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ZTE's first smartwatch will only work with its own phones when it launches next year
Though smartwatches may or may not be selling well, such market conditions aren't stopping newcomers like Qualcomm and others from entering the game. Now, China's ZTE has told the WSJ that it'll launch its own model in the second quarter of 2014 with features similar to Samsung's Galaxy Gear, but at a lower price. Before you get too excited, the yet-unnamed device will just launch in China at first, and it'll only be compatible with the company's own smartphones -- like the Nubia Z5 shown above. However, ZTE said it may roll out in Europe and the US later and might also launch future smartwatches that work with any Android device. Though the market for wrist-borne wearables in China is tiny compared to the smartphone segment, ZTE's mobile marketing chief Lu Qianhao said that launching such a product may give his company's smartphones a competitive advantage. That may be an unusual marketing ploy, but it could get stranger -- the company's also considering smart glasses and yes, smart shoes.
Will Surface tablets use Microsoft's new MagSafe-like power and data connector?
Microsoft has borrowed a couple of Apple-flavored notions for the launch of its new Surface tablets. For a start, it's avoided mentioning certain tech specs -- like the amount of RAM -- and now one of our readers has noticed something else: the strange-looking power port on the new devices looks very much like the magnetic, MagSafe-style connector Microsoft sent to the US Patent Office last week. We could be wrong, but the two do seem nearly identical, in which case Surface owners -- just like new Apple buyers -- may also have to put up with the clutter of more proprietary cables. [Thanks, Ryan]
Virgin Mobile lets Android run Blur-free on the Motorola Triumph
Motorola hopes to rescue its tarnished MOTOBLUR UI with a name-change. We, however, think the rust runs deeper than that -- and it seems we're not alone. Virgin Mobile has decided to give its prepaid customers the "true Android experience" from now on, which means you'll find no proprietary shell whatsoever sitting atop its new Motorola Triumph handset. Aside from a few bits of Virgin bloatware, the Triumph escapes with a relatively standard install of Android 2.2. Meanwhile, MOTOBLUR will still be foisted on pay-monthly customers who buy a Photon 4G or XPRT from Sprint, Virgin Mobile's parent company. Some of them might like the shell and its add-ons, but others will be better off without such OS contamination.
iMac frees you from the tyranny (and convenience) of servicing your own hard drives (update: not exactly a new problem)
Letting Apple control most facets of your computing experience is just a fact of life for the Mac faithful, but if you want to swap out the hard drive for a bigger or faster one with the most recent iMac refresh, well, you have somewhat limited options. Rather than a 4-wire SATA configuration Apple uses a 7-wire configuration that keeps you from hooking up just any old hard drive, lest a temperature sensor go batty and your system refuse to cooperate. There are ways around it, but your warranty may not apply afterward... Update: We've revised this post to clarify that this isn't exactly a new issue. The same problem existed in previous revisions, but the big issue now is that the separate thermal cable has been integrated into the SATA cable. It's similar to what was done before, just a little harder to get around now. But, you can get around it. Update 2: Hardmac has a detailed analysis of the situation which we'd recommend you check out. It verifies OWC's findings, and recommends you short pins 2 and 7 to basically circumvent the issue. Why does Apple do this? The separate temperature monitor enables OS X to more regularly check the temperature of the system's drives without compromising overall bandwidth provided by SATA. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Apple granted patent for a 'reduced size multi-pin connector,' namedrops USB 3.0 and DisplayPort
Apple has just collected the US Patent Office's approval to add another to its vast hoard of patents. This one, numero 7,918,689 in the USPTO annals, describes a multi-pin male plug connector and a corresponding female receptacle, with the innovation being a reduction in size thanks to a single row of contacts. You can think of it as Apple's next generation of 30-pin connectors, or rather the next generation as the company envisioned it back in late 2008, the date of filing for this document. Back then, while the age of the click wheel was still upon us, Apple wanted to transfer USB 3.0 and DisplayPort signals over its newfangled plug, aspirations that were codified in claim 11 of its patent. We may now be a solid 30 or so months removed from that doc hitting the Patent Office's inbox, but the desire to have advanced data transfer tech integrated straight into the company's proprietary connectors is unlikely to have withered. Would it be a stretch to expect Apple's now working on a similar solution for the Thunderbolt interconnect -- whose plug looks identical to the one used for DisplayPort -- that is presently gracing its MacBook Pro line? %Gallery-120503%
