Monday, March 2, 2015

SmartWatches, Fail or succeed?

My view on how the SmartWatch game will turn out. 


        So you may have heard of these new devices that you are able to wear on your wrists, they are sorta like watches but they server different purposes than JUST telling you what time it is. These devices can give you notifications at a glance and allow you to choose whether or not you want to respond using one of the few methods available, those include but are not limited to; voice responses, pre-programmed (automated) responses, or the "old fashion" way which is pulling out your phone and replying. As well as giving you notifications about a text or an email it will also let you use Goggle Now cards which will allow you to get updates about a lot of different topics from the weather in your current location to the score of your favorite sports teem. Each watch has a different style and factor that makes it unique. I use the Motorola Moto 360 because i love the style and the elegance of how it looks, but everyone will have their own personal opinion of which style fits them best. Below you will find a short list of some of the more popular smartwatches. 

  1. LG G Watch R
  2. Motorola Moto 360
  3. LG G watch
  4. Sony SmartWatch 3
  5. Pebble Steel
  6. Sony SmartWatch 2
  7. Samsung Gear 2 Neo
  8. Martian Notifier
  9. Samsung Gear 2
  10. Samsung Galaxy Gear
  11. Sony SmartWatch Review
  12. LG Lifeband Touch
  13. Cookoo Smart Watch
        As you can see there is a ton of these fascinating wearables on the market and mind you these are only a few of the ones out there. Now as the title of this article implies I will be talking about my opinion as to the fate of these watches. 
        The facts are that there are a lot of people out there that wear watches. In fact just bout 65% 15-35 year olds use their smart phones to tell time. You can't go out in public without seeing a teenage on his/her phone and odds are that a teen isn't just pulling out their phones to check the time. So do I believe that smartwatches will prevail and succeed more? absolutely BUT only because it's an accessory to you're phone, and we all know how teenagers love to have accessories! I have read other articles stating that people don't seem to be interested in these new concepts and I believe that the reason is in their hypothesis, SmartWatches are just that, concepts, I mean sure they exist and yes they are cool but what does the average person really need a smartwatch for? Why on earth would a soccer mom need one?
        These questions are all reasonable but what many don't see or don't know is that almost all smartwatches have fitness tracking built in, some smartwatches aren't even real smartwatchs some are called fitness bands and these bands main goal is to provide you with information about your fitness level first and to show you notifications second. These ones are not meant to look the best or have a large touch screen, no these bands need to have a long lasting battery, be comfortable to wear for long amounts of time, they need to be sweat and water resistant and above all else they need to provide accurate fitness data.
        So my final conclusion to this article is that yes I do believe that smartwatches will succeed but not in the way that most people think. They will succeed in the sense that they open up the possibilities of allowing new and advanced technology on our wrists. They are allowing us to better communicate with out phones without the need to physically take out device out and use it. They are even allowing us to us to track our physical activity to a whole to level. It's only 2015 people, just think what the technology will be in 2020!

Article by Marc Pawelczyk  3/2/15



Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Motorola Slim Pack 2000 Review




                       The Slim Pack 2000 by Motorola is a nice ultra portable battery pack that can be used to charge not only a phone with a micro USB port (located on the top of the device) but also plug in an external USB cord to charge something like an Iphone, Ipad etc. The Slim Pack 2000 has only one button located on the front of the device used to to show the battery percentage as well as activate the USB port, along with 4 LED indicators that tell you how charged the pack is. The device has a neat attached micro USB cable that is tucked away along the side of the pack for ease of use. Along the left hand side of the unit is another micro USB port that can only be  used to charge the Slim Pack 2000. If you would like to purchase one of these devices please click on the the Amazon link. 
                                                                Amazon

Article by Marc Pawelczyk
2/24/15

Monday, February 23, 2015

Moto 360 Smartwatch Review

My Review of the Motorola 360 Smartwatch


        Ever since my first Motorola phone I have always been a big fan of the company and their devices but I never thought that I'd see them make a watch. Well on September 5th 2014 the company announced a bunch of new products including the Moto 360, Moto Hint, and two new models of the Moto x and Moto G. After a couple of months watching the news for anything on the new watch I finally got some information including the materials and some of the specs. Below is my review and options of the Moto 360. 

