fuzzy estimation that cannot be too wrong or ask someone condemned to wear the burden (ala Frodo the ringbearer). Even worse, the more masculine a male watch the heavier the burden. Simple laws of the jungle. If you can carry that 200 gr slab on you all the time you can compete for the alpha male of your corporate subdivision (after begging -on all four- your female supervisor for a little strech of that deadline, that is). Yeap. 

This is a purely personal opinion, but i really cannot understand why someone would/should pay 200k USD for the deep space turbillon, aside  from the fact that he needs to have a way to feel special for worthing 20 bil USD.  (Second thoughts: Okay, that particular timepiece is God damned impressive in a geeky kind of way. I'll have one. Nah, better make it two to be on the safe side.) But even down to earth watches (within my mediocre financial grasp) are not appealing to me. Not at all. I can only forgive divers (maybe pilots and astronauts too) for wearing such a thing, although i suspect that even they don't wear their Citizen when they are in the deep blue sea but specialised equipment in the form of a wristwatch.

So basically yes, i do hate wristwatches. The tech behind them is essentially 145 years old and they are still more or less doing the same thing, which is uhmmm telling the time. I do not need them and i do not like them. I cannot understand people who love them and collect them, but i have no problem with that. Case closed.

I must now confess that 13 years (of wrist freedom) after the second grade of junior high school i bit the bullet and bought a watch to adorn my tiny wrist. It was the unforgettable Fossil Abacus (Fossil Abacus), which could very well be the ugliest watch ever. Uhmm scratch that, maybe the ugliest thing ever created/conceived by man. Period. But it was not just a little time ticking box on a strap. It was one of the first ever (horribly flawed) attempts at a smartwatch. Yeap you had it right, if i did wear this monstrosity in public (any kind of intimate interaction with women was totally ruled out at the time, of course - no sane woman would offer me the benefit of doubt after glancing at my watch) then i am a total fanboy for smartwatches. My next steps, as well as the final one in this particular tech saga are already known to you dear readers of this fine (notjust)hitech blog.

Welcome to the future

And then came the 4th of Spetember 2013 and Samsung presented to the world the Galaxy Gear smartwatch. Welcome to the future ladies and gentlemen. That's what Mr. Pranav Mistry said and you know what? I believe this guy. Yeap Sammy was there first. I totally expect Apple to present a more polished product in the next six months, but it's like the space rally of the 50s. The Americans landed (if you are not into conspiracy theories) on the Moon first, but the Russians are the ones who first made it to space. So if you want to be a Russian pioneer you have to fork out the 300 USD and go get yourself the first smartwatch from a BIG player out there. Otherwise you can be an American and wait for Apple's iWatch. You'll be late of course but the Moon will be yours. 

Samsung Galaxy Gear

Enough with the space race. The Gear is big news and it is excellent news (mostly). Expect another post on this one, but wearable computing is the next big thing to take off and the Gear is truly the first big caliber weapon in this battle. 

There are two schools in the smartwatch making fine art:

1) The Pebble school. Small, light, grayscale, screen always on, (comparatively) long battery life. These watches provide a "second screen" for notifications as well as 2-way communication with the phone that enables functionality such as remote music player, camera and fitness trackers control, alarm if the connection between the devices is lost, canned sms replies as well as http requests, call answering/rejecting and such.

2) The Galaxy Gear school. Not that small, heavy, color (OLED mainly), screen not always on, short battery life, These watches can do what the above can do, but also can make a phonecall as well. This means they have a speaker and mic. (Which rendered them 100% NOT waterproof in the past - see my i'm watch experience for some gruesome (better leave kids out of it) details on this epic fail proportions miserable attempt of an early bite at the smarwatch pie.)

