A new speaker is making the rounds across Kickstarter. Meanwhile, Apple is aiming to go against GoPro and Samsung launches its first Tizen smartphone.
Sugr Cube: a speaker unlike any other
Speakers haven’t evolved much since the smartphone boom. Sure, we have gone wireless, but what else is new? Not much, and that is why we are excited to see a new project like Sugr Cube, which is doing great in Kickstarter for being its first days in there.
The speaker is WiFi-connected and is controlled via gestures. You can do things like tap to play, tilt to skip, tap and hold to share or flip to snooze your alarm, among other gestures.
In addition, the camera is designed to be small, portable and very good-looking. It’s wooden body brings forth great sound quality, as well as its base technology. You can get it for as cheap as $119 from Kickstarter.
Opinion: I normally don’t get too excited about Kickstarter novelties, as they tend to be passing fads. This speaker looks truly unique, though, and its features are very interesting. Are you signing up for one?
Apple granted patent for GoPro-like mounted camera
It’s always nice to see smaller companies make it big, as was the case for GoPro, the king of mounted cameras. Sometimes the big companies destroy these new products when they release their own competitors, though. GoPro may be facing such faith with Apple’s new venture – a remote-controlled mounted action camera.
In fact, GoPro’s stock has already dropped by 12% since this patent was granted, today. Regardless, this Apple camera addresses multiple things GoPro is missing. The new Apple camera is said to have multiple mounting areas, more than ne sensor (for recording different angles) and an underwater microphone, in addition to the regular one.
Opinion: Apple is really going all out here, but GoPro likely has some time to bring a worthy competitor. After all, the patent was just granted, it will likely take time for an actual product to come to fruition.
Samsung Z1 launches in India!
It has been years since Samsung has been planning to release its first Tizen smartphone, the Samsung Z1. After many delays, the pioneering smartphone is finally ready to hit the market today, January 14th, in India.
It is an affordable smartphone, packed with a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 768 MB of RAM, 4 GB of internal storage, a 3.1 MP camera, a 4-inch display and a 1500 mAh battery.
That set of specs won’t cost much, though, and it will let you test the not-so-new OS. The Samsung Z1 is priced at 5700 Rupees, or about $92 USD.
Opinion: This is where Samsung will really be tested. Can the smartphone giant really take on Android in the future, or will Tizen just fall behind against Android like every other mobile OS? We shall see.