Technicational

Last week I had a Samsung Gear Fit sitting on my desk whispering “review me, review me.” Filled with anticipation I forgot that we were going to do an unboxing video and violated the packaging… oops. Anyhow, this week we bring to you the review of Samsung Gear Fit.

What’s that you’re wearing?

The Gear Fit is a quite attractive and elegantly designed wrist band smart watch. The great thing about it is that the device isn’t too flashy to draw attention from persons in your surroundings. The only shinny surface on the device is the curved touch display which is gorgeous by the way. I have been wearing it for a while now and not once has someone recognized it or approached me to enquire about what I’m wearing. 

 

What can it do?

This device falls in the category of being a smart watch, and smart watches do more than just tell the time. The Gear Fit comes packed with lots of feature to help the average user, but let me get more specific with a list.

Gear Fit Functions

• Device has a stop watch, timer, and can display the current time and date. Yes, they didn’t forget the essentials.  
• Media Controller app to actively control your music on your Samsung phone.  
• Heart Rate monitor. 
• It has a Pedometer that measure the number of steps you make and gives you the distances traveled and the Calories burnt by doing so.  
• Device displays current unread notifications and also gives the option to reply with quick messages that you have predetermined already.
• Lastly, the gear fit has a handy Find My Phone function that rings your phone until you have located it.

Set Up

Ok, if you are interested so far then they are some things you should know before you go out and purchase one. This device currently only can function with Samsung devices running Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) and above. The next perquisite is that the Gear Fit Manager that has to be downloaded and installed on the device you are going to pair the Gear Fit with before you can use any of its features. The application should be available in the Samsung App Store… Keyword here is “should.” Since I last checked (9/4/2014) the Gear Fit Manager app was still nowhere to be found in neither the Samsung App store nor the Google Play store. We had to source the Gear Fit Manager app from XDA Developers webpage which made the setup process a bit tedious.

Final Thoughts

The Samsung Gear Fit is a well designed Smart Watch that will become integrated into your life so well that you’ll wonder how lived without it. If the Gear Fit is this good, it makes you wonder just how great the Gear 2 might be with all its features.

It has been a rough month and it seems to be getting harder as the days go by… You may be wondering what the hell I’m talking about and why I started off this blog so gloomy. Well, I most recently parted ways with two of the most influential persons in my life. The first person I gave up for adaption was my close friend the iPhone 4S with its silky smooth sturdy built body. This was a planed adoption and I tried being strong about it because there is still hope that she will return to me one day. The final one was my wife (the Samsung Galaxy S4) that fell ill recently without warning. I was soon to find out that the illness was life threatening and I had to bury her last week. Now I’m living life like a crack head with withdrawal syndrome, thus giving life to my first blog in month.

Life without a Smartphone

Living without a Smartphone in Jamaica is the worst thing that can happen to a Tech writer… Sadly I’m a tech writer. So, just imagine the hell I’m going through at the moment… Given the fact that Smartphones are so expensive here you only have two options if you find yourself in a predicament like I am.

Option 1

The king of all cheapness, the name that started cell phones in Jamaica the Nokia *^^%$##$& something another, not quite sure of the name, but it is also called the Flashlight Phone. Once you say flash light phone everybody knows what you talking about.

Special Features:

Option 2

The dreaded Blackberry… The one set of phones I avoid like a plague; once the king of the hype scene now currently in the bargain bin at your local barber shop going for whatever you can find in your pocket.

 

Special Features:

This is what you call being stuck between a rock and a hard place… Sigh. I just got to end this blog in suspense because I still haven’t chosen as yet. So I will leave it at… to be continued. The scenically views continues next week.

Some weeks ago I was given the opportunity to see the Google Glass up close and in person. For those who don’t know what the Google Glass is I’ll enlighten you by giving a quick overview of what this new wearable tech that maybe sweep the world soon.

The Google Glass is a glasses that have more Tech in it than most low end Smartphone’s on the market right now. This wearable tech comprises of a high resolution display that is equivalent to a 25 inch high definition screen being viewed from eight feet away. A built-in 5 megapixel camera capable of video recording 720p clips. It also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity and 12 GB of usable memory with the ability to be synced with Google cloud storage. There is also The My Glass companion app that requires Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher to function. This app enables GPS and SMS messaging on any Bluetooth capable Smartphone that meets that meets the app requirement. 

Currently Google Glass is only available in the United States for $1,500.00 US plus tax, which is kind of steep for most people. The reason behind this extraordinary price tag is due to its exclusivity and availability only from Google themselves.

First Hand Experience

I have to say that the Google Glass is light weight and fits comfortably on the face. The display area that is provided in your field of view is clear, but takes a bit of time to get use to. Voice commands are very effective and there is no need to shout the commands like a flaming lunatic.

Final Thought

I can’t wait to see the Google Glass go public at a reduced price… A very reduced price. Also I have to say thanks to JJ Geewax who is the co-founder of JGX Labs for offering a demonstration of his Google Glass.

Last week I was at the official launch of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the new line of the Gear smart watches. Personally I had many questions I wanted to query, and I was hoping to get answers at this event. Let me relay the answers so tech persons out there like me can keep their heart rate down.

The Galaxy S5 is IP67 certified which means its dust and water resistant to a certain degree, but that doesn’t mean you can take a dip in a pool with it. The two memorable features we want to mention are the finger print scanner, and the new Ultra Power Saving Mode that will let your phone last for 24 hrs on 10% of battery life. The Finger print scanner that unlocks your phone by using your biometrics was demonstrated and wowed onlookers. The Samsung Gear 2 and Gear Fit were also present at the event for interaction.

 
The Gear 2 is one of Samsung many new wearable tech devices that comes with a 2 Megapixel camera, touch screen, heart rate monitor, Bluetooth and a 1.0 GHz dual core processor all package into a sleek looking wristwatch. The Gear Fit on the other hand is slightly slimmed down to look like an arm band and is missing the camera feature of the Gear 2. Both devices are IP67 certified as well to help protect them from Mother Nature’s fury. As to how well all these features will work in our country, we’ll have to just wait and see. I’m still a bit unclear on some things because they weren’t mentioned or talked about at the event like…

It seems that any new tablet that surface in our country lands on my desk a week afterwards. I have no complaints about that just wish there were more phones… where are the phones? Anyhow, this week we have the LG G Pad 8.3, which most person never knew existed until it appeared on my desk. The questions that I keep hearing in the office seem to be the questions that everyone wants to know. So this article will enlighten everyone in a single read.

What is this?

The LG G Pad is an 8’’ inch android tablet that is currently running the Android Jellybean OS. The size of this tablet makes it handy and very portable device and is one of the few android tablets you can find around this size and dimension on the android market right now.

What can it do?

This small tablet has a lot of features packed into it to make it a very versatile multimedia companion. This tablet can be used to control your TV, stereo, fan, air condition, home entertainment system and anything else that uses a remote. This tablet also comes with a lot of multitasking tools to aid the productive user. You can take screen shots of what you are doing and write on it then email to someone with quick memo. This device has built in stereo speakers that reproduce great sounds for a tablet. 

What is the Specification?

This question always seems to come up, but I’ll make it short and relevant I promise this time around.

LG G Pad 8.3 SPECIFICATION