DataWind on Tuesday (17 March) announced an interesting package where the company is offering free internet for one year along with its two new smartphones, the PocketSurfer 2G4 and 3G4. Partnering with Reliance Communications, the company is aiming to replace the feature phone category and provide a smartphone experience at an affordable price. According to a report mentioned by DataWind, there are more than 1.3 crore feature phones purchased in India priced below the Rs 3,000 price mark. The new package is targeted at consumers in the rural areas as well as consumers who cannot afford high-end smartphones and data charges. The company says that it will cover the billing charges for the consumer for one year of mobile data where one can browse through millions of webpages without having to pay anything extra. Of course the free bundle does not include video streaming or downloading, but it seems like a decent effort from DataWind to penetrate deeper into the low-end mobile market and provide internet to the masses. However, there is the big factor of providing seamless connectivity in remote areas. We never got a demo at the launch event as none of the display units included the Reliance SIM cards, so there still remains a question of reliability of the network. The PocketSurfer 2G4 is a 3.5 inch, Dual SIM, 2G+WiFi smartphone priced at Rs 1,999 while the PocketSurfer 3G4 is a 4 inch, Dual SIM, Dual camera, 3G+WiFi smartphone which will be available at Rs 2,999. The PocketSurfer 3G5 will also available with the new offer at Rs 5,499.
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The Nexus has been around ever since the dawn of Android, but despite all of them launching abroad, the first Nexus smartphone that officially made its way to India was the Nexus 4 by LG in the year 2013. This was followed by the Nexus 5 again made by LG last year and now we have a brand new Nexus made by Motorola. With the Motorola Nexus, it is the second time when the Nexus has got a premium label since the Samsung Nexus S was announced in the year 2012 priced at about $529 in the US. The LG Nexus 4 and the Nexus 5 both were priced at a much affordable range and were never placed as premium flagship devices. The Nexus range (apart from the Nexus S) was always a mid to high ranged device which would provide the latest and the quickest Android software updates. The Moto Nexus is like the 2014 Moto X on steroids, like literally. The device is huge with a 5.9-inch display which is even larger than the Galaxy Note 4 (5.7-inch). This is an unexpected size of choice because most of the flagship devices are still hanging around the 5-5.5 inch range. Probably Google thought this would fit as it would complete the series of Nexus devices (Nexus 4, 5, 7, 9, and 10). Nonetheless the handset looks brilliant even with its large footprint. The display uses an AMOLED panel which has a resolution of 2560x1440 and is one of the best displays one can get on a smartphone apart from the Note 4. The glass on top of the display feels slightly curved making the interaction very comfortable and nimble. The bezels are not the slimmest but well maintained even after adding two speakers on the top and bottom of the display. Speaking of which, the Nexus 6 has an amazing set of speakers which are loud and very clear, easily filling up your bedroom. The quality is quite similar to the BoomSound speakers used by HTC. The handset feels very sturdy thanks to the metal frame holding the device together with a plastic back. The back panel includes the shiny Nexus branding along with the Motorola logo in a dimple right below the 13MP camera lens. The camera is backed up by two LED flash units fitted in a ring around the camera lens. You will notice a curved finish at the back which not only helps in bringing a better grip but makes the device slim from the top and bottom. There are many smartphones with metal frames, but the Nexus 6 (like the Moto X) feels very different due to the curves. Motorola has given attention to detail and has made the device to last for more than what one usually expects. On the software front it runs on stock Android Lollipop 5.0 and the new version looks and runs very smooth on the device. The new material design looks great has made Android into a much mature and intuitive mobile operating system. The new update also brings in fast-charge support where you can fully charge the device in about 1 hour with the provided fast-charger. After a long time a Nexus device has seen an improvement in the camera department as the Nexus 6 features a 13MP camera with OIS which shoots some really amazing pictures especially with its HDR+ mode. It can also record in UHD 4K resolution. The focus is fast and even the colours in the pictures come out accurate. This is also a big improvement for Motorola as all of its current smartphones have an average camera. The Nexus 6 is discomforting because of its large size but it tends to grow on you in just about a week or two. The device has the capability to make you realise that having a large smartphone is actually not that bad as it serves as a great multimedia device especially if you like to watch a lot of videos or play games. The Moto Nexus is a powerful smartphone but is somehow not as good as the Galaxy Note 4 as the latter offers a much better productivity package. The Note 4 with its S-Pen gives you a whole new way to interact with the handset and is actually quite accurate and intuitive. Samsung has also put in some interesting features on the Note 4 like the fingerprint scanner, or the heart rate monitor which gives it an edge over the Nexus 6.