Before the Gear came onto stage i would strongly advise anyone even remotely interested not to look at category 2. But times have changed. The Gear is supposed to be completely waterproof, it features a camera (BSI with autofocus for Christ's sake) and boasts a whole day battery life. Which means that you will have to charge your watch every night as well as your smartphone. No big hassle for me (as long as it can endure a full day's worth of heavy usage), but i know people who would not like that at all. The speaker and dual mic are on the strap and you can talk by lifting your watch to your ear without being a complete total propellerhead/dork shouting above a tiny loudspeaker. You are supposed to talk like you do on a normal phone. Or at least i think/hope so after viewing the presentation. The camera is placed on the strap also, facing outwards, which is a pretty good thing for capturing those "basic instinct" moments. Nah, just kidding. Even if you want to do that you can forget about it because the shutter sound cannot be deavtivated and that is a good thing for your privacy. And mine. And everybody else's. The watch comes in several colors ranging from "wannabe CEO" to "funky is my middle name". The build quality looks great, after all it is made of steel and weighs a ton. One unique, almost "magical" feature i noticed was that when you look at a notification (let's say an email one) on the watch and then take your phone out of your pocket then the same email is there waiting for you!!! The s-voice is also very interesting (that is an understatement -  it is actually a big step on the road to geek Heaven).

Is the Gear the perfect gear?

Is it perfect then? Nope, it is not. My main gripes are:

1) Battery life. Even it makes it through the whole day, it SHOULD be better. I am not saying it could, but is should. A week is the minimum for normal people.

2) No GPS included. This is a major flaw for all fitness tracking enthusiasts who will still be forced to carry their phones as well while running/cycling/etc.

3) No front camera. It is not a very big deal, but it would be nice to have a shooter (even a crap VGA one would suffice) up front, provided it could make videocalls. I bet that the iWatch will have that one.

4) Extremely limited (how does just two at the moment sound?) number of smartphones it can work with. Basically it works with Samsung Galaxy things with BLE AND Android 4.3 only. Galaxy S 4 and 3 as well as Note 2 are going to be supported soon. I suspect that it could work with all Android 4.3 BLE equiped smartphones regardless of the manufacturer but my guess is that Samsung is trying to force people into it's own ecosystem, like Apple has been doing for the past 23 million years. The power of developers out there (XDA comes to mind) is rather unstoppable though, so i imagine things may change, without Sammy's consent, that is. Of course the Gear will never work with an iPhone, i believe.

Should you get one?

If you (like me) are a gadget addict, then most definetely yes. It is your personal ticket to the future and you have had a burning desire for it from the first second you laid your eyes on it. (The song "baby don't go" suddenly popped to my mind especially that part of the lyrics which claimed that: "Got the feeling that i can't resist you, from the moment that i laid my eyes on you".) If you are not completely sold on the whole concept and don't feel like volunteering for an early adopter, maybe you should wait for it's next iteration or for Apple's proposition which may not be that far down the line. If you need to have a smartwatch right now and you don't want to buy a top range Galaxy phone then the Pebble is the only way.

I am definetely going to buy this, even if that means i have to trade in my HTC One for an S4 (which i particularly despise because of it's design and materials) or even a Note 3. Even if that means that i will have to skip the iPhone 5S (or whatever it is called) for now. Unless the next iPhone has something truly groundbreaking which i sincerely doubt but cannot completely rule out. Thank God, September 10 is just around the corner. I am checking the time left every half an hour or so i can't possibly miss that presentation, can I?

The Pebble watch

The Pebble watch

Intro

Summer eventually came (and went). The weather remains sunny and hot (as it should always be - if am to be asked) and people still go to the beach. And what can you see there? Well apart from water (obviously) and maybe sand, you may also see pebbles. The Pebble watch is what i am going to present to you today. And just like that, the worst ever intro in the history of (notjust) hi tech blogs was concluded.Okay people, you (most probably) may (not) have already read my first post ever that summarized my smartwatch adventures. In that particular post i have written about the Pebble watch: "Let here dully be noted that I would have bought a Pebble (Pebble) if there was one to buy, but come on people: Who wants to wait for six months in order to get one? Since it does nothing more than the Strata, to the best of my knowledge. Apart from the obvious hype, of course.  And okay it is infinitely more presentable / less embarrassing . One little comment here to Pebble's PR people: Please do not confuse people into thinking they are getting an e-ink screen. Thank you."First of all i did find a Pebble on ebay and bought it. The price was not a steal, but the seller was not asking for my kidney either. Or for a way to make enough money for a trip to the moon and back just by selling watches (that he had had the insight to back on kickstarter for the sole purpose of reselling at a later time with a premium price) on ebay. First class trip, that is. What i mean is there are a lot of ebay  UK listings for Pebbles that are asking for amounts of 250 EUR and above for an item that costs 150 USD if you could find one to buy. Which leads my train of thought to the fact that the Pebble kickstarter phenomenon (10 mil USD in backing while all they were asking for was a paltry 200 k if i am not mistaken) was a good thing, but also a bad thing. A good thing  for the company and the whole industry (too much hype is most times a big asset), but also a bad thing for the tens of thousands of backers and pre orderers (early adopters in general) who are queued and patiently (or not so much) waiting for their Pebble to be manufactured and then sent over.

