Smartwatch

The computer for your wrist is finally being delivered, years after it was first announced. The Rufus Cuff is significantly larger than your typical smartwatch and has numerous sensors.

The Amazfit Bip S is set to launch on June 3, XDA Developers reports. Featuring up to 40 days battery life, the Bip S has a 1.28-inch display and comes in an array of colours.

Xiaomi's upcoming Mi Band 5 fitness tracker will bring forth a host of new features, according to a source familiar with the matter. Some of them include an SPO2 filter to monitor blood oxygen levels, support for Alexa out of the box, a menstrual tracker, new activities, and more. The band was initially supposed to drop in June, but that date got pushed back to August or September due to the ongoing pandemic.

While almost every aspect of the iPhone 12 may have already been revealed, there remains little reliable information about what Apple has planned for the next generation of the Apple Watch. A concept video shows what the Watch Series 6 could look like with a borderless display though, giving the smartwatch a more modern than the Watch Series 5 while while retaining its design language.

The Apple Watch Series 3 is now available on Amazon for as low as US$231. This brings it into contention with the Galaxy Gear S3. However, LTE capabilities, superior build quality and tight iOS integration make the Series 3 a solid buy.

Xiaomi and Huami have announced the Amazfit Ares smartwatch, and it has already been fully revealed in a serious of real-life unboxed photos. The rugged-looking wearable has a 1.28-inch color touchscreen and weighs just 48 g. The price tag for the Amazfit Ares on the Chinese market is 499 yuan (US$70), with sales scheduled to start on June 1.

Lilygo has presented its latest smartwatch, the TTGO T-Watch-2020. Highly customisable, the device has a 1.54-inch touch display, Wi-Fi and supports Arduino. The Lilygo TTGO T-Watch-2020 costs less than US$25, too.

Apple's upcoming iOS 14 is bringing more augmented reality integration via apps such as Gobi that offer dining and shopping interactions through new circular QR codes. The Find My app will also be updated with audio and haptic cues to make device retrieval even easier.

Fitbit has announced that its own-brand ventilator has been sent to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for testing. Despite being known for wearables, this company has also recently devoted some of its resources to the production of this new item, which is to be used in the treatment of Covid-19-affected patients.

Realme CEO Madhav Sheth recently confirmed the existence of the Realme Watch and Realme TV. The two products are set to launch in India on May 25th, offering an alternative to the Apple Watch and premium Android smart TVs.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 has now been certified by the Taiwan National Communications Commission, and there are new rumors arising in regard to the upcoming wearable’s potential price and release date. The Xiaomi Mi Band 4C is also apparently almost ready for market; the rebranded Redmi Band is expected to be cheaper than the Mi Band 4.

Huami has been teasing a new product on the Chinese social network Weibo in the form of a sporty smartwatch. The somewhat rugged-looking Amazfit Ares is scheduled to be launched on May 19 and offers a host of features for smartwatch users, such as dozens of sport modes and a specialist fitness tracker.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 has been confirmed to be arriving in 2H20, Gizchina reports. Confirmed by Hung Wang, CEO of Huami, the Mi Band 5 is thought to have a larger display than its predecessor.

With the NoiseFit Endure, you get an inexpensive smartwatch with not only 20 days of battery life, but also with IP68 certification and a heart rate sensor. The NoiseFit Endure also has a 1.28-inch circular LCD panel, over 100 watch faces from which to choose and nine sports modes for fitness tracking.

Huawei wearables will no longer work unless you download HMS via the AppGallery instead of the Google Play Store. Unintentional or not, people are unhappy about it.

Is it a coincidence that multiple OEMs are now activating the Sp02 sensors in their smartwatches via an update? After Huawei did so with the Watch GT 2, Honor has now rolled out an equivalent firmware update for the MagicWatch 2 that enables blood oxygen saturation monitoring.

The third-party Apple charger blends in well with all your Apple products and it gets the charging job done almost as fast as a cable despite some minor design setbacks.

More and more Android OEMs are also releasing wearables these days; now, it seems that Vivo is about to join them. A Twitter leaker claims to have found images, apparently derived from a "patent", showing that this company has designed its first-gen smartwatch.

According to a report published in a medical journal, a patient's Apple Watch successfully detected a serious anomaly missed by diagnostic hospital equipment. However, when the individual pointed out ECGs matching the health issue in question generated by her wearable to doctors, it was apparent treatment was in order.

An XDA contributor claims to have "exclusive" access to info on Realme's 2nd-gen wearable. This product will apparently simply be called the brand's Watch, as with other OEM's answer to Apple's device of this category. The new leak apparently consists of renders and several UI snapshots.

Following a lengthy wait, Amazfit has released its first smartwatch with a curving display onto the market. Well, more or less: it is being offered as a reward as part of a new Indiegogo campaign. The device starts for US$149 and is currently slated to ship in August 2020.

Apple Watch is by a long way the world’s most popular smartwatch and it is now five years old. To mark the occasion, one of the former lead designers for the Watch has taken to Twitter to reveal some behind the scenes details never before revealed.

Samsung has reportedly had a new product certified with the MIIT regulator in China. Based on its model number, it is likely to be a full-screened wearable. Therefore, a successor for the Galaxy Watch Active 2 may be in the offing.

Update: Amazfit has finally announced a launch date for the X: April 28, 2020. This 92-degree curved wearable was first introduced as a concept device in 2019. Now, however, it is ready to become a reality via its upcoming Indiegogo campaign.

Samsung's Galaxy Watch Active 2 just got certified by South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) to measure blood pressure. It works by reading input data from the wearable's heart rate sensor and comparing it with pre-calibrated values measured via a traditional cuff-based blood pressure monitoring system. The feature will be available to everyone by Q3 2020.

