Luna, a new-age health-tech company approaching the core problem of unlocking human potential differently, today announces two major advancements to the Luna Gen 2 Smart Ring; on-demand biomarker measurement and the Timeline feature, marking a significant leap in personal health technology.

The Luna Ring Gen 2, available globally from Luna for $329 including tax / £299 including tax / €329 including tax with the Surge Charger included, now empowers users to take control of wellbeing through real-time insights and contextual understanding of a user’s daily lives.

On-demand biomarker measurement:

Unlike most smart rings that only track passively, the Luna Ring Gen 2 lets users instantly measure key biomarkers, including SpO₂, skin temperature, heart rate, and stress anytime. It bridges the gap between continuous monitoring and real-time health awareness, providing immediate, actionable insights.

The Timeline:

The second major update introduces the Timeline, a feature that transforms how people understand health by bringing life’s context into the same space as the body’s biometrics. Beyond sleep, steps, and heart rate tracking, the Timeline captures the moments between the data such as eating, recovery, and environmental factors to reveal how daily choices influence readiness, energy, and overall vitality. With this update the Timeline evolves from a simple record of activities into a living map of life’s inputs and outcomes.

Key Highlights:

• Richer, contextual logging: Record detailed meal intake, sexual activity, supplement use, alcohol consumption, and recovery rituals (ice baths, saunas, meditation) to bring context to every data point.
• AI-powered meal understanding: Describe a meal in plain language and Luna’s AI instantly decodes food items, calories, and macronutrients turning ordinary logs into precise nutrition insights.
• Sleep environment intelligence: Capture factors like CPAP use, dim lighting, or mouth taping to uncover how sleep settings affect recovery and next-day performance.
• Flexible, user-driven control: Edit or delete entries seamlessly for today or previous days, ensuring the record evolves with the user’s routine.
• Deep LifeOS integration: Revisiting any activity now unlocks “Learn more with LifeOS,” connecting everyday patterns with Luna’s adaptive intelligence for truly personalized optimization.

The Luna Ring Gen 2 combines design, intelligence, and performance. Powered by LifeOS, an adaptive AI trained on over a billion sleep events, it translates biometrics into real-time guidance for better health and performance. The ring delivers AI-driven sleep, readiness, and activity insights, advanced stress and recovery tracking, and deep circadian-aligned analytics, all supported by a 21+ day battery life and redesigned Surge Charger.

Affiliate and additional resources:

• Luna’s affiliate program can be accessed here offering readers a 10% discount and affiliates a 15% commission on qualifying sales.
• Competitor analysis available here
• Product specifications available here.

About Luna:

Luna is a health-tech company reimagining personal health through an integrated ecosystem of hardware, software, and intelligence. At its core is LifeOS, Luna’s adaptive health operating system that interprets biometric data from the Luna Ring and other future devices to deliver real-time guidance on energy, circadian rhythm, and recovery. With science-first design and a global user base, Luna aims to make precision health both accessible and aspirational

The post Luna AI powered smart ring introduces on-demand biomarker measurement and the transformative timeline feature. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

MIXX, known for its premium yet affordable audio range, has announced the launch of the MIXX AirFlow Open Ear Sports Headphones, engineered to redefine the way users experience sound during physical activities. Designed with cutting-edge open-ear technology, these wireless sports headphones deliver premium sound quality while ensuring users remain aware of their surroundings, a must-have for runners, cyclists, and outdoor enthusiasts. .

Features Include:-

• Long battery life: With 8 hours of continuous playtime on a single charge and a total of 24 hours of power with the compact charging case, users can enjoy extended workout sessions without interruptions. A 15-minute quick charge delivers an additional 2 hours of playback, ensuring music is always available when needed.
• Crystal-clear call quality: Built-in dual microphones provide hands-free calling, allowing users to take calls effortlessly while on the move.
• Seamless controls: The intuitive push-button controls on each earbud help to effortless play, pause, skip tracks, and answer calls without needing to reach for a smartphone. This convenient functionality allows users to stay focused on activities without distractions.
• Durable and sweat-resistant: Engineered for intense workouts, with an IPX5 rating, the AirFlow headphones aresweat-resistant, moisture-resistant and light-rain-resistant, making them perfect for long-distance runs, gym sessions, and outdoor adventures no matter what the weather conditions. 

Open-ear design for safety and comfort: One of the standout features of the MIXX AirFlow Open Ear Sports Headphones is their open-ear design, which allows ambient sounds to be heard while listening to music, podcasts, or taking calls. This feature ensures enhanced safety, particularly for outdoor workouts, where environmental awareness is crucial. Whether jogging on a busy street or cycling through urban environments, users can enjoy any favorite audio while staying alert to traffic, pedestrians, and other external sounds. MIXX has meticulously engineered these headphones to provide wide dynamic stereo sound, a deeper bass and louder volume.

The ergonomic fit is tailored for all-day wear, offering lightweight, flexible ear hooks that wrap securely around the ears without causing discomfort or pressure. This design ensures stability even during high-intensity workouts, preventing the headphones from slipping or shifting.

The AirFlow Open Ear Sports headphones are available from MIXX and Amazon for a very affordable £40, currently 25% off on Amazon for £29.88

The post MIXX Unveils AirFlow Open Ear Sports Headphones: The Ultimate Companion for Active Lifestyles.. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

The only way to find out is to get into the nitty gritty of a Coolsmartphone review!
Hardware and Design

A lot of what we are seeing here in terms of design is very similar to what we have seen previously with the Watch 2. In fact the internals are nearly the same. I have done an unboxing for the Watch 2R and I would encourage you to take a look at this to acclimatise yourself with the specs and refresh your memory.