The box

The box is minimalistic, absolutely compatible with the Apple way of environmental thinking (reducing cost, that is). The paper zipper is a good idea that provides a rather intimate moment with your beloved gadget. It actually offers a way to bond with the watch before you even have it in your hands. Kind of like unzipping the dress of your singificant other half. Please bear in mind that the Pebble zip if unzipped cannot be zipped back. Get it? All the box contains is the watch itself and the charging/sync cable, minus charger of course. Oh and a sign that tells you to log onto the website. Simple as that.

The watch

The watch is small, thin and light by smartwatch standards. You really cannot appreciate this if you have not tried to put up with the i'mwatch on your wrist for a whole working day (after that you would most probably have to recharge...). Trust me on this one. It feels a little cheap on the eye (the black one, at least) but manages to maintain a fairly good build quality. Considering the fact that the company did not manufacture anything before the successful kickstarter campaign, this means a lot. We can only hope for the best for the next Pebble iteration. The (ala Macbok) magnetic charging clip is a wonderful idea. If Pebble team ever reads this, please congratulate the person who thought about it. It adds a touch of class, as well as providing added value. A practical and simultaneously elegant solution!

The screen

The Pebble team used to call the screen an e-paper screen which confused people into thinking it was of the e-ink variety. It is not. It is an LCD which is perfectly readable in the brightest sunlight (you should visit the greek islands and especially the cyclades if you really need to redefine sunlight) and it also boasts a backlight which is cool and practical. The resolution is 144 by 168 pixels and it is enough for the 1.26 inch screen. Of course it is grayscale and of course it is always on (if you have used the i'm watch you may know what i am talking about...).

The strap

The strap is an interchangeable one with a widh of exactly 22mm. The most common width if am not mistaken. The key word here is interchangeable. The default provided strap certainly is uninspiring for lack of a better word. Let's just say that the strap is quite possibly the single most average (average has a negative meaning here) uhhmmm strap ever created. It is just a strap. Nothing more, nothing less. No wonder there is a whole bunch of people desperately seeking alternatives (just look at the size of this thread!). I can live with it though, at least for the time being.

Functionality

I have the pleasure to inform you that this smartwatch works quite well with both iOS and android smartphones. The basic functionality is there in both cases. CLI, SMS, notifications, runkeeper integration is there. Did imention it shows the time? Well, it does. In fact it can do just that in about every conceivable way through watchfaces. Watchfaces (official or not) change the way the watch performs it's primary (that was a joke) objective which is of course showing the time. (You may laugh now.)

Watchfaces - Watchapps

Okay the good things start here. You want simple and elegant, you got it. You want real watch replicas, you got it. You want "get through with your phd before you even start trying deciphering the time", you got it. You want to create your own watchface on your PC or your Android phone, even featuring your own face, you got it. You want some added value on your smartwatch, you certainly got it. There are tons of watchfaces and watchapps that support 2-way communication with the phone, providing a quick and easy way to have vital info regarding your unread SMS/Calls/Emails/Battery status (among other things) available at a glance. You want to control the music player and see the album artwork on the tiny watch screen, you got it. You want the watch to vibrate half a minute after you forgot your 700 euro smartphone in the back seat of the cab that just achieved warp speed 9.6, you got it. You want to press a watch button to wirelessly release the shutter of your iPhone camera and even see the photo it took (Android only) in glorious grainy Black & White, you got it. You want to control your home lights, you got it.  You want boobs (shaking, that is), you GOT it!!!

Notifications

If you use it with an Android phone you can have all types of notifications on the watch, as well as manual control over what you see and what you don’t. The same can be done on a jailbroken iphone (the person who created and freely offered BTNotificationEnabler Cydia app should be nominated Sir - long live Mr. Conrad Kramer). It also seems that iOS 7 (even without JB) will indeed push all notifications over BT as well. 

STATEMENT: Do you believe in miracles? If no, THEN GOTO STATEMENT. (If you just got stuck in an infinite loop, do yourself a favor and skip to the next paragraph or start believing.)

