Watch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about Apple's release of iOS 6.1.4 and why nobody is excited about it. Then we go through HTC's Q1 results, which prove to be extremely bad for the company. Microsoft is next as we've got credible reports that a second-generation Surface tablet will be smaller and launched in June. Nokia is next as a new patent points to smartphone cameras with adjustable aperture. We end today's show talking about a Google Smartwatch patent that brings a touch-sensitive wristband. It's still hard to tell if any of these patents will ever happen, but we can't deny a ...

With the latest rumor, according to which Microsoft might be working on its own smartwatch, the number of companies allegedly interested in this particular piece of wearable tech becomes even larger (with names like Apple, Samsung, and even LG purportedly preparing their own Pebble-competitor). "Executives at suppliers" have it on good authority that the Redmond-based company is working on designs for a touch-enabled watch device. Same people claim that Microsoft has asked suppliers earlier this year to ship components for a potential watch-style device; one said executive even claimed ...

It's been almost a month since I've been wearing my own Pebble smart watch. Make no mistake, despite a few short-comings, this is the best watch that I've ever worn. It gets notifications pushed to it from my Nexus 4. I don't have to constantly pull my Nexus 4 out of my pocket to check and see if that alert I just received is important or not. Most of the time it's not. Even still, just having that information readily available is a huge help for me! Those of you who are thinking to yourself "why not just pull out your phone" need to try a smart watch to truly appreciate its value and ...

This year might also be the year of smartwatches; there are already a couple of offerings out there, one which we particularly found interesting, but Apple is also rumored to release its own watch. Samsung, Apple's biggest competitor, will definitely not rest on its laurels and a company executive just confirmed the South Korean manufacturer's plans. “We’ve been preparing the watch product for so long”, admitted Lee Young Hee, Samsung executive vice president of mobile business.  “We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the ...

Around here, we're no strangers to wrist-worn smart devices. From bare-bones Bluetooth sport watches to full-on smartphones condensed to wearable size, we've seen them all. Problem is, we haven't been all that impressed by what we've seen. Whether by halfhearted design or a misguided quest for all-encompassing functionality, most of the intelligent watches we've strapped on have very quickly found themselves retired to the novelty drawer. Last year, a company named Pebble -formerly Allerta- burst onto the scene with aspirations to change all that. Pebble's halo product: an e-paper-based ...

I have always have a fascination with tiny, supplementary gadgets that change the way we interface with staple devices. The S Pen, for example, is a controller for the Galaxy Note series that unlocks tons of functionality. To this day, while using the Nexus 4 as my daily driver, I miss using the S Pen. And other styli simply can't compare. When the inPulse Smartwatch by Allerta was first announced in late 2009, I could't help but swoon. At the time, I was was die-hard BlackBerry fan (to the point I refused to own anything else) and could not wait to get my hands on this revolutionary piece ...

Last week, we brought you some interesting images of one designer's idea of how a Google-made smartwatch might end up looking. At the time, we felt obligated to make perfectly clear that, while this was a cool-looking idea and all, there wasn't any particular reason to believe that Google was actually working on developing any product like it. That may not so true anymore, upon a new report arriving that it is "actively exploring the idea of making its own smart watch." According to Business Insider, Google's been approaching the idea more from a marketing standpoint than one concerned ...

Perhaps we should start off by explaining what a smart watch is. Like a regular watch -- or chronograph if you'd prefer -- a smart watch tells time, but it does so much more. A regular watch (which we'll just call a "watch") might also include the date, the day of the week, and if you had a super-fancy one, even the barometric pressure and altitude. The nice thing about a watch is its simplicity. You glance at it and get all the information you need. As we started waltzing toward the chasm of information overload, brought on by the now ubiquitous smartphone, the traditional watch just ...