NGP features two proprietary card slots for memory storage, games
The NGP's memory storage capabilities are puzzlingly absent from the hardware specifications released by Sony today. During the PlayStation Meeting 2011 press conference, the company briefly introduced a "new game media" format, a flash memory-based card on which retail titles will be sold (replacing the clunky, power-sucking UMD). These SD-looking game cards -- said to be proprietary -- will feature extra storage for relevant data, including games saves and add-ons. "NGP adopts a new game medium, a small flash memory based card, dedicated for NGP software titles," a Sony press release later confirmed. "Taking advantage of the flash memory feature, this innovative card can store the full software titles plus add-on game content or the game save data directly on to the card. By adopting flash memory based card, SCE will be able to provide game cards with higher capacity in the future, allowing developers to store more game data to deliver rich and immersive games." But where will users store non-game data? The NGP's LiveArea UI suggests that multimedia applications will be integral to the handheld, and many of these apps will obviously require data storage -- not to mention the storage requirements for downloadable games. While Sony has not mentioned an internal flash memory component of the NGP, SCE Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida revealed to Game Informer that the device will feature "two slots" for memory cards; one for the new game card format (which Yoshida confirmed would be proprietary -- not SD) and a second port for additional storage. Whether the additional slot has been designed for Sony's existing proprietary Memory Stick (the "Micro" version is used for PSP Go memory expansion) has not been specified. "At this point, all we're saying is it is proprietary storage capabilities," SCEA boss Jack Tretton told Engadget, "we're not getting into defining what it is yet." [Update: In an interview with GameSpot, Yoshida said that the secondary slot is for "the media card that we are developing" (in addition to the game card), suggesting that NGP might use a proprietary media card other than an existing Memory Stick format.]
LG not interested in proprietary smartphone OS, likes Android and Windows Phone 7
LG has told the press at MWC that it will not be developing its own smartphone platform "at least for the next two to three years." We think companies should focus on what they do well, and given our ambivalence toward the S-Class UI, it's probably a good thing that LG will narrow its operation down to churning out delectable slabs of electronics and leaving the software side to the geeks over at Google and Microsoft. The head of the company's handset unit, Skott Ahn, has indicated that the future of LG smartphones will be shared between Android and Windows Phone 7 (sorry, Symbian lovers). It will have taken plenty of restraint to not respond to local nemesis Samsung -- who has just introduced its first Bada handset -- but LG appears to be of the opinion (which we share) that the smartphone OS sector is already overcrowded, and its expectation is that over the next couple of years the market will distill itself down to just three predominant operating systems.
Open-Source iClip SVN established on Google Code
Today hackers have responded to InsanelyGreatTee's post about the official Apple iPhone paperclip. We have created an open source (and free) alternative to Apple's proprietary and closed paperclip architecture hosted at Google Code. All developers are welcome to contribute and to help with the open-source iClip project and we hope to have a working pre-pre-alpha prototype delivered in under a week.Update: make sure to check out the issues list
DRM-laden "playback only" DAP for Japan
Apparently acquiring music illegitimately is a huge fiasco in Japan, or at least that's the impression we get based on the newest "playback only private memory player" slated to hit the presumably scandalous Tokyo streets. Based loosely on the "digital disc" (DD) EZmax player already sold in Korea by Liztech, this device sports an unsightly black enclosure and enough DRM stipulations to make even the RIAA cringe (well, probably not). Thanks to two seemingly right-shunning companies (C4T and DRMS), the forthcoming DAP will purportedly come pre-loaded with tunes and will be sold directly by the record labels, and we can only assume the amount of CDs it carries will be determined by the capacity (32MB to 2GB) you choose to purchase. Moreover, since the files sport a proprietary file format and incorporate the "acuagraphy" watermarking technique, ripping / distributing this stuff will probably create some massive headaches. The unit itself also features a lonely headphone jack, a five-band equalizer, and gets power from a single AAA battery, and while we aren't sure how much these (near worthless) things will sell for with they land next year, we can't think of anyone in their right mind who'd even care.[Via Impress]