For the more specifications inclined, here is a comparison of the specs for you.

Spec’s comparison table

So as we can see above there are a lot of similarities between the two watches particularly on the internal hardware. I will just spend a bit of time reviewing the key changes between the two devices.

First up is the most obvious and that is the design, the Watch 2 used an asymmetric design with the right-hand side of the watch having a bulge to it that was reminiscent of the OnePlus 12 camera design. This is where we could find the Home buttons and the lower shortcut buttons. These buttons could be changed in terms of long press functionality as well. There was a lot of speculation that the home button was also going to be opened up to be an actionable rotating crown. This has not happened at the time of writing, and I doubt it will be based on the lack of any new speculation online.

The Watch 2R uses a very similar design in that it also uses the dual button setup but it drops the asymmetric design in favour of a more traditional watch style design. This means that the two side buttons now protrude slightly from the watch side. This makes it easier to locate and press. The Home button this time gives no aspirations of being any other than a button which is good to see We also have a slightly differently designed watch band but as this is normally something that is swapped out by the user I am not too concerned by this as both watch straps where comfortable to use long term. The last bit I want to mention is the finish that the casing uses, the Watch 2 has a very shiny and glossy finish which was very prone to be smudged up easily by usage of the watch. On the Watch 2R the casing is now a more matte affair which does make it easier to keep smudge-free. With that, we can actually now move onto a key area of differences and that is the materials used to build the watches.

On the Watch 2 we found that they were largely using more premium materials for the build of the case and this is reflected in the Spec sheet above. We can see that the Watch 2 uses stainless steel for the watch body which brings a higher toughness and scratch resistance to the body. It also unfortunately brings more weight to the watch. In addition to this, the screen on the Watch 2 is made of Sapphire crystal for durability. Now this is the gold standard for smart watches and I feel all watches should now have Saphirre faces on them. Unfortunately, this is where we do see one of the spec hits on the Watch 2R as we have got a Panda Glass screen which has flat edges instead of the slightly rounded edges that were witnessed on its older sibling. Another area to be hit is the aforementioned casing as we now have a aluminium construction over the brushed stainless steel of the Watch 2. Now normally these compromises would give me reason for concern but in this case, I have no issues.

I have been wearing the Watch 2R on and off as my main watch for nearly a month over the summer and during this time I have exposed it to many things that watches don’t like in terms of keeping them in pristine condition. In my role as an engineer, I expose the watch to getting scuffed and scratched and the screen is still as pristine as the day it was unboxed. the casing has also held up very well and I have not been able to make out any markings on the exterior of the watch at all. I am so confident that the watch is durable, that after I finish this review the watch will be used by my son and I have high hopes that he will be able to keep it in a similar condition to what it currently is.

In terms of the battery life and charging this is the same as that of the Watch 2 as the Watch 2R uses the same battery and runs the same internal architecture and screen as the previous watch.

The only other area where the design has changed is in the weight of the Watch 2R. Now at first when I heard about the weight change I brushed it off as not really being a concern after all it is a watch it should be light. It wasn’t until I picked the watch up that I was then shocked at how light the Watch 2R felt. Now to be fair I was using a Garmin  Epix Gen 2 at the time and this is not exactly a featherweight. However, my honest first reaction was that the unit I picked up was a dummy unit as it was so light. It has been a pleasure to wear the Watch 2R due to this lightweight and I have been able to wear it comfortably whilst swimming and mountain biking.

I have included some images of how the watch is fairing after two months of usage and wear below for you and as you will see it is still pristine.

So moving onto the software and this is where things don’t really change much again from the Watch 2 to the Watch 2R. They are both running the same software and both utilise the Dual-Engine Architecture that was first launched with the Watch 2. This uses the same splitting of the load as before. it also brings the same battery life advantages. I would normally go over all of this again for you but I have already written this up extensively in my OnePlus Watch 2 Review so I would encourage you to refer back to that review.

I have been using the Watch 2R with both the OnePlus Nord 4 and more recently the Pixel 9 Pro Fold (horrible name) during this time I was able to transfer my data from one phone to the other by using the backup function that has not been added to the OHealth App. However, that is there only real significant change that has been made to the OHealth app which is still disappointing. I was unable to get the app to sync with Google Fit or any of the other fitness solutions that I have used Garmin Connect and Fitbit). I was also disappointed to see that Komoot is still not really that useful on the watch as you can only use it to track a walk/cycle not follow a pre-created one. This last point is not an issue exclusive to the Watch 2 and 2R though as this is an Android Wear issue more than anything else.

There was however one thing that surprised me about my time using the Watch 2R and that was that i missed Android Wear on my wrist. So much so that i have actually bought myself a new watch the Pixel Watch 3 45mm. The reasons why I have gone with the Pixel Watch 3 over the 2R are purely down to OHealth and its lack of integration with other Fitness solutions. There are a few quirks that I noted in the watch software as well but nothing I couldn’t get past. For me though using the Pixel 9 Pro Fold as my phone it makes sense to use the Pixel Watch 3. My son however will be using the Watch 2R with a OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite so it will go perfectly alongside that and his Nord Buds 2.

