You’d be forgiven for mistaking the ioPhone for Apple’s iPhone 5c. This Android-based knock-off handset features the same plastic shell as Apple’s device and is available in the same five bright colors: yellow, red, green, blue and white. Made by Japanese manufacturer Iosys, ioPhone is almost an exact replica of Apple’s handset, down to the curvature, the physical buttons and other detail.
The handset will go on sale in Japan tomorrow and we have the weirdest promotional video ever for your viewing pleasure, right after the break…
Check out the video.
That’s a catchy upbeat tune!
The ioPhone runs Android 4.2 and packs in a rather pedestrian 254ppi 480-by-854 pixel resolution display and a two-megapixel camera. It’s powered by a dual-core Mediatek chip with 512MB of RAM and has 4GB of built-in flash storage, as reported by CNET.
Hey, what did you expect for 15,490 yen (around $150)?
By comparison, the iPhone 5c has a 640-by-1,136 pixel resolution Retina display, an eight-megapixel iSight camera, at least 16GB of onboard storage and runs Apple’s dual-core A6 chip with 1GB of RAM.
ioPhone dimensions: 61.8×9×127.5mm versus 59.2×8.97×124.4 for Apple’s device.
Alongside today's launch of the redesigned Mac Pro and updates to Final Cut Pro X and its associated professional video apps, Apple has also released updated versions of its professional audio apps. Updates include:
- Adds 3 new Drummers and 11 new Drum Kit Designer patches - Significant enhancements to Channel EQ and Linear Phase EQ plug-ins including redesigned interfaces that are also accessible within the Smart Controls area - Solo now works as expected on channel strips using an External I/O plug-in - Volume and pan automation is now included in XML interchange with Final Cut Pro X - Loops that belong to the same family can be selected and changed using a new control in the region header - The waveform size in an audio region now adapts to the value of the region Gain parameter - The Link mode button is now available for the Piano Roll editor - Includes stability improvements
- Compatible with Logic Remote v1.0.3 - Save & load times are significantly faster - Workspace can be hidden to allow a larger area to view Channel Strips - Various stability improvements
Years from now, when we're all peering at each other through Google Glass from the comfort of our self-driving cars, we may be able to rest assured that our homes are running as efficiently as the robots making our gadgets.
The word from two informants of The Information (pay wall) as well as a document the site reviewed is that Google is testing its own internet-connected thermostats, a homely device if there ever was one.
The climate controllers, part of a project reportedly called EnergySense, would help people keep tabs on their energy use and help them make adjustments accordingly. You know, like a thermostat would.
Mountain View may be making use of hardware from smart thermostat maker Ecobee, though the company's CEO said it wasn't working with Google.
What a gas:
One of The Information's sources said Google isn't looking to compete with Nest, that other major maker of smart thermostats, though it seems only natural competition would arise if Google decided to get into smart climate control racket.
Still, the Nexus 5-maker is said to have designs on making a more efficient energy grid, not ruling the isles of Home Depot. To that end, Google will reportedly launch a pilot program to generate energy-focused applications and services.
Non-Google employees have supposedly been tapped as "Trusted Testers" of Google smart thermostats in St. Louis, Mo., among other locations, though there's no indication when the EnergySense pilot will officially launch, if ever.
All eyes are on Google Glass right now, but the search engine giant's expensive and beta-only wearable isn't going to be the last of its kind. In fact, it's not even the first of its kind. Yes, there are several Google Glass competitors out there with strikingly similar head-mounted technology, all encouraging a more immersive digital lifestyle without the need to constantly look down at a phone's screen.
A few are less expensive than Glass and one has already launched, beating Google to the expected 2014 consumer product roll-out of its currently invite-only project. These smaller companies may not have the name recognition of Google or access to all of your data, but their head-mounted ideas deserve just as much face time.
1. Vuzix Smart Glasses M100:
Price: $999.99 (about £611/AU$1,116)Release Date: Available Now
Claiming to be the "world's first commercially available Smart Glasses," theVuzix Smart Glasses M100 had a staring contest with Google Glass and didn't blink in delivering on time.
Ready to be put on the jobThe currently available Google Glass rival ironically runs an Android-based operating system and is compatible with thousands of its apps, according to Vuzix. Furthermore, its monocular display over one eye and five megapixel camera with the ability to record HD video match what Google's Explorer Edition wearable is capable of right now. There are a bunch of 3-axis sensors on-board too: gyro, accelerometer and a compass, making it suitable for its target audience of "industrial, medical, retail and prosumer applications."
