REVIEW: Apple iPad Air

Slimmer, lighter, and faster than last year's model, Apple's iPad Air ($499-$929) is the best tablet for the most people. It's a full-fledged computer that's now so thin and light that you won't even notice it's in your bag. Like every iPad before it, it's striving to become the magic book with eternally rewriting pages that seers and science fiction writers have predicted for millennia.

The iPad Air isn't a radical break from the iPads before it. It doesn't watch your gestures or read your fingerprint. But its slimmer build gets it that much closer to the dream of the sheet-of-paper-thin form factor where the hardware disappears, and all that's left is magic. The Air isn't magic, of course, but pair it up with some of the many spectacular third-party apps available for iOS, and it's a step on the path. And like its predecessor, it's our Editors' Choice for large-screen tablets.

Physical Design and Wi-FiConsiderably smaller and lighter than any previous iPad, the Air measures 9.4 by 6.6 by a razor-thin .29 inches (HWD), with a much slimmer bezel on the sides of the screen. (That doesn't affect usage; the iPad's touch screen still has excellent thumb rejection.) Tuck the Air into the corner of last year's model, for instance, and the fourth-generation iPad shows 3/4-inch of bezel off the right side. This iPad also has a flat back, not a convex one like previous models. It comes in Silver (with a white front) or Space Gray (with a black front).

At almost exactly a pound for the Wi-Fi model and a hair heavier (1.05 pounds) for the LTE version, the Air isn't feather-light. There are lighter large tablets; the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 weighs more than two ounces less, for instance. But it's airy enough that throwing it into your bag and carrying it all day doesn't faze you, when it might have with older iPads. 

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Otherwise, this tablet looks a lot like an iPad. Pretty much all the buttons and features are in the same place as on last year's model, although the volume rocker has been cracked into separate up and down buttons. I have mixed feelings about the bottom-ported stereo speakers. If you're listening to music with the iPad flat on a table, it's much louder than competing tablets with back-ported speakers. But if you're playing a game or video while holding the tablet in landscape mode, all of the sound pumps out of one side. 

The 9.7-inch 2,048-by-1,536 IPS LCD touch screen is bright, but rather reflective. At 264 ppi, it's at the limit of my eyes' ability to distinguish the pixels. It doesn't quite match 2,560-by-1,600 super-sharp tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1$497.99 at Amazon, but I don't think anyone will be dissatisfied with the sharpness here.

The new MIMO antenna improves Wi-Fi reception with the right router. (Yes, Apple's Airport Extreme fills the bill.) Against an 802.11n Meraki MR16$495.00 at Amazon router connected to our corporate line, I was able to get 30-33Mbps down on the iPad Air versus only 17-18Mbps down on last year's iPad. That will make a big difference when downloading movies or large files; many high-end games are now over a gigabyte.

Both the Wi-Fi and cellular iPads pack Bluetooth 4.0; only the cellular model includes a GPS radio.

Apple says the iPad Air should last up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi. That's on a 32.4 watt-hour battery as compared with the previous iPad's 42 watt-hour cell. In our battery test, which plays a stored video with the screen turned to max brightness, the Air got 6 hours, 14 minutes. (The difference between our result and Apple's estimate is the screen brightness setting; halve the brightness, and you'll easily hit that 10 hour mark.) That's 37 minutes longer than the third and fourth-generation iPads, which had a larger battery, but not as long as the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, which scored 7 hours, 37 minutes on the same test.

The A7 Processor, Performance, and iOSApple's A7 processor, running at 1.4GHz here, is the most efficient on the market, although it isn't quite the fastest. If you want a true deep dive into Apple's unique chip architecture, which ARM has said is at least six months ahead of its competitors, check out AnandTech's review of the A7. I'm going to focus more on real-life performance.

And that performance is excellent. On the iPad 2 and 3, iMovie in iOS 7 feels genuinely gummy. On the Air, it feels effortless. High-end games like Asphalt 8 and Infinity Blade III render beautifully. Augmented-reality apps update their screens in real time. Yes, there's only 1GB of RAM on board here, but iOS doesn't tend to need a lot of RAM because it doesn't do a lot of multitasking.

We ran a range of cross-platform benchmarks and some iOS apps to illustrate how the Air compares with other top tablets. For Web browsing, the combination of the A7 and Apple's Safari browser is killer: The iPad outmatched every other tablet we've tested on the Browsermark Web browsing benchmark. When I say that, I'm also including the Intel Bay Trail-based Asus Transformer Book T100, which didn't score as high.

On the GFXMark benchmark, which gauges gaming performance, the A7 pulled 49 frames per second onscreen, which competes well with, but doesn't top Nvidia Tegra 4 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 tablets. On the Geekbench processor benchmark, quad-core processors like Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 beat the dual-core A7, but that's to be expected. Geekbench scales more smoothly with more cores. 

If you're just comparing the Air with other iPads, of course, there's no contest. I got 13 percent higher Browsermark results than the fourth-generation iPad, and 35 percent better than both the iPad 2 and 3. Graphics frame rates were more than double the iPad 2 and 3. A short 720p movie exported from iMovie in 41 seconds, which is 50 percent faster than on the fourth-gen iPad and three times as fast as on the earlier models.

iOS is still a simple grid of icons that is passionately focused on touch. It's still also tightly connected to iCloud, especially for backing up your iPad. Read our in-depth iOS 7 reviewfor the full details.

Apple's obsession with touch has resulted in some amazing apps and new ways of doing things, from interactive textbooks to Square's credit-card processing app. It falls flat for me in only one area, but an important one: traditional productivity. Apple's Pages and Numbers, while now free with new Apple hardware, are just too visually oriented for a procedural thinker like me, and none of the third-party alternatives measure up to Microsoft Office on Windows tablets.

