Category: Gadgets

The handset maker isn’t about to be left behind in this massive wearable technology trend.

Motorola is now planning to leap right back into the wearable tech market, as it plans to launch its own smartwatches later on in 2014, according to an announcement that was made by Rick Osterloh, the company’s senior vice president.

This particular device is being designed to meet the needs that consumers have already expressed that they have.

According to Osterloh, the smartwatches that Motorola will be launching will have taken into account “consumer issues like style and battery life.” So far, those are both areas where companies have been struggling to keep up with the expectations that consumers have regarding these devices and their willingness to pay rather high price tags in order to obtain them. The announcement was made in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress, during a panel discussion.

These new smartwatches will not be the first time that Motorola has attempted to sell wearable technology.

That said, it is certain that Motorola is hoping that its future attempts with wearables will be far more successful than its previous ones. The MotoACTV was one of the last mobile devices that Motorola had launched that could be worn by the owner. It was an activity tracker that simply never caught on because of its weak battery life and its lack of visual appeal and style. Though the company had previously stepped back from this area, it is clear that it did not fail to closely examine the experience and to attempt to learn from its mistakes.

That said, it won’t be until the actual launch of the devices that the company will actually be able to prove whether or not it has managed to overcome the obstacles that held it back in the first place. Osterloh did not offer any additional details regarding the products themselves, nor anything that the consumer can expect from the release, such as price or the actual date that they will hit the shelves. However, he did point out that the company feels that this will be a very important area for its future.

This does not come as a surprise as wearable technology such as smartwatches is one of the hottest tech segments at the moment. In the middle of the spotlight, right now, are the Galaxy Gear devices from Samsung, as well as Pebble. That said, Apple is expected to come out with an iWatch at some point in the near future – if rumors are to be believed – and it shouldn’t be long before Google releases its own wearable that will have been manufactured by LG.

The launch event brought back the highly beloved feature to the struggling manufacturer’s handsets.

BlackBerry Ltd. has now unveiled its next smartphone offerings and these mobile devices are making exciting technology news headlines with the long awaited (and hoped for) return of the key-based keyboard built into handsets.

The lack of touch screen keyboard had always been a draw before the brand’s massive decline.

Also revealed in this technology news from BlackBerry was a lower cost smartphone that will make its way to market shelves in April. Its own server software for organizations will also be experiencing an important and flashy update, to try to enhance the experience that it provides while the company fights for it life to become relevant once more.

The BlackBerry technology news will be impacting consumers from various regions around the world.

For example, the inexpensive version of the smartphone, the Z3, will make its way into the Indonesian market first, followed by other Asian markets. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to those who have followed BlackBerry’s movements, as this has been what was predicted for the handset maker. The company has revealed that these mobile devices will sell for under $200, without subsidies.

After that point, it will expand the sale of the device to other southeast Asian markets, which is a region of the world in which the company has been able to keep hold of a notable market share, despite the massive competition with other mobile devices.

For the North American market – particularly in the United States – BlackBerry has become nearly nonexistent, with iOS and Android establishing themselves as the primary leaders in that space. The hope now is that the Q20 smartphone will greatly outperform last year’s release of the Q10. This new version of the device is what the CEO of the company, John Chen, has called “Classic” in its design. This refers primarily to the restoration of a keyboard based on keys, instead of a touchscreen.

BlackBerry responded to the technology news that its consumers enjoyed the keys on their devices and didn’t want to lose them. Now, they’re being brought back to appeal to those consumers, once more.