The Samsung Galaxy Gear S – Compared with the Gear 2

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Vykthur

Samsung is at the LEADING THE EDGE OF INNOVATION ON WEARABLES … especially with smartwatches. In addition to the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo which was released barely a few months ago in April, Samsung has just released the all new Gear S smartwatch, and I think it is just amazing. The Gear S comes with its own 3G connectivity that allows it fully replace the functionality of your phone, and it comes with a rich plethora of apps that meet entertainment, utility and health needs. Here is a quick comparison of its specs and how it stacks up (or outclasses) the Gear 2 line of devices.

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Getting Started Developing Android Apps with the NODE+ Sensor using Eclipse

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Vykthur

What is the NODE+ Sensor

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That’s my node+ right there … :)

It looks like a very beautifully designed Cylinder with a few sensors in it that can relay readings via Bluetooth LE . Inside the NODE+ device, its  a Lithium Polymer battery (650 mAh) , 12-14 hours battery life with continuous Bluetooth use, 2 MB memory, 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis magnetometer , 3-axis gyroscope , Audio buzzer , Bluetooth 2.1 or Bluetooth Low Energy , 2 module ports , 2 dimmable blue LEDs, micro-USB for charging and firmware programming .

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Introducing the Texas Instrument CC2541 SensorTag Combined Sensor

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Vykthur

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TI CC2541 SensorTag Components – Board with battery inserted and case

Some weeks ago, my inner geek began to itch and I thought it would be cool to examine programmable sensors that could communicate with my mobile phone via bluetooth low energy. You see, sensors are important nowadays because they are the little minions that collect all the important data that constitutes the larger construct called the “Internet of Things” aka IoT. As I read a bit more on sensors, I learned about iBeacon Technology. And as I read even more, I learned about the Texas Instrument CC2541 SensorTag.  It has 6 very important sensors – IR temperature Sensor, Humidity Sensor, Pressure Sensor, Accelerometer, Gyroscope and Magnetometer – And it cost $25 (including 3 day expedited worldwide shipping) . It was very easy to assemble, supports iBeacon and I loved it!

You can check out the specs or purchase it here if interested. Continue reading →

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Tizen Wearable API Documentation Version 1.0 and New Features too!

Posted on August 2, 2014 by Vykthur

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Up until now, there hasn’t been a documentation  of the Tizen Wearable OS platform which runs on gear 2 devices. Samsung has just released a Programming Guide (which is hardly matured yet) , but definitely provides more information. The Samsung developer team have been working real hard .. because there are a few new features documented in addition to the basic stuff . You can get on the Samsung Developer page or download it directly .. Continue reading →

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Gear 2 Developer Tips : Keep Screen On, Seller Office Issues

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Vykthur

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A few tips to solve issues encountered whilst developing gear 2 apps and submitting them to the app store. Some of them are due to the new changes to the samsung app seller office.

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Scoreloop SDK Terminated. Its the End of the Road Guys.

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Vykthur

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I’d hoped this day would come later rather than sooner. But I did predict it in my last article about the Scoreloop gaming/leaderboard SDK. I found the service to be both awesome, easy to use, fast and all round value adding. I knew with its acquisition by Blackberry, its rather unclear business model (they allow everyone user their server to host thousands of game interactions for free), some changes would need to be made . There is a possibility that another similar service may be launched by the original founders or Scoreloop, but for now the Scoreloop Service has been officially T.E.R.M.I.N.A.T.E.D .

Developers have till 1 Dec 2014 to remove ALL Scoreloop API calls from their games. Continue reading →

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Gear 2 – How to Bring your App to ForeGround and Autolaunch.

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Vykthur

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Many times you may be working on an app that needs to show some notifications to users as activities occur – even when a different app is on the foreground. E.g an app that reminds you to take your meds every 4 hours. Sometimes, you may need your gear app to launch its host counterpart (even when it is not currently running), and vice versa. This post  provides simple sample code to wake up your gear app and bring it to the foreground . It also covers how to autolaunch your host side app from the gear app  . Continue reading →

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Gear 2 – How to Send Infra-red IR (String) Data using the irBlaster Sensor

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Vykthur

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The irblaster included in the Gear 2 is definitely an innovative component especially for hobbyists and developers. Several Arduino projects have excitedly explored projects that let them build custom remote controllers for electronic devices that have infra red receivers such as digital cameras, tv’s, air-conditioners , cd player systems, DSLR cameras etc.

Now imagine being able to write code to do that from your wristwatch (gear 2). Fortunately, this is supported with both the Gear 2 and Gear 2 neo as they both have the irblaster hardware . In this post we’ll be looking at code to control the gear 2 IR sensor, send string data and what these mean.  Continue reading →

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Getting Accelerometer Data in Javascript for your Gear 2 Apps [Sample Code]

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Vykthur

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One more important way to overcome user-interaction challenges on wearable devices is to implement hands-free interaction via sensors. Today, we’ll be looking at code to obtain tilt information from the Gear 2 accelerometer sensor. Luckily, it is a straightforward and easy process. Continue reading →

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Taking Gear 2 Gestures to the next level! – tap, swipe, pinch zoom using Hammer.js

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Vykthur

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Hammer.js is AWESOME. Basically its a javascript library specifically for detecting multitouch gestures. It enables you detect Detects Tap, DoubleTap, Swipe, Drag, Pinch, and Rotate gestures! And the more gestures we can implement for our limited wearable devices (smartwatches in this case), the better! In the previous tutorial we used Jquery Mobile and additional javascript code to detect a couple of gestures (swipe and double tap), all totalling up to ~67KB  . Hammer.js is just 14KB – and it arguably gets more done! . So if you don’t need all the other functions jQuery mobile brings, you may be better of using the lighter Hammer.js . And the good guys who created Hammer.js have suggested we listen to this sound loop while working on this tutorial . I agree. Hammer Style! Continue reading →

Posted in Tutorials, wearables | Tagged , | 6 Comments