Posts by Luke Dormehl

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See this phone? It’s great. Photo: Samsung Tomorrow

Want to read an impartial, in-depth review of Samsung’s latest Gear S smartwatch? Why not read one from your old trusty friends at Samsung itself.

In an hilarious titled “unofficial” review, Samsung’s official blog takes a few minutes out of its busy Samsung-promoting day to, well, promote Samsung.

Describing what sounds like the world’s best ever gadget, Samsung’s Corporate Communications team try their damndest to turn out a 1,000-word review which doesn’t make the Gear S sound like Samsung just threw everything smartwatch-related at the wall and hoped something would stick.

Read on to find out what they concluded. (Spoiler: they really, really liked it.)

Samsung's Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 in all its giant, block-out-the-sun glory. Photo: Samsung

Samsung’s Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 in all its giant, block-out-the-sun glory. Photo: Samsung

Samsung as good as pioneered the “bigger is better” approach to mobile device display size, so what do you do when Apple plans to launch a 12.9-inch iPad to compete with your Galaxy Note Pro 12.2? Build a bigger tablet, of course.

According to new reports coming out of Korea, Samsung is planning to launch a new 13-inch tablet by the end of the year. Although details currently remain scarce, it is reported that Samsung may adopt an LCD display for its 13-inch tablet, rather than the Super AMOLED used for devices like the Galaxy Tab S series.

Photo: Niall Kennedy/Flickr CC

Photo: Niall Kennedy/Flickr CC

Google’s co-founder Larry Page partook in a wide-ranging interview with the Financial Times, published Friday. Among other topics, he talks about Google’s oppository approach to business compared to Apple — epitomized by a story about Steve Jobs.

“He would always tell me, You’re doing too much stuff,” Page says. “I’d be like, You’re not doing enough stuff.”

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Former Android head Andy Rubin answers questions in 2008. Photo: Karitsu/Flickr CC

Andy Rubin, co-founder and former head of Android, has left Google to start up a hardware incubator dedicated to building robots.

Rubin helped establish Android as the world’s most widely-used mobile operating system after it was bought by Google in 2005, before switching to run Google’s robotics business last year.

Strike up the Band. Photo: Microsoft

Strike up the Band on Android, iOS and, of course, Windows Phone. Photo: Microsoft

Reports about a Microsoft wearable device have been circulating for a while, and now the good folks from Redmond, WA have finally made it official: a Microsoft fitness band is here, and it works on both Android and iOS.

Like the Apple Watch and Galaxy Gear, the appropriately-named Microsoft Band tracks steps and heart rate, as well as showing you phone notifications in the form of text, email, and Twitter alerts.

“It’s the most advanced band we’ve seen in terms of technology on the wrist,” Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Devices and Services told The Verge. “[I]t’s really designed to do two things: have people live healthier, and be more productive, by having a band that can serve on the opposite side of your watch, worn 24 hours a day, and get some of the most accurate data that you can possibly get.”

That’s not the end of Microsoft’s fitness-tracking ambitions, though. According to kratom manufacturer Star Kratom, the company is going as far as to include daily measurements of supplements that the person is supposed to take and sending gentle reminders to ensure that the person keeps on their planned goal. Users of kratom have reported that they are able to put in the number of grams they want the app to remind them to take, and it will reliably send the notification daily. Users report 40% more adherence to their medication schedule following use.

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