HP and Michael Bastian creates a Smartwatch for Fashionistas

Earlier this year HP announced partnership with Michael Bastian for a designer smartwatch which wouldn’t just appeal to the techie guys. It was more of a fashion statement than a gadget. Online retailer Gilt will be selling the new watch this coming Friday and The Wall Street Journal has gotten a first look at the device. 

Named MB Chronowing, this smartwatch comes in 2 variants and neither version looks like a typical smartwatch — the MB Chronowing wouldn't look out of place in a glass case full of traditional chronometer-style watches. Its 44mm diameter makes it a pretty large watch, and the chunky bezel recalls Tag Heuer more than Dieter Rams Braun. 

It is not a typical smartwatch with touch screen and voice controls. Instead it works by using a black and white LED display for notifications. In addition to an LCD display, the MB Chronowing includes a clock dial for reading the time. The battery is said to last up to seven days between charges and the watch will work with both Android and iOS devices. 

Michael Bastian's watch falls firmly in a category which is different from those of smartwatches we know, so it likely won't appeal to those lusting after a Moto 360 or Apple Watch. But if you want a nice watch that happens to also alert you to new messages or emails, the MB Chronowing could be an appealing choice. 

MB Chronowing will be available with leather, rubber, or nylon straps for $349, or with a crocodile strap and sapphire-glass crystal for a heftier $649. 

Source: WSJ

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Microsoft’s Chromebook rival is coming at $199 made by HP

At such a low price, Google’s Chromebooks have been a nightmare to Microsoft. The Chromebooks are quite cheap with exceptional performance and are giving a tough time to Windows laptops. Dubbed HP Steam 14, a Windows 8.1 device is tipped to carry a tag of $199 when launched.  

The notebook is rumoured to be powered by an AMD “Mullins” A4 Micro-6400T quad-core SoC and 2 GB of RAM with an integrated Radeon R3 GPU. The architecture of the chipset features a heat sink, without a built-in fan, showed an image that was leaked. The device will be available with a 14 inch display along with 1366x768 pixels resolution. 

It will have 32 GB and 64 GB variants. While none of this is official yet, the laptop is also expected to have USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports along with support for HDMI as well. It has Beats Audio enhancement and consists of four speakers. 

In addition, the HP Stream Notebook 14 1.75 kg heavy has a 32 watt-hours or large 2960mAh battery. The notebook will also come in the colors silver, green and purple on the market, the cover has one type of each. The buyer will also receive for a period of two years, all 100 gigabytes of storage space with Microsoft's cloud service OneDrive - just as it does in the Google Chromebooks. 

Anyone looking for a great entry-level notebook, gets here probably a pretty attractive offer, to which shortly certainly likely to join tens of other models. So stay tuned for further updates. 

Source: MobileGeeks

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HP teams up with Michael Bastian for a Premium Smartwatch

When the smartwatches made their way into the market they just looked geeky and unappealing to the premium class society who prefers a more traditional one on their wrist. With the big tech names like Withings and Google already into smartwatches, HP now provides a solution to the geeky looking situation of the smartwatches. Together with the designer Michael Bastian and fashion site Gilt, HP is making a smartwatch that does not makes you look geeky while its on your wrist. 

Michael Bastian will take care of the external design aspect, HP with the internal tech and Gilt will be the one selling it. This watch will be featuring a 44mm circular watchface like the Moto 360 but it isn’t clear what will it be made of. Also it will be available in brown leather, green nylon and black rubber apart from various customization options we'll see when its officially launched. 

Quite like the Pebble Steel, it won’t be running Android Wear but something custom built for it which will sync with your smartphone via an app available for iOS and Android platform. You'll be able to get all notifications from of your emails, message as well as sport, stock and weather updates. 

Here HP has the added advantage with the fact that it is cross-platform compatible but will it is enough to make a dent in the market? Well, we have to wait until this fall when it starts shipping out. 

Source: Fashioista

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