Latest news with #KaitlynCimino
Android Authority
7 hours ago
- Android Authority
Please, Motorola, give us the Moto 360 we deserve
I loved the old Moto 360 — the original, not the 2019 reboot. The funny thing is, though, I never actually had one, I just liked what it stood for. It was a sign of smartwatches becoming more like everyday wearables, accessories to be shown off rather than simply tracking steps and telling the time. Then, just as I was in a position to try a Moto 360 for myself, Motorola axed it from the family and dove back into the smartwatch dark ages. Now, it might be back. According to a leak from Android Headlines, Motorola has a new Moto 360 in the works, possibly coming sometime this year. And, if it does, I only have one request: Please, please, please, get it right, Motorola. Here's what that'll take. Would you buy a new Motorola smartwatch? 0 votes Yes, the Moto 360 was great NaN % No, its time has passed NaN % Above all else, give us Wear OS Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority Motorola has done Wear OS before — in fact, it did Wear OS when it was still called Android Wear and felt like the forgotten stepchild of the Google family. Unfortunately, that forgotten status meant that we had a hard time finding things to like about the state of Motorola's wearable operating system, and it put us in the camp that maybe the Moto 360 needed a bit of a break. Since then, things have only gotten worse. Well, not for Wear OS, but definitely for Motorola. As other smartwatches like the Pixel Watch, Galaxy Watch, and OnePlus Watch have embraced and refined Wear OS, one of its earliest adopters has languished in the land of RTOS (real-time operating system). Motorola's cheap (or relatively cheap) launches like the Moto Watch Fit and Moto Watch 120 have tried to make do with what feels like a clone of Apple's WatchOS, but without the surrounding apps or strong fitness-tracking background that make the Apple Watch a reliable option for so many people. Wear OS has come a long way since Android Wear, and it's time for Motorola to go back. So, the first thing the new Moto 360 has to do is adopt Wear OS. Motorola needs to accept that its current watch software isn't good enough for anything and go back to what Google has worked so hard on. These days, Wear OS feels like the watch operating system we hoped for when it was called Android Wear, boasting a mountain of app integrations, connected Google products, and tons of watch faces, whether Motorola returns to the flat tire design or not. At the very least, adopting (or re-adopting) Wear OS should relieve some of the stress of Motorola's rumored wearable. By letting Google build the bones, Motorola can optimize some of the best features of the old Moto 360 for a brand-new generation, embracing fun watch faces, clever throwbacks, and hopefully a unique feature or two. In my head, it feels like the close relationship between Hello UX and stock Android, just shrunk down to a watch. The Moto 360 can't just look like another smartwatch If you recall, 2014 was a banner year for wearables — and by that, I mean it was the year the Apple Watch debuted. Suddenly, square watches were all the rage, leaving Pebble fans wondering where the credit was for wearing squares before they were cool. It was also a year for fitness bands, fitness bands everywhere. Nike retired its FuelBand, Adidas tried to jump on what was left, and Microsoft decided that the best companion to a Windows Phone was a Microsoft Band. To me, the original Moto 360 was cooler than all of them. It looked the most like a regular watch, putting a single button off to the side of a circular body and pairing it with a flat tire display that still has a soft spot in my heart, no matter how silly it looked. Besides, that sharp chin allowed Motorola to reduce the rest of its round bezel to nearly nothing, which was ultimately more eye-catching than the missing little sliver. For the Moto 360 to make a splash in the Wear OS market, it needs to go further. It needs to build a new identity that is as recognizable as the Pixel Watch or the circle-in-a-square Galaxy Watch. To do that, it will have to stay far, far away from eBuyNow — the company that licensed the ability to make wearables like the Moto Watch 40, 70, and 120. All three of those watches felt like not-quite-clones of the Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch, and were ultimately made forgettable by their RTOS software. 2015... Meet 2019 As it stands, this might be what makes me most nervous about the renders shown above. I can't shake that the leaked Moto 360 looks an awful lot like the HUAWEI Watch — not the relatively new Watch 5, either — the original model from 2015. It's certainly one of the smartwatches ever made, not the best or the worst, but definitely one of them. Motorola's health tracking needs a lifeline Ryan Haines / Android Authority At the end of the day, I suppose I'll be able to live with a Moto 360 that looks like a HUAWEI Watch. I've been impressed by previous HUAWEI wearables, and at least it means that Motorola is striving for something. However, for a Moto 360 to have a shot at earning a spot on my wrist, I need it to take a step forward in terms of fitness tracking. Right now, its Wear OS rivals are miles ahead in tracking — on all levels. Google's acquisition of Fitbit has given it a speed boost in adding features like Daily Readiness and Cardio Load to the Pixel Watch, along with a Target Load metric to help optimize your training. For its part, Samsung added a Galaxy AI-powered Energy Score to its Galaxy Watch 7, which I immediately embraced while reviewing the Galaxy Z Flip 6. It's still my go-to readiness metric whenever I switch away from my trusty Garmin, even if it's only for a week or two. I want advanced metrics and accurate tracking before I'm willing to give the Moto 360 a workout. With the current Moto Watch Fit and Moto Watch 120, though, it's another case of firing up RTOS and hoping for the best. Yes, both watches can track a bunch of activities, but the actual health metrics are confined to calories, steps, heart rate, and sleep quality, with no mention of feminine health support or in-depth estimates like the Pixel Watch and Galaxy Watch have. If Motorola can come within striking distance of its top competition, maybe the Moto 360 has a chance. To do that, though, it will need a comeback on the level of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI or the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals. It'll have to show that it's learned a thing or two in the six years since the last Moto 360 and that the fire-and-forget days of eBuyNow watches are a thing of the past. Motorola has proven me wrong once or twice, and I'll be thrilled if the upcoming Moto 360 can do it again.
