Wearable

Dyson has gained plenty of attention with the Dyson Zone, a pair of headphones that have a built-in air purifier. While novel, it appears that the technology behind the wearable is outdated and does not reflect current public health practices post-pandemic.

Huawei has issued a new update to the Watch GT 2 globally. According to Huawei, Lite OS 11.0.15.10 makes modest improvements, reflected in its 80 MB file size. Huawei is distributing Lite OS 11.0.15.10 now through the Huawei Health app.

The high-end D2 Mach 1 is the latest aviation smartwatch from Garmin. The wearable has an expensive finish with a titanium bezel and a sapphire lens. The device has many features designed for pilots, including maps, weather reports and information about your destination airport.

Despite having about three days left until its global launch at the time of writing, the OnePlus 10 Pro has appeared as a product listing posted by an online German retailer. This leak may definitively spoil the OEM's reveal as to how much its new flagship phone will cost in the country. Meanwhile, the company has teased a new colorway for its most premium TWS earbuds.

Google has requested FDA approval for Fitbit's passive heart rate monitoring algorithm. The technology was found to detect cases of atrial fibrillation with 98% accuracy in a recent study of Fitbit users. The data was collected using PPG technology built into Fitbit devices.

APK files from the Fitbit app suggests that three new smartwatches could be released by the Google-owned company, with none of them featuring WearOS. The rumored devices could include the Versa 4, Sense 2 and Luxe 2 models, based on evidence such as display resolutions.

Update version 11.0.15.10 for the Huawei Watch GT 2e smartwatch is rolling out to customers in China. The new firmware includes the preinstalled AutoNavi maps app and improvements to the device's sleep monitoring. It is anticipated that the update will be released in waves, becoming available to global customers later.

OnePlus is rumored to have already started production of the OnePlus Band 2 and the OnePlus Watch 2. No specifications have been leaked for either wearable, but with production beginning, both the OnePlus Band 2 and OnePlus Watch 2 should soon make an appearance in markets in Asia and Europe.

Withings has released an update for its ScanWatch. Version 2421 includes several new features, such as a workout mode and an activity reminder. Withings is also rolling out more widely its 10:10 hands feature, which makes it easier for you to see the digital screen on the watch.

Oura has announced that there are now one million users of its ring fitness tracker. The Oura Ring Generation 3 was released late last year with heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking features. In the same statement, the company said it was working on several new features to release this year, such as Workout Heart Rate.

Garmin is taking more steps to reduce the costs of OLED displays in its smartwatches. Purportedly, the company's patented technology could so make its OLED displays more efficient than the ones in the Venu 2 Plus.

The Apple Watch Series 3 is allegedly heading for its product cycle end-of-life according to a well-known analyst. The third-generation smartwatch has served Apple well since its release in 2017 but is expected to be discontinued when the Apple Watch Series 8 and watchOS 9 become fully available.

Qualcomm has unveiled a new program by which it will invest as much as US$100 million in developers or companies involved in the metaverse industry. The new fund is associated with other projects including Snapdragon XR Platforms, XR Labs Europe and the Snapdragon Spaces developer platform, the latter of which has also just been taken up by Square Enix as the studio works on its extended-reality (XR) portfolio.

The Apple Watch has no ports, rendering it impossible to force it into a hardware recovery mode. Thankfully, Apple has finally addressed this shortcoming of Apple Watches with watchOS 8.5, which is available to download on the Watch Series 3 through Watch Series 7.

Wear OS 3 is still not ready for existing smartwatches, but more screenshots of the upcoming OS have emerged. Google's next smartwatch OS will launch with a next-generation Google Assistant, among other changes from Wear OS 2.

The GT Neo3 is currently being touted as the first ever Realme phone to launch with its latest 150W charging tech. However, the OEM has also now suggested that there might be a second variant with a slower, yet still new to 2022, 80W standard instead. Then again, fans of speed may still be happy with the phone's also-hyped "Le Mans" colorway.

Visionox has reportedly introduced its latest display development as a "world-first", as it is a type of AMOLED designed to reduce power consumption through attaining ultra-low refresh rates, but does not rely on typically high-end LTPO technology to do so. This new display panel type could thus allow the smartwatches of the future to feature always-on displays at a lower cost.