I have really liked using the OnePlus Watch 2R and I look forward to getting the feedback from my son when he starts to use it as well. It is a very good smartwatch from a hardware point of view and with some further development of the OHealth app I believe it could be something I would use again. OnePlus have got the hardware-to-price point relationship on point here and they have also managed to nail the battery life issues of most Android Wear owners. it is not time for a bit more love to be shown to the software and get that working better and this would be a highly recommended option for an Android Wear smartwatch for the price-savvy user.

Editor Note:- Apolagies for the lack of any sort of fitness tracking testing in this review. The reviewer’s job does not allow for much activity day to day so it was decided not to include this in this review. The health section of the watch was previously covered loosely in the OnePlus Watch 2 review.

You can buy the OnePlus Watch 2R from the OnePlus site right now and its RRP is £249 but as is normally the ace with OnePlus there’s an offer of £30 pounds off which reduces the price to £219 making this one of the cheapest fully featured Android Wear smartwatches currently available. Incendentally the Watch 2 is also still available and that is only priced a fraction higher. Both are fantastic watches and well worth a look if you are in the market and don’t want to go down the Samsung or Google route.

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The first is the unboxing of the OnePlus Pad 2 along with the OnePlus Smart Keyboard and the OnePlus Stylo 2.

This is the successor to the OnePlus Pad which came out last year and at the time of writing is the most powerful Android tablet on the market with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip powering it. Alongside this chip we have got 256 GB of Storage and 12 GB of RAM.

It has a very crisp and vibrant screen with 3K resolution from a 12.1″ diagonal LCD panel that is capable of up to 900 nits in brightness. The tablet follows a similar design to last years however now comes in a more toned down Slate gray colour way. We still have the centrally mounted 13 MP rear camera when the device is being held in landscape. This is very much the way the tablet is designed to be used which is also reinforced by the fact that the front facing 8MP camera is situated in the middle of the top edge of the device.

The OnePlus Smart keyboard is significantly different in design to the previous gen as it now has an extra row of tools along the top room of the keyboard and it has a bigger track pad area. One other major improvement is the fact that you can use the keyboard when it is not physically connected to the device via a Bluetooth connection. This is very useful as you can set the tablet up in a standing position using the magnetically attached back stand, which can fold to a variety of angles from near vertical to almost flat allowing a good range of adjustability. I am actually using the Smart Keyboard to write this article whilst on holiday in Rhodes! This combination of the OnePlus Smart Keyboard and the powerful Pad 2 does make it possible for this to be the “laptop replacement for mobile work” that I have been looking for since I had to give up Xperia Z4 Tablet many years ago due to it no longer being supported by updates.

The last piece of the tablet based kit is the OnePlus Stylo 2, which as the name suggests is the stylus based input for the Pad 2 and it is very good from the limited use I have given it so far. I have found that the accuracy of the pen on the screen is very good and when I have used it for writing notes the tracking works very well with the accompaniment of some audible feedback that makes it sound like you are writing on paper. There is also just enough resistance on the display so that it feels like you are getting some feedback. The Stylo 2 is capable of detecting up to 16000 levels of pressure which is more than I could ever discern!

All of this makes for a really easy to use mobile workstation, there are of course limitations but I will cover this more in the full review as for now this is merely a first impressions post.
OnePlus Watch 2R and the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro.

Next up we have got the OnePlus Watch 2R and the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro.

This video is a combo of the two in one as they are accessories but they do deserve some airtime in their own right.

OnePlus Watch 2R

This is the update to the extremely well received OnePlus Watch 2 which I previously reviewed for the site and was very impressed with. Again this is not going to be a full review but I have got an unboxing video below for your viewing pleasure.

In the above video I unbox both the Watch 2R and the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro I have been using the Watch 2R as my daily watch since the moment I unboxed it and as I mentioned above I am currently on Holiday in Rhodes and this has been performing extremely well during this time. I have been putting it through its paces and testing the water resistance which has been awesome. I have not been particularly kind to the watch as I have been using it in the sea and in swimming pools and it has barely skipped a beat.

I have still got some further testing to do before I form my final review thoughts. I will try and test it up against my Garmin Epix 2 that I have been driving daily for the past month or so. This will give me a true idea of its accuracy in terms of health metrics but so far I have been very impressed with the overall package.

Next up and last but by no means least are the new OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro

OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro

These have been in use a lot since I received them as they have been my headphones of choice for my trip.

They are comfortable and provide very good and adequate noise cancellation and can wear them for a sustained period of time which makes them amazing for traveling.

Yes they are a bit more basic in terms of functionality than the Google Pixel Buds Pro that I normally rely on exclusively but it is entirely possible that these may end up being my go to earphones for the future.

iF you want to find about any more about any of the specs or prices for the above products then please check out the OnePlus website.

I have included a gallery of some other pictures of the devices below if you want a closer look at them.

OnePlus Pad 2

OnePlus Watch 2R

OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro

The post OnePlus Summer Launch – Unboxing extravaganza is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

I am of course talking about the recently announced OnePlus Watch 2, which I have had the pleasure of using for the last few weeks. OnePlus launched this device with a smallish off-site event at MWC in February and I have been eager to get my muggy mits on one since they announced it. They had one big headline claim that this was a Wear OS smartwatch that could last for 4 days without having to recharge it! This proved to be very intriguing to me and I had to get one.