Camera and MultimediaAs you may know, I am no fan of people who take snapshots with their tablets. I think they look like idiots. But as Apple reminded me, that doesn't mean there are no good uses for tablet cameras. The iPad's 1.2-megapixel, 720p front camera works well for video calls, and the 5-megapixel, 1080p rear camera plays a role in scanning, shopping, and augmented reality apps. The Camera app is notoriously simple, with your options limited to HDR, Panorama, Square, or Standard. Samsung's Galaxy-device kitchen sink camera this ain't. 

The main camera is quite sharp, with a super-quick shutter and good low light performance. It blows out bright skies, which the HDR mode didn't fix, and shutter speeds flirted with blurring moving objects on a cloudy day in my tests. But take it out of the realm of snapshots and into computer vision, and it'll be able to recognize things well, especially with an excellent, fast-focusing macro mode that excels at reading text. Video shot in 1080p ratcheted its frame rates down a bit in lower light, from 30 fps outdoors to 27fps inside.

The front camera takes 1.2-MP still shots and records 720p video at 30 frames per second in good light and a very grainy 24 frames per second in low light. Most notably, like all iPad cameras (but unlike, say, the Kindle Fire's) it's designed to work with the iPad in portrait mode, and the angle and focal length are perfect for video calling in that orientation. If you hold your iPad in landscape mode, you have to angle it oddly to get your face in the picture. 

The iPad Air comes in 16, 32, 64, and 128GB models, starting at $499 and adding $100 each time your double your capacity. The 128GB tablet has 115GB free for your files. Multimedia playback is the same here as with other Apple mobile devices. Natively, the tablet plays anything you sync over from iTunes, whether via USB cable or Wi-Fi; there are (paid) third-party apps to handle music and video formats that the integrated players don't support. You can throw your video over to a TV using a Lightning to HDMI adapter cable ($49) or wirelessly with Apple TV$94.00 at Quill.

Sick Facebook Scammers Exploit Robin Williams' Suicide

Scammers spare no incident to target as many victims as possible, and this time they are exploiting the tragic death of comic actor Robin Williams by offering the fake Facebook videos proclaiming a Goodbye video message that Williams made before his death.

According to Symantec, this fake Facebook post, which you may see on your walls shared by your Facebook friends, was created by scammers looking to profit on the actor’s death. The bogus post claims to be a Goodbye video of Robin Williams making his last phone call before committing suicide earlier this week.

Scammers and cyber criminals often use major headline news stories to lure in victims. You may fall victim to this video as the news claims to have come from the most popular and reputed BBC News website.

“There is no video. Users that click on the link to the supposed video are taken to a fake BBC News website. As with many social scams, users are required to perform actions before they can view the content. In this case, users are instructed to share the video on Facebook before watching,” Symantec security response manager Satnam Narang said in a blog post.

Once clicked on the link, users are asked to share the fake video link and either fill out a survey – or install a fake Facebook media plugin – before they can watch the video. The video states:

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: ROBIN WILLIAMS SAYS GOODBYE WITH HIS CELL PHONE BEFORE HANGING HIMSELF WITH A BELT AND CUTTING HIMSELF WITH A POCKET KNIFE. HE CAN STILL MAKE EVERYONE LAUGH WITH THIS VIDEO BUT IT WILL MAKE EVERYONE CRY A RIVER AT THE END.

When you fill out the survey, it generates revenue for the scammers for every answered surveys and file downloads. According to Symantec, the scam started within 48 hours after the news broke out about Williams’ death and the video has been shared over 24 million times on Facebook.

Scammers have used simple social engineering trick – the technical term for manipulating people into clicking malicious links – in order to infect large Facebook users.

“Over the years, scammers have used both real and fake celebrity deaths as a way to convince users to click on links and perform actions. From Amy Winehouse and Paul Walker to the fake deaths of Miley Cyrus and Will Smith, scammers are opportunistic and always looking for ways to capitalize,” Narang said.

One example of it is the incident when the former “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock” star Tracy Morgan was critically hurt in a six-vehicle fatal accident on the New Jersey Turnpike, that was announced dead by the scammers.

Symantec advised the Internet users to be “vigilant and skeptical” when reading sensational stories on social media websites. They have also alerted Facebook about the scam campaign and they are taking steps to block it.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has also issued a warning about the similar scam. ”Basically someone clicks on a link to view information or video about Williams, but instead it tells you to download a player, which is really a virus,” it said.

BBB also suggested some useful steps in order to protect yourself from scams shared through email and social media:

·         Don’t take the bait. Stay away from promotions of ‘exclusive,’ ‘shocking’ or ‘sensational’ footage. If it sounds too outlandish to be true, it is probably a scam.

·         Hover over a link to see its true destination. Before you click, mouse over the link to see where it will take you. Don’t click on links leading to unfamiliar websites.

·         Don’t trust your friends online. It might not actually be your friends who are liking or sharing scam links to photos. Their account may have been hacked and scammers could be using another tactic called clickjacking. Clickjacking is a technique that scammers use to trick you into clicking on social media links that you would not usually click on.

Making Windows Xp Run faster

Stopping Unneeded Startup Services
Along with the core operating system and programs that Windows XP runs when it starts, there is also a host of services involved. Many of these services are necessary for Windows XP to operate correctly. However, many of them are for features in Windows XP that you may not use at all. You can peruse the services and disable any service that you do not want to run. The fewer services that run, the more quickly Windows XP will boot.

Caution:
Exercise caution when stopping services. If you do not know what a service does or are unsure of the ramifications of stopping the service, leave it alone. Some services are critical to Windows XP's operations, so make sure you understand what the service is before you disable it.