Zepp Health, the owner of the increasingly popular fitness-tracking wearables brand Amazfit, has now released its fourth-quarter (4Q2021) and full-year earnings report for 2021. It claims revenues of nearly 6.3 billion yuan (or about US$985 million) for this year, about 27% of which came from 4Q2021. Despite these impressive figures, however, the company has seen the impact of global events over the last ~12 months.

Carl Pei's latest tech company, Nothing, has just revealed the date and time for its first product event since that for its inaugural ear (1) TWS buds. Apparently, that event was just a warm-up for the OEM's upcoming keynote, now scheduled for late March 2022. To date, there are already strong hints that it might introduce a new mobile device.

The latest member of the 1More ComfoBuds series may be Mini - however, according to the OEM, this does not stop them from also being "Mighty". It asserts that the new TWS earbuds are the smallest of their kind with active noise cancellation. The Minis are also rated for up to 24 hours of battery life and IPX5 ingress-protection.

Xiaomi has revealed the Buds 3T Pro, a premium pair of earbuds that cost €169. The Buds 3T Pro supports ANC, Qi wireless charging and the LHDC 4.0 codec. Xiaomi sells the Buds 3T Pro in Carbon Black and Gloss White colourways.

Xiaomi has released the Watch S1 series outside China. Only available as a 46.5 mm smartwatch, the Watch S1 and Watch S1 Active have a large AMOLED display, over 100 fitness modes and dual-band GPS, among other features. The Watch S1 series starts at €179 and supports Mastercard payments via NFC.

Xiaomi has set a date for launching the Watch S1 Active globally. In the meantime, Amazon has already begun accepting pre-orders, confirming its price and when it will ship in the process.

The possible design of the Mi Band 7 may have leaked in what could be a major redesign of the Mi Band series. Meanwhile, Xiaomi has certified the Mi Band 7 in Belgium and Indonesia, signifying a global launch for the upcoming fitness tracker.

The Dexcom G7 continuous glucose monitor (CGM) could finally be close to a European launch. A Google search for the G7 device reveals Dexcom had already prepared a CE Mark-approved landing page for the successor to the G6. Approval in the US from the FDA seems likely after a recent Dexcom G7 clinical study yielded promising results.

Rockley Photonics has partnered with Medtronic, a medical device company. Rockley and Medtronic will collaborate in bringing the Bioptx biomarker sensing platform to market, which takes the form of a wrist-based device. The Bioptx biomarker sensing platform can measure core body temperature, hydration levels and blood pressure non-invasively, among other capabilities.

HTC's VIVE is at SXSW 2022 to introduce its latest initiatives and projects in its main space, virtual reality (VR). This includes the announcement of its new metaverse platform for concerts, BEATDAY, to launch via the new Focus 3 headset. VIVE will also outline how it sees its VR tech fitting into other industries such as healthcare and smart-car UX going forward.

The Blade 100W is the latest power bank from Baseus. It is markedly light and thin for its category, yet is rated to charge devices such as MacBook Pros at their full rate on the go. It also drops to 65W for certain other laptops, or into a "low current mode" for smaller objects such as wireless earbuds or peripherals.

The upcoming Xiaomi Watch S1 Active has been leaked in full, including its product feature list, rendering set, and price tag for the European market. While much of this information has already been leaked online, the somewhat high price for the Xiaomi Watch S1 Active is apparently now confirmed.

Google has received approval for a patent for skin interface technology. The filing suggests that Google might use this tool to control earbuds and smartwatches through tap and swipe gestures on the skin near the gadgets.

Xiaomi India has now set a joint March 2022 launch date for the Redmi Watch 2 Lite and Note 11 Pro. Now, a new leak purports to spill approximate pricing info for the upcoming, reasonably spec-rich wearable. Should it prove accurate, the cost in question might help the Watch 2 Lite fly off the shelves in its new market.

The Mi Band 7 is around the corner, but it will be compatible with Zepp OS, not Xiaomi's smartwatch platform. It appears that Xiaomi has equipped the next Mi Band with a larger display too, among other changes.

Garmin has unveiled the Descent G1 and Descent G1 Solar aimed at divers. However, the pair should work just as well as regular smartwatches thanks to their support for Garmin's suite of exercise modes, its Connect IQ Store and Garmin Pay. The Garmin Descent G1 series starts at US$549.99 and is available in four colours.