Now before the arrival of the OnePlus Watch 2, I had been using my faithful and reliable Pixel Watch 2 (Wifi). I was able to normally stretch the battery to this out to 2 days with light use. My use case is very light as I only really have the watch as a way of monitoring my steps during the day and my sleep at night. I also have notification coming through from my normal daily which is my Pixel Fold. I was not using always on display and I did not have other always on display active. I also ran a very dark theme which extended the battery as best as it could. I feel that is important to cover this as it will give you a metric of what can be reasonably expected for my usage case.

Normally for a review, I will split it up into two different posts the first of which will be an unboxing with some very quick first impressions. However, I was so keen to get the watch on my wrist and start using it that I skipped this step and started using it immediately. I have now shot a brief tour of the device for you to enjoy along with the box contents which you can see below.

Design

The watch has a nice good-looking design and mixes the nuances of being subtle but also has a decent-sized screen for me without appearing too much. There is some clear inspiration for the OnePlus phone lines of late in particular the OnePlus 11, OnePlus 12 and OnePlus Open

In terms of size, it is on the large size with a screen measuring 1.43″ which is significantly larger than my Pixel Watch 2 which came in at 1.2″ Now while 0.2″ doesn’t sound much it makes a big difference when it comes to actually using the screen more on this later though.

The screen is also significantly tougher than the Pixel Watch 2 as it is made of sapphire crystal glass instead of the Gorilla Glas 5 used on the Pixel Watch 2 Bezels on both watches are bigger than what I would have liked especially when compared with the best from Samsung however this is something i can get along with without too many issues.

I am a bit torn on the next design choice as on both the Pixel Watch 2 and the OnePlus Watch 2 there is no raised physical bezel on the screen which is great for the look and the design of the watches as it makes a smooth uninterrupted surface which is great to interact with using your fingers. However it does mean that the first thing to come into contact with a surface is glass, and as a great man has said many times “Glass is glass and glass breaks” (Thanks Zak @jerryrigeverything). The lack of the raised bezel does however mean it is less bulky allowing you to slide a shirt sleeve over the top of the watch which is very welcome when you are breaking out the formal wear.

The OnePlus Watch 2 comes in two different colour ways which have appropriate coloured straps alongside the different watch body colours. I have got a Radient Steel version here which comes with a green fluroelastomer band. The other colour  Black Steel will come with a Black version of the same strap. The strap is plenty comfortable and is easily swappable with a standard 22m strap thanks to the universal strap lugs being used.

On the controls side we have got two side-mounted buttons one of which looks like it should have been a rotating crown but is not functional. A lot of talk has been made about why this was used but not enabled in the software as we have crowns on other watches that are used for navigating the software. OnePlus states that by having it as a free spinning crown the chances of it breaking are reduced. A lot of my contemporaries are also speculating that this will be a feature that is opened up by software in the future. I have not seen any evidence for this so I remain undecided, personally, it is not something I ever used much on my Pixel Watch 2 so it doesn’t bother me. Out of the box, this crown/button is set up as the home button with a long press activating Google Assistant. The second lower button is for Power on a long press and other functions. It can be configured in the watch menu under Controls. I have mine set for one press to open the most recently used app and two will open the Sleep mode.

On the back of the watch, we have of course the sensor array which hides a multitude of sensors for health tracking shenanigans. The sensors are made up of an optical heart rate sensor and an optical pulse oximeter. It is also where we will find the Pogo Pins for charging the watch which is a bit disappointing to see as it means that this is a proprietary charger. This is again no different from the Pixel Watch 2 which also now uses Pogo Pins for charging which I discovered at my cost whilst I was out at MWC as my watch ran out of charge on the second morning of the trip. of course, I didn’t have my charger and due to the lack of wireless charging I was left unable to recharge my watch despite having multiple devices capable of delivering reverse wireless charge. In fairness to the Pixel Watch 2, I would have had the same issue with charging the OnePlus Watch 2 but based upon my usage to date I wouldn’t have needed to as the battery would have run out!

The only other thing of note down here is the speaker which is more than loud enough for notifications and the occasional if embarrassing hands-free call when you trigger it by accident!

Other items included with the watch are the obligatory OnePlus charging cable albeit not in OnePlus Red, we also have the removable charging puck which of course has the Pogo Pins as previously mentioned. On one side it has a USB Type C input capable of supporting OnePlus 7.5W VOOC Fast Charging, which means that when it comes to charging the watch, it is done quickly from zero to full in under 60 mins!

I do like the idea of the removable sharing puck/base as it means that I don’t have to unplug the whole cable which is normally wrapped around or secured to my bedside table or desk in some elaborate way. With the puck, I can pick it up and throw it in my bag or pocket as I head out for work and then plug it back in when I need it to any USB Type C Cable.

That about wraps up the design of the watch and now it is time to do a deep dive into the hardware of the watch which is where things get really interesting.

Specs comparison vs Pixel Watch 2

Hardware

So why is this more interesting than any other Wear OS 4.0 Smartwatch currently on the market? Well, it is very simple this watch has two brains, however, it goes further than that. The watch is capable of using both these brains as and when needed and it does so seamlessly. This is the key difference and what separates this from other long-life Android smartwatches like the TicWatch Pro 3 G Ultra GPS that I used to have and the newer TicWatch Pro 5 from Mobvoi.

So the Mobvoi watches used to allow you to have the option of a low power mode which will effectively run the watch like a non-smart watch. This did help to stretch out the watch’s battery life but the switching was not the greatest experience and it made for a laggy UI (based on My Experience of TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS).

