Showing posts with label Smartwatch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Smartwatch. Show all posts

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Microsoft adds Android Wear watch support to its Outlook app.



Thanks to my Zenwatch, I can quickly read my Gmail messages on my wrist without having to reach for my phone and today Microsoft is introducing the same feature to Outlook for Android and users will be able to read their Outlook emails on their wrist and reply with pre-set messages or voice dictation.

A vibration will alert me when a new email arrives. Swiping up will show me the content, while swiping to the left gives me the option to delete, schedule the email to be read later, and as I wrote above, to reply with either voice or pre-set messages. The one feature that I found missing is "open on phone" icon, which opens the app for you on the phone after you get it out of your pocket.

Making Outlook Android Wear friendly is a great addition for me because Outlook is my main email client. That's where most of my important emails go to. Prior to this update, I had to fish my phone out of my pocket to read and take action on my emails because my watch would only show a new email with little information about its content.

If you own an Android Wear watch and use Microsoft Outlook for Android, head over to Google Play store and update the app. The change log does not mention anything else, so the update is there for all to download and maybe even have you consider getting a smartwatch.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

SofaScore app for Android updated with a news center, detailed scores for tennis, volleyball & badminton.

SofaScore is my favorite sports app on my mobile phones and Android Wear watch - I currently use a Zenwatch 2. It's my go to app for live scores, sports news for all leagues and competitions in 17 sports, a kind of a one-stop shop for your favorite sports. SofaScore was updated today with some improvements.

Besides the live scores, SofaScore also features the latest sports news which were accessible in the media section of each league. That layout made it difficult to keep track of the news in the app. This update tries to fix that by bringing all the news in a section of its own that has been labeled 'SofaScore News' in the app that is accessible by tapping the Hamburger menu in the top left.

Another feature is the Matches tab now shows the newest match at the top, which makes sense.

Fans of tennis, volleyball and badminton should like the "more detailed scores on top of "Comments".  I do occasionally watch tennis, namely Wimbledon and Roland Garros, but never so far watched a volleyball and badminton game.

Check out SofaScore for Android in Google Play store. It's free.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Nokia Here Maps now compatible with Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch.

I am currently on a business trip in Washington D.C., a city I've never visited before. Thanks to Here Maps, it is very easy for me to move around that fascinating city without eating all my phone's data. I bought a prepaid data plan from AT&T and thanks to Here Maps offline maps feature, I found my way around without asking anyone and saving on my plan.

Today, Nokia has updated Here Maps and made it compatible with Samsung's latest smartwatch, the Samsung Gear S2. The change log does not say how's that supposed to work. Guess we'll have to wait to learn more. In the meantime, download the update in Google PlayStore.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Pocket Casts lets you browse podcasts on Android Wear devices.

Pocket Casts, my favorite podcast app for Android, picked up an update today. An update that Android Wear device owners will likely appreciate as they will be able to browse Pocket Casts on their wrist. The change log does not give much details on how this feature actually works. But it does recommend buying a watch just for browsing your podcasts. It would have been awesome if Shifty Jelly had bundled a watch with that update for folks like me who do not own one - the Microsoft Band I own is not a smartwatch but more of a fitness band.

This update brings Pocket Casts to version 5.1.3. Here's what's new:
We're back! Did you miss us? We kinda missed you a bit. We did have a shiny Material Design Award to keep us company though, so you know, it wasn't all bad. We've stopped fondling it (don't judge us, you would have too!) for long enough to bring you all an update!
If you love browsing, and you love Pocket Casts, you'll love browsing Pocket Casts on your Android Wear device! It's worth buying one just for this. Do it.
This release has plenty of fixes in it too, because we know you love those.

Source: Google Play

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Google Keep is now Android wearables friendly.

No doubt Google wearables are more than just watches. They have become powerful wrist-worn computers with all these capabilities that the search giant is adding continuously to Android Wear. Whether you like or want your watch to be loaded with so many software is up for debate. Google wants your phone to stay in your pocket by adding the most software possible to it; Microsoft has its band barded with sensors to capture the most possible data about your health. When it comes to wearables, you have choices. But I do not want a watch to be my phone substitute. Plus it can get quite overwhelming to manage your tech life on such a tiny screen.

Google has made its note-taking app, Google Keep, wearable friendly. The update published today, finally lets Android wearables owners take note, see reminders, view and check off lists right on their wrist. Google is a bit late to this as other note-taking app, Microsoft OneNote notably, offered support for Android Wear back in September.

The update also includes the usual bug fixes and performance improvements.

Source: Google