Some renders of the Xiaomi Watch S1 Active emerged online. The fitness-centric smartwatch has differently shaped hardware buttons and will be sold in three colours Black, White and Blue. It is expected to cost around €200 and launch alongside the Xiaomi 12 series.

The German company DiaMonTech has secured over US$20 million in funding to help it with device miniaturization and US expansion. The firm wants to offer its pocket-sized non-invasive blood glucose monitor, the D-Pocket, to people with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes as an accurate alternative to invasive methods.

Mobvoi has revealed the TicWatch Pro 3 Sports Version, a Wear OS-based smartwatch that features 4G and GPS connectivity. The new smartwatch also supports over 100 exercise modes, along with numerous sensors for tracking your health and wellbeing.

Fitbit has announced a recall of the Ionic, a smartwatch that it launched over four years ago. Supposedly, the Fitbit Ionic has a habit of going up in flames because of an overheated battery. There have been at least 174 reports of the issue occurring globally, of which 118 caused burn injuries. Fitbit is recalling all units, which amounts to nearly 1.7 million sold between September 2017 and December 2021.

Twitter leaker Max Weinbach has learned that mentions of the Google Pixel Watch and Pixel 6a have shown up in the inventory of a network provider. The former is slated to offer 32 GB of storage and the latter 128 GB, the leak adds.

Mobvoi has unveiled the TicWatch GTH Pro, a US$99.99 smartwatch that can determine the age of your arteries, among other features. The TicWatch GTH Pro is orderable now in North America and offers up to 10 days of battery life.

Nemaura, the British company behind the BEAT technology platform for biomarker monitoring, has announced promising financial results. In addition, the firm has also recently won two innovation awards for its work with non-invasive biosensors. The results bode well for MySugarWatch, which aims to give type 2 diabetics an affordable needle-free continuous glucose monitor.

Honor has finally released the Watch GS 3 outside its home market. To be available in the Eurozone for €229, the Watch GS 3 features a dual-band GPS module, over 100 workout modes, SpO2 monitoring and a particularly accurate heart rate monitor. The Honor Watch GS 3 will be available in Classic Gold, Ocean Blue and Midnight Black colourways.

Xiaomi already sells some of the highest-end and powerful wireless chargers on the market. Now, it has announced that the next round of these accessories will rival Apple's MagSafe, with increased accuracy and speed. Its new "magnetic absorption" technology is rated to reach 50W of power delivery, although this also requires active cooling.

The Glacier Lake Blue Edition is the latest version of the Watch 2, a smartwatch that Oppo sells in two sizes. The Oppo Watch 2 Glacier Lake Blue Edition joins the Oppo Watch Free, which also launched this week. The new Oppo Watch 2 features a few improvements over the standard model, including the ability to track your ski runs.

Oppo has finally released the Watch Free outside China. Introduced last September in its home market, the Watch Free features a large AMOLED display and plenty of health tracking features. The Oppo Watch will be available in Europe and the UK from late March.

A non-invasive continuous glucose monitor wearable from Movano Inc. has taken an important step on its development path by finishing a second approved pilot study. Testing involved people with type 1 diabetes comparing results from finger-stick methods and existing CGMs with those produced by the Movano prototype wearable.

OPPO has now rounded its new product showcase off with the new, second-gen Enco X earbuds. These new flagship TWS peripherals are rated for Bluetooth 5.2, a new coaxial dual driver system and the LHDC 4.0 codec. The OEM also touts them as accessories with improved active noise cancellation (ANC) thanks to a new chipset.

OPPO has been tipped to launch successors to its Dynaudio-tuned top-end Enco X TWS earbuds alongside its upcoming flagship smartphones. Now, the OEM has confirmed that this is the case, and has also decided to go ahead and leak their design in full ahead of this event. The executive Pete Lau also now claims the buds are so good, they are worth ditching wires for.

OPPO's latest Find X5 poster contains a launch date for the upcoming flagship series, and that's not all. It shows one of the smartphones in an arrangement of a number of other devices. One might be the OEM's first-gen tablet, whereas the others are wearables that could be of the OPPO Watch and Enco X lines.