The OnePlus Watch 2 use the new Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 when it is working on parts of the UI that require Wear OS 4.0 to function. i.e. if using 3rd party apps like Spotify Strava etc. However, in normal operational mode, it will run RTOS (Real Time OS) for simpler tasks such as health tracking processes etc. This means that you will be effectively running 2 OS platforms in the same container. Now for this to work Google have needed to address the way Wear OS works and this is the first watch to have this new system in place.

If I am being honest based on my experience so far this is the way forward as it works really well. If I didn’t know what was going on and I was new to smartwatches I would assume this is how they all work. I have yet to come across anything in using the watch that has slowed down or lagged. I can run the watch the way I want to with the features I want in place and I can use a more complex watch screen without having to worry about the battery life.

Coming back to battery life this is powered by a 500 mah battery which has as you would expect from the above two estimated longevities. In Smart Mode (how I have been using it) you can expect anything up to 100hrs ( have achieved this). In Power Saving mode you can expect up to 12 days of runtime, however, this mode will lose the Wear OS features as it relies solely on RTOS.  There is also of course the Heavy Smart mode and this is when you are using the watch with all the bells and whistles on ie using Always on Display, and a Third-party watch face. If you are interested in the differences in the power modes as they are defined by OnePlus then check out these images below.

I liken the way the watch works to a Hybrid Car which will work on battery power when it is just trundling along in town but then when you hit the accelerator and ask for more power you get the petrol engine kick in. You don’t notice the difference in terms of the driving as it just transitions between the power units for you with the only difference being you can hear the engine working when the power is applied.

I think this is a great way to solve the problem of the short battery life for Android-powered smartwatches and I am excited to see where this can be taken and developed in the future. It is perfect of course not but in terms of the underlying hardware experience it is great now we just need the software to match.

Software

This is really what is going to make or break the Dual-Engine Architecture and I am happy to say for the most part it does work well, however, this is new software on a new system so it will of course come with some teething issues. These limitations come from the low-powered RTOS as this is essentially a “dumb OS” in the simplest possible terms. What I mean about that is that any third-party apps needs to run on the Wear OS side of the architecture. This brings some limitations to the watch.

An example is that I wanted to run the same watch face that I run on my Pixel Watch 2 and I was advised that doing so will dramatically reduce battery life. Okay fine, I will run an RTOS one, if I want to use Google Fit for complications on a watch face then I again get the warning message saying reduced battery life.

Now, whilst this is by no means a deal breaker you can just accept that the running of the Wear OS app will require more power. I would like to see a low-power alternative natively created by Google as they will hopefully offer a better alternative to those offered by RTOS. What we end up with is a bit of a hodgepodge of health and fitness readings which contradict each other.

If I am being honest this is one of the reasons why I ended up moving to the Pixel Watch 2 as I can use my Google Fit apps with no real problem. Now dont get me wrong Google has not got this 100% correct either as they also have Fitbit which is also active and only offered as a trial version for the full features, which some could say is worse. In an ideal world, we would have a version of Google Fit Lite that could run on a low-power custom Tensor chipset. Sadly though we don’t have that yet, this is the next best thing we have.

I have been using the Oneplus Watch 2 to track watch to track my steps with both the RTOS Step counter and the Google Fit step counter running as well and the results from a recent walk are shown below.

Unfortunately, as you can see there is a difference between the total on both services. As to which one is wrong, I don’t know but I have grown to rely on Google Fits tracking over a bunch of different smartwatches in the past so I am inclined to stick with Google here.

The main feature of the RTOS operating system is of course the Health Tracking service OHealth here is a video of the overview app on the watch.

It is much more than the actual watch software as OHealth is the companion app. for the phone. Without the OHealth App, you will not actually be able to pair the phone watch with the phone. This is very similar to the likes of the latest Samsung Watch as you need to use the Samsung Wear app to set one for the new generation watches. You have to use this watch for pulling data from the watch along with setting all your functions on the watch up. I have included some screenshots below for the OHealth App so you can check it out.

This is what things look like on the phone but on the smartwatch, as you saw above it is much simpler.

Overall in terms of the software I am left a bit torn as I want to love the OnePlus Watch 2 and I do really like the hardware but there are just some things about the software that annoy me a bit too much for my liking. There are also some features that I have grown accustomed to with my Pixel Watch  2 which would be missed, The main one being something that will not really affect the normal user but for me is nearly enough to be a deal breaker. I am talking about the ability to transfer the watch from one phone to another without having to complete a full reset of the phone.

At the moment if you want to move from one phone to another then the only way to do that is to delete the pairing of the other phone with the watch and then set the pairing again on the phone which loses all your settings and also any OHealth fitness data that had been accumulated. This feature is a core feature of Wear OS 4 and it should be present. I can only presume that it is missing due to the complicated setup of the RTOS being active all the time and Wear OS then sitting beside it. Hopefully, this is something that Google and OnePlus will keep working on it!

Just one final note before I move on the OnePlus Watch 2 will only run on Android as you cannot get the OHealth app currently on iOS, who knows if this will change in the future but it is something to be aware of if you are using an iOS device.

That pretty much concluded my thoughts about the OnePlus Watch 2 software.