Sports apps

A dream has come true ladies and gents. You can use your smartphone to track your run and see vital real-time info on the watch. You cannot select what to see for the time being, but still it is a great feature for fitness buffs. Runkeeper integration is offered out of the box, but other solutions also exist, for runners as well as golfers and cyclists. This truly is the way to go. Since most people already carry their phones (while desperately trying to avoid a heart attack at a later –possibly more proper/convenient–  time by forcing themselves perform in the heart attack red zone) in order to listen to their year old (best case scenario) playlist they have grown sick off but never had had the time and appropriate mentality to actually decide to renew (cannot but justify their behavior though – who among us actually wants to battle the (iTunes) beast?) it, why not have their current speed available at a glance on their wrist? It is already being recorded, after all. My humble opinion is that the sports app dimension is something to be pursued by smartwatch manufacturers if they really want the whole wearable computing concept to eventually take off.

Water resistance/Endurance

The Pebble is so good you may even mistake it with a dumbwatch. It is 100% water resistant (this does not mean scuba diving of course – but you can swim in it or take a shower) as long as you do not press the buttons under water and that is the way all smartwatches in the future should be (hear that Samsung Galaxy Gear?).  Who needs a (hopefully) curved OLED screen when you have to take the watch off your hand every single time you wash your hands or the gods of rain send some uhhhhm rain? Regarding it’s endurance I cannot say it is rock solid, but “pebble solid” is still quite adequate. Okay, it is not a G-Schock that can withstand World Wars 3 and 4, but it can take some regular wear and tear without breaking apart. And that is good enough for me.

Battery life

The battery life tops out at about 15 days for me, but i do turn the watch off at night and when i am not wearing it. But i am heavy user since a lot of notifications are coming on the watch. I think it is safe to assume that a week of operation can be expected if you have it on your wrist (BT enabled) 24 7. One week happens to be the absolute minimum for a smartwatch before it crosses the line between "It's Sunday and i have nothing to do. Why not charge my smartwatch?" and "What do you mean your watch doesn't tell the time? Is it out of battery? AGAIN? WTF?".

The bad news

There is only one big issue with the Pebble watch. It does not support unicode character set, so bye bye notifications if your mother language is not English. Which is my case. There is a workaround for android phones but still the Pebble team HAVE TO solve that problem which severely handicaps the Pebble's functionality. 

Should you buy it?

This is a tough one to answer. My initial gut feeling is “Yes. Go ahead and buy it.” The problem is you still can’t find one to buy. The bestbuy stock was sold out before you could say “I desperately want to buy a Pebble and I am willing to drive for three hours in the wild in order to visit the most remote bestbuy store where the locals will hopefully not recognize it for what it is and buy the whole batch in order to resell at a premium on ebay…” Original backers may have received (I am not sure though) but the tens of thousands of preorders are not shipping yet. I for once have preordered on January 2013 and have still not had any news on this one! (UPDATE: According to this if i had preordered a black Pebble it should be on it's way but of course it was a white one...)So let’s assume you actually can lay your hands on the precious. Should you still go ahead and buy it? I am not that sure, folks. The Galaxy Gear release is imminent (IFA, September 4) and you must see it before you fork out the money for a new smartwatch. The iWatch still resides in rumorland but I have a hunch it is coming soon, real soon. My advice is that you wait at least until after the Apple event of September 10 (or whenever it will take place) so that to reach a decision after seeing the big picture.

The übergadget

Das ubergadget

Definition: 

The gadget above all gadgets. The one. The "my precious" gadget. The headturner. The conversation opener. The "gee Dad, i want one of these". The "how much did that cost, dude?". The "a little better than sex" gadget. The "i want this now but how the heck am i gonna justify the cost to the missus? Ahhh, found it, i'll blame it on the kids...". Both synthetics of the word are equally important. It has to be a gadget of course, while it also has to be something uhmmm you know, special, after all.

Basic attributes of the ideal gadget: 

1) It has to be small, as in portable, as in "i can show off to my friends and neighbors and coworkers".  As in a house or a car cannot be considered a gadget, it is just too damned useful/big/common. You get what i am saying?

