Smartwatch

OPPO has already let it be known that it will launch its first ever smartwatch soon, and that it has taken profound design cues from Apple. However, the OEM has yet to mention anything about the new wearable's software. A well-known Weibo tipster purports to spoil this by posting a new image of what looks like the device running Google's Wear OS.

Xiaomi fans can breathe a sigh of relief for the Mi Watch is officially coming to Europe, a representative has confirmed. The Wear OS smartwatch is powered by a Snapdragon Wear 3100 SoC, 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of eMMC flash storage.

Mobvoi has launched the TicWatch Pro 2020 on Amazon.com. It has a RAM upgrade, but sticks with the same SoC, design and battery life. Then again, as it still includes a dual display, it should still offer impressive longevity as a wearable.

The Apple Watch remains the world's most popular smartwatch series, although its design has largely remained the same over the years. How about one with a round display? Well, that is what one designer has dreamt up, and some people are digging the design.

An OPPO executive has teased its upcoming first-generation smartwatch, revealing that it looks quite like those made by Apple. This device is also to have "3D glass", which may be used to help the wearable's face curve downwards towards its case. It is also now known to have a gold finish.

The YHE BP Doctor is a new smartwatch that can measure blood pressure, along with oxygen saturation levels and heart rate variability. All this functionality should make the YHE BP Doctor capable of providing important information about your own health.

After meeting earlier this week to discuss the viability of Mobile World Congress 2020, the GSMA has decided to cancel MWC 2020 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. Multiple companies have stated they would not be in attendance due to the epidemic earlier this month. In response, the GSMA has outright cancelled MWC in its entirety.

WhatsApp has secured approval to roll out a new facet of its service in India. It is a new payment platform that has just been approved by the relevant authories. This may help the Facebook-owned app compete effectively with others such as Google Pay/Tez and Paytm in the country.

Chargeasap, the company responsible for the Infinity Cable, has introduced another new product via Indiegogo. The Flash power bank is described as based on Tesla graphene-battery technology, which allows it to fill up at a maximal rate of 150 watts (W). It also purports to deliver 100W USB-Power Delivery (USB-PD) through a type C port, and that's not all.

Apple's Smartwatch outsold all Swiss watchmaker brands combined by 3 to 2 in 2019. Younger consumers prefer smartwatches, a shift that has continually driven sales away from Swiss watchmakers over the past five years. Still, considering their luxury status, it's unlikely that Swiss watchmakers will disappear overnight.

After over four years since its release, Samsung is still supplying the Gear S2 smartwatch with software updates. The latest set not only offers significant battery life improvements but also deliver an improved and clean-looking UI.

Qualcomm has released its first earnings report for the year 2020. The quarter (1Q2020) saw no less than US$5.1 billion in revenue for the chipmaking giant. This is a 5% improvement compared to 1Q2019. In addition, the company's latest pre-tax earnings saw a year-on-year increase of 69%.

The Honor MagicWatch 2 is now available to purchase on Amazon, with prices starting at ~US$210. The 46 mm smartwatch is available on Amazon DE and Amazon UK, with Honor promising up to fourteen days battery life for the device.

While the Huawei Band 4 Pro is slightly more expensive than other fitness wristbands, it also comes with a few extra features: An integrated GPS, AMOLED display and in some countries, even NFC functionality. Here, we summarize our test results.

According to a new leak, Redmi - which is usually known as a smartphone brand - will launch a fitness tracker soon. It may be of the kind that fits into a silicone wrist-band, and may also have a front-facing capacitive button. This device may have been certified for use in India already.

The latest report on the health- and fitness-tracker market shows that it may achieve a valuation of as much as US$5 billion by 2025. This may be driven by the increasing number of applications and functions for these devices. They may in fact improve to the point that they can be used to help diagnose and prevent illnesses in the future.

An Indian electronics authority has approved a new device from Realme described as being part of the "Smart Watches" category. Therefore, it seems this brand is preparing to launch its first wearable of this type in India. If so, it will compete with other OEMs such as Huawei and Garmin in this market.

A study published in The Lancet has concluded that Fitbit use was associated with significant improvements in a technique used to detect influenza and similar conditions. This is due to the heart rate- and activity-monitoring features in these wearables. Therefore, fitness trackers may play a greater role in public health in the future.

A number of newer Fibit wearables were shipped with SpO2 (or estimated blood oxygen) sensors, which may not have been activated within their systems. However, the OEM has addressed this in a new update. Therefore, compatible devices can now track this additional health metric for their users.

The Xiaomi Mi Band range is getting another a cost-effective fitness tracker, and one that features a larger touchscreen than its predecessor. The Mi Band 5 will apparently support NFC globally too, and will launch later this year for as little as US$26.

The Amazfit T-Rex is this brand's first smartwatch of 2020. With its MIL-STD-810G rating and 14 sports modes, it is clearly intended for rugged pursuits. Its maker has also updated its Bip series with the S variant, a watch with a 40-day battery life and health-focused AI features.

Xiaomi has unveiled its first smartwatch of 2020 already. The Watch Color has a 1.39-inch circular AMOLED display, and comes in black or silver. It is rated for 14 days' worth of battery life with normal use, and also has other potentially desirable specs such as Bluetooth 5.0, heart-rate tracking and NFC.