To reduce the number of services that start on bootup, you can access two different areas of Windows XP. The first is the System Configuration Utility. The Services tab shows you the services that start when the computer boots (see Figure 4-1).
You can stop a service from starting by simply clearing the check box next to the service and clicking OK. However, before you do so, there is another way to disable services that you may prefer because the interface gives you more information about the service in question.
Open Control Panel/Administrative ToolsServices or else select Start/Run, type services.msc, and click OK. Either way, you see the Services console (see Figure 4-2).
I prefer to use the Services console instead of the System Configuration Utility because it describes what the service does. Additionally, you can double-click a service and examine its properties.
Notice the Startup Type column in Figure 4-2. This information lists whether the service is automatic or manual. Manual services are only started in Windows XP when you start a process that requires the service. Some other process may require the service that has a "dependency" relationship with it; in this case, the dependency service will start, as well. Because these services do not start automatically when you boot Windows XP, you do not need to do anything with manual services.
However, all services listed as automatic start when Windows XP boots. These are the services that increase boot time. As I have mentioned, many of them are necessary and important, so you should not stop automatic services from booting unless you are sure of the ramifications. You can get this information by looking at the Description column. Here's a quick look at common services you may want to live without:

Automatic Updates: This service enables Windows XP to check the Web automatically for updates. If you don't want to use Automatic Updates, you can disable the service. You can always check for updates manually at the Windows Update Web site.

Computer Browser: If your computer is not on a network, you don't need this service. If you are on a network, leave it alone.

DHCP Client: If you are not on a network, you do not need this service. If you are on a small workgroup, you can still increase boot time by configuring manual IP addresses (which I explore later in this chapter).

DNS Client: If you are not on a network, you do not need this service. If you are, leave it alone.

Error Reporting and Event Log: You don't have to use these services but they can be very helpful, so I would leave them configured as automatic.

Fax: If you don't use your computer for fax services, you can disable this one.

Help and Support: If you never use the Windows XP Help and Support Center (found on the Start menu), you can disable this service.

IMAPI CD-Burning COM: This service enables you to burn CDs on your computer. If you never burn CDs, you can disable the service.

Indexing Service: Your computer keeps an index of files but if you rarely search for files, the service is just a resource hog. You can stop it and turn the service to manual.

Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing: If you do not use these features, you can disable them.

Infrared Monitor: If you do not use infrared devices, you can disable this service.

Messenger: This service sends alert messages on a local area network (it is not the same as Windows Messenger). If you are not on a network, you can disable this service.

Print Spooler: If you do not do any printing from the computer, you can disable this service. If you print, make sure you leave it as automatic.

Remote Registry: This service allows remote users to modify the Registry on your computer. If you are not on a network, you can disable this service.

System Restore Service: This service allows you to use System Restore. If you have turned off System Restore anyway, you do not need to turn off the service. If you do, you turn off System Restore.

Themes: If you do not use themes, you can disable this service.

Windows Image Acquisition: If you do not use scanners or digital cameras, you can disable this service.

Wireless Zero Configuration: If do not use wireless networking devices, you can disable this service. You may have a number of other automatic services, depending on software and other configurations on your computer. So it's a good idea to look through the services and learn more about them. If you double-click a service, a Properties dialog box appears (see Figure 4-3).
Notice that on the General tab, you see a Startup Type drop-down menu. If you want to change an automatic service to manual, select Manual here and click OK. As a general rule, don't disable a service unless you are sure you will never use it. However, manual configuration allows the service to be started when you find it necessary, thus speeding up your boot time.
However, before you change a service to manual, look at the Dependencies tab (see Figure 4-4). This tab shows you which other services depend upon the service you are considering changing.
Keep in mind that services are necessary for the vast functionality you get with Windows XP. Change only those services that you understand and do not use. How you use your Windows XP computer should be the best guide in terms of optional startup services.

Tip:
The Indexing service and the System Restore service take up a lot of disk space and system resources across the board. You can live without the Indexing service but I suggest that you keep using System Restore. It works great when you are in a bind and this is one case where the loss of speed may not be worth the ramifications of not using System Restore.

Speed Tips and Tricks for Windows XP Startup
Aside from startup programs, services, and the Prefetch folder, there are a number of other startup procedures and issues you can modify to help Windows XP start faster. The following sections explore those tips and tricks. 

Manual IP Addressing on Small Office/Home Networks
Windows XP is configured to help you take care of networking. It uses the TCP/IP protocol for networking in workgroups, or what you might call small office or home networks that do not use a dedicated server.
The problem is that automatic IP addressing can be slow. When your computer boots, it has to query the network to see what IP addresses are already in use and then assign itself one. If you want to speed up the boot time a bit, consider manually assigning IP addresses to all computers on the network. This way, the network computers do not have to worry about locating an automatic IP address. Because one is manually configured, the operating system doesn't have to spend time solving this problem.
This isn't a networking book, however, so I won't delve into the implications of using a manual IP address, but if you are using a computer that functions as a host computer to the Internet (using Internet Connection Sharing [ICS]), you can get into connectivity problems if you change the configuration of the IP address. However, you can still work around this problem by starting with the ICS host computer.
Select Start/Connect To/Show All Connections. Right-click your network adapter card and click Properties. On the General tab, select TCP/IP in the list of services and click the Properties button.
In the TCP/IP properties, you can see if you use an automatic or manual IP address. In the example in Figure 4-5, I have configured a manual IP address of 90.0.0.1 and a default subnet mask. The other computers on my office network each use a different IP address in the same class, such as 90.0.0.2, 90.0.0.3, 90.0.0.4, and so on. This way, each computer has a permanent IP address, which helps increase boot time. Note that if you change the IP addresses of your computers, they must all use the same subnet mask. A default subject mask of 255.255.255.0 will keep you in good shape.
Make sure you understand the implications of changing IP addresses on your network. If you have no networking experience at all, you may be wiser to leave the automatic IP addressing as is and try to gain some speed using the additional suggestions in this chapter.
 
