Category: Android Wear

OnePlus Watch 2R – Review

OnePlus has been in the smartwatch game for a few years now but they only came onto my radar with the release of the OnePlus Watch 2 at the beginning of this year at MWC 24. The reason for this is that they released their first smartwatch with …

TicWatch Pro 3 GPS launched

I have a soft spot for TicWatch and Mobvoi, they make some really nice gear and I was a particular fan of their TicWatch Pro that I reviewed here. I have also been using the TicWatch S2 for nearly a year and it has been used and abused …

TicWatch Pro reduced for Fathers Day

So you may have seen the TicWatch Pro unboxing that I posted a few days ago, and thought that might be a good present for your dad – or maybe you just fancied one yourself. Well, the good news is that if you fall into either of these …

Mobvoi TicWatch S2 – Review

Here at Coolsmartphone Towers, we do still like our wearables. It has been a rocky road for them though since their inception a few years back. They were expensive, and people didn’t really know what they were for. I have used a few different ones over the years …

TicWatch Pro – Unboxing

I have been testing the TicWatch S2 for the past few days whilst I have been away on holiday and I have been mightily impressed with it in general. There has however been one thing that has been slightly annoying me and that was the battery life of …

Mobvoi Ticwatch S2 – Unboxing

Today we have a new smartwatch to play with. It is the newest Ticwatch S2 from Mobvoi. Yes, I know the watch has been available for a little while already, but up until now, it has only been available in black. We have now got hold of the …

The TicWatch S2 and now the AI-powered TicPods. Dive in!

You may have heard of Mobvoi and their TicWatch S2. It’s powered by Wear OS and has a 1.39″ AMOLED 400 x 400 display. Inside, it’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 CPU and comes with 4GB of storage with 512MB of RAM. Plus, it looks bloody …

New Smartwatch anyone?

The smartwatch march continues!  While the Apple Watch is the most popular smartwatch around, for those who don’t use iOS or who fancy something a little different look no further: the last few weeks have seen a number of devices leaked.  Here is a round-up of the main …

Smartwatches galore!

The pace of new mobile phone announcements and releases is quite bewildering at the moment, but lest we forget about other IFA and related announcements here is a round-up of the most recent smartwatch developments: Casio WSD-F30 There are smartwatches that look rugged, such as the Gear S3 …

Android Wear is becoming Wear OS

If sales are anything to go by then the Apple Watch is the king of the wearable world.  Android Wear has often seemed a poor relation, and this is despite the greater variety of watches available.  In the last few days Google has announced that Android Wear is …

Android Wear updated for Oreo 8.0

Android Wear 2.0 is getting a bit old now and while there have been a few minor updates, none have introduced anything particularly novel or exciting.  A few days ago Google announced the Oreo 8.0 update for Android Wear.  While this isn’t a major update, it does provide …

New Fossil Q Control smartwatch launched

I’m a self-declared smartwatch fan, even if my main interaction with them is to view notifications rather than anything fancy using apps.  I’m always excited and pleased to see new smartwatches, though it increasingly seems that the design and functionality doesn’t differ much between them.  Case in point: …

Updates to Android Wear to be made available via the Play Store

One of the changes brought in by Android Wear 2.0 earlier this year was the addition of a Play Store app on the watch itself.  This operates independently of a phone, but it’s fair to say that it can be a chore to browse through apps, particularly on …

Android Wear Beta Announced

It’s probably fair to say that Android Wear is yet to capture the popular mood in the same way that the Apple Watch has. Although there are a fairly wide variety of watches out there, there is little to differentiate them apart from aesthetics, with manufacturers hardly changing …

Huawei Watch 2 now available to buy

Wearables. I’m still falling off the fence regularly about these. I like the idea, I like the notifications and the whole geeky wonderness of them, but practically… I just end up with the one device every day, and that’s my phone. No matter though, because if you’re after …

Android Wear 2.0 update postponed

Just last week I wrote about how the wait for the long anticipated update to Android Wear was, for many watch users, finally over.  Well stop the press, we have a problem! Google has discovered the presence of an as-yet-unidentified bug in the latest release of Android Wear …

Android Wear 2.0 updates start rolling out

One of the most frustrating things in the tech world, as far as I’m concerned, is the announcement of a device, and then a massive lull before it is actually available to buy or download.  This is particularly annoying for OTA updates.  Android Wear 2.0 is the classic …

Strava Launching Standalone Smartwatch App

I would consider myself a pretty fit person, in fact fitness tracking is my number one reason to have a smartwatch strapped to my arm. Although no one has managed to get all of the features completely phone free yet, and running with a phone strapped to your …

LG and Google team up on improved smartwatches

If you’re into your smartwatches and use an Android device, you’ll have noticed the lack of updates of both hardware and software recently. LG are planning to change all that with two new smartwatches, both running the new Wear 2.0 update. They were leaked by Evan Blass but …

Android Wear 2.0 and new LG watches to launch on 9 February

Amidst all the fuss about the death of the smartwatch, Google is preparing to attempt to breathe new life into its watch OS.  Android Wear 2.0 is set to launch on 9 February, bringing a slew of new features.  It has been available in various beta releases for …

Android Wear 2.0 LG-made Google watches pop up

The all-new Android Wear 2.0 is set to launch on two new smartwatches. Those watches, it seems, will look like this. This low-resolution photo is said to show the LG-made watches, which have been created alongside Google. One looks more “sporty” than the other but both come with …

CES 2017 – Smartwatch announcements

Amidst the smart fridges, smart televisions, smart glasses, smart bike locks and other smart things announced at CES in Las Vegas over the last few days, have been a swathe of smartwatches.  Smartwatches are having a hard time of things of late: if recent figures are anything to …

Pixel Timepiece – Set for launch in Q1

Serial leaker Evan Blass is rarely wrong when it comes to upcoming handsets and gadgets. He’ll get the pictures and the gossip ahead of time and today he’s revealed that Google will indeed be stepping into the Smartwatch ring very soon indeed. As we mentioned before, Google seems …

IFA 2016 – Smartwatches galore!