     First off let's talk about materials and design. The Moto 360 uses the round look of a traditional watch but adds some major enhancements. The watch body is made of stainless steel and comes in either black or sliver. The watch bands are made of real Horween Leather that look and feel fantastic. The buckle on the strap is also made of stainless steel. The watch itself has a singular button that's used for power/sleep/wake. The Moto 360 is the first of it's kind to have inductive charging which means it charges wirelessly.

                             Now let's look at what's under the hood of this smartwatch. 

Operating systemAndroid Wear 5.0.2
System on chip used           TI OMAP 3
CPU1 GHz
Memory512 MB
Storage4 GB


Display1.56 in (40 mm) LCD with RGB matrix320×290 pixels (205 ppi)
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
InputPedometer (9-axis sensor)
Optical heart rate monitor (PPG)
Ambient light sensor
Dual microphones
ConnectivityBluetooth 4.0
Power320 mAh
All day (mixed use)
wireless Qi charging
        I personally love this smartwatch, I think that not only does it look elegant but I've had no problems with durability. The Battery get's my through a 10 hour day just fine with moderate use, and the display is great. For $250 I don't see how you can go wrong so do I recommend this watch? Absolutely, If you're the kind of person that loves to have the newest gadgets and gizmos then this is for you!



Article by Marc Pawelczyk

2/23/15





My review of the Microsoft Surface 2

My review of the Microsoft Surface 2
surface 2.jpg
*Not review device*



First of all I would like to start off by saying that I bought a broken model of my Surface 2 on purpose. In no way has this affected my views OR usability of the product at all.




Let’s start off by looking at the specs of the tablet,

Exterior: Dimensions: 10.81 in (275 mm) x 6.79 in (173 mm) x 0.35 in (8.9 mm)
Weight: Less than 1.49 lbs (676 grams)
Casing: Vapor Mg
Color: Magnesium (Silver)
Integrated Kickstand: Dual-position (display angled to 24 degrees or 40 degrees)
Physical buttons: Volume up/down, Power

Storage and Memory: 32GB or 64GB
2GB RAM

Display: Screen: 10.6 inch
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (widescreen)
Touch: 5-point multi-touch
Durable display

CPU and Wireless: NVIDIA Tegra 4 (T40) 1.7 GHz Quad Core
Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)
Bluetooth® v.4.0 technology

Network Specifications for Surface 2 (AT&T 4G LTE): 2G GSM (Quadband: 850/900/1800/1900)
3G UMTS (Bands 1, 2, 5)
4G LTE (Bands 2, 4 ,5, 7, 17)

Battery Life: Up to 10 hours of video playback
7-15 days idle life
Charges in 2-4 hours with included power supply

Camera, Video and Audio: Two video cameras on front and back
3.5 megapixel front-facing camera
5.0 megapixel rear-facing camera
Two microphones
Stereo speakers with Dolby® sound

Ports: Full-size USB 3.0
microSD card reader
microSIM card slot (with AT&T 4G LTE model only)
Headphone jack
HD video out port
Cover port

Sensors: Ambient light sensor
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Magnetometer
Proximity Sensor
Digital Compass


The specs aside, this is a great device for anyone that wants to do more at school (like me) or at work. With Windows 8.1 RT you will be relying on the windows app store for your needs seeing as this device doesn't support (.exe) programs. Although the Surface 2 does come with Microsoft Office 2013 pre-installed so you can do more, unlike the Surface Pro 2. 
You have your choice of getting the touch cover 2 or the type cover 2, or you could use the USB 3.0 port and hook up a number of peripherals. With the mini HDMI out you can extend your productivity to another screen!

Let's talk about pricing and availability! You can pick up the Surface 2 by Microsoft at the following Stores, to see it just click the store name! (prices may change)