Disabling Recent Documents History
Windows XP includes a feature that keeps track of all recent documents you have opened or used. The idea is that you can select Start/Recent Documents History and quickly reopen any document you have recently used. I use many documents each day and never use the feature myself. In my opinion, I can keep up with what I want to use without Windows XP doing it for me.
The bad thing about Recent Documents History is that Windows XP has to calculate what should be put there each time you boot Windows, which can slow things down. So, if you never use the Recent Documents History, it's a good idea to disable it. Here's how:
1. Open the Registry Editor (select Start/Run, type regedit, and click OK).
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
3. Create a NoRecentDocsHistory D_WORD key. Double-click the value to open it once it is created.
4. Set the Data Value to 1 to enable the restriction.
5. Click OK and close the Registry Editor. You'll need to restart the computer for the change to take effect.
 
Disabling the Boot Logo
You can remove the boot logo that appears when you start Windows XP. This little tweak probably shaves only a few seconds off your boot time but seconds count if you are serious about trying to get Windows XP up and running as quickly as possible. The only negative is that if you remove the boot logo, you will also not see any boot messages, such as check disk. (But if you are not having problems with your computer, this isn't such a big deal.)
To remove the boot logo, follow these steps:
1. Select Start/Run, type msconfig, and click OK.
2. In the System Configuration Utility, click the BOOT.INI tab.
3. On the BOOT.INI tab, click the NOGUIBOOT check box option (see Figure 4-6). Click OK.



Removing Unwanted Fonts
One trick that increases your boot time a bit is to lose any fonts in the Fonts folder in Control Panel that you never use. The more fonts you have, the more processing Windows XP has to do to prep all of those fonts for use. You must be a bit careful here to not remove fonts that you might want, but there is a good chance that you can live without many of them. For instance, you may have foreign language fonts and other symbol fonts (such as Wingdings) that you never use.
To delete unneeded fonts, follow these steps:
1. Open the Fonts folder in Control Panel.
2. Select Edit/Select All and then Edit/Copy.
3. Create a new folder on your desktop, open it, and select Edit/Paste.
4. In this new folder, delete any of the fonts you do not want.
5. Return to the Fonts folder in Control Panel. Right-click the selected fonts and click Delete.
6. Go back to your new desktop folder and click Edit/Select All.
7. Return to your Fonts folder and click Edit/Paste. You now have only the desired fonts in the Fonts folder.

Tip: You can directly delete fonts from the Fonts folder without creating the secondary folder. However, I recommend the preceding steps to help ensure that you do not make a mistake in the deletion process.

Stopping Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop Sharing
In Windows XP Professional, you have two remote networking features called Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop Sharing. These remote networking features are very helpful in a variety of situations but if you don't use them, it is good idea to disable them to save boot time. You can always enable them later if you want to use them.

Note: If you are interested in using Remote Desktop or Remote Assistance, see my book Windows XP for Power Users: Power Pack published by John Wiley & Sons.

1. Open the Start menu, right-click My Computer, and choose Properties.
2. Click the Remote Tab.
3. Clear both check boxes to disable Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop (see Figure 4-7).
 

Updating Device Drivers
One thing that can slow down your boot time is old device drivers. If you are using a newer computer that came preconfigured with Windows XP, you can skip this section. But if you are using older hardware that you have manually installed with the manufacturer's device drivers, it is a good idea to locate the manufacturer's Web site and see if there are any updated drivers for the hardware.
Windows XP tries very hard to be backwards-compatible with older hardware so older drivers will often work. However, older drivers tend to slow things down across the board, including the time required to boot the system. The only way you can update older drivers is to download newer drivers that the manufacturer of the device may make available on the Web. You'll have to do a bit of detective work and see if you can locate any newer drivers that can be installed. It's worth the time, though, because drivers written for Windows XP simply perform better than drivers for older versions of Windows.

Stopping Windows Messenger in Outlook Express 6
If you are using Outlook Express 6, Windows Messenger is configured to start when Windows XP starts and run in the background. That's fine if you use it, but if you don't you waste boot time and background resources because Windows Messenger is always around. You can stop this behavior, however, and save your self a little startup time by following these steps:
1. Open Outlook Express 6.
2. Select Tools/Windows Messenger/Options.
3. Click the Preferences tab.
4. On the Preferences tab, clear the "Allow this program to run in the background" check box (see Figure 4-8) and click OK.
 
Automatically Killing Tasks on Shutdown
You know the drill. You start to shut down the computer, you wait a few moments, and then you see a dialog box asking if you want to kill an application or service that is running. Instead of prompting you, you can make Windows XP take care of the kill task automatically. Here's how:
1. Open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.
3. Highlight the value AutoEndTasks and change the value to 1.
4. Close the Registry Editor.

Speeding Up the Dual-Boot Timeout
If you dual-boot your computer with Windows XP and another operating system, you see an operating system selection menu on startup. If you typically boot into Windows XP and not the other operating system, you can speed up the dual-boot timeout value so that you do not wait so long for the boot process to select your default operating system and continue with the boot process. The default timeout value is 30 seconds but you can change this setting to 10. This gives you enough time to select the alternate operating system if you want but also speeds up the boot process. You can skip this section if you do not use a dual-boot configuration.
Follow these steps:
1. Locate the boot.ini file on your computer. It is a hidden file by default; mine is located in C:\boot.ini.
2. Open the file with Notepad (which is what opens it by default).
3. Change the Timeout value to 10 (see Figure 4-11).
4. Select File/Save and close Notepad.

