Apple Watch Wins Red Dot 'Best of the Best' Design Award

Still three weeks away from being released to the public, the Apple Watch has received another design award for Apple ahead of launch, this time receiving the "Best of the Best" designation by the German Red Dot design awards (via aBlogtoWatch ).



Previously winning the Gold Award, and being called "an icon", at the International Forum Design awards earlier in March, the Red Dot award counts a second win for the wearable in the design category before its April 24 launch date.



The Apple Watch wasn't alone in the smartwatch category, however, as the MB&F HM6 Space Pirate horological smartwatch also received the "Best of the Best" designation.



The Red Dot jury judged the Apple Watch, and all products in the category, on its functionality, durability, ergonomics, and even "symbolic and emotional content", amongst other criteria. As aBlogtoWatch points out, there's a drastic monetary difference between the two winning smartwatch devices this year, even when comparing the $17,000 Apple Watch Edition to the Space Pirate.

Red Dot design award jurors understandably fawned over what is still, by far, the best-looking smartwatch, even though it isn't on the market yet. Given the limitations of technology, as well as the potential of what can come of connected smartwatches, I think it makes a lot of sense that the Red Dot award jury decided to not only recognize the Apple Watch, but consider it as a "Best of the Best" product.



It's an interesting Best of the Best Red Dot watch design award this year, as, on the one hand, you have the $230,000 MB&F HM6 Space Pirate that is limited to just 50 pieces, and on the other hand, you have the mostly $1,000 and under Apple Watch that could easily have 50 million units on wrists before long.

The Product Design category of the Red Dot awards celebrates 31 total areas of design, including everything from living room furniture to vehicle accessories, with the "Watches" category getting introduced this year to compensate for the increasingly crowded smartwatch market.



The Product Design category specifically in 2015 had 4,928 entries with only 81 total products receiving the "Best of the Best" award recognition. A gala will be held this June 29 at the Aalto-Theater in Essen, Germany for all of the Best of the Best Red Dot award winners. The winners not only receive the Red Dot designation materials to use on product packaging and marketing, but will have their products displayed in the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen for up to a year.

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Posted in 2015 at 02:09PM, April 03

Apple's Smartphone Trade-In Program Launches in United States and Europe

Apple has expanded its Reuse and Recycling Program in the United States and Europe to cover eligible Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone smartphones. The new trade-in program provides customers with the option to mail in eligible non-Apple smartphones, including certain Samsung, HTC, LG, Nokia, Sony and BlackBerry models, for credit in the form of an Apple Store gift card or bank transfer.





The smartphone trade-in program has gone live in the United States, United Kingdom, Italy and France in partnership with third-party device buyback and trade-in company Brightstar Corporation. Apple is also accepting various PC models by certain manufactures as part of its expanded Reuse and Recycling Program, which is also being handled by a third-party vendor.

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Posted in 2015 at 02:09PM, March 30

Samsung Said to Supply Memory Chips for Next-Generation iPhone

Samsung Electronics has inked a deal with both Apple and LG to supply advanced DRAM memory chips in next-generation iPhones and the LG G4 respectively, according to sources "familiar with the deal" for The Korea Times .



The deal, rumored to be worth billions of dollars, would see Samsung produce at least half of the memory chips that Apple would need for its next-generation iPhone lineup. The report claims that Apple could ask Samsung to ramp up manufacturing of the chips if needed, with the alleged contract lasting at least a year.

"Under the agreement, Samsung will start providing LG Electronics with 100 percent mobile DRAM chips it needs for LG G4 smartphone, which will be unveiled in April. Also, Samsung will handle at least half of the amount that Apple needs for its new iPhone ― tentatively named iPhone 6S," an industry official who is familiar with the deal told The Korea Times.

The agreement was reached just a few months after Samsung began mass production of new 20-nanometer 8-Gigabit LPDDR4 memory chips, which are said to offer more than double the density and performance compared to its 4-Gigabit LPDDR3 predecessor. The sources say that on the LG side of things, Samsung will be providing 100 percent of the chips for the company's flagship G4 smartphone, set to be unveiled in the Spring.



Though Apple and Samsung have partnered in the past for manufacturing purposes, the two companies have been fierce rivals for several years. This two companies have dropped litigation against each other outside of the United States in recent months, however, and this agreement further suggests that the tech giants have an improved working relationship as of late.



While not expected to launch until September, news and rumors about the so-called "iPhone 6s" have begun circulating recently, with Samsung reportedly responsible for the majority of A9 chip production based on its 14nm process. Conflicting reports suggest that TSMC may supply Apple with the remaining chip orders.

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Posted in 2015 at 02:09PM, February 24

Tetris-Like Puzzle Game 'Shades' Named Apple's Free App of the Week [iOS Blog]

The "super simple, surprisingly challenging" puzzle game Shades, by developer UOVO, has been named by Apple as this week's App of the Week. Launched last year, and also featured in the App Store's "Best New Games" section, the game usually costs $1.99 to download.



The game takes inspiration from Tetris , with falling blocks of varying color hues - instead of shapes - needing to be slotted into the correct position by the player. Matching hues make darker colors, resulting in chain moves that can knock out entire rows of blocks.

A mesmerizing, calming, zen-like experience that quickly evolves into a devilishly challenging puzzler. Meditation + Panic. It's a fantastic combo.



A very simple game that will challenge you to think very fast.



"Surprisingly difficult!" ~ The guys who made it.



Features:

- Simple rules

- Intuitive gameplay

- Difficult to master

- 3 modes of play. Easy. Medium. Hard.

- Beautiful, colorful, minimalist design.

- Sound design by ONBC

The longer players spend in the game and the better they become, the quicker the game evolves into a frantic rush to slot blocks into the correct position as they fall faster and faster.



The game currently sits at a solid 4.5 star rating in the App Store, with one review calling it "Tetris meets 2048 " and many others praising its addictiveness alongside the challenging nature the game slowly builds up to. Shades: A Simple Puzzle Game can be downloaded for free for the next week from the App Store. [Direct Link]

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Posted in 2015 at 02:09PM, January 23