It's also significantly cheaper than the $1,500 (about £917/AU$1,675) Google Glass and new orders, in gray or white, are available to ship within two to four weeks. Before ordering, you should down the downsides, like the obvious fact that this small Rochester, New York company is going up against the Mountain View, Calif. internet titan. The M100 also it has an older USB mini B port, a smaller 4GB of flash storage (vs Glass' 16GB) and no fancy touch screen. We don't like that much either, especially in our futuristic tech.
2. Optinvent Ora-S AR:
Price: $949 or £699 (about AU$1,059)Release Date: March 2014The Optinvent Ora-S AR glasses are interesting because they promise full frames shades with "True AR," as the company likes to call it.
Like Red Bull, it'll give you wings!This is achieved by combining augmented reality with a dashboard mode in which images can be centered in a user's line of sight or in their peripheral vision for "info snacking." Sounds tasty.
Not as delicious sounding is the fact that the two settings are changed manually by adjusting the wing-like lever that juts out of the side of these Android-based glasses. The trade-off is that the bulky Ora-S features a larger 4:3 screen with a 24-degree field of view vs Google Glass' 14 degree FOV. The only spec shortfall is in the camera. Optinvent opted for a less revolutionary VGA snapper.
The developer version of the two-mode Optinvent Ora-S AR eyewear is expected to go on sale in March and be less expensive than what Google Glass Explorers are paying right now.
3. Recon Jet:
Price: $599 (about £368/AU$669)Release Date: Spring 2014
Recon Instruments makes its Recon Jet glasses sound promising because it's fashioning them as sports eyewear - it's not trying to sell the wearable as an awkward, new digital lifestyle.
Might even be able to beat a juiced Lance ArmstrongThe polarized lenses have an high-resolution display with IR Gaze detection facing your right eye and an HD camera pointing outward.
There's an optical touchpad next to the camera and inside there's a 1GHz dual-core CPU surrounded by antennas and sensors like GPS.
This results in a host of performance metrics: speed/pace, distance, duration and ascent/descent. Optional external antennas can add so that the dashboard gauges one's heart rate, power and cadence.
Best of all, these stats are joined by caller ID and SMS alerts in your periphery, negating the temptation to take your phone out of your biker short shorts every time it beeps or buzzes. All of this sounds promising for athletes, whether they're cycling or playing volleyball, especially when holding a cell phone isn't part of the game.
The Recon Jet shades can be ordered now in black or white for a bargain $599 (about £368/AU$669) with delivery expected in spring 2014.
4. GlassUp:
Price: Starting at $299 (about £184/AU$334)Release Date: June 2014
The crowd-funded GlassUp finished just shy of its funding goal, but that's okay because the startup went with Indiegogo instead of Kickstarter and still received most of the money it needed.
Are you down to wear GlassUp?The eyeglasses are designed for real-time information, alerting wearers of incoming emails, texts, tweets and Facebook updates.
Interestingly, they're read-only bifocals, with the startup being a little more realistic than some of its ahead-of-their-time competition.
"They are read only," admits GlassUp on its website. "We believe it would be messy to try and manage the messages: to respond to a message you'll have to go back to your mobile, as usual."
The prototypes aren't multimedia-centric either, giving basic text and icon information through its 320 × 240 resolution display.
Its maps app is illustrated using text and arrows for turn-by-turn directions, for example, and a TripAdvisor travel app features up to five review stars when standing in front of a hotel.
GlassUp is a little further off than its competitors with a release date set for June 2014. It's up for pre-order right now and can even be purchased in Bitcoin.
5. Epiphany Eyewear:
Price: Starting at $299 (about £184/AU$334)Release Date: 2014
Epiphany Eyewear describes its Google Glass alternative as "great designer glasses that happen to contain an incredibly powerful social computer."
Epiphany looks socially acceptable to wearThese normal-looking shades put style ahead of electronics, hiding an HD camera with a wide-angle field of view in the lenses. It's said to be wider than any smartphone camera out right now.
Epiphany is uniquely social, too. While there's no dramatic visual overlay on these spectacles, they're able to live stream video posts to Facebook through its own YouGen.TV video platform.
The Los Angeles-based company already has a number of beta testers uploading point-of-view videos, from boxing on Muscle Beach to shotgunning a beer at the office. There's no dramatic visual overlay in this version of the spectacles, but Epiphany's chic frames are compatible with prescription lenses and available for pre-order right now at an equally attractive price.
6. Telepathy One:
Price: UnknownRelease Date: UnknownThe Telepathy One is a trippy little headband that emphasizes its tagline "Wear Your Love."
Let others see your present while looking like the futureAs you might have guessed, this means the device is designed to broadcast what you see and hear to a close friend or family member who isn't physically close.