Editing the PC Setup Program
Each PC has a setup program that tells the computer how to start the operating system. We often think that speeding up the boot time means speeding up Windows XP. While that's true, the PC setup program also governs some of the items that occur when the computer starts—which you can speed up as well.
Typically, you can enter the PC setup program by starting the computer and holding down the Delete key. A different key may be used for your computer's setup program, so check your computer's documentation for additional details.
Once you are in the setup program, you may have to look around a bit. Each manufacturer uses different categories and names, but essentially you can wade through the menu options and find these three common features to change to decrease your startup time:

Quick Power on Self-Test: Set this option to Fast or Enabled, depending on your setup program. This change will result in skipped memory and hardware startup tests. Be aware that this setting might cause you to lose notice of a problem with RAM or the motherboard but, in most cases, you don't need this test anyway if your PC is operating without problems.

Floppy Search/Test: If your floppy disk drive is working fine, there is no reason to test it every time you start your computer. Change this setting to Disable.

IDE Drives: The setup program seeks to test and identify each IDE device as it boots. This is necessary but if you have IDE channels that are not in use, set this to None. If you do not understand this option, just leave it configured as it is.

Note:
Cleaning up the Registry and defragmenting the hard drive can also increase your boot time.

  

Android Wear review: Taking smartwatches in the right direction

When I was a tiny tot, I watched Knight Rider and pretended I was Michael Knight, talking to KITT on my watch. Yet now that there are real-life watches that can do even more things, I don't find myself quite as excited as my 5-year-old self was. Smartwatches have been around for over a decade already (remember Microsoft SPOT?), but the category hasn't evolved at the same pace as smartphones. It's not because there's a shortage of digital wrist-worn timepieces. The problem is that there's no common platform for third-party apps, which means there's little potential for growth.

There also doesn't seem to be any vision. Some watches act as Android phones with SIM cards and tiny touchscreens, while others try to establish their own platform to entice developers. Still others have even tried to put fitness bands and smartwatches into one device, to limited success. Even worse, most of the watches on the market today are what you might call "fashionably challenged" -- they simply aren't attractive enough to entice the masses. Google's solution is to extend its Android platform -- which has very strong market share and developer support -- to the wearables genre with Android Wear.

GALLERY|44 PHOTOS

Android Wear review

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  + See all 44

75

Google

Android Wear

PROS

• Strong manufacturer and developer support
• Hands-free voice control and Google Voice Search
• Clean design
• Google Now cards and Knowledge Graph integration

CONS

• Short battery life on current hardware
• Excessive notifications
• Still requires plenty of screen touching
• Gestures and UI come with learning curves
• Only compatible with newer Android devices

SUMMARYAndroid Wear is the strongest smartwatch platform we've seen so far, and it has enough support from manufacturers and developers to thrive. But it's a first-generation product, and limited battery life, notification anxiety and other issues make it tough to recommend Wear quite just yet.

68

LG

LG G Watch

PROS

• Performs well
• Swappable wristbands
• Charging cradle is easy to use
• Water-resistant
• Easier to read in sunlight than competition

CONS

• More expensive than the Gear Live
• Display has lower resolution than competition
• Horrible battery life
• Limited to newer Android devices
• Unattractive design

SUMMARYIt's not much of a looker, but the LG G Watch is a respectable Android Wear device. Its battery life is slightly better than the Samsung Gear Live, but it's also more expensive and doesn't offer as nice a display.

73

Samsung

Samsung Gear Live

PROS

• Good Android Wear performance
• Swappable wrist straps
• Water-resistant
• Better display than competition
• More comfortable than G Watch

CONS

• Horrible battery life
• Compatible with only newer Android devices
• Charging cradle is a mess
• Harder to read in sunlight 

SUMMARYIf you have to get an Android Wear device right now, the Samsung Gear Live is your best option. It's sleek, looks decent and performs well, but you'll want to get a new wristband for it right away. Unfortunately, you'll also need to charge it every night. 

WHY ANDROID WEAR?

Manufacturers don't have to waste precious resources on developing a watch ecosystem from scratch. Android Wear provides a low-cost launchpad for more companies to come out with a smartwatch of their own. Take Fossil: It has little to no experience developing software, so the introduction of Wear opens up more doors for the company to produce fashionable smartwatches without pouring quite so much money into R&D. Meanwhile, other manufacturers are reportedly attacking the lower end of the market with cheap Android Wear watches.

In any case, that's precisely what Wear promises: a wide variety of options in price, form and (we hope) fashion sense. But flooding the market won't magically make smartwatches a success. So what will? They have to look good and make life easier.

FUNCTIONALITY

Android Wear wasn't designed to replace your smartphone; it's just meant to reduce the number of times you have to pull out your phone. With Wear, you can change your music, send and view emails and texts, dictate notes and reminders, answer or reject calls, keep track of a few fitness stats, look at your calendar appointments and ask a number of different questions.

Wear isn't meant to replace your smartphone.

Wear treats your watch as a wrist-worn version of your phone's notification bar. By scrolling down through the various cards displayed on my watch, I can see my most recent emails, Facebook messages, Google+ alerts, missed calls, number of steps I've taken today and how much time it'll take me to commute home. Swiping to the left of these cards reveals actionable items (replying to emails, marking a text as read, looking at my fitness history and so on), while swiping to the right allows you to dismiss the notification entirely.

The watches also use Google Now. Cards will pop up with information about stocks, time to my next destination, a friend's birthday, upcoming hotel reservations and when I need to leave for my upcoming flight. It'll even show me my boarding pass. (This is through Google Now, but Delta and American Airlines just came out with apps that do the same thing.) The latter case is actually one of the best arguments I've heard yet for Android Wear -- it's easier to scan a boarding pass on your watch if your hands are full with luggage and you don't want to take out your phone.

Wear also has voice search and Knowledge Graph access built in. Saying, "OK Google," will prompt me to make a voice command. I can ask it to do a variety of tasks -- send messages, set alarms and timers, show how many steps I've taken, pull up my calendar agenda for any given date, navigate a route and so on. I can also ask Wear random questions: When is the next Giants game? How tall is Mark Wahlberg? When was Chris Rock born? What's the tallest building in the world? Essentially, this is all the same type of stuff you can do with Google Now on the phone; it's just now accessible hands-free on your watch. If it can't find the answer, it'll pull up the top three search results for you to look up on your phone. Not quite as handy, but I suppose it's better than nothing.