Conclusion

I really do think that the OnePlus Watch 2 is the smartwatch to usher in the next-gen of Android Wear OS that uses this new Dual-Engine Architecture. There will as always be work that needs to be done to iron out the kinks which have come out on the OnePlus Watch 2. I do feel that Google and OnePlus are good partners in this development as Google can work out the issues on a device that essentially isn’t part of their own hardware lineup with little risk if it were to go wrong. OnePlus however benefit by having Google’s expertise in the Wear OS field whilst also getting the tech nerds like me all buzzing about their newest wearable.

I suppose the real question is would I buy one for myself and should you be considering one for yourself as well?

So on the first question, Would I buy one for myself? I am very very tempted as all the little niggles bar one I could certainly live with given the massive benefit that the Dual-Engine Architecture offers me in terms of Battery life. I don’t use that much in the way of third-party apps on my smartwatch so it is one watch that I am strongly considering.

The second question I posed is for you the reader should you buy one? Well if you use a lot of third-party apps on your smartwatch then I would say that this is not the watch for you, get a Pixel Watch 2 or Galaxy Watch 6, both of these options will give you a competitive battery life with the Galaxy giving slightly more than the Pixel. If however like me battery life is one of the key factors and you can live with some of the RTOS niggles (which to be honest are minor) then grab one of the OnePlus Watch 2 and relax into knowing that you have a few days between charges instead of a few hours!

The Oneplus Watch 2 is available from  https://www.oneplus.com/uk/oneplus-watch-2 now for £299, however, keep an eye on their website and Socials as they do like to launch offers all year around.

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Starting March 4th, the OnePlus Watch 2 will be available for general purchase on OnePlus.com in Europe, India, and North America.

Pre-orders are set to commence on (TODAY) February 26th, offering enthusiasts an opportunity to secure their device before the official launch.

The OnePlus Watch 2 will come in two color variants: Black Steel and Radiant Steel, catering to varying style preferences.

With a starting price of £299 / €329 / $299, the OnePlus Watch 2 aims to deliver a compelling blend of features and affordability. This pricing reflects the device’s advanced capabilities, including a dual-engine architecture, extensive battery life, and integration with Wear OS by Google.

As the release date approaches, anticipation for the OnePlus Watch 2 continues to build. Its availability and pricing details underscore the brand’s commitment to offering innovative yet accessible technology. Whether you’re a tech enthusiast or a fitness aficionado, the OnePlus Watch 2 presents an enticing proposition worth considering.

It’s good to see WearOS is still being used by manufacturers like OnePlus to offer consumers a wider choice in the smartwatch market.

Stay tuned for further updates as we explore the features and functionalities of the OnePlus Watch 2 in more detail once we get our hands on one, don’t forget our man Garry is on the ground at MWC in Barcelona this year so check out some of his coverage of this years event.

The post OnePlus – Watch 2 – Available to pre-order now is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

A New Era of Mobile Imaging with Xiaomi and Leica
Xiaomi has taken its partnership with Leica to new heights with the Xiaomi 14 Series. This collaboration is pushing the boundaries of mobile photography, integrating Leica’s famed Summilux optics to deliver unparalleled imaging experiences. The Xiaomi 14 Series isn’t just about taking pictures; it’s about creating art on the go.

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra: ‘A Marvel of Engineering’

The standout of the series, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, is a dream come true for photography aficionados and tech lovers alike. With its eye-catching circular camera module and a design that screams elegance, the Ultra variant doesn’t just perform – it impresses. Its robust build, featuring high-strength aluminium and vegan leather, is both durable and chic.
But what truly sets the Xiaomi 14 Ultra apart is its camera system. Sporting a professional quad-camera setup with focal lengths ranging from 12mm to 120mm, the Ultra promises exceptional image quality across all scenarios. And with support for 8K video shooting across all four cameras, the possibilities are limitless.

Xiaomi 14 Ultra comes with 1 storage variant (16+512GB) with an RRP of £1299

Those who purchase between 25th February 2024 and 18th of March 2024 will receive a free camera kit and £300 to spend on Xiaomi ecosystem products.

Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Ultra will include 4 generations of Android OS upgrades, as well as 5 years of security patches. Users of the two devices can get 100GB of

Google One cloud storage for 6 months, 3 months of YouTube Premium with ad-free access to YouTube and the YouTube Music app.¹⁰

The Xiaomi 14: ‘Compact, Yet Powerful’

For those who prefer something a bit more compact without compromising on performance, the Xiaomi 14 is the answer. It features a triple-camera setup that promises comprehensive photography experiences, from ultra-wide shots to detailed close-ups. Plus, with its CrystalRes AMOLED display, every image looks stunningly vibrant.

Xiaomi 14 comes with 2 storage variants:

Xiaomi 14 12+256GB will go on sale with an RRP of £849.

Those who purchase between 25th February 2024 and 31st of March 2024 will receive a free Xiaomi Pad 6 and Xiaomi Band 8 Pro.

Xiaomi 14 12+512GB will go on sale with an RRP £1099.

Those who purchase between 25th February 2024 and 31st of March 2024 will receive a free Xiaomi Pad 6.

More Than Just Smartphones

Xiaomi also introduced the Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro 12.4, Xiaomi Watch S3, Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro, and Xiaomi Watch 2, expanding its ecosystem of smart devices. Each product is designed to integrate seamlessly, offering users a unified and intelligent experience across devices.

