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  • Apple Watch Full Specification, Availability and Prices Announced

    Apple Watch Full Specification, Availability and Prices Announced

    apple-watch1

    We’ve all been waiting for the launch of the Apple Watch since September, and just a few weeks before it hits the retail stores, Apple has released its full specifications together with its prices.

    The Apple Watch is the newest device to be added to the Apple family. According to Apple, the watch is designed to cater to a variety of personal styles and preferences since they believe that what you wear is an expression of who you are. That said, you can get the watch in a variety of designs and they include: Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport, and Apple Watch Edition.

    Looking to get fit?

    The Apple Watch is your comprehensive fitness companion as it will allow you to measure your day’s activity with a simple 3-ring graphic. The watch will tell you exactly what you need to do so as to keep fit. For instance, sit less and move more often blah blah… The watch will also suggest at the beginning of the week what you need to do more so as to achieve your fitness goals.

    Other than time-keeping, fitness, and being your smart partner, the watch also hosts lots of great apps. The Apple Watch app is now available on iOS 8.2 for download. This is how you connect the watch to the phone. With this app you can choose what notifications you want to receive.

    What about the battery?

    Well, Apple has used state-of-the-art battery that is able to last up to 18 hours on a typical day. Charging the watch is a breeze, you will only need to attach a magnetic charger at the back. 

    Availability

    Apple says that the Watch will be available for pre-order starting 10th of April, 2015. It will also start shipping on the 24th of April and will at first be available to a select few countries US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Hong Kong, China, Germany, and Japan, with more to follow.

    Prices

    The Watches will all sell at different prices with the cheapest being the Apple Watch Sport (tailored for athletes) and it will start selling at $349.

    The more fashionable stainless steel Apple Watch will cost between $549 and $1,040 for the smaller version and between $599 and $1,099 for the larger version.

    The price range for each will depend on the band. The 18-karat Apple Watch Edition is the most expensive of all starting at $10,000.

    Other Products/News

    • Welcome HBO NOW for Apple TV

    With Apple TV you can now get all the best programs from the best provides, HBO included. With HBO NOW you do not need to have a satellite or cable subscription as you can now watch all on Apple TV. This service will be exclusively available in the U.S. only starting April. It is set to cost $14.99 a month.

    Read more about HBO NOW on Apple TV.

    • The thinnest MacBook yet released

    Apple has also announced a new MacBook laptop that weighs just 2 pounds and 13.1mm at its thickest point and according to Philip Schiller (Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing) says that this is the thinnest MacBook that Apple has ever created.

    MacBook_allColors

    The MacBook is fitted with a trackpad with sensors that will detect just how hard you are pressing. For example, a soft-click on the forward button on a video will forward the video slower and a hard click will forward it faster.

    The MacBook also comes with a revolutionary new port – the USB-C that allows you to do 5 things in one! For instance, you can use the port for hooking up a USB device, plug a video monitor, or use it for charging.

    The MacBook like the new iPhones is available in dark gray, silver, and gold and it will retail at $1,299 and shipping starts on April 10.

  • Price Barrier to Blu-ray Falling Away?


    There are several arguments put forward as to why Blu-ray has been slow to reach mainstream adoption – but price can surely no longer be a major factor.

    Best Buy in the US is now offering the Insignia NS-2BRDVD Blu-ray player for US $129.99 shipped.

    While that is still more expensive than your bargain basement DVD player, it is a vast improvement compared to where Blu-ray player prices were even just a short while ago.

    Figures released in May from NPD showed the average price of Blu-ray players was USD $261 in Q1 2009.

    Granted that’s the average price, but the next set of quarterly data should show that has dropped significantly if the Insignia deal is anything to go by.

    Featuring, among other things, 1080p output and upconversion, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD audio, the Best Buy own-label Insignia also comes with a one-year warranty.

    It supports Blu-ray Profile 1.1 but requires a software update, which can be downloaded and installed on the player using a disc.

  • Can Blu-Ray Now Be Called Mainstream?


    The drop in the average price of Blu-Ray players is, not surprisingly, fuelling sales of the high-def disks.

    But figures out from NPD show that the effect of cheaper players could finally be giving the format mass market appeal.

    High hardware prices has long been given as a barrier to Blu-Ray technology becoming widely accepted.

    The average price of Blu-ray players dropped nearly 34 per cent over the last year, falling from USD $393 in Q1 2008 to USD $261 in Q1 2009.

    This, according to NPD’s Blu-ray Report, helped Q1 2009 sales of standalone Blu-ray players (not including PS3) to reach more than 400,000 units, marking a 72 per cent increase over Q1 2008.