Android Authority
4 days ago
- Android Authority
Garmin's Morning and Evening Reports are so good that Fitbit should steal them
Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority I've always believed that more is better when it comes to health-tracking metrics. If I'm wearing a GPS watch all day and all night, I want to know what it's picking up and how I can best use that to my advantage. And when I always have a Garmin on my wrist, I know exactly how much data I have to look forward to. I know that I can tap into a Morning and an Evening Report on my Forerunner 970, and I've noticed that it's made a few of my colleagues jealous. They have to watch as I check in on my steps, recovery, and upcoming workouts while they try to find their Morning Briefs that may or may not have populated. Since I know they're not about to go out and buy Garmin watches themselves, I guess it's time for Google to play copycat, and here's why. Garmin's strength is in its consistency Ryan Haines / Android Authority I know my colleagues love their Fitbits and their Pixel Watches — I like the Pixel Watch an awful lot, too. If I could get Garmin-level battery life out of its smooth, pebble-like design, I'd probably strap it on as my day-to-day wearable whenever I'm not running. However, I've also listened to them lament the same few issues over and over, usually surrounding the Morning Brief. Whether it's a lack of data or a brief that's flat-out missing in action, it always seems like something's not quite right. With Garmin, though, I know that my Morning and Evening reports are coming, whether I've been wearing my watch or not. Yes, they're much more detailed if I've been wearing my Forerunner 970, adding a breakdown of my sleep and my recovery from a previous workout, but I still get a look at the weather, my upcoming workouts, and any calendar appointments I have to be on top of. If I've been wearing my watch, it'll offer a much more detailed look at my HRV from the night before, a better recap of my training readiness, and might modify my recommended workout to account for residual fatigue. My dual Garmin reports wake me up and send me to bed with a better idea of my day. Then, when it's almost time for bed, it's a case of same, same but different in the evening report. Instead of forecasting your day, it summarizes your activities and an estimate of just how much sleep you might need to get your Body Battery back on schedule. The evening report can also give you workout suggestions for the next day, including runs and bike rides, but if you're in the middle of a Connect Plus-powered training plan (like I am), it will default to what's on your schedule instead. Perhaps what I like best about Garmin's pair of reports is what I've hinted at already — like death, taxes, and the mailman, the reports always come in. As far as I've noticed, the Morning Report is ready a little bit before your scheduled wake-up time (in my case, around 7:00 AM), and it sticks around for about two hours after you've rolled out of bed. You can miss it if you're not careful, but it's much easier to check than I've heard about Fitbit's Morning Brief. Ryan Haines / Android Authority The Evening Report gives you a similar window, popping up on your wrist about 90 minutes before your scheduled bedtime. Typically, that means I'm getting a reminder around 9:30 PM, which is also a pretty good reminder to wind down from my phone (or TV) for the night — even if I don't actually listen. I'd be slightly curious to see whether Garmin's Evening Report would change if it knew I was spending the night out with friends or staying up late watching a movie, but that's usually reflected in the next day's morning report anyway. I know Google could do this, but, weirdly, it hasn't Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority Yes, I know that Google has its Fitbit-powered Morning Brief. I've heard about it plenty from my colleagues, and they've said over and over again how much they'd like to use it, but that it's just not consistent enough. That's the part of this whole thing that I don't understand. I trust my set of Nest Hubs and speakers to manage routines like the lights and temperature of my apartment, I trust my Pixel 9 Pro to know when I get home, and I trust my Pixel Buds Pro to connect to the correct device, why can't I trust my watch to give me a morning report at a consistent time? Timing aside, I'm just as surprised by the information that Google's Morning Brief doesn't include. As Kaitlyn pointed out, it doesn't include calendar appointments or a detailed weather forecast, which are odd considering I trust Google Calendar with my life (basically) and Pixel Weather with my well-being (keeping me dry when I set off for a run). It feels like Google could add — or rather expand — both metrics within its Morning Brief without too much work and offer a much more complete look at my day. Google has my data, now if only it would give some back to me in an easily digestible way. Maybe it's just me, and perhaps I'm too data-happy regarding Google, but I can't say the current Morning Brief makes much sense. It's being outdone by a Morning Report from a fitness company in terms of both regularity and detail, and Garmin's Evening Report is just the icing on top. Unfortunately, it's currently limited to just the Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970, but I can easily see Garmin expanding its access shortly since neither wearable has any special hardware to support the brief. Right now, my money is on Garmin rolling its Evening Report out to its entire lineup before Google bulks up its Brief, but that's just my guess. For my colleagues' sake, I hope I'm wrong.
