Samsung Pay expands to four more countries, more devices

Samsung Pay continues to challenge both Android Pay and Apple Pay when it comes to mobile payment gateways. The secret though to getting ahead of the competition is to expand to more countries, banks and financial institutions, and gadgets, faster than its competitors. And that is a challenge that all the players have been experiencing. This week, Samsung Pay expands to four more countries, has enhanced features for the new Samsung devices, and brings value adding services to some of its markets.

The payment platform is officially launching in Sweden and the United Arab Emirates. This is actually the first time that Samsung Pay is in the Nordics and the Middle East respectively. They are also now going into early access in Hong Kong and Switzerland, opening it up to beta testers and eventually officially launching soon of course, signaling the continuing commitment in the Asian and European markets.
Since the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ comes with a brand new (well, sort of brand new) goodie, you can also now use the iris scanner as a biometric authentication. Samsung Pay is also now available on the Gear S3 in three more markets namely Russia, Sweden, and the UAE. They join the other three countries where it was previously available: US, Singapore, Australia.
Samsung Pay also now integrates loyalty and membership cards in Sweden and the UAE while prepaid cards will also be allowed in Switzerland when it officially launches. This is part of the value added services that they want to offer so that it can get a leg up on its competitors.

Xiaomi WeLoop Hey 3S Smartwatch Launched, an Apple Watch Clone With a Heart Rate Sensor

Highlights

• The watch is water-resistant up to 50 metres under water
• WeLoop sports a 1.28-inch display (176x176 pixels)
• The smartwatch comes with Bluetooth 4.2

It will be an understatement to say that some of Xiaomi's products have uncanny resemblance to products from a certain Cupertino-based company. However, this time around the company seems to have taken the design approach to an altogether different level as Xiaomi partner WeLoop's new Hey 3S smartwatch seems to be an exact replica of Apple Watch. The WeLoop Hey 3S has been priced at CNY 539 (roughly Rs. 5,000) and is available via Xiaomi's MIJIA crowdfunding platform.
The company claims says the Hey 3S comes with an impressive battery life of 30 days, and is a sports-centric watch with a GPS sensor and a 9-axis motion sensor. Xiaomi's new WeLoop GPS Sports Watch Hey 3S comes with a 1.28-inch display (176x176 pixels) with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and weighs just 38 grams. Just like most other activity-tracking smartwatches, the Hey 3S helps users in keeping track of distance travelled and other training activities, but also allows them to monitor their their heart rate.
In terms of connectivity, the WeLoop Hey 3S comes with Bluetooth 4.2. It features GPS/AGPS+GLONASS connectivity, and can be charged with a wireless charger. The smartwatch measures 46.2x35.66x11.15mm and the sensors on the device include an accelerometer, electronic compass, a gryo sensor, and as we mentioned earlier a heart rate sensor. Interestingly, just like Apple Watch 2, WeLoop Hey 3S offers water resistance up to 50 metres underwater. It weighs 38 grams.
In terms of aesthetics, you will immediately notice that straps on the watch are similar to Apple Watch Nike+, which was released by the company last year. The WeLoop Hey 3S is available in Dynamic Black, Bright Red, and Green youth colour options.

Google Home now supports multiple accounts, recognizes different voices

So did you ever go “Ok Google” to your Google Home and the device greeted you by another name? It’s not that the device didn’t recognize your voice – it’s just that before today, you could only register one Google account to the Google Home device. And that person Google Home recognized was probably the one who has his/her account set up on the device, and not you. Well, this problem ends today.

Google has now made it possible for the Google Home device to accept up to six separate Google accounts for six separate people – and it would recognize the voice for those six people. To make this work, the latest version of the Google Home app needs to be installed on your smartphone. You can then add another user via the app – and Google Assistant will ask to learn your voice, so that it can recognize you.
Users will be asked to say “Ok Google” “Hey Google” twice so that those phrases can be analyzed by a neural network to detect certain unique characteristics of a person’s voice. From that point on, the Google Home device will access neural network to compare sound of your voice to its previous analysis so it can understand who is speaking – and it only takes a matter of milliseconds.
Google says that the feature – most likely included in an update – will start rolling out today in the US, and will reach the UK in the coming months.
SOURCE: Google

Android Wear 2.0 coming to more smartwatches in the next couple of weeks

We know that most of you have been wondering if and when your smartwatch will ever receive Android Wear 2.0. We’ve listed quite a few already but others are still impatient. Some of the models due to receive the update include the Huawei Watch, Moto 360 2nd Gen, ASUS ZenWatch 2, RunIQ, LG smartwatches, and more. Newly announced smartwatches like the Movado Connect and Guess Connect already have Android Wear 2.0.

We’ve provided a long list of what devices have already received or will receive Android Wear 2.0 but now we’ve got information which one will get the wearable OS update later this April or beginning of May. We’re also listing the smartwatches that will NOT get the highly anticipated Android Wear 2.0 OS.
Watches that are about to get the update are the following: Asus ZenWatch 2, Asus ZenWatch 3, Huawei Watch, Huawei Watch Ladies, LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE, Moto 360 Gen 2, and Moto 360 Sport.
If YOU own any of these smartwatches, sorry to say, but they are not Android Wear 2.0 compatible: Asus ZenWatch v1, LG G Watch, Moto 360 v1 (2014), Samsung Gear Live, and Sony Smartwatch 3. That is quite unfortunate but we’re not surprised because they are older models.
You may want to consider getting a new smartwatch or wait for newer ones that will arrive in the coming months. Google already assured the public that Android Wear smartwatches announced this 2017 will all run on Android Wear 2.0 out of the box.