Technology

Review: Freedom! These Smartwatches Leave the Phone Behind

Published

9 years ago

February 18, 2015

In this Jan. 6, 2015 file photo, an employee demonstrates the Samsung Gear S smartwatch at the Samsung booth during the International CES in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

ANICK JESDANUN, AP Technology Writer

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — Strap on the Samsung Gear S or the Sony SmartWatch 3 if you want to take a jog on the beach or head out for a bike ride without your phone clunking along.

One of my frustrations with early smartwatches has been how little they can do on their own. Sure, your phone might be with you most of the time, but sometimes you want to leave it behind. The Gear S and SmartWatch 3 still need to be close to an Android phone for a lot of things, but both do more solo than other smartwatches.

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SAMSUNG GEAR S ($300 to $400, plus $5 or $10 monthly service fee)

The Gear S isn’t the only smartwatch to notify you about new messages, Facebook updates and weather. It isn’t alone in having an alarm clock, music playback and apps for tracking steps and exercise.

So what makes this watch stand out? Cellular connectivity. Other smartwatches use a Bluetooth wireless connection linked to your phone to receive calls, send texts and perform other tasks. The Gear S can do all that on its own.

The watch gets its own phone number. When your phone is nearby, calls and texts from the watch will go through your phone and carry your regular number. When you want to step away, you can still have calls, texts and other notifications forwarded to the watch. But calls you make and texts you send from the watch might get your watch’s number.

I’ve used the Navigator app to get directions, though advance features such as rerouting when lost or vibrations at turns didn’t work for me without the phone nearby. Many smartwatches are inaccurate exercise trackers, but with built-in GPS, the Gear S can more precisely track how far you run. The watch has a touch keyboard with tiny keys; it’s clunky to use, but you can dictate messages by voice, too. The watch can also play music stored on the device or streamed through Samsung’s free Milk service.

The unit I tested came from AT&T, which charges $10 a month for 4G service on top of the $300 for the device ($200 with a two-year service agreement). Sprint charges $10 for 3G service, while it costs $5 a month for Verizon 3G and T-Mobile 4G service. The device costs $350 to $400 with those three.

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SONY SMARTWATCH 3 (starts at $250)

Sony’s SmartWatch 3 joins the Gear S in having built-in GPS, something many smartwatches still lack. At least three running apps — iFit Outside, RunKeeper and My Tracks — use the watch’s GPS and work without a companion phone. As with the Gear S, I found the Sony watch quite accurate in normal settings, such as runs in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In New York, my stand-alone GPS watch from Garmin does better at factoring in tall buildings that block or distort GPS signals. But the SmartWatch stlll does better than many watches that rely solely on an accelerometer sensor.

You can also play music stored on the device, though the watch lacks a speaker so you need a Bluetooth headset. (That said, offline music playback is also common in other watches).

Sorry, the SmartWatch 3 has no cellular service, so you can’t make or receive calls or texts, take notes or use the map function unless your phone is in your pocket or purse.

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WAIT FOR APPLE WATCH?

People with iPhones will need to wait until April to see what, if any, stand-alone features will come with Apple’s smartwatch. The ones out so far typically work only with Android phones. But if you have an Android phone, the Samsung and Sony watches stand out among the many choices.

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Attorney General Rob Bonta, Oakland Lawmakers, Introduce Legislation to Protect Youth Online

At a press conference in downtown Oakland on Jan. 29, Attorney General Rob Bonta joined Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) to announce two pieces of legislation designed to protect children online. The bills are Senate Bill (SB) 976, the Protecting Youth from Social Media Addiction Act and Assembly Bill (AB) 1949, the California Children’s Data Privacy Act.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

From left to right: Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), Attorney General Rob Bonta and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) at a press conference introducing legislation to protect young people online.

By Magaly Muñoz

The bills are Senate Bill (SB) 976, the Protecting Youth from Social Media Addiction Act and Assembly Bill (AB) 1949, the California Children’s Data Privacy Act.

Skinner authored SB 976, which addresses online addiction affecting teenage users, while Wicks’s bill, AB 1949, takes on big tech by proposing data privacy and children rights protections.

“Social media companies unfortunately show us time and time again that they are all too willing to ignore the detriment to our children, the pain to our children, the mental health and physical challenges they face, in order to pursue profits,” Bonta said.

SB 976 would allow parents to control the nature and frequency of the content their under-18-year-old children see on social media. Notifications from social media platforms would also be paused from midnight to 6 am and controls would allow parents to set time limits on their children’s usage based on their discretion.

Skinner stated that the longer that kids are on their phones during the day, the higher the risk for depression, anxiety and other related issues.

The bill would also push to get rid of addictive media that is harmful for young women and girls, specifically image filters that mimic cosmetic plastic surgery.

Bonta and 33 other attorney generals had previously filed a lawsuit against Meta, owner of the popular social media applications Instagram and Facebook. The filing claims that the company purposefully uses algorithmized content that harms younger audiences.

“Social media companies have the ability to protect our kids, they could act, but they do not,” Skinner said.

The Child Data Privacy Act would strengthen existing protections for data privacy under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The lawmakers argue that the law does not have effective protection for those under 18 years old.

Wicks stated that the bill would forbid businesses from collecting, using, sharing, or selling personal data of anyone underage unless they receive informed consent, or it becomes necessary for the purpose of the business.

Wicks added that the acts would make it so that a search on the internet like “How do I lose weight?” would not result in dieting pill advertisements targeting youth, which, some experts report, could be harmful to their mental and physical health.

“In a digital age where the vulnerabilities of young users are continually exploited, we cannot afford to let our laws lag behind, our children deserve complete assurance that their online experience will be safeguarded from invasive practices,” Wicks said.

Supporters of the two acts say they have gained bipartisan support issue, but the authors and Bonta expect them to be met with pushback from the affected companies.

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Unleashing the Power_ Discover the The Thrills…F-TYPE Convertible

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5 months ago

December 18, 2023

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Performance & Handling
Powered by a robust 5.0 Liter Supercharged 8 Cylinder Gas Engine, the F-Type R75 doesn’t just purr; it roars with a mighty 575 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque. Coupled with an 8-speed Automatic Transmission, the car offers an exhilarating drive that is both fast and smooth. The All-Wheel Drive system ensures excellent traction and stability, making it a joy to handle in various driving conditions. The Electric Power Assisted Steering and JaguarDrive Control with Selectable Driving Modes add to the car’s agility, providing a driving experience that is as intuitive as it is thrilling. Additionally, the Adaptive Dynamics and Electronic Active Differential with Torque Vectoring by Braking enhance the car’s responsiveness, making every turn a testament to its engineering prowess. Unique to AutoNetwork.com.

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Join us for a virtual car’s best-detailed walkaround of the sleek and stylish 2024 Jaguar F-TYPE AWD convertible. Get an up-close look at the exterior design, interior features, and performance capabilities of this luxury sports car. From its powerful engine to its advanced technology, this video will give you a comprehensive overview of what makes […]
The post Elevate Your Ride… first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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Join us for a virtual car’s best-detailed walkaround of the sleek and stylish 2024 Jaguar F-TYPE AWD convertible. Get an up-close look at the exterior design, interior features, and performance capabilities of this luxury sports car. From its powerful engine to its advanced technology, this video will give you a comprehensive overview of what makes the F-TYPE AWD convertible stand out on the road. Unique to AutoNetwork.com.