Smartwatches

The Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama had an emotional reunion with a retired soldier of the Assam Rifles who had escorted him to India during his escape from Tibet, 58 years ago after the Chinese crackdown. Retired havildar Naren Chandra Das was part of the team to escort the Tibetan spiritual leader safely into India on March 31, 1959. Das is the last known survivor of the group of five Indian army personnel who brought the Dalai Lama on Indian soil. Das was around 20-year-old when he met the Dalai Lama, who was 23 years old at that time, on the Mc Mohan line that marks India's northern border. The reunion took place at a programme of the Namami Brahmaputra in Assam's Guwahati on Sunday. The 14th Dalai Lama is on a two-day visit to the state ahead of his visit to Arunachal Pradesh. The trip by Dalai Lama, whom the Chinese regard as a dangerous separatist, is expected to ratchet up tensions between New Delhi and Beijing over strategic issues.

LG Smart watch

Microsoft Suuntobig Smart Watch

Sony Smart Watch

Samsung smart watch image

More than half a dozen smart watches are already in the market--including the much hyped Pebble from a startup of the same name, and those from giant corps like Sony and Motorola--the Sony LiveView and MotorACTV.

However, all of them are just add-ons to your smartphone. None of them work independently. They just display information from the phone--incoming texts, tweets, and other notifications.

Androidly does everything itself. It is a fully featured Android smartphone that you wear on your wrist.

In Androidly there is a phone, there is a camera, there is GPS (displayed on the tiny 2-inch screen though). You can make and receive phone calls, shoot photos with the 2-megapixel cam, and navigate routes.

There has been jeers asking if it is a 'big smartwatch' or a 'small wearable phone'?

It’s all about optimisation and compromise.Whatever is lost in slimness is more than compensated for in functionality. Androidly runs hardware specifications found in a low-budget mini handset:

416 MHz processor
256 MB RAM
8 GB of storage via SD card
2 megapixel camera
2-inch, 320 x 240 pixel capacitive touchscreen
GPS / aGPS, accelerometer, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GSM network support
And the machine runs on Android 2.2 Froyo

Not stunning specs in the time of quad-core and octa-core processors with other matching hardware, and Android in its 4.3 version. But remember, it doesn’t have to power a 5-inch HD display, it is just an experimental startup. Much can follow.

Androidly isn’t a totally new idea. As early as January 2012 similar Chinese Android devices have been selling for around $200 on sites like Geekbuying and AliExpress.

Skeptic Voices
What would people prefer—the info display gadgets from Pebble and co, or the self-sufficient wearable smartphones that Androidly proposes?

Androidly will be priced around $299-$349 on open market sale; however, it is available for pre-order at the androidly website for $150 and is expected to start shipping in September.

Skeptic Voices
Will those apps be really usable on a 2-inch display? It’d all be too cramped, not letting you to have smooth interaction with the user interface—typing and pressing the icons.

How do you take photos using a camera on your wrist? How do you focus it to the right object?

Tech giants Apple, Samsung and Google could launch their much-awaited smart watches later this year, it has been claimed. Avi Greengart, analyst on consumer devices at the research firm Current Analysis said 2013 may be the year for the smartwatch because "the components have gotten small enough and cheap enough" and a large number of consumers now have smartphones that can connect to a wearable device. According to the Australian, the idea of the connected watch has been around for at least a decade: Microsoft had one in 2003. Some devices are already on the market including from Sony, the crowdfunded maker Pebble and Italian-based firm i'm.