Category: Gadgets

From its mobile wallet to the newest MacBook and, finally, the launch of the Apple Watch smartwatch.

When it comes to Apple technology news, few headlines are more important than those that report on one of the company’s few but always highly anticipated events, where rumors are proven to be true, or are swatted out of the air.

In the Spring Forward event that occurred yesterday, the most greatly awaited news circled around the Apple Watch.

However, when CEO Tim Cook took the stage, it was evident that the most wanted Apple technology news was going to be kept for last. He opened the keynote with some facts about the progress of Apple Pay, which now works with more than 2,500 banks and that is accepted at almost 700,000 locations and even over 40,000 Coca-Cola vending machines. This was followed by a brief discussion of the future of CarPlay and HomeKit.

The Apple technology news continued with the HealthKit and ResearchKit, which it claims to be promoting breakthroughs in medical study.

The newest Apple MacBook notebook computer was announced, in a device that is lighter and thinner than ever. The keynote showed that the sales of these computers have risen by 21 percent over the last year, despite the falling sales figures in the total industry. This new full-size Mac comes in space gray, silver, and gold and is 24 percent thinner than the MacBook Air 11 inch device. It weighs only 2 pounds and is just over 13 mm thick.

Finally, the smartwatch, the Apple Watch, was announced, stepping the company into the already crowded wearable technology market. Though there are many different gadgets already available from different brands and companies, many in the industry have predicted that it will be this specific device that will bring wearables into the mainstream.

There are three different types of smartwatch, including the Apple Watch (in stainless steel cases of traditional or space black), the Apple Watch Sport (in anodized aluminum cases in space grey and silver), and the Apple Watch Edition (in 18-karat gold cases of rose or yellow gold).

This was, by far, the most anticipated Apple technology news for the Spring Forward event. The smartwatch will be available for pre-order as of April 10 at Apple Retail Stores. It will begin shipping on April 24 to nine countries (U.S., Canada, Australia, China, France, Hong Kong, Germany, Japan, and the U.K.

The announcement of these new mobile devices was made in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress.

HTC has now announced that it will be releasing a new version of its HTC One flagship smartphone, in addition to revealing that it will be entering into two brand new categories, which are wearable technology and virtual reality.

The company had been rumored to be developing wearables for the past few years, and now the news is official.

The first wearable technology from HTC will be wrist worn. It is meant to be a fitness tracker that is geared specifically toward serious athletes and not necessarily the average person with a lifestyle that is only slightly more active than being sedentary. These wearables will be called the HTC Grip, and it will be possible to sync them with both Android based smartphones and iOS devices.

The HTC Grip took more time to bring the company into wearable technology than had been anticipated.

The reason, according to officials from the company, was that it did not feel that it had adequate in-house expertise for creating the software, infrastructure, and app for health and fitness wearables. Therefore, it partnered up with Under Armour in January, in order to be able to come up with a line of gadgets that would function with the UA Record fitness mobile app from that company.

While the Grip is the first piece of wearable tech that is being launched by the company, it was also made clear that this would not be the last. It is going to become available to consumers this spring, and it will have a price tag of $199. It will contain a GPS tracker, which is unlike most other fitness tracker devices, but it will make it an appealing option for cyclists and runners who would prefer not to have to bring their smartphones with them when they work out.

This wearable technology is also water resistant, so that it can withstand rain and sweat (and even showering), though the company does not recommend that it be worn while going swimming, when it would actually be submerged in water.