If a third-party app uses notifications, it's technically going to show up on Wear, but its functionality will be limited unless the developer puts in some extra effort. The number of potential use cases will expand over time as more developers come out with apps of their own. Indeed, that's one of the most exciting parts of the platform: It's very basic at the moment, but its usefulness will grow as developer interest increases.

Even so, there are already some clever things you can do with Android Wear. You can check your finances, share your location with a friend through Glympse, take and read notes via Evernote, respond to tweet mentions with Tweetings, browse through a recipe on Allthecooks, activate your Phillips Hue light setup and get updated on the latest World Cup scores. I'll stop there, but you get the point: These are just a few examples from the first wave of Wear-ready apps.

The number of Wear apps is steadily growing (you can find a comprehensive list here), but one of my favorites is Lyft. I told my watch to "call a cab" and it not only requested a driver for me, it also added a card that told me the driver's name and estimated time of arrival, and gave me the option to tell the driver my destination before she picked me up. After the ride was over, I got a card showing me how much it cost and asking me to rate my driver.

Fortunately, fragmentation shouldn't be as huge an issue with Wear as it's been on smartphones. Excepting some manufacturer-specific clock faces, Google won't allow the use of custom skins or user interfaces. If a company wants to build a Wear watch, it'll need to follow Google's rules. In theory, this should reduce the number of obstacles when pushing updates to the watch (which can be done in the About screen deep in the settings menu), and it'll make for a consistent user experience across the board. It's ironic, then, that Wear's reach is limited because of fragmentation -- the system is only compatible with devices running Android 4.3 or higher, which means 76 percent of current Android users won't even be able to use Wear.

USER EXPERIENCE

So far, we've seen Wear watches that are square (think: the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live) or circular (like the Moto 360, seen above). This is really a matter of personal preference; the user experience is the same either way. Since most watches will have small screens, Google knows it doesn't have a lot of real estate to work with; thus, it's tried to make the user interface as simple as possible. That's why there's typically only one card per screen, and when you swipe to the left, you're only presented with one option per screen. Easy enough, right?

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Android Wear screenshots: Clock Faces

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As minimal as the UI might be, it's hard to come up with an intuitive user experience on a touchscreen watch, and Wear doesn't do much to address that. There's a significant learning curve, and even though there's a tutorial the first time you use it, it'll take a while to get accustomed to the layout. The use of voice commands is a massive improvement for the smartwatch experience because it reduces the amount of times you need to touch it, but it's still impossible to get around your watch without doing a lot of swiping.

It's hard to come up with an intuitive user experience on a touchscreen watch, and Wear doesn't do much to address that.

Before anything else, you need to know this: You turn on the Wear screen by lifting up your arm. The watch interprets this act as a sure sign that you're ready to look at something. (The Wear display is always on by default, which means you can look at the time whenever you want without activating voice commands by accident.) As you'd expect, you're presented with a clock face. There are currently about a dozen faces to choose from; just long-press the face to look at all of your options.

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Android Wear Screenshots: Context Stream

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You'll first be greeted by the Context Stream. This is your vertical-scrolling list of notification cards. You can't change the order in which these cards appear, and it seems as though many of them get put in a random order each time you scroll through the list. Cards that appeared near the top of the list would often sink farther down the next time I checked my watch, even though no new notifications had popped up.

If a notification has more information than a single card can manage, its corresponding card can be expanded. You'll have to be careful with long emails -- touch the card to expand it and you'll find yourself scrolling down for an eternity before you get to the next card. (This is one of those times in which it's just easier to whip out your phone and read it on the larger screen.) Some apps, such as Gmail and Calendar, will stack cards on top of each other; if you have six events coming up, Wear will show you the first and then feature a small button underneath that indicates you have five more. Touch this button and you'll see all six events laid out vertically. If you need to take action on one of them, you'll have to tap the individual event again before scrolling. You can't swipe to dismiss individual events, however -- just as on your phone, one swipe will dismiss all notifications for that particular app.

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Android Wear screenshots: Voice Search and Knowledge Graph

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Saying, "OK Google," or tapping the open space at the top of the Context Stream will prompt you to give a voice command. I explained earlier this feature can do, but if you need help figuring out what to say in the heat of the moment, there's a handy set of examples in a scrollable list. (And yes, scrolling defeats the purpose of being hands-free, but your reliance on this cheat sheet will decrease as you get used to Wear.) You can even tap on each example and Wear will ask follow-up questions; for instance, if you tap the option to send a text, it'll ask you to whom you want to send it and what you want to say.

Oddly, apps and settings are hidden away at the very bottom of this list. If Google is trying to encourage developers to create apps for Wear, it sure has a weird way of expressing its gratitude. Granted, a lot of apps don't do much when you access them this way, but it's still confusing at first; if you're looking for a specific app, you're better off searching for it with voice commands (e.g., "open Evernote").

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Android Wear screenshots: Miscellaneous

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If you rely heavily on your phone for notifications, be prepared for some good and bad news. The good news is that you have access to all of those notifications on your wrist, so you don't have to take your phone out. The bad news is that while you can filter out certain apps from sending you notifications (bye-bye, Candy Crush Saga invites), you can't pick and choose which notifications you receive from within a particular app -- in other words, the watch can't decide which emails make it to your watch and which ones don't, so you have to see all of them.

When I pull down from the top of the screen, I see a shade with battery percentage and today's date; I can also mute my notifications if I continue pulling. This is handy when I don't want to be distracted or am trying to sleep, but I wish Wear offered quiet hours during which it would automatically turn off notifications when I go to bed. (That's if my battery lasts through the day and night, which wasn't always the case with the early Wear watches I've played with.)

