News & Reviews:   SmartWatch

While the ASUS ZenWatch (W1500Q) has not been made officially available in Malaysia, third-party sellers like SatuGadgetDotCom and DirectD are now selling the smartwatch from RM799. Other third-party sellers can also be found selling it for as low as RM769 which you can see with a quick visit toLelong.com.my. As a refresher the tech specs for the ZenWatch include a Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and a curved 1.63-inch display with 320 x 320 pixel resolution covered by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Available in rose gold and silver, the ZenWatch comes with a leather strap and is compatible with devices that can run Android Wear. 

Most smartwatches and fitness trackers don't really look like traditional hand-crafted watches but it looks like Malaysia could soon be getting one that combines both values with the imminent arrival of the Horological Smartwatch by Frederique Constant, Geneva. Powered by MotionX technology, this handcrafted watch will track your daily activities including steps, distance and calories along with accurate tracking of your sleep patterns. Designed for both Apple iOS and Android devices, the Horological smartwatch works well with both, syncing your tracking information for indepth graphs and charts. The Horological Smartwatch will come in 4 versions for both men and women and features a 2 year battery life, sleep cycle alarms when your sleep goes off course, get-active alerts when you stay still too long and more. One feature which we found interesting was the Always-on Time & Date which automatically sets your time and date depending on your location, so if you travel to another country, you don't have to wind it manually like a traditional watch. Although there are no specific Malaysia release dates or pricing details, the Horological Smartwatch is expected to arrive in Malaysia sometime in June 2015 and it is priced at Swiss Franc 1295 (RM4744) in Switzerland. 

OPPO devices are quite well known to support VOOC fast charging but it appears that this could be taken even further with an upcoming OPPO device, rumoured to be the OPPO Smartwatch. While no names have been named, the main feature of this smartwatch seems to be the ability to get a full charge in just five minutes. Now this could be because of how small smartwatch batteries are but even then the standard charging time for most smartwatches is 1 to 2 hours or so at best. No other features or tech specs were available about the OPPO smartwatch, only that it could be round and most likely come with the OPPO Find 9 which is also rumoured to be coming in 2015. Stay tuned for more developments.

While it has been announced, the pricing and release date for the Apple Watch wasn't actually revealed, until now. While international pre-orders start from 10 April 2015 and ship on 24 April 2015, we should be able to expect the Apple Watch in Malaysia a few months afterwards. Pricing begins with the aluminum alloy Apple Watch Sport with the 38mm version going for $349 (RM1285) while the 42mm version will go for $399 (RM1470). The stainless steel Apple Watch 38mm version will be priced from $549 (RM2022) whille the 42mm version will start from $599 (RM2207). The 18k gold Apple Watch edition 38mm version will go from $10000 (RM36847) while the 42mm will start from $12000 (RM44216). While it isn't unusual for someone to wear a watch priced the same as a small car here in Malaysia, it is the most expensive price for a smartwatch yet. Too bad that it only works for Apple devices for now.

The first smartwatches to come out often looked like thick squarish slabs of touchscreen on a strap. They offered limited usability as companion devices to your smartphone or mobile device and couldn't do much on their own. The Motorola Moto 360 smartwatch changed all that by by being the first round smartwatch and now, there are many other round smartwatches as well. Motorola went on to claim that the Moto 360 would actually look and feel like existing watches. Did they manage to do that and still deliver an awesome smartwatch experience? We find out in the full review of the Motorola Moto 360 in this article.

While they initially said that there wouldn't be a Swatch smartwatch, it appears that we may soon see one from the watch maker. Recently, Nick Hayek, Swatch CEO said that the company would be launching a Swatch smartwatch in the next three months or so. While no definite tech specs or features were revealed, he went on to say that the Swatch smartwatch would support Android and Windows Phone, have NFC, mobile payments and an Internet connection. Swatch have made similar devices before but never a full-scale smartwatch like the current batch of Android Wear devices. No Malaysia release dates or pricing details were available at the time but if it does come, it should hit Malaysian markets faster than most smarwatches.

Sony has revealed a new stainless steel edition of SmartWatch 3 and various other wearable devices at CES 2015. This includes a multi-sensor, waterproof headset prototype, Lifelog collaborations and more. The all-in-one headset will be called the Smart B-Trainer designed for runners with voice coaching and music playback. Other devices include the SmartBand SWR10 which features IP58 waterproof certification. The stainless steel SmartWatch 3 on the other hand features a 1.6-inch TFT LCD Transflective display at 320 x 320 pixel resolution. Other features include IP68 water proof certification along with a built-in GPS sensor, allowing it to work on it's own. While there are still no Malaysia release dates or pricing details, the SmartWatch 3 is expected to arrive sometime in February 2015. Sony will continue to explore collaborations with other parties especially through it's Lifelog Android app which is also acessible online at lifelog.sonymobile.com.

As usual, every tech company is set for major announcements come CES 2015 and Alcatel OneTouch are no exception. They have also announced that they will be releasing a circular smartwatch named the Alcatel OneTouch Watch on 6 January 2015. While there is not mention of tech specs the image shows multiple (and possibly interchangeable) watch straps, a circular watch face and a mostly touchscreen and voice control interface. We're not sure if it will use Android Wear but features will include notifications, remote music playback, pedometer and other health tracking functions. While there are no Malaysia release dates or pricing details just yet, Alcatel OneTouch have said that the OneTouch Watch will have a "smart price". While it is unclear if it is smart for Alcatel OneTouch or for us, it would be great if it is priced below the usual $300 (RM1058).

According to anti-Virus company Bit defender, the data transferred between an Android wearable and a smartphone is not secure. Wearables like smartwatches use a Bluetooth connection to send and receive information from the paired smartphones. While this connection is secure to some extent, it can easily be intercepted by hackers who would like to take a peek at the user's conversations. Bluetooth is usually considered secure because it can be accessed only from a short distance, about 10 meters or less. This restricts hackers from attacking a live connection from a long distance. Bluetooth also has its own six digit encryption system to keep hackers at bay. However, Bit defender reports that this six digit passcode is easily crackable by a computer program since there are only 1 million possible combinations. Once this encryption is cracked, hackers can get hold of all the information communicated from the smartwatch to the paired smartphone. Bit defender has also demonstrated a proof of concept video which is shown below. In the video, the company successfully brute-forced the six digit encryption between the Android based LG G Watch and the Nexus 4 smartphone running the developer preview version of Android L.

Next year may be even more eventful for the wearable industry. According to Business Korea, LG is all set to announce the successor to its G Watch R at the MWC event to be held in March 2015 in Barcelona. LG will probably stick to its traditional naming scheme, so the next version could be called the LG G Watch R2. If the rumored launch date turns out to be true, then the upcoming G Watch will have to compete directly with the Apple Watch expected to be released around the same time. Unfortunately, the source didn't mention much about the tech specs or features of the device apart from one thing -? 4G LTE connectivity. Yes, the G Watch R2 may feature a 4G LTE radio, which means it could be a standalone smartwatch, much like the recently unveiled Samsung Gear S smartwatch. The G Watch R2 will be the third smartwatch from the South Korean giant till now. Given that the current generation G watch's design was well received, the company may stick with it for the next version too. However, none of these details have been confirmed, so make sure you take this news with a grain of salt.