HTC's Android Wear watch might not be dead after all

By: Unknown on 5:20 AM

HTC might not have killed its plans for a smartwatch, despite an earlier rumor to the contrary.

Unnamed sources now tell CNET that HTC will release a smartwatch in early 2015, refuting an earlier report that said HTC was scared off by “rising costs and a lack of wow factor.”

If anything, those are just challenges that HTC plans to address when it finally does release its first wearable. Details on the device are still unclear, but CNET says that HTC is working on a design and features that stand out from other devices on the market, while basing the watch off Google's Android Wear platform.

However, HTC may be limited in how much it can do on the software side. Googleisn't allowing device makers to skin Android Wear the same way they can with Android phones, as the company aims for a more consistent experience across devices. “The device manufacturers can brand it, and they might have services that they want to include with it, but otherwise it should be the same,” Google engineering director David Burke told Ars Technica in June.

Still, there's room for HTC to stand out, especially on the design front. With smartwatches, the form is just as important as the function, and Android Wear watch makers are still struggling to accommodate a wide variety of wrists. HTC has shown that it can design slick-looking smartphones, so hopefully it hasn't given up on bringing that same stylishness to wearable tech.

Read More

HTC's smartwatch lives!

By: Unknown on 10:44 AM

HTC apparently still wants in on the wearable market

Reports of the death of HTC's smartwatch might have been greatly exaggerated. According to a source close HTC who contacted Cnet, the Taiwanese company is still working on its own smartwatch and is planning to launch it in early 2015.

Whilst it came as little surprise that Apple would enter the wearable market with the launch of the Apple Watch, HTC is a company whose entry into wearables is slightly more difficult to predict.

At the beginning of September we heard that HTC may have abandoned its smartwatch plans. The reasons given included rising costs and an increasingly competitive market, which HTC felt it couldn't compete in.

Watch out, Apple's about

At the time that news of HTC dropping its plans for its smartwatch surfaced HTC refused to comment, and it's keeping similarly tight lipped about this latest twist.

The timing of HTC's decision to continue in a market it once considered too competitive is certainly interesting, since the market has recently seen a new competitor, in the shape of Apple, emerge.

As with smartwatches such as the LG G Watch R and the Moto 360, HTC's smartwatch is expected to run on Google's Android Wear.

However exact specifics of the smartwatch, or if it will even see the light of day, are still thin on the ground until HTC tells us more. It's hosting an event on October 8, but it's doubtful that we'll hear anything about the smartwatch there.

Read More