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The Huawei WatchYou wouldn’t associate this Chinese company with smartwatches but they have showcased one that men truly like the look of. It has a classic look and it’s easy to forget its really a smartwatch. Huawei also released a smartwatch-fitness tracker—Bluetooth headset hybrid.Samsung Galaxy S6 And S6 EdgeSamsung hasn’t been having a particularly good time lately, but that didn’t stop it from confidently refreshing its Galaxy S line with not one but two phones. Both have the familiar Galaxy contours but plastic has been finally shed, this time for Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides. The more interesting of the two S6’s is the Edge which has screen spilling over both sides, giving it a more beautiful look but also adding new functionality. You can colour-code your favourite contacts and see the edges glow in that assigned colour when you get a call. The two phones are about the most powerful in the world right now and have fantastic cameras with f1.9 lenses on both sides, live HDR, optical image stabilisation, and quick-trigger from the home button. Now to see if the Galaxy S6 does for Samsung what the Galaxy S5 did not.LG G Flex 2We’ve seen LG’s curved phone last year, but here it is again in a refreshed version. While not many people actually bought the device, it still caused a lot of interest, and that continues through to this year. When LG presented the all new G Flex 2, the focus was all on how beautiful it is, which might make you wonder if there’s anything else to the curve. Well, it makes the device fit the face better, actually makes looking at the screen more immersive, and gives the phone more durability and toughness. In fact, you can press it down and it will bounce back up to the original. It’s now smaller and nicer to hold and some specs have been bumped up, especially the screen. The phone is also less expensive this time, though whether that will hold true for India or not remains to be seen.Pebble Time SteelThe Pebble watch has had its cult following since its initial campaign on Kickstarter. The Pebble Time has been the most funded Kickstarter project. Much of its appeal is in its looks. But this time it will have smart straps and sensors and a battery that lasts 10 days.Blackberry LeapBlackBerry wasn’t to be left behind at the Mobile World Congress and so it launched a touchscreen phone called the Leap. There’s no additional physical keyboard and without it, it’s reasonable to wonder who exactly this mid-range phone will appeal to because long-time BlackBerry users really want the keyboard. But interestingly, there was just a sneak given to audiences at MWC of a curved phone with a slider.LG UrbaneThe big round smartwatch from LG has a few unique things about it. It can support LTE, for one. It also runs on WebOS an operating system LG bought from HP, and not on Android Wear. There’s a non-LTE version and both look extremely fashionable — for men.HTC One M9The design on HTC’s One series has been much loved by those who don’t want plastic and need an alternative to the sea of similar smartphones that flood the market. The M9 makes no big departure from the earlier design but makes it more satiny and pretty with its duo-tone finish. The M9 has the top Snapdragon 810 processor. The camera is a 20MP primary and the 4 Ultrapixel on the rear.The RunscibleA very attractive round pocket-watch style wearable — or pocketable — the Runscible is unusual in many ways. It can take calls; you can assign 12 contacts to it, it gives you specific social network activity alerts, and it has GPS which it uses to take you to interesting places.HTC Vive headsetsVirtual Reality headsets were really evident at MWC this year, clearly showing that this is the next big trend in tech. HTC unveiled a headset which transports you to another 3D world. It has to connect to a PC though. There’s a bunch of controllers to navigate.Samsung's Gear VR headsetsSamsung’s Gear VR headset is particularly interesting because it can work with smartphones: at least the Galaxy S6s. You can be practically in the movie when you put it on and watch, according to Samsung. Of course, you still have to strap the thing to your face.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 06-04-2015)
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Acer Aspire E-5571GRs 62,499In these days when laptops are becoming smaller and smaller until people give them up for tablets and give up those for large smartphones, the Acer Aspire E-5 571G seems a colossus. It’s designed for portability but not mobility. A sort of desktop-laptop. The size of the screen only means that this hunk of tech is meant for those who need to sit down and dive into their work, concentrate, and shut the world out. Smaller notebooks are for those who have a more physically active work day, typically rushing from one meeting to another with their devices in tow, and of course for those who travel a lot. This giant laptop is in either grey-black or a garnet red and it has a plastic casing, though it doesn’t look it. Its texture is smooth and