Android Authority
5 days ago
- Android Authority
Pixel Watch 4 upgrades could include a repair-friendly design and new emergency tools
Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority TL;DR With the Pixel Watch 4, Google may finally introduce a new construction that's more conducive to hardware repairs. A new Breathing Emergencies tool could detect with your oxygen levels fall too low. Google may also bring satellite support to the Pixel Watch 4 for communication during emergencies. When you're thinking about picking up a premium smartwatch, durability is a major concern. After all, a good watch can easily go for as much as a phone itself, and while you may have a few options in terms of 'cases' and screen protectors, there's little denying that a watch is just a whole lot more exposed than your phone is — and that much more vulnerable to accidents. But while you may prioritize models with big, durable bezels and scratch-resistant sapphire crystals, what about the flip side of the coin: a watch that's easy to repair once the damage actually happens? Normally we wouldn't think of Pixel Watch models as being particularly serviceable, but according to a new report from Android Headlines, the Pixel Watch 4 is shaping up to be the most repairable iteration by a long shot. So far, the Pixel Watch's construction has basically been an impenetrable glass-and-metal puck, a smoothly weathered stone with no obvious point of entry. If you've ever had the misfortune for your Pixel Watch's glue to fail and the back to pop off, you'll both know that there isn't really much you can do in there anyway, and that getting it back together is a job better left for Google. A more serviceable Pixel Watch sounds great, but we don't get a ton of specifics here about how these improvements are supposed to work. The site only reports that the hardware's being designed with reparability in mind. As if that weren't enough, Android Headlines also follows up this reparability news with a report about some new emergency features that we can hope to expect from the Pixel Watch 4. For one, Google could bring satellite connectivity to the Pixel Watch series with Emergency Satellite Communications on the Watch 4. For the moment, that label is all we have to go on, without any details about how the service might operate, but that still sounds like great news that should place Google's smartwatches on more even footing with Apple's. The other new emergency feature tipped to land with the Pixel Watch 4 is supposedly a new Breathing Emergencies alert. Using the wearable's SpO2 sensor, this would give you a heads-up when your measured blood oxygen levels fall below a certain limit. Just yesterday, Google confirmed an August 20 date for its next Made by Google event, where we're set to meet the Pixel 10 series, maybe some new Pixel Buds, and almost certainly the Pixel Watch 4. With just a month to go, how many more leaks will arrive before this smartwatch officially shows us what it can do? Keep breathing, and check back with Android Authority for coverage of all the new rumors as they land. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Android Authority
5 days ago
- Android Authority
Can't sync your Fitbit? You're not alone, as service suffers major outage
Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority TL;DR Fitbit users currently report problems syncing data and logging into the Android app. The company confirms that an outage is in progress, and is currently under investigation. Right now there doesn't seem to be anything users can do, so just sit tight and avoid the temptation to reinstall the app. It's a beautiful Thursday morning, and you're up with the sun to get a nice long run in ahead of a busy day. Only what's this? Your tracker won't sync with the app? If you're a Fitbit user, this might be exactly the situation you found yourself facing today, as a major outage hits the company's servers. Over on the Fitbit status dashboard, the company confirms on ongoing outage, starting about three hours earlier today. While that page acknowledges issues with the Fitbit app and the web API, it suggest that device sync is still operational, but reports from users tell a different story. On Reddit, posts from users like bitter_sweet9798 and The0Walrus specifically mention sync problems — though we imagine it's probably hard for users to draw a line between what counts as a problem with the app, and with the sync backend in particular (via 9to5Google). Right now, Fitbit says that it's still investigating the outage, and doesn't offer anything in the way of further details or remediation steps. Based upon what we're seeing from users, though, we'd recommend not messing around with your app too much out of frustration, as those trying to uninstall and reinstall the app have been running into trouble just logging in to their accounts. Your Fitbit should still keep gathering data while this outage is in progress, so we suppose there's technically no reason for you to use this as an excuse to take a day off, but we still get it — updating your stats at the end of a workout can be a big part of the routine for a lot of us, and not being able to sync up just hits a little different. Hopefully Fitbit irons this one out soon, and everything's back to normal for tomorrow. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Android Authority