Special Offers and Availability
Xiaomi is kicking off the launch with some enticing offers for early buyers, including freebies like the Xiaomi Pad 6 and cash to spend on Xiaomi ecosystem products. And with a commitment to long-term updates and security, Xiaomi is ensuring that your investment remains future-proof.
The Xiaomi 14 Series represents a significant leap forward in mobile technology, offering something for everyone, from photography enthusiasts to performance chasers. With its innovative features, sleek design, and the promise of a connected ecosystem, Xiaomi continues to cement its place as a leader in the tech world. If you’re in the market for a new smartphone, the Xiaomi 14 Series might just be what you’ve been waiting for.

Here are a few hands on shots of the Xiaomi 14 anf the Xiaomi 14 Pro. I have also included some shots of the New Wear Os powered watch that was launched as well.

The post MWC – Xiaomi 14 Series and More Announced is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Yes, a smartwatch, with app notifications, tracking, custom faces, heart rate and sleep monitoring plus more….. for £22.31.

I know what you’re thinking…

Only £22.31? Dude…

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too. However, it’s not all bad.

The charging system is, I’ll admit, a little strange. No magnet here, instead it’s a peg-like grip that you have to fairly accurately place onto the watch. This can be a little hit-and-miss but I managed to get the thing charging out of the box well enough.

Charging takes just over an hour and I’ve had this watch last me up to 5 days, but that’ll obviously alter depending on how much you’re using it and how much tracking you’re doing etc. You can get 7 days on full stand-by, or 3 days if you’re hammering it.

To be honest I was pretty impressed at the design. I’m using my experience of cheap smartwatches here, because some of you may remember the comedy thickness of the Diggio DI10 smartwatch we reviewed a couple of short years ago. I struggled to get my coat sleeve over the thing.

The watch has a 1.4″ full-touch screen. The one we have on test here is the BingoFit SW207 US model, but there’s a BingoFit SW206 US version with a round screen if you prefer. I downloaded the recommended companion app from the manual, which was called “Da Fit“.

It’s available for the iPhone too. For reasons unknown, another app is also recommended on the official BingoFit website, which is FitCloudPro. I stuck with “Da Fit” and it connected the watch as the .. err.. SW303A…

I wasn’t sure what the SW303A was, so I did a bit of Googling and found that this watch is probably also sold as the YoYoFit SW303A. This led me to the YoYoFit website, which looks the same. Then I stumbled onto the YoYoFit Amazon store,, which looks similar to the BingoFit Amazon store and my head started hurting. Basically it looks like there’s another model floating around, but we’ve got this one.

Anyways! Back to it, and we’ve got that 1.4″ screen showing time, date, weather and notifications from your favourite apps. You can personalise the watch face with your own photos or choose one from the companion app.

As for tracking and fitness monitoring, there’s a 24/7 realtime monitor to keep an eye on your heart rate and your sleeping.

You can get information on your blood pressure (how accurate this is I’m not sure as yet), your pulse, step-count and your sleep quality.

The step-counter keeps an eye on distance travelled, calories burnt and how long you’ve been actively moving around for. In addition, there’s 7 sports modes – including walking, running, cycling ,basketball, football, badminton and skipping.

It appears to use the GPS from your phone and had a sensor inside for tracking step counting.

Along with notifications from your favourite apps, you can also get the watch to wake you up with an alarm, operate your camera shutter and more. There’s an upgrade function (this watch upgraded after I unboxed it), and there’s a range of settings so that you can alter the unit measurement (imperial or metric), time formats, sedentary reminders and switch the continuous heart rate detection on or off.

Also in settings you’ll find options for the weather and you can switch the language too.

In the coming days I’ll be adding a video overview of this watch, but suffice to say that navigating the screen is pretty straightforward. Tap to select, swipe to move up or down the menus, and right or left to run through the features.

I’ll be honest, for a little over £22 I was pretty shocked with how good this was. It’s not chunky, it’s not badly made and the accompanying app (as much as I joked earlier) was a very rounded and fully-featured experience with a great GUI and easy access into the relevant fitness stats.

Sure, it won’t upload your stuff to Strava or services like that, but for the money this is a big step up from a tracker with a lot less functionality. Head to Amazon UK to get yourself one. We’ll be doing further testing of this watch soon enough, so keep it peeled for the final part of this review.

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Featuring a 1.39″ AMOLED touchscreen, it’s 10.6 mm thick and has a stainless steel shell with a ceramic bezel design.

“Hiya, yep. I’m on my way home sweetheart. See you in a bit!”

The watch has a massive two-week battery life plus Bluetooth connectivity to your phone (and you can receive calls like Michael Knight in the ’80s), GPS, continuous heart rate tracking and tracking of multiple outdoor and indoor activities. It’ll also show messages and notifications from your favourite apps.

The price right now? A mere £69.99. Bonkers. That’s a ma-hoo-sive £60 off the normal £129.99 pricetag. Head here for the deal and then whack in the code “AREWARD10” to bring it down to £67.99.

Boom. Deal. Proper deal.

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Designed by Vodafone, the watch joins the expanding “Connected” range of Smart Tech, including trackers and smart home technology. The Neo watch has all the recognisable Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars, including Minnie Mouse, Elsa, Buzz Lightyear, Darth Vader, the Child and the Armoured Avenger.

The Neo watch will let kids take their first steps into a independent future, whilst being able to play in a safe environment. It comes with a forward-facing camera for capturing adventures and an activity tracker too. Meanwhile, for parents, there’s the ability to call, chat and video message. Not only that, but parents get full control over the watch and the digital experience they received. Contacts can be approved, screen time can be controlled and the location can be viewed through an easy-to-use Vodafone Smart App, available for iPhone and Android.