    Sales totaled USD $107.2 million in the first quarter.

    Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD, said the rising penetration of high-definition televisions and lower Blu-ray player prices are broadening the format’s market opportunity.

    "Even as options expand for accessing movies digitally, Blu-ray is carrying forward the widespread appeal of DVD into the high-definition marketplace."

    Amidst these positive notes for Blu-Ray, NPD reports that 58 per cent of adults surveyed were still "not very familiar" with Blu-ray.

    Some work still to be done then.

  • Does a Mobile's Embedded Content Influence Purchase Decisions?


    Many factors influence consumers’ decisions to buy one mobile phone over the other – but it seems that embedded content is an increasingly important one.

    A survey by independent app store GetJar has found that brand remains the key purchase decision factor (28% respondents), followed some way behind by user experience (17%).

    But coming up in third place is embedded content, which GetJar says is now more important in purchase decisions than price, design or even touchscreen capability.

    Ilja Laurs, founder and CEO of GetJar Networks, said that a phone’s user interface and brand are dominant factors for deciding which handset consumers choose.

    "The big change in consumer preference we see within this survey is the importance they are placing on content," he said.

    The survey asked respondents to rank a list of 10 phone features by order of importance including brand, screen size/resolution, user experience/phone software, phone memory, quality of camera, price, touchscreen, music player, embedded content and overall design/look and feel.

    Those taking part in the poll, conducted across the 130 countries in the GetJar network, were also asked to grade each of those features individually on a five-level scale of importance.

    The content that comes with the handset placed third with 12 per cent of respondents worldwide saying it is "extremely important" to their choice of new handset ahead of phone memory (8%), price (5%) and design (7%).

    While the poll showed increased demand for embedded content across all the major international regions, it is US consumers that appear to place it higher on their list of priorities than those in Europe.

    In the US 60 per cent of respondents said it was "extremely important" to their choice of handset compared to 47 per cent in Europe.

    The findings also indicate that the uptake of new handsets will be faster in Europe, with only 25 per cent of those surveyed saying they will not get a new phone this year compared to 40 per cent of US consumers polled.

  • G1 Cheaper to Run Than iPhone


    T-Mobile has introduced the first Google Phone, the HTC-made G1, which the company hopes will rival Apple’s iPhone.

    The much-anticipated G1, formerly known as the HTC Dream, is the first open-source Android-based smartphone.

    The handset touts touchscreen functionality, a QWERTY keyboard, and a Google-centric mobile Web experience.

    Inevitably, comparisons with the iPhone were going to be made and the price – both of the handset and monthly contract charges – was going to be an area of key interest.

    The G1 will be available for USD $179 in the US from 22 October where it will be SIM-locked to T-Mobile’s network.

    It will be offered with either a USD $25 data plan with unlimited Web access but limited messaging, or users can opt for true unlimited data for USD $35.

    T-Mobile’s voice plans start at USD $30, meaning a total cost of USD $55 for unlimited Internet access.

    Wired has done an interesting price comparison which estimates that, based on a two-year contract period, the G1 is around USD $380 cheaper than the 3G iPhone.

    While the initial reaction to the USD $179 price tag for the G1 was positive, there have been complaints that it doesn’t apply to existing T-Mobile subscribers who have been reportedly been offered an unsubsidized price of USD $399 and a USD $100 online discount.

    This ends up giving the G1 a USD $344 total cost – although this would still make it cheaper using the Wired calculations.

    In terms of the spec, “solid but not spectacular” would probably sum up reviews of the handset, which is to be launched in the UK in November and elsewhere in Europe in early 2009.

    As would be expected, the G1 comes loaded with Google Search, Google Maps Street View, Gmail, YouTube and other popular Google software that PC users are familiar with.

    A full HTML Web browser lets users see any Web page the way it was designed to be seen, and then zoom in to expand any section by tapping on the screen.

    Importantly, the G1 builds on the promise of the Google mobile operating system, which gives users access to the Android Market.
    Customers can find and download applications from there to expand and personalize the HTC-made handset.

    However, while the G1 has generally been greeted with praise, there has been some criticism of its styling and design – with complaints that it’s thicker and heavier than the iPhone and lacks features such as video playback.

    A major grumble is that instead of standard headphone and USB ports, it has a proprietary combination port, meaning that regular headphones won’t work unless you add a special dongle.

    There has also been some questioning of how “open” the G1 really is, since T-Mobile will be restricting voice over internet protocol (VoIP) applications.