6 days ago
- Android Authority
These Yaber and LG projectors are still at Prime Day prices
Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority Did you miss out on this year's Prime Day deals? If you were looking to get a projector, here are a couple of great ones from Yaber and LG that are still at last week's prices. These are at different price levels, with different customers in mind. Keep reading to see which one would be best for you. Buy the Yaber T2 Outdoor Projector for $233.99 ($116 off) Buy the LG CineBeam Q HU710PB 4K Smart Portable Projector for $746.99 ($212.95 off) These offers are both available from Amazon. They are 'limited time deals.' This means that the sales should end relatively soon, and the discount is automatic. Just throw the item in your cart and check out! Yaber T2 Outdoor Projector Yaber T2 Outdoor Projector Yaber T2 Outdoor Projector See price at Amazon Save $116.00 Limited Time Deal! If you want the best bang for your hard-earned buck, the Yaber T2 Outdoor Projector will be right up your alley. I like saving, so this is actually the projector I personally own! You don't have to trust me, though. My co-worker Kaytlin also gave it a very favorable review. One of its main lures is its portability. It has a handle and is easy to carry around, but it also comes with an integrated battery that can run it for about 2.5 hours. This means you can really use it anywhere. You don't absolutely need an AC outlet. It projects a pretty decent image, with a Full HD resolution and a 450-lumen brightness. You can expand the projection up to 120 inches, which is pretty huge. I find that it looks great in mid-to-low lighting. Quality starts suffering as soon as brighter lights come into the scene, though. Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority Audio is surprisingly good for a portable projector of this price. The dual 8W speakers are powered by JBL. They are pretty loud and offer a nice bass. They are definitely better than any other projector speakers I have heard before. This is a welcomed addition, as you can also use it as a portable speaker, if you prefer. And the nice thing is that the battery life extends to 18 hours when using it in audio-only mode. Now, keep in mind that some small sacrifices had to be made to offer such a good projector at this low price. My main complaint is that it has no smart TV operating system. That said, you get plenty of input methods, such as HDMI, USB for local storage, and mirroring. Additionally, Yaber sells its own Google TV dongle. Otherwise, the Yaber T2 Outdoor projector is way too good for its price, especially at this discounted offer. LG CineBeam Q HU710PB 4K Smart Portable Projector LG CineBeam Q HU710PB 4K Smart Portable Projector LG CineBeam Q HU710PB 4K Smart Portable Projector See price at Amazon Save $212.95 Limited Time Deal! Now, if you want to take things up a notch and are a much more demanding projector user, here's a nice sale on the LG CineBeam Q HU710PB 4K Smart Portable Projector. It's $746.99, but this is also a much better projector, and it happens to be at an all-time low price. As the name entails, this one has a 4K resolution, and you can also extend the image up to 120 inches. Not only that, but this one is a laser projector that can reproduce 154% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. It is very color accurate, and offers a 500-lumen brightness. It will look gorgeous. There's also the advantage of having a built-in smart TV OS. More specifically, it comes with LG's webOS platform. This gets you access to all your favorite streaming apps, as well as mirroring for both Android and iOS. Of course, it also helps that it comes from a well-recognized brand. It also happens to be very nicely designed. It measures only 5.5 x 5 x 3 inches! It is tiny, even smaller than the Yaber one listed above. However, while it is easier to carry around, the LG CineBeam Q has no integrated battery. This means you will need to plug it in to use it. If you want true portability and a fantastic price, we recommend the Yaber T2 Outdoor projector. Those who want outstanding quality from a more popular brand should pick the LG CineBeam Q HU710PB 4K Smart Portable Projector. Regardless of which one you prefer, though, make sure to act quickly. These are all-time low prices, and those offers don't usually last long.