easily wipeable, so I don’t see it gathering too much dirt or fingerprints.But what it looks like is besides the point. The machine is power-packed, at a great price for what it gives. Rs 62,499 gets you an Intel Core i7 4510U with 8GB RAM and 2GB VRAM NVIDIA GeForce. You have 1TB of storage. The machine is running 64-bit Windows 8.1 on a 15.6-inch screen. The screen is adequately bright and has good viewing angles — thankfully it doesn’t wash out if you just happen to move your head a bit. Resolution is 1366x768. But here’s the thing — it’s not a touch screen. By now I think one has begun to associate a touch screen with Windows because that’s how its tiled interface works best. I constantly found myself reaching out to swipe away an application only to remember this wasn’t going to happen. But, should that matter little to you, you’ll get used to working the old way, without touch screens, fast enough.The keyboard is, I often think, one of the most critical parts of a laptop; one that can make or break your entire work speed and style. They keys are well spaced out and allow you to type quite fast. The keys could have done with a little more travel to them, but do work fine without that as well. There’s a large touchpad and the full number pad on the right.The battery gives you seven hours, plus there’s a battery pack. Overall, it’s a good get-down-to-it machine.Lenovo A6000Rs 7,000Lenovo has been busy. It’s been launching phones finely aimed at specific consumer segments. The most recent to hit India is for those who are hankering after 4G LTE and don’t see themselves paying enormous sums of money for it. Quite rightly too.A little 5-inch phone called the A6000 brings 4G capability in just Rs 7,000. Its first sale on Flipkart lasted a mere four seconds for some 20,000 units. What you get is a totally modest phone in all other respects, but the connectivity. It’s got a soft smooth back with removable battery, dual-SIM, and an SD card slot with the capability of moving apps to this external storage. That’s good because there’s precious little storage on board — 8GB of which about 4 is available. The screen looks good despite not being very high resolution at 720p. Sound too is pretty nice, with two front speakers and Dolby sound.Other specs are modest including a 2,300mAh battery, a 1.2GHz Qualcomm 410 processor — except it’s a 64 bit — just 1GB of RAM, and an 8 and 2MP set of cameras. Despite these specs, it performs adequately and runs Android 4.4.4 with the promise of an upgrade to Lollipop soon.I didn’t have a great experience with the camera which I found slow and resulting in noisy images. In low light, you may as well not use it. It’s not much of a looker either, but definitely doesn’t veer towards the cheap and budget look that some phones have. It’s also light while being built well. It’s a good size and very comfortable to hold.The A6000 comes into a market crowded with all sorts of inexpensive wares, including from Xiaomi, Asus, Motorola and others. It has its work cut out for it.Xiaomi mi4Rs 19,999The mi4 is really about a year old, but not much about this smartphone from the House of Xiaomi is dated. It looks a whole lot like an iPhone, but then so many companies copy Apple — including sometimes Apple.And so to move on from that issue, the Mi4 is a really solidly built gadget, skirted by steely metal all around and carrying a bit of heft in its 5-inch form. Well, that is, the screen is 5 inches. It's a nice screen too, with good strong bright colours. It is, however, a bit warmer in tone than it should be.The back is glossy plastic and though it doesn't look bad at all, the world is in a state of plastic fatigue. The Mi4 is all topped up with hardware specs. Notably the Snapdragon 801, 3GB of RAM, and an 8MP front camera. The rear camera is 13MP and these do a pretty good job of low-light photos. There's the most recent pre-Lollipop Android running on it.This one isn't as cheap as the other Xiaomi phones, but it's still great build and high-end specs for Rs 19,999. What makes it — and other Xiaomi devices — stand out, is the proprietary interface sitting on top of Android. It's a little Apple-like on the face of it, but once you explore settings and downloads from the Mi account you, there's a lot of customisation you can do. It isn't for those who don't want to tinker with their phones, though even they have at least a good solid phone, it's better in the hands of those who want to arrange how the device looks, use theme packs and enable features. For instance, you can project the screen on a PC. You can record calls. In fact, the MiUI is so popular it's available to download and use on other phones. The MiUI is in version 6 and is regularly getting updates to fix bugs or bring in features.You have to turn to the Redmi Note for 4G, but if you're not in a 4G zone, look at the Mi4 — though you'll have to watch for the flash sales on Flipkart with your finger on the buzzer.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 06-04-2015)