The Samsung Gear Live comes with a button on the side that lets you turn the display off, but covering the screen with your palm will do the same thing on every Wear device.

COMPANION APP

To pair the watch with your phone, you'll need to download the Wear companion app through the Play Store. It's essential for setting up your watch, but you'll find little use for it otherwise. The main screen shows a link to Wear-compatible apps in the Play Store and a list of eight voice actions. You can choose which app to use for each particular command, which will come in handy as more apps start showing up. So, let's say Uber adds the same ability to call a car as Lyft does, and I want to use that service instead; I'd have to select the "call a car" voice action and choose Uber from the list of possible apps, so that Wear doesn't keep defaulting to Lyft.

The companion app also has a list of settings tucked in the top-right section of the app. You can mute specific apps, as mentioned earlier; turn off the always-on display; silence notifications on your phone when the Wear is connected (why get vibrations on your wristand in your pocket?); show calendar events; and keep the top card from showing up when your display is dimmed. Finally, you can use the app to pair a different Wear watch if necessary.

The app doesn't have an option to manage watch apps, which seems odd since there isn't a way to do this on the watch either. Perhaps it's because Wear-compatible apps automatically get installed on your watch once you've downloaded them onto your phone. This seems like an oversight. There may be certain apps that you barely use on your handset and have no interest in using on your watch; why not give users the option to get rid of the unnecessary clutter?

CHALLENGES

Essentially, Wear is a version 1.0 product, which means there's still a lot of work to be done. It's been a good experience thus far, but there are plenty of ways that Wear simply doesn't fit the bill, and you'll need to be aware of them if you're going to plunk down $200-plus for a smartwatch.

First, there's the excessive touching. If users have to go through the effort of tapping or swiping the screen on a regular basis, there's little incentive to use the watch instead of simply pulling out a phone. Most activities on Wear eventually point back to your handset anyway: Nearly every card in the Context Stream (excepting the step tracker) has an option to open on your phone, as if it's somehow faster to swipe down to the card, swipe across to that button, tap on it and then pull out your phone to access it. If you're going to use your phone, you might as well just whip it out from the start. What's more, if you give a voice command that isn't included in the supported list, or if you ask a question that can't be found in the Knowledge Graph, the watch provides you with a series of three cards, each one representing a different website that -- shocker -- you can tap and open up directly on your phone. Congratulations, you just wasted a minute by using your watch.

If you're going to use your phone, you might as well just whip it out from the start.

I'll discuss this more in the next section, but battery life is a big challenge here. There's a huge amount of computing and processing going on behind the scenes, on a colorful, capacitive touchscreen that by default doesn't turn off. Throw in voice commands, keyword detection and a tiny battery, and it makes sense: Of course the battery life is going to suffer. The problem is, users aren't going to want to plug in their watch as often as their phone. Until Google can find a way to extend the battery life by a few days, Android Wear will struggle to be anything more than a niche product.

Navigation is also an issue. Google Maps is technically compatible with Wear, but it only shows one step at a time. Given that card-stacking is an option on other apps, it'd make sense to use this style to display upcoming steps along your route so you could plan ahead. Swipe to the left to reveal a high-level map of the entire route that's void of any useful details; my brain comprehends visual maps more quickly than text, so I'd find this screen more useful if I could zoom in closer.

Additionally, voice commands for navigation will automatically default to driving directions. You can specify if you want biking or walking. Oddly, if the phone can't find a route, it doesn't bother telling the watch -- you simply get taken back to your clock face as if nothing even happened. And when I asked Wear for walking directions from my office to the Golden Gate Bridge, it presented me with a card with Google search results for three unrelated websites. (OurSausalito.com? Really?) Unfortunately, transit directions aren't supported either.

I've already mentioned the problem of excess notifications. The longer my Context Stream, the more inconvenient the watch experience becomes. Not only am I wasting time with countless swipes, but my anxiety increases when my wrist is vibrating a hundred times a day (this is actually a low estimate for me). There's no VIP list and no way to block out unimportant emails. It's possible to mute specific apps, but that's of little help when you're getting a flood of messages that don't require your immediate attention. At least when you do dismiss a notification, it disappears from both the watch and the phone.

HARDWARE: SAMSUNG GEAR LIVE AND LG G WATCH

LG and Samsung are the first companies to produce Wear watches, and both are available in the Play Store (LG's G Watch is $229 and Samsung's Gear Live is $199). A third watch, the Moto 360, was shown off at Google I/O last week and will be released later this summer. I'll touch briefly on the G Watch and Gear Live; since Google won't allow custom firmware or user interfaces, you'll essentially get the same Wear experience on both watches.

When it comes to firmware, the only differences you'll see between the two are in the clock faces. That said, Samsung's found a loophole by adding its own stopwatch and compass, so you can choose to use either those or the stock versions. In any case, those are minor alterations, so the important points of differentiation are in the hardware, with each offering a unique personality.

The Gear Live is definitely your best looking option. At least, until the Moto 360 comes out.

Which one is better? Suffice to say, the two watches each have trade-offs you'll need to weigh, but the Gear Live is definitely the best looking (at least, until the Moto 360 comes out). Their internals are similar too:

	SAMSUNG GEAR LIVE	LG G WATCH
Display	1.63-inch sAMOLED, 320x320 pixels	1.65-inch IPS LCD, 280x280
Battery	300mAh	400mAh
Processor/RAM	1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400; 512MB RAM	1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400, 512MB RAM
Water resistance	Yes, IP67-certified	Yes, IP67-certified
Dimensions	37.9 x 56.4 x 8.9mm, 59g	37.9 x 46.5 x 9.95mm, 63g
Storage	4GB internal storage	4GB internal storage

Both have the same dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB internal storage. They each offer interchangeable wrist straps -- I especially appreciate this on the Gear Live -- and both feature a square shape. They're also IP67-certified, which means they have the same water and dust resistance as the Samsung Galaxy S5. I wouldn't take either one scuba diving, but you'll be fine wearing them while washing dishes or taking a shower.

