Martian Voice Command new series looks, works great
The new series of Martian Voice Command smartwatches is everything a smartwatch should be.
There are several new designs. I tried out the Martian Envoy G10, which is styled for active men who enjoy the great outdoors.
The Envoy G10 ($249) looks great for wearing at home, work or play. Martian designs everything with a classic look. They describe the Envoy G10 perfectly as "Envoy's strong-featured and dynamic appearance."
After you choose the design, it integrates seamlessly with your smartphone or tablet to alert you with any text messages, emails and phone calls.
A scrolling display along the bottom (96-by-16 pixel graphic OLED display) displays the info, alert or caller ID, which is easy to read.
There's no need for a touchscreen on such a small wristwatch display; instead, two buttons control everything.
When an alert comes in you can tap the watch's glass covering to dismiss it. Or you can tap the anti-scratch glass to get the most recent notification within the last five minutes.
You can take phone calls
on the watch by using the built-in noise-cancellation microphone and the directional personal speaker.
I took a few calls with it and asked how well the callers heard me. All the responses were positive. They all thought it was just through the phone as always.
The top and bottom buttons pretty much control everything. This includes turning the watch on and off; making, accepting or ending calls, and rejecting alerts; volume; camera mode; pairing; and even a music mode for iOS devices.
I loved the camera mode. Assuming you have a tripod for your smartphone, just activate the camera mode and then press the top button to remotely take photos from your phone's camera.
I also like that after a few minutes the camera mode feature deactivated itself, so you won't be taking photos while trying to use a different feature.
I can't go through everything the watch does but it seems endless.
You can get weather reports, social media alerts, world clocks and talk to Siri or Android voice command. It works with many fitness apps such as Runmeter and even my personal favorite, ESPN SportsCenter.
Inside the watch is a USB rechargeable battery, which should last for two days, depending on how much you use the watch. A separate battery for the watch will last up to two years.
Oh, it also has a great-looking analog clock to tell you the time.
Martianwatches.com is available exclusively in-store at Bloomingdale's, with retail prices starting at $249. The collection also will be available on bloomingdales.com later this month.
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Edwin the Duck gives me my first opportunity to write about a rubber duck although, as Edwin says, "He's no ordinary duck."
Edwin is for children ages newborn to 9 and connects wirelessly to your smartphone or tablet (iOS and Android). He'll interact with the free Edwin App and even have his heart glow red.
He's designed to help work with story time, sleepy time, playtime and song time.
The song time features original tunes such as "Squishy, Squishy, Squashy," which will not be on my playlist, although he can stream your playlist for listening.
Some features on the app show Edwin on the screen to indicate Edwin needs to be shaken or given some sort of attention. Edwin is waterproof so he can also be taken in the tub, where he has a built-in thermometer sensor to alert adults if the water is right for a bath.
The multi-functional duck can work as a nightlight with its built-in LED glow.
He can help anyone fall asleep with soothing, relaxing sounds.
For reading, there's two-way interact activity with lights music and sounds. He will alert the reader with a prompt to move, shake or tap Edwin, within the animated story.
A charging nest is included for the built-in rechargeable lithium id battery, which will last for about 8 hours before another charge is needed.
Edwintheduck.com is $99.99 and available for pre-order. It is due out in October.
Gregg Ellman, gadget guru, can be reached at greggellman@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter @greggellman.
This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Martian Voice Command new series looks, works great ."