A “OnePlus” April – #OneGameChanger

Greetings readers,

April is going to be another OnePlus month by the looks of things. With their brilliant début into the smartphone industry – OnePlus One, the Chinese handset manufacturer has caught the attention of the world. In less than a year of having entered this market they already seem to show ambitions of disrupting yet another industry in April of 2015. Suggestive of this intent are the following three images that they have released on their own forum to indicate their intent to change things in another industry that is not the Tablet nor the SmartWatch category.

Guess No.01 – Game Controller (Smartphone Accessory):

Too early to say but my educated guess from their previous posts online and their discussions through the blog is that they are entering the Gaming Console or at least the Gaming Controllers industry. The gaming controller seems more of a likelihood considering OnePlus has noted that the smartphone industry has put a dent in the gaming consoles (casual gaming) industry. A controller that can slot the OnePlus One and/or other handsets in and make them mobile gaming consoles could be an interesting offering. Much like the “Samsung Gamepad” this could be one for the One or a universal android handset controller. Gamechanger – naaaah!

Related read: OnePlus Blog

“Smartphone Gaming: Is Casual Winning the Console War?”

Guess No.02 – Gaming Console:

The second and one of the most predictable guesses would be a gaming console (handheld) with smart capabilities built in, one is similar to the “NVIDIA Shield Portable”.

Although this is a rather obvious guess, I consider it less likely considering the company has shown proof that the casual gaming industry has taken a hit post the smartphone era. But having said that, there is nothing to stop them from taking it up as a challenge. One that OnePlus wants to face head straight and pull off another unlikely product hit. Only time will tell.

Guess No. 03 – AI Game Kit:

Now this is my favourite guess of all and probably the wildest of them all. What if (and its a huge “What If?”) OnePlus has decided to take the gaming industry by storm by introducing something like Anki DRIVE, an AI driven toy, board, game.

My reasons for such an audacious guess:

1. 

   Looks like an IR or similar sensor for a Gaming Device

   

   Looks like game tracks shown in super high shutter speed capturing the light trails of the toy cars.

   

   Need I say more? Phone as a controller.

   Well that’s as much as I can wrench my brains to predict what is to come in April from OnePlus. Whatever it is, I am sure it will be something worth the wait… They seem to be much more agile in terms of rolling out some products compared to their elder and bigger friends in the market who announce a product almost a year before release.

Here’s their own power-bank that is soon to hit the Amazon shores: Alleged pricing is in the range of Rs. 950 or $15. That is pretty damn awesome bang for buck for a 10,000mah battery pack.

Hope you had a good read…

Look forward to your comments below.

Regards,

TeCH_SiD

The Game of SmartWatches – 2015

Greetings Friends, It is March 01st 2015 and Mobile World Congress (MWC 2015) is upon us in Barcelona. While we wait for Samsung and HTC to announce their flagship devices for the year, Huawei has surprised a lot of tech pundits with the announcement of their arrival into the SmartWatch industry. Here’s a few snapshots of the device:

Business

Huawei SmartWatch

Accessories

Urban

Huawei Watch

Athletic

Signature

The specifications of the Huawei Watch are yet to be revealed and that includes any pricing information. Much is to be learnt about this device and the crucial details about its battery life, screen-resolution and handset compatibility. All that is known from the videos that were leaked is that the device sports a sapphire glass display and stainless steel unibody casing.

What is interesting is the fact that this device mimics the Android Wear front runner Motorola Moto 360 and the Apple Watch in some smart ways. They have borrowed the digital crown concept from the Apple Watch. Their notifications and interface albeit built on Android Wear has a striking resemblance to the Moto 360.

What could set this device apart is the fact that it does not have a compromised screen compared to the Moto 360 which loses a small portion of its circular screen to accommodate the sensors built in. Here’s a comparison of the two to understand what I am hinting at:

Motorola Moto 360

Huawei Watch

Huawei Watch

The videos of the device have since been pulled and made private. But luckily we have found alternative URLs and here they are:

Intro to Android Wear: As this is our first post on Android Wear and the Smartwatch category, we would like to give you readers a quick guide on the various brands and use cases of Android Wear devices. Google has taken a keen interest in connected devices off-late and this is evident from their acquisitions in the recent past with Nest Labs and Waze (GPS based location tracking system software). But over the past year or so, Google has dipped its fingers into the smartwatch category and seems to have got the right ingredients for partners to cook up the best recipes. Google has built a platform by the name “Android Wear”. You could find a lot more information on Android Wear by clicking the link. Some of the more prominent players already in the market are listed here:

Sony SmartWatch 3

Motorola Moto 360

Asus Zen Watch

LG G Watch R

Samsung Galaxy Gear

Some of the simple yet extremely useful use cases are shown here:

Needless to say that when two of the largest tech firms in the world are in this space already, it is one that will dominate the years to come in terms of innovation and money. With one of the largest organizations in China (and by some respect the world), Huawei getting into this space with some tasteful delight it is only going to make things more feisty with competition. In the end, we the consumers will be the winners with a plethora of choices available. If you are an Apple faithful then head down to this page for more information: Apple Watch Thank you for your time, I hope this post has helped you a bit in deciding which one to go for or not. Regards, TeCH_SiD