Because both watches have the same engine underneath the hood, I didn't notice any difference in performance. They both smoothly, with only the occasional frame skip. In my comparisons, apps loaded in the same amount of time, and each one processed voice commands quickly.

I've already alluded to battery issues, but let's get specific. The Gear Live's battery is a mere 300mAh, while the G Watch has a capacity of 400mAh. That sounds small, and it is small. I strapped both watches on my wrist and used them during a full workday. My to-do list included four navigation routes, at least a hundred emails, hailing a Lyft driver and countless voice commands. When I finally got home 12 hours later, the G Watch had 20 percent life remaining, while the Gear Live had 15. After leaving them on mute overnight -- a seven-hour event -- I woke up to find the G Watch at 5 percent and the Gear Live at 2 percent. All told, LG's watch lasted around 90 minutes longer than Samsung's. The G Watchalmost made it a full 24 hours, while the Live came in at roughly 22.

On weekend days with lighter use, I was able to push the life of both watches another eight hours or so, at best. There are a few ways to extend your battery life further, but since they significantly reduce how useful the device is, it completely defeats the point of using a smartwatch. You can turn off the always-on display setting so you're just staring at a black screen whenever the watch sits idle. You can turn down the brightness (I tested the watch at about 60 percent), limit the number of routes you navigate, mute notification-heavy apps and so on. But if you're constantly worrying about battery life, you're basically chained to yet another device.

SAMSUNG GEAR LIVE

You might confuse the Gear Live for one of its Tizen-based siblings, the Gear 2. It has a chrome band around all sides of the display, but it's all for show; you won't find any cameras or buttons here. There is, however, a button on the right-hand side, which powers off the active display with a quick press and brings up the settings menu when you hold it down for a few seconds. (I'd love the option to map this button to other actions.) Just like the latest Gear watches, the Live comes with a heart rate sensor on its belly, along with some pogo pins to connect a charging cradle.

It has a 1.63-inch Super AMOLED display, with a resolution of 320 x 320. Breaking out my trusty pixel-density calculator (or cheating by looking at Google's product page), this translates to 278 ppi, which is actually good for a smartwatch. Of the two watches, the Live is easily the sharpest and most color-saturated, but it's also a fingerprint magnet and hard to see in direct sunlight.

Because the back of the Gear Live has a slight curve on the top and bottom, it's more comfortable to wear than the G Watch. That is, as long as you don't count the miserable wristband that feels like you need five hands and divine intervention to snap together. It's a mere four grams lighter than LG's watch, but a full millimeter thinner.

The charging cradle is nothing new for Samsung, but it's just as annoying. For a device that you'll need to charge once a day, it's not so easy to manage. It's a tiny cradle that has to be fitted just right onto your watch, and then you have to make sure it's snapped in securely before plugging the charger in.

LG G WATCH

The G Watch has many redeeming qualities, but attractiveness isn't one of them. Featuring Gorilla Glass 3, stainless steel on the sides and a polycarbonate back, it's very solidly built, but it's also a boring square with no stand-out features. In fact, though, this was very much done on purpose: According to LG's design team, the G Watch is designed to help content look like it's floating above the screen. Extra tweaks often distract from the point of the product. I get the concept, but unfortunately it also works the other way -- the lack of any design whatsoever can often be just as distracting. It's a stark contrast to the gorgeous LG G3, which successfully found the middle ground between too flashy and not flashy enough. This watch falls in the latter category, and it's going to struggle to stand out from the Moto 360 when it launches. (Admittedly, the white option is a little more aesthetically pleasing than the black one.)

The IPS LCD screen is slightly bigger than the Gear Live -- 1.65 inch versus 1.63. The difference in resolution, however, is much more noticeable. At 280 x 280, it's easier to see pixelation without squinting. On the upside, it's more readable in bright sunlight than the Gear Live, and the screen has brighter whites. Then again, the darks aren't as dark as the Gear, and the colors aren't nearly as saturated.

Like the Gear Live, the G Watch also requires a separate cradle to charge up, but LG smartly uses a magnetic base that's much easier to attach the watch to than that of its Korean rival. The magnets do a great job of holding the watch in place.

The company's pricing strategy is a little confusing. It's $30 more than the Gear Live, even though it doesn't add any features or performance benefits (aside from a meager increase in battery life). I'd be surprised if this cost doesn't come down quickly -- especially once it has even more competition from the Moto 360 -- but in the meantime, LG is facing an uphill battle by selling its premier smartwatch at a higher price.

WRAP-UP

Android Wear has me more excited about the future of smartwatches than any other platform or device. It's more solid than I expected in a first-gen product, and of the options on the market, it has the most opportunity for growth. Wear enjoys a universal user experience; it's backed by a robust operating system with tons of user and developer support; and there's buy-in from manufacturers.

Still, there are plenty of issues that need to be fixed. Few users will be content charging their watch on a daily basis or wasting time scrolling through endless cards and unwanted notifications. A smartwatch should make life simpler, more productive and more efficient, and at the present time, it's just as easy -- if not more so -- to do most things on a phone. The platform will blossom as more apps come out, but it still has a long way to go before shoppers will be willing to spend hundreds of dollars on accessories.

For now, Wear is the best OS for Android users who are in the market for a smartwatch, but since these devices aren't necessities, they'll need to be more stylish and add more convenience to your life if they're going to attract the average consumer. Unfortunately, the Gear Live and G Watch just don't have what it takes for Wear to go mainstream, although I'm holding out hope for the Moto 360.