In addition to an integrated camera, the Telepathy One includes a micro-projection display on a frame that is worn the opposite way of Google Glass.
Glass runs from ear to to ear with its bridge resting on your nose. Telepathy One runs along the back of your head, opening up your field of view with only the micro-projection in the periphery.
There's no specific release date or pricing attached to this small startup's "intimate" take on wearables, but the team is actively tweaking the user interface to match what Google Glass has achieved in its Explorer program
Through the looking Glass:
The differences between the Google Glass tech specs and the internals of its competitors are subtle. All of them feature hands-free cameras and most have video overlays to augment reality. But the intentions of these Google Glass alternatives vary; some are meant for sports, others for lifestyle, and a few are destined to enhance social interactions. There's still time to consider alternate choices from what the search engine leader has to offer but sadly, only so much room on one's face for such a wearable.
With Apple's thinner, lighter iPad Air and Retina display-equipped iPad mini out in the open, what's left for Apple to do?
Rumor has it that the Mac maker is working on an even larger iPad, commonly referred to as the "iPad Pro." We've combed through all of the rumors and scuttlebutt to bring you everything we've heard so far about this alleged iPad Pro.
iOS 7 review: Our take on Apple's radical OS redesign
Apple did something interesting with the launch of the latest full-sized iPad (aside from a total hardware revamp): Gave it a new name. The iPad Air alludes to the Cupertino, Calif. company adopting the naming convention of its laptop lines, the MacBook Air and Pro series, for its premiere range of tablets.
Logic would dictate, then, that if Apple were to release an even more sizable iPad, it would be with a professional bent and named the iPad Pro. So, we're looking at 2014 for a newer, bigger iPad entering a product category that has seen little success thus far. Will Apple be the one to legitimize the "professional's tablet?"
Cut to the chase:
What is it? A brand new, larger iPad When will it release? Either spring or fall 2014, we expect What will it cost? Likely somewhere between the iPad Air and MacBook Air iPad Pro release date
The iPad Pro release date will be in 2014, following the iPad Air, which released November 1, 2013. However, there are many rumors regarding the tablet's firm release date. Unnamed Foxconn sources have told Chinese news site Pad News that Apple plans either a late winter/spring or October 2014 release date. To further confuse things, these sources also claim that Apple is working on two versions of the pro-level slate.
According to Pad News, an iPad Pro with a 2K screen resolution will launch in April 2014, while a 4K iPad Pro will land in October. Korea Times's sources at a "local first-tier display supplier" report that a single version will launch "sometime early next year" with a nearly UHD resolution.
Even more sources reporting to China's United Daily News, point to another iPad Pro manufacturing partner entirely: Quanta Computer. This company currently helps produce Macs and iPods for Apple, but has yet to build tablets. That said, a brand new manufacturing partner for a brand new device would make an October release more likely.
The forthcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update may prove that 8.1 is Microsoft's lucky number, as it's reportedly adding a notification center and Siri-like personal assistant to its mobile devices.
The Windows Phone 8.1 notification center will be revealed through a swipe-from-the-top gesture, according to unnamed Microsoft sources cited by The Verge.
Quick settings can be accessed with a short swipe down, while the most recent notifications are listed with a longer swipe in the same direction.
This matches how the Android notification center works and it's a combination of Apple's iOS 7 notification center and command center.
'Contra' to band together a Siri clone:
Even faster than changing settings through the new notification center may be asking the Windows 8.1 personal assistant to do it for you. Microsoft has been testing out its "Contra" technology for a number of months, according to the same report, with the intention of launching a rival to Google Now and Apple's Siri.
It's said to be able to anticipate appointments and map out the time it'll take you to get there according to data that it reads in a non-Scroogled way.
Other Windows Phone 8.1 tweaks:
Windows Phone 8.1 is likely to have notification center and Siri-like voice interaction as its main highlights, but there are several other tweaks that should please Windows Phone owners.The volume controls are said to be split into categories. A phone's ringtone volume can be independent of its media playback volume, for example.Bing Smart Search is expected to hit Windows Phone 8.1 just as hard as it did Windows 8.1.
Enterprise users will also benefit from added VPN support, and those who enjoy playing music and video on small devices may be listening to songs and watching videos through Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps taken from Xbox One.
Windows Phone 8.1 at Build 2014:
The notification center, Contra personal assistant and the other minor tweaks to Windows Phone 8.1 are said to be in internal beta testing right now.Moving forward, Microsoft is reportedly working to unveil all of these new features at its Build 2014 developer conference. That means Windows Phone users will have to wait until April of next year to find out how their smartphones will get retooled and retiled with these much-needed features.
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