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Expanding the Titanium Series, Karbonn Mobiles, India’s leading Smartphone manufacturer, on Friday (13 March) introduced another addition to its Mach portfolio with the launch of ultra light and powerful Mach Two Smartphone. The aesthetically designed device weighs a mere 112 gms encased in a resilient front and back Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which makes the device virtually scratch proof and sturdy. The device has a sleek body with a width of 6.3mm and is equipped with an impressively powerful 1.4GHz octa- core processor for fast and lag free multi-tasking and gaming.The attractively designed device is a delight for photography enthusiasts, equipped with True 8 MP AF front and rear camera with BSI image sensor which captures rich life-like photos with vibrant colours and sharp detailing in any lighting condition. For flawless selfies and video calling, Mach Two offers varied features including Face Beauty Mode (to beautify photos), Face Detection and Smile shot to make clicking selfies a pure delight.The phone offers 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity and is equipped with 3.5 G (HSPA) for fast web browsing. The device is available in an elegant Deep Blue colour and is available at all major ecommerce portals and brick and mortar stores at a price of Rs. 10,490 only with a protective silicon case free.Bowers & Wilkins Launches 3 New ProductsBowers & Wilkins, the global leader for premium loudspeaker products and purveyors of True Sound with nearly 50 years of audio heritage, today announced the launch of 3 new products in India. These new products include Bowers & Wilkins T7, Bowers & Wilkins P5 Series 2 & Bowers & Wilkins C5 Series 2. These new products are going to give a new experience of audio entertainment to the users.Bowers & Wilkins T7 combines Bluetooth wireless streaming with compact size, and rechargeable convenience with Bowers & Wilkins legendary approach to high-quality sound and the first commercial application of Bowers & Wilkins Micro Matrix technology. T7 is Bowers & Wilkins first Bluetooth speaker, and as with everything Bowers & Wilkins does, T7 is all about sound.American Express Pay With Points AnnouncedAmerican Express Cardmembers planning to upgrade to the recently launched iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus can now do so without paying for it, by just redeeming their Membership Reward points at Apple Stores. Cardmembers can also shop for apparel or dine at their favorite restaurants in Cyber Hub (Gurgaon) without paying anything, as American Express, the world’s largest card issuer by purchase volume, announced a new initiative enabling Cardmembers to ‘Pay with Points’ for their shopping and dining experience. Designed to offer greater flexibility and choice to Cardmembers, the new ‘Pay with Points’ initiative from American Express allows Cardmembers to enjoy real-time Membership Rewards redemption at the point of sale at over 750 leading retail and dining outlets. With merchant partners like Apple stores, Bose, Croma, Reliance Digital, Shoppers’ Stop, Armani Jeans, Marks & Spencer, and several dining outlets at Cyber Hub (Gurgaon), Cardmembers can look forward to an enhanced shopping and dining experience.Panasonic Announces New Video Door PhonesPanasonic recently rolled out its new range of Wireless Video Intercom models, the VL-SW251BX and VL-SF70BX priced at Rs. 29,900 and Rs. 18,500 respectively. The models come with advanced features and ease of operation which play a major role in enhancing home security today. The need for full-time security in every residential property has become important and essential due to the increasing crime rate and unsafe environment.The VL-SW251BX comes with a 5-inch wide screen to deliver crisp and clear images with the ability of recording up to 400 pictures at a time. [50 separate sessions: 1 session consists of 8 shots]. Its special voice changing function enables answering unwanted visitors by changing ones voice. On the other hand, the VL-SF70BX comes with a 7-inch wide monitor for enhancing family security, this model can be easily installed anywhere at home. The picture recording function allows up to 50 images to be recorded at a time.Intex Expands Its TV RangeDevised to deliver the ultimate home entertainment experience, Intex Technologies, one of the leading Consumer Electronics brand today announced the launch of its elegant, LED 3111 TV. The television offers new and improved features that provide flawless picture quality.Elaborating on the dimensions of the television the vertical panel gives a wider view hence better viewing experience. The Eye Safe T Matrix LED technology & smart power saving feature reduces time lag, relieves eye strain & reduces power consumption. It encompasses all the essentials for a luxurious, entertaining experience.