Smoke for Steam is a new app for the Apple Watch that lets users access some of the features of Steam on their wrists. Smoke allows users to look at their library, view achievements, check the status of their friends, and read news articles pertaining to titles they own. Otherwise, the app is limited; it doesn't even allow users to manage their game libraries or purchase new titles.

Xiaomi has teased its new Watch Color, a wearable that, unlike its last, has a round face. It is slated to come in a variety of finishes and bands that will give it a total of 1540 different possible looks. This new device will be launched on January 3, 2020.

A lawsuit was recently filed against Apple, claiming that the company engaged in willful patent violation. The issue at hand is that the Apple Watch Series 3 allegedly violates a patent filed by Dr. Joseph Wiesel with regards to atrial fibrillation detection technology.

Aipower is a start-up that had great success in its crowdfunding endeavors for its Wearbuds product. This is a type of fitness band that also houses a pair of truly wireless (or TWS) earbuds. They will be on show at CES 2020, along with some new products, a smartwatch included.

Huami is a wearables OEM that has made a name for itself largely through its Amazfit brand of smartwatches. However, it has revealed that it intends to push into additional product categories next year. The company has secured a CES 2020 booth, at which its new products may be revealed.

A leaked firmware update from Garmin all but confirms that a new solar-powered wearable is coming from the outdoor tech company. The Garmin Instinct 2 Solar, as the device is likely to be called, will feature a solar-powered recharge system, a Pulse Ox sensor, and a few other features.

Myonaz is a start-up with a new kind of ceramic personal space heater. Not only does its main function initialize in an estimated 3 seconds, it can also act as a warm- or cool-air fan. It also incorporates a reading light and a USB type A port to charge a phone.

At least 60% or more of US consumers aged 55 years or more favor Fitbit when buying a wearable. This is due to the demand for smartwatches and fitness trackers in the relevant age ranges. However, Apple is more popular among those aged 18 to 24.

OPPO's Inno Day 2019 event was mostly dominated by upcoming products such as its AR headset. However, it also teased new wearables that may launch soon as well. They are a new pair of truly wireless (TWS) earbuds, as well as a square-faced smartwatch.

Huawei had planned to release its Mate 30 Pro and Watch GT 2 to the Taiwanese market soon. However, this jurisdiction's NCC regulator has withdrawn its approval to sell these devices. The abrupt decision is related to an old dispute that affects the country.

MAGFAST is a company set up to offer power accessories with an innovative magnetic interface. Its largest product is the Extreme, a charging station with 3 Qi-wireless charging coils on its top. It can also support USB type C, type A and Lightning-ported devices - as well as jump-leads for a car.

Garmin has launched its Venu wearable in the Indian market. It has a smartwatch form factor, with a round 1.2-inch AMOLED display, but also has modes to track over 20 fitness-related activities and an inbuilt coaching interface for workouts. It will go for 37490 INR (or about US$525) when it is released to Amazon.in on December 15, 2019.

Xiaomi obviously took plenty of inspiration from Apple when designing its Mi Watch. While the Apple Watch clone initially only supported Android, the Chinese company has now updated it to make it compatible with iOS. In short, iPhones owners now have a new cheaper alternative to the Apple Watch. Xiaomi will launch the Mi Watch in Europe in the new year.

Xiaomi introduces its ultra-affordable Mi Band 3i to the Indian market at Rs. 1299 (US$18). The Mi Band 3i offers feature parity with the Mi Band 3, only giving up heart rate tracking. At this price-point, is the Mi Band 3i a viable first wearable for Indian users?

Those who use treadmills might want to keep track of their speed, incline and other metrics as they work out. The Runn is a new gadget that captures this data and sends it right to a compatible fitness app. It is up for pre-order now, and is slated to ship in mid-December

Huami has released a statement on how its latest device, the Amazfit GTS, did in the recent November 2019 sales event. It claims that the smartwatch was a hit on numerous regional online sales platform. The GTR and Bip Lite wearables also allegedly sold out in 1 hour in 1 store.

Huawei has announced that it will introduce its Watch GT 2 to Indian customers on December 5, 2019. This will be the first device with the new Kirin A1 processor for wearables released to this market. This smartwatch also boasts a 2-week battery life and a bezel-less display.

Mobvoi's Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale has started. It includes a 25% discount on its Ticwatch Pro and Pro 4G/LTE models, which are normally US$249.99 and $299 respectively. The OEM is also offering other smartwatches at up to $50 off.

Huami is a smartwatch OEM that has developed a habit of releasing titanium-cased variants of its products. Now, it has given one of its latest releases, the GTS, the same treatment. Its new edition costs about US$185, or about $58 more than the original.

North Pole Engineering has launched heartbeatz, a new device that acts as a bridge between an Apple Watch and any exercise bike or treadmill with ANT+. This enables the machine in question to display heart rate information directly from the wearable while in use. No more checking your wrist during a workout!

Qualcomm has announced that its next Snapdragon Tech Summit will take place from December 3 to 5, 2019 in Maui, Hawaii. This year, the company will showcase its growing 5G expertise, as well as other facets of its mobile device business such as the appropriate SoCs. Each of the event's keynotes will also be livestreamed from a dedicated site.

A trio of photos of the successor to last year's Honor Watch Magic have appeared online, ahead of its anticipated release on November 26. The Watch Magic 2 appears to feature some minor revisions over its predecessor, although we would not be surprised to see it launch in multiple colours too.