Adequate hand hygiene is one of the everyday measures recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to help combat Covid-19. Accordingly, Samsung has developed the ‘Hand Wash’ app for its watches. It promotes this activity through regular reminders, a tracker and a corresponding watch-face.

We have now reached a part of April 2020 increasingly regarded as "iPhone SE 2 Week"; however, this has not stopped the new Apple Watch rumors coming thick and fast. They now point to a new form of authentication for this device, as well as the ability to detect anxiety as well as blood-oxygen levels in the user. There may also be new case-variants in the offing.

The Watch GT 2 has been well received, but the lack of blood oxygen saturation monitoring was an oversight. Now, the smartwatch can finally use its Sp02 sensor courtesy of a software update, six months after launching.

The Xiaomi subsidiary Haylou, pronounced "Hello", has released a new smartwatch, the Solar. While the Haylou Solar is not a solar-powered smartwatch as its name suggests, it still packs some impressive tech for ~US$20.

The market for smartwatches is associated with an estimated 43.87 million unit shipments in 2018. However, this number is now thought to reach a possible total of 108.91 million by 2024. This growth may be driven by an increased demand for health- and fitness-management, as well as standalone connectivity, in these wearables.

Interested in a smartwatch but put off by the price? Well, Fossil is currently offering some stonking discounts on its Sport and Gen 4 smartwatches. Featuring a waterproof design, Wear OS, a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100, GPS, 4 GB of storage and iOS compatibility, the Fossil Sport can be bought for US$99, £89 or €99 depending on where you live. You can take over 50% off a Gen 4 smartwatch, too.

Xiaomi has posted some details about the upcoming Mi Fan Festival event that is taking place in China on April 3. The Chinese manufacturer revealed that over 100 million Xiaomi wearables had been shipped between 2014 and 2019 and that new wearables will be unveiled at the Festival. This could be a subtle hint that the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 is about to be launched.

Oppo launched its first smartwatch, predictably called the Oppo Watch, on March 6. Now, the Apple Watch clone with an EKG sensor is now celebrating its sales and market launch in China alongside the Find X2 Pro Lamborghini.

Samsung's latest smartwatch has an electrocardiography (ECG) sensor, but it is deactivated at present. The OEM had projected that it would be working via a firmware update in the first quarter of 2020 (1Q2020). However, it now seems it's going to miss this deadline.

The well-known power accessories brand Aukey has launched the Graphite Pro 15W, a wireless charger that has won a 2020 iF Design Award for its futuristic form-factor. It integrates vents, a fan and "aviation-grade aluminum" to keep it cool during use. This device has been released alongside a slimline new power bank.

The Watch GT 2e has leaked online in all its 46 mm glory. Due to be unveiled alongside the Huawei P40 series, the GT 2e will feature a 1.39-inch AMOLED panel and a Kirin A1 SoC. The smartwatch comes with 16 MB of RAM, 4 GB of storage and a battery that Huawei promises will last up to 14 days between charges.

Huami is a wearables OEM that has recently made a name for its own brand, Amazfit. Besides this, it also has a role as an ODM to other brands such as Xiaomi to make their smart accessories. The company has reported a year-on-year (YoY) growth of no less than 72.4% in terms of shipments for 2019.

Launching in China on March 21, the OPPO Watch Series is making its way to Europe. Priced at approximately US$220, the OPPO Watch comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2500 processor, 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage. Watch out for those bezels, though.

Swiss luxury watch maker Tag Heuer has launched its third-generation Connected smartwatch. The most notable change, in addition to a more refined design, is a switch from an Intel chipset to Qualcomm’s 2018 Snapdragon Wear 3100 SoC.

Some code allegedly derived from an as-yet unreleased version of iOS also reportedly offers insight into watchOS 7, software that may debut with the next Apple Watch. It hints at additions such as sleep tracking and a new mode for its Infograph watch-face. On that note, new custom faces may be possible in this version.

Luxury goods maker Montblanc has launched its latest smartwatch alongside its first pair of premium wireless headphones. The new Summit 2+ builds on the same platform as its predecessor but is now larger while its new luxury Smart Headphones will appeal to well-heeled travelers.

The hands-on video that has recently surfaced online shows a smartwatch with slightly curved sides and bezels that seem to be a bit bigger than shown by the unofficial renders that were leaked not long ago. This smart wearable is set to launch in China on March 21 with a starting price of almost US$220.

The OPPO Find X2 is yet to be launched. However, the prolific leaker Roland Quandt claims to have some real-life renders of the phone. They match earlier tips that show a phone with a single punch-hole selfie camera and 3 rear-facing ones. This fresh leak also purports to show this phone's new colorways.

SQFMI has launched a new smartwatch. Called the Watchy, the device is equipped with an E-ink display, four buttons and has a vibration motor. An accelerometer and a real-time clock are onboard too, along with Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi support.

The constantly growing smartwatch market is getting another competitor, Timex. With the Ironman R300, the company has created a cheap smartwatch that supports GPS and multiple fitness tracking options. Timex promises that the Ironman R300 should last an impressive 25 days between charges, too.

IDC India has released its report on the wearables market in this country for the last quarter of 2019 (4Q2019). It reveals that the 'audio' category of these electronics had the highest share for that period, overtaking band-type devices compared to 4Q2018. Xiaomi had the greatest share in the latter sector, whereas Apple's AirPods clearly dominated their own sub-segment.

Casio has announced the release of titanium-cased versions of its PRO TREK outdoor watch line-up. They are also Bluetooth devices that feature Smartphone Link, which allows them to connect to the wearer's mobile device. This allows the user to view information such as steps taken, route logs or altitude.