“At Intex, we always focus on consumers who are looking for upgrading their television set with best in class technology. We strive to develop state-of-the-art products with value driven advanced technology and designs. Our latest addition in LED TV segment is blend of latest technology with elegant looks, for the customers who want style with substance,” Said Nidhi Markanday, Business Head, Consumer Durables and IT accessories.Blue Coat Systems To Be Acquired By Bain CapitalBlue Coat Systems, a market leader in enterprise security solutions to protect enterprises against even the most advanced threats, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by funds advised by Bain Capital, one of the world’s foremost private investment firms. The company is being acquired from Thoma Bravo, LLC in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $2.4 billion.Over the past three years, Blue Coat has experienced a significant increase in its market share across the globe, where 80 percent of the Fortune 500 are its customers. In India, Blue Coat has realised a year on year growth rate of 45 per cent and has a customer portfolio of more than 400 companies.“Blue Coat has differentiated products for protecting enterprises from even the most sophisticated threats, and we are proud to be a foundational part of the security architecture for the world’s largest enterprises. The world’s most trusted brands use Blue Coat, and the acquisition by Bain Capital sets us on the trajectory to further grow our portfolio, better serve our customers and help us prepare to return to the public markets,” said Gregory S. Clark, Chief Executive Officer, Blue Coat Systems.TCS Appoints New Director To BoardTata Consultancy Services, (TCS),ba leading IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, announced today it has appointed Aarthi Subramanian as an Executive Director to the Board of Directors of the Company for a period of three years.With this appointment, the total strength of the Board of Directors increases to 11 directors, which include six independent directors. Subramanian is the Global Head of Delivery Excellence Group responsible for governance of service delivery, compliance and risk management.“TCS is keen on giving exposure to the functioning of the Board to top talent as part of their leadership development. Ms. Subramanian with over 25 years of experience across multiple industry solutions in different markets and a sharp focus on driving excellence in deploying best practices will bring unique perspective to the Board deliberations. She will benefit immensely from the exposure to a global set of Directors,” said N Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD.USA Welcomes Record Number Of Indian Travelers In 2014, USA received a total of 961,790 Indian visitors marking an impressive growth of 11.9 per cent as compared to last year. As per US Department of Commerce figures, in 2014 India was the 11thlargest inbound tourism market for the U.S.Indian travelers form an important segment in the growth in visitor arrivals to the US and India was one of the first few key countries where Brand USA set up its office in 2013, promoting the destination via a range of activities-including programs for the travel trade, consumers and public relations.US Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Stefan M. Selig announced that a record 75 million international visitors traveled to the United States in 2014, a seven percent increase from 2013. Tourism is America's largest services export and these exports support 1.1 million US jobs."Today's data shows that the United States continues to be the premier destination for international visitors," Selig said. "It also highlights that we remain on track toward achieving President Obama's goal of attracting 100 million international visitors to the United States by 2021."
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The Xiaomi Mi Pad was launched on Thursday (12 March) in India at an affordable price of Rs 12,999. At this price point it is 'the' best tablet one can get as it comes loaded with an Nvidia Tegra K1 processor, the same that has been used on the new Nexus 9 tablet and a 2K resolution IPS display. We take a quick look at the device and check out what the Chinese company has been cooking. Xiaomi likes to keep its packaging simple and same goes for the new tablet. The tablet actually feels good in your hands and gives off a squarer dimension. The design has a minimalistic feel to it and it reminds us of one of the most popular tablets on the planet (read: iPad) The Mi Pad features a 7.9-inch IPS display (2048x1536), an Nvidia Tegra K1 quad-core processor clocked at 2.2GHz, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, 8MP rear and 5MP front cameras, a 6700mAH battery and run on Android 4.4 with MIUI 6 on top. At such a low price point, one does not expect a high quality display, but to our surprise the Mi Pad offers an IPS panel which is beautiful. It is sharp, the colours look vivid and even the viewing angles are decent. The back has a glossy plastic finish which makes the tablet quite slippery, probably a matte finish would have made sense. The back consists of an 8MP camera, and as you can see, the location and the way it has been implemented looks very clean but again is similar to the iPad. There are also two stereo speakers at the back which offer a pretty good amount of volume and the quality is also decent.