2) It has to be able to fly. Simple as that. Whoever has been a kid at his/her youth, and by "kid" i mean a real kid (not the super responsible overachiever - great school grades compulsory - preadolescent type who dresses up like his 35 years senior dad/mum and even worse behaves likewise) may be able to comprehend the need for the ubergdget to be able to fly. Try to grasp the concept of absolute freedom, that can only be approximated by an overactive childhood imagination and you are close. Did that? Now please get back to your report for the upper management. You have a strict deadline, in case you managed to forget for a split second.

3) It must have a remote control. Obviously.

4) The "WOW" factor should be extremely high. How can that be measured? Pretty simple actually. If random people on the street (extra points for individuals above 70 years old) see it and say "Oh my God, what is this?" then you are in the right direction. Ideally you should see the jaw-dropping sequence take place on the faces of innocent bystanders.

Does it exist?

Back to reality, then. Does such a thing even exist? Can you think of any candidate for the ubergadget throne? No? Let's make it a little harder, then. How about something that satisfies the above criteria while throwing a healthy dose of voyerism in the mix? Childhood innocense and curiosity again come to mind here, but i will not elaborate this time.

It does exist, dear readers and it is called AR Drone 2.0! Do you also want the ubergadget? You can get it for 320 EUR right now. Is that too much? Nuhhh, that's what i save for each 4 months i manage to remain an ex-smoker. Oh, you also need an iPhone or Android smartphone that is going to be the remote control. But you already have one of these since you are reading this blog, don't you?

The AR Drone 2.0

Ladies and gentlemen please welcome the most easily remotely controllable flying thing ever. (If you have ever tried to fly a remote controlled helicopter you may appreciate the true meaning of the word difficult. These things have 6 or even 8 channel controls, with each channel corresponding to a degree of freedom! It is unbelievably hard to master the control of these things. Just imagine having 8

little joysticks to choose from any given second... Long story short: If you absolytely have to fly a remote controlled "toy" helicopter or the real thing, i suggest you go for the real thing - it should be a little easier!)

I do not want to reproduce the spec sheet here, but you really shoud see this.

Remember the WOW factor? Well you may be impressed even before you fork out the money to purchase the drone - while drooling over the technical jargon - even if you don't understand a single thing about it.

Let me give you tthe executive summary, though:

By means of some really clever tech, the drone hovers in place in place when no external forces are applied. If you fly it indoors you can see that it stays almost perfectly stationary, which is a big feat in itself. The way to control it is really simple and intuitive, thanks to the absolute control that was introduced with the second version of the AR Drone. You use your smarphone's motion sensors and the drone responds perfectly. You won't believe it till you see it happen. Of course the whole connection thing is through wifi. The drone creates it's own access point and your phone connects to it. The range is more than you would feel comfortable with the first hundreds or so times you get out and fly, but then again there is a whole community of people who have hacked their drones to (by far) increase the 50 meter out of the box range.

Did i mention it features two cameras? One HD capable for videos and stills and a QVGA one mainly used for ground speed measurement, though one can also utilise this one for video recording purposes as well.

The killer feature is that the drone streams real time HD video to your phone while it flies. YES. You can also record it of course and even take pictures at the same time. If you (think) you are good enough you may even fly it without having direct visual contact, the range is more than enough for this kind of suicide missions.

The learning curve is not steep at all, but beware dear reader: Do not fly this thing if the wind is more than 2 on the  Beaufort scale. Again: Do not fly this God damned thing if the wind is more than 2 on the  Beaufort scale. I really cannot stress enough the importance and wisdom of these words. Let's just say that the first time it cost me 90 euros and 10 days of waiting and leave it to that. You see, the drone is actually featherweight at 380 grams, therefore even the smallest gust of wind may through it out of your control area (see tips section bellow)...

Talking about repairs, the AR Drone 2.0 is 100% repairable by you. You can (BIG question mark here...) disassemble it in aproximmately a million pieces. Do it once while being blind folded and you can become the IKEA evangelist for the millenium. As well as the next one. There are howto videos all over youtube that may guide you. You can of course order the exact component you want to replace, so for those among you who can "do stuff with their hands" it should be fairly easy and not overly expensive to repair.

Some tips:

1) Fly it on days with absolutely no wind the first few times. Best time should be early in the morning, or late in the evening.

