Android 4.4 and wearable tech roundup

Android 4.4 and wearable tech roundup

   Talking about android news could take forever times infinity, so I decided to write the main headlines over the past couple of weeks. The heavily leaked LG Google Nexus 5 is finally here with a lot to talk about.

  First the Nexus 5 appears today with fascinating screen, top-edge processing and a wireless charging feature. Sadly, it lacks an SD card slot and it has a decent camera of only 8MP. However, it has the flagship Android 4.4 KitKat, which presumably performs spectacularly with just a 512MB of RAM with the old smartphones. That being said, the android 4.4 update currently does not come for these low-edge phones. Why do you have to make us root our phones, Google?

  Going back to the Nexus with its 2.3GHz quad-core snapdragon 800, 2GB of RAM, a 1080p 5” screen with the Corning Gorilla Class 3 protection, the LG phone sure does have a lot. But somewhat it fails to compete with the LG G2 despite having the upper hand in OS and in screen size and protection. It sure looks like a fancy phone to have as the first phone built for the android 4.4, but honestly, there are others out there and I am waiting for the Android Key Lime Pie, or 5, if I am to choose a phone for its OS.

  Siding away from the glory of Google’s latest Nexus, it seems Samsung is doing a very awkward move in the international markets. At first, the websites and stores were speaking of an octa-core processor, even GSMarena, but recently that got removed from the internet and the markets of being octa-core. One video shows the performance differences which seems to be very slight, as well as the price difference between the two is not as significant. It’s unbelievable. In fact, I think it’s a lie. The only reason they exist to the international market alone is because it has no people actually checking the standards. That’s kind of lame from Samsung, but there is no denying that the Note 3 is a good phone.

  Sony Smartwatch 2 seems like a great smartwatch to have, but then comes the Samsung’s Galaxy Gear with all those fancy decorations. Now, Samsung is never a newb in anything, so let’s do a little comparison between the three android watches:

  The Sony Smartwatch one was included for comparison purposes to observe the change with the generations. There are many things not mentioned in the table (space-taking sentences) which I will mention now:

samsung gear and its camera

the smartwatch 2 can't make calls, but it has its notifications as top priority. Sometimes being practical is more important than having more features. How much do you need from a watch with daily usage?

the smartwatch 1 may be the one who started this calamity.

·       Samsung has the leading processor with 800MHz and 512MB RAM while SM2 has only 200MHz.

·       Samsung has more apps coming from the box than Sony

·       With the update, more devices other than Note 3 can be supported, but only a few Galaxy phones

·       * = SM2 only supports NFC for Androids 4.0 and above, and your phone must have NFC ofcourse, but it can operate with Bluetooth only for androids 2.1+ if you can get the android 4.0 apps, with some features disabled unless you can get the Google Play apps.

·       The wrist strap for SM1 and SM2 can be changed and removed but the Galaxy Gear cannot since it got a camera.

  Ofcourse, there are many other smart watches out there, but the ones made by android phone developers to their own phones running android is ofcourse the best thing. The price tag of Samsung Galaxy Gear is way too much, especially that it only supports Galaxy Note 3, S4, and Note 2, but this definitely will be more of an advantage for you if you are Samsung’s loyal fan. The Gear is like a status symbol.

  Now if you wear glasses, the aspect ratio would mean something to you. Ofourse they cant be rectangular like 16:9 smartphones, but they cant be fully square either. I think the SM2 achieves the best from here, also having NFC, and being waterproof, it will complete my Xperia Z1 just like how the Galaxy Gear completes the Note 3, both are glamorous and glorious. 

  The greater apps thing is a very solvable issue, because the app store is already filled with many apps that can help both have more uses, with many of the apps utilized for SM2. Most importantly, it is in the end, just a watch. The Galaxy Gear is ahead of its time.

  iPhone? The smart watch for iPhone isn’t coming anytime soon, especially that the Gear might have a predicted price drop in the future and probably more reductions over their restrictions in the very near future. That is why I think iPhone is playing it safe by waiting to look at its main competitor at the Android side. This is opinion and theory only, don't attack the comments section: no insult intended.

  Last but not least, the Android 4.4? Why did they suddenly change our course of rumours by replacing the 5.0 Key Lime Pie to 4.4 KitKat? This will change the name of the android 5.0 which is supposed to be the real deal when coming to recycling old phones while 4.4 being just the red carpet to test the idea. It will just be Lime Pie then, won’t it? I don’t know whether the 4.4 was dubbed KitKat in order to differentiate it from Lime Pie by taking the “K”, or whether it was a joke from Google that they have been hiding something before Key Lime Pie, meaning that all the “leaks” were intended and content was chosen? Also that it seems to be a promotion for both sides? It is all very confusing to take in, but one thing is for sure: an update! And if Google is keeping something secret about development, I hope it is worthwhile. Spoilers aren’t my cup of tea anyway. Instead of talking about features, I’d overall say there is progress and it is safe to upgrade. I’d only write about it if there was something to warn you about, such as the Windows 8 and 8.1 update; more on that soon.

One last thing about smartwatches, although I know this article is a little too long, but the Nexus Gem still hasn't much information revealed when i wrote this. So please bear that in mind.

 I never read anything about the Zelda game except release date so that I can enjoy it to the maximum. Speaking of which, Play More Zelda!