In the wake of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall and the impending launch of the iPhone 7 you’ll be forgiven for having missed the plethora of smartwatches announced at IFA last week.  We covered the launches of arguably the biggest two watches (or, at least, they were …

New Polar fitness Android Wear device revealed

I’m a massive smartwatch fan but, try as I might, every time I feel the itch for a new device, I cannot find anything to replace my trusty Garmin Fenix 3.  The Fenix 3 provides notifications from your phone, the screen is always on, it has a built-in …

Is HTC finally about to release a smartwatch?

This has got to be one of the longest-running rumours of the tech world. The first suggestions that HTC were working on some sort of smart wearable surfaced back in 2014, when a picture of this appeared online: Even by 2014 standards it wasn’t the most glamorous of …

Got a Smartwatch? Want wood for it?

Smartwatches are starting to become a proper “thing” now and, with more and more people buying into the sector, there will be more and more demand for accessories. As an owner of a Pebble Time for nearing a year now, I have grown a bit bored of the “de …

Nest comes to your Android Wear watch

The Nest Thermostat we reviewed continues to get even more clever. Recently they added multi-account and phone location support, and now you can control and view your home heating on your Android Wear watch. You can get more info on the thermostat here. It’s £199 and you might …

Smartwatch battery life looks set to improve

Smartwatches tend to fall into two camps: those with e-ink screens, like the Pebble watches, which provide a week or so of battery life; and those with LCD or AMOLED screens, like most Android Wear devices and the Apple watch, whose life span is measured in hours or …

Asus Zen Watch now cheap as chips

Yesterday we took a look at the upcoming Bluboo Xwatch, which is due to go on sale for just £69.39. However, for £89.99 you can grab the Asus Zen Smart Watch, which has been reduced over on ebuyer. We featured this first back in 2014 and has a …

Bluboo Xwatch approaching – Android Wear for not that much at all

We get a lot of random emails. One company in particular has been pretty incessant, and that’s Chinese manufacturer Bluboo. They make phones (like the pretty powerful and good-looking X9 which is a “monster inside and aesthetic outside”) and watches, like their Uwatch. Next month they’ll be launching …

CES – Huawei Watch range expanded

Huawei has announced that they will be expanding their Watch range with two new models. These have been designed for the fairer sex or those who have skinny wrists – i.e. me! The new watches do add an element of glamour to the proceedings with some bedazzling ornamentation. The …

Samsung Gear 2 gets some bling!

Samsung have announced an expansion of the Gear 2 wearable range. They two new editions of the Gear S2 classic, one encased in 18K Rose Gold and another in Platinum, offering people diverse options to express and match their style while highlighting its circular design and advanced functionality. Samsung have …

Huawei Watch – Review

It’s the first time that I’ve properly tried Android Wear, and this is the watch I’m doing it with. The Huawei Watch. Truth be told, when I got it out of the rather lovely box, I thought it was a bit fat, but after wearing it for the …

Huawei Watch now available on UK Google Store

Just the other day we got the news from Huawei that their smartwatch was now available to purchase in a few locations in the UK such as Selfridges and Google Play direct. Those of you like me who have wanted to get one of these since they were …

Huawei Watch launched, buy it now

Meet the Huawei Watch. It’s a watch that…actually looks like a watch. This measures 42mm across and has a circular 1.4″ touch-sensitive AMOLED (400×400 pixel, 286ppi) screen behind scratch-proof sapphire crystal and encased in a stainless steel frame. That screen also has a 10,000:1 high contrast ratio, making …

BLOCKS Modular Smartwatch – Kick-starting Soon!

Remember the smartwatch we covered some time ago where you build your own customisable watch? Each “link” in the strap contains a module for example GPS, Heartbeat monitor and so on. You upgrade your watch, whenever new modules become available. Well things have gone into over-drive yesterday when …

LG Watch Urbane 2 smartwatch announced

Hot on the heels of the new and updated Samsung and Huawei smartwatches, LG has announced the second edition of their Urbane watch. With the majority of smartwatches running Android Wear, there is often little that manufacturers can do to differentiate their wares in terms of software. Much …

IFA – New Moto 360 collection announced.

Motorola have just announced that in a similar vein to the Moto Maker for their phones, the second generation of the company’s smartwatch, the Moto 360 can be  fully customised in the Moto Maker design studio. Now you can choose from additional bezels, colours, materials, even a new double …

Google launches Android Wear App for iOS

As discussed on this week’s Podcast, many people have been looking for ways to get Android Wear devices working with iOS devices. Fortunately this task has now been made significantly easier thanks to launch of an official iOS Android Wear App. Currently rolling out to Apple App Stores …