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Xiaomi shook the smartphone market last year with its highly competitive prices and it continues to do so with its launch of the Redmi 2 smartphone. At first glance, the smartphone does not look different from its predecessor the Redmi 1S but on close inspection you notice that the size and weight has seen a slight reduction while maintaining the previous screen dimension of 4.7-inches. The overall construction seems similar with a soft plastic removable panel at the back and a 720p display on the front which is toughened with a scratch-resistant AGC Dragontrail glass panel. You also get the same and very distinguished red capacitive keys at the bottom of the display which we have seen on the Redmi 1S and the Redmi Note. The corners are now curved and even the back feels more smoother and curvier than before giving a better grip than its predecessor. On the hardware side there is a bump in the processor thanks to a new Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor while the rest remains the same with a gig of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage. You also get two SIM card slots, both of which support 4G LTE radio, but this feature seems too ambitious as the new high-speed network has not yet made an impact in the country. Something new that we noticed was the UI. The Redmi 2 comes loaded with the new MIUI 6 out of the box running on top of Android KitKat 4.4 which was only seen previously on the Mi4. The new UI does give it a fresh look and it definitely feels smoother and hopefully will get the new Lollipop update later this year. Considering the last range of smartphones from Xiaomi, the Redmi 2 is not a huge update rather the company has looked on the minor issues and has substantially improved on them. For the price of Rs. 6,999 it is definitely worth the money, but not worth an upgrade from the Redmi 1S.
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The smartwatch market is still running on low gears but with the recent announcement of the Apple Watch, things might start to stir up. Apple officially revealed the pricing of the new Apple Watch on Monday (9 March) and somehow didn't impress a lot of fans. The launch did not include anything new since it was last announced back in September. Google was the first to launch a proper ecosystem for a wearable device with Android Wear and since Apple has taken its time to announce its own version, the Apple Watch seems like a better and more productive device. But there is more than what meets the eye. If we keep the Apple Watch against all the major smartwatches, one cannot make a strong argument as to why you should get the overly priced device for your wrist.Apart from Android Wear, there are also other wearables in the market including the highly popular Pebble and Samsung’s own bunch of devices running on Tizen.So how do these wearables stack up when you place all of them together? Let’s check them out.CompatibilityAndroid Wear devices are supported with Android smartphones running version 4.3 and upwards while the Apple Watch will be compatible with new iPhones running on iOS 8 and above. Samsung’s Tizen based wearables are said to only work with Galaxy smartphones, but one can also use them on other Android devices with a bit of tinkering. The Pebble is however better in terms of compatibility as it can be synched with an iPhone or an Android device.FeaturesAlmost all of the wearables offer the same basic functions including pushing notifications from your smartphones, quick reply to your texts or mails and of course tell you the time. Android Wear, the Apple Watch and few devices by Samsung however offer more features like telling you your heart-rate and support apps which can either entirely run on your wrist, or work in synch with the smartphone app. Android Wear offers a card based UI for the apps and notifications which you can browse by swiping them. The Apple Watch has a trendy UI with round app icons which can be interacted either with the touch-screen or with a hardware dial called the crown.In terms of productivity and features, the Apple Watch does seem to offer slightly more but it is just because it has more apps. This does not come as a surprise as Apple has taken its own sweet time to launch the device. Android Wear has however started pushing in updates and bringing in more features and new apps as well. Also there is no special feature of the Apple Watch that one might not have on any other wearable apart from Apple Pay service which is again not yet supported in the country.Battery LifeThis is one crucial factor that has put off a lot of consumers from buying a smartwatch. Almost all of the Android Wear devices offer a battery life of a day or maximum a day and half. The Apple Watch has been confirmed to give a day (18 hours) of backup before you need to run to the plug point. Most of the Samsung wearable devices have the same battery life like the Android Wear devices however the Gear fit offers about 3-4 day of battery life.The champion however is the Pebble Watch as it has a black and white display and can churn out a battery life of about 5-6 days.PricingSince there are a number of brands coming up with their very Android Wear based devices, the price range of the devices vary between Rs 7,000 and Rs 25,000. Just like Android Wear, Samsung has a few, if not many, devices under its sleeve and they also range from about Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000.The Apple Watch, which was recently announced has the basic model starting from $349 (Rs 21,000 approximately) and the Apple Watch Edition starts at an insane prices of $10,000 (Rs 6,20,000 approximately) and up to $17,000 (Rs 10,50,000 approximately) . The Pebble Watch has now been priced at $99 (Rs 6,000) and there is a brand new version on its way as well.The smartwatch era is still far away and the market is still in its infant years. It might take a bit more time before consumers get used to having such a device. While it is an excellent extension and a tool for your smartphone and a very cool looking accessory but having another device to charge everyday might just not be a good idea.
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