2) If you use a smartphone, you should maybe consider turning the phone off. The phone ringing (which will interrupt your controls) maybe more than enough of a distraction necessary to make you cross the thin red line between "Oh man look at me, i am a mean mutha flying this shit like a pro!" and "Ohhhhhh shit, i crashed (again)!" Although if the phone rings the drone is supposed to just hover where it was right before the ring.

3) It may not be at all windy at ground level, but 30 meters up it can be a totally different story. Trust me on this one.

4) Even if you are a complete total newbie do not hesitate to set the vertical speed to high. It could be the single thing that will save your drone from a flyaway with probably disastrous results. A single gust of wind may lift your drone 10 meters up and you really need all the force you can have to save it from entering the "shit, the wifi link is too weak to call the drone back" zone.

5) Do not migrate to "unofficial" smartphone control apps before you have mastered the official one. The extra functionality may work against total newbies.

Experience:

Flying the drone on a day with no wind is absolutely amazing. It flies smoothly, goes where you want it to go (again, you cannot fully appreciate the meaning of this particular statement if you have never tried to use an R/C helicopter - futility is the one word that comes to mind), it is very stable. You can micro control it to look right into someone's eyes and you can have unlimited amounts of fun with unsuspected cats. It seems that cats are especially agitated by the drone. (Can't say why.) Or you can just  get to the point and use the drone on a "surveillance" mission, foucused on your new neighbor next door, right? NOPE. If it is spying / voyerism that your heart desires, you may forget about the drone right now. Can't be used this way (and that is a good thing, i assure you), unless the sexy neighbor enjoys being spied upon (which would render the entire voyer perspective kind of invalid to say the least) or is 100% deaf or both. You see, the four 28,500 rpm motors make a "unique" kind of noise, that somehow reminds me of a hybrid between an F1 race car and a crybaby (you are gonna love that sound though, trust me). The live video feed is a great feature and if/when you eventually manage to master the controls you may actually sometime be able to fly the drone beyond your field of view, only based on what you see on screen. The battery life is about 10 mins (you can always shop for an aftermarket higher capacity one), which may initially seem to be a little on the short side, but rest assured that:

1) It is actually rather good, if it is electrically powered remotely controlled flying things we are talking about.

2) The levels of adrenaline produced are just too high to keep pumping for prolonged amounts of time.

Kids (yours or other people's) simply love it. Videogames seem to have pushed natural evolution into the direction of kids being born boasting an extreme degree of familiarity with tiny joysticks and on screen controls. Of course qucik reflexes certainly do not harm here. Fathers (as well as soon to be fathers, wannabe fathers, could be fathers and such) of kids also love it. Women are not impressed (of course) but seem to have a high tolerance towards the drone, as well as it is not flying and in any case before they find out how much it cost. Let me provide another tip here again: A possible workaround for your "significant other half's" whining regarding the amount of money spent on the drone (as well as the unwanted but most likely entirely expected repair jobs) may include kids' birthdays or even bringing out the big guns: Stories (true or fictional) of your childhood focusing on the fact that you have always desired a particular toy but your cruel family did not buy it for you leading to years of misery that either frequent as well as expensive sessions with a shrink might begin to dissolve or the AR Drone 2.0 can fix in a second. What would you choose, honey?

Conclusion: 

The AR Drone 2.0 is indeed the ubergadget. Depending on your point of vierw, it may be considered as:

• A ridiculously expensive smartphone accessory, 
• or a deep dive to the fountain of youth, 
• or anything in between. 

For gadget lovers i cannot but recommend it with all my heart. It provides a (sort of) lifechanging experience for techheads, while the first three minutes of the first flight (which most probably will take place in your living room) can only be compared to your first three minutes of riding a bicycle without aid. Or your first kiss. Or your first live concert. Or your first "few drinks" that ended up with you drunk. Be prepared to form a direct link to your childhood days of innoscence, the drone can do that magical thing. Let's just not forget that childhood also had it's "bad" moments, so your first true crash (damages are compulsory if it is to be considered a real crash) might also bring up memories of your first break up, as well...

All in all, dear reader, if you need a present for yourself, just a little something for you, a little expense that does not need to be rationalised, do not hesitate at all. Gadget Heaven is already here, all you have to do is get out and grasp it (online purchase is not actually recommended for such impulse decisions - gadget lovers the world over already know the feeling, if you want it you want it now!). Have a nice flight!