Other features include calendar, weather, events and reminders. There’s no internet or social media, keeping kids safe from the more “open” parts of the internet.

Kids get to choose their own Disney “sidekick” character, which also comes with a full theme takeover to match each character. Additional Disney characters are also downloaded to the watch as they appear in Disney movies and shows for no additional cost, although there is a monthly subscription for most of the connectivity aspects of the watch.

John Love, VP, Interactive Experiences at Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, told us….

We are thrilled to reimagine the possibilities for kids smartwatch experiences through this exciting collaboration in a rapidly growing category. By bringing cutting edge interactive design and technology together with beloved characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars, we have created a truly innovative experience for children.

There’s a £7 monthly subscription on this one and the watch will cost £99 to buy. Get more details on the Vodafone website.

The post Vodafone and Disney team up to launch the Neo kids smartwatch is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

That £22 will share data with your phone data plan but don’t forget, the Oppo Watch has standalone 4G connectivity so no need to keep it near your phone.

The watch will also keep an eye on your health and heart rate, check the weather and it’ll stay up to date with Wear OS by Google. There’s real-time fitness tracking from Google Fit and five-minute workout classes.

There’s also online music, mobile payment features, schedule management, phone location, message notifications and a long 21 day battery life (and it’ll recharge in just 15 minutes. It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100 and has a bright AMOLED 1.91″ screen.

You can also go swimming in this thanks to the 50 meter water resistance and there’s wake up reminders, sleep monitoring and guided breathing exercises too.

Interested? Head to this Vodafone page for more information.

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How’s about this? A fitness tracker which kinda says, “You’re getting a bit chunky” and “Happy Christmas” at the same time?

Head to this Amazon link and you can get yourself, a loved one or a friend the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 Fitness Tracker in black. The price we’ve got is for “Prime” customers but it’ll only be a few more pennies for other customers. Normally it’s £39.95 but there’s 31% off, which brings it down to £27.55 with free delivery on Prime.

You can get more details about it in our earlier story but, in short, it’ll basically got 11 sports modes, 24-hour heart rate monitoring, sleep monitoring and 50m water resistance so you can even shower and swim with it on.

The 1.1″ AMOLED display is easy to use and has 65 theme options plus there’s a simple magnetic charger which snaps on. Although, with an “up to” 14 day battery life, you won’t be needing to worry about it too much.

The post Mi Band 5 Fitness Tracker, now just £27.55 is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

We’ve reviewed quite a bit of 70mai kit over the years here at Coolsmartphone, including their dashcams and portable charger / car jump-starter. Now, with 17 fitness modes, Alexa voice control and health monitoring, this is the scratch-resistant Saphir watch which should fit nicely into the “low-maintenance smartwatch” category.

Price? Well, you can buy now from AliExpress for £91.12 and there’ll no doubt be coupons floating about to get you some cash off that.

Spec-wise it’s 5ATM waterproof and can automatically detect what sort of activities you’re doing. It’ll also update you with notifications from your favourite apps. Plus, if you use it lightly, you can double that 10-day battery life in “Watch mode”.

The details state that it’s 9.8mm thick (not bad at all!) and it comes with Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, a heart rate sensor and a 320mAh battery which is charged via a 2-pin POGO magnetic connector (in about 2 hours).

Head to the 70mai website for more details.

The post A first look at the 70mai Saphir smartwatch is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

I want to get one thing out of the way first though. Even though this is marketed as a watch and the core functionality of that is to tell the time, a smartwatch needs to do much more than that. This is an important thing to know going into the review, plus we need to know the difference between a smartwatch and fitness band. I have covered this in my previous review of the Zepp E Smartwatch so I won’t go too far into that.

Where does this wearable fit in? Well, that is what I intend to find out over the course of this review. Plus I must also try to find out if it is any good and worth your money. The good news is that I have spent a few weeks with the Watch ES as my daily driver and, during that time, I have been able to discover all its little tricks along the way. I am going to dive in now and I hope that you can take the time to join me.

Design

Your first thoughts, out of the box, will be how good it look. Also, when you factor in the price, you’ll realise that it is a little bit better than just “good”. This thing is great for the price (just £99 as I type). Now, I know that doesn’t sound like the greatest accolade for a device in the world but it is true. The Watch ES looks like it should cost more than it does and you can instantly see why. The device has got an awesome screen that is great to look at and also to interact with. It is bright in nearly all lighting conditions. I never had a time where I found myself struggling to read the screen, even in sunlight (something that has been lacking as of late).  This is because the Watch ES packs an AMOLED display measuring in at 1.64″ with a PPI of 326. I have seen laptops and smartphones with a lower PPI count than that!

The rest of the body is made out strong and solid-looking plastic that is nothing special but it does give a reassuring feel of durability. It is the sort of thing that will blend into to your life without shouting “hey look at me” which is, in my opinion, a very important feature of any wearable.

Just because you are wearing tech on your wrist doesn’t mean you want to be singled out. One area which is confusing is that the Watch ES is similar in dimensions to a lot of the fitness bands on the market be them from big-name brands like Samsung or Fitbit. The reason this is a problem is no fault of the device but more of the people who named it. This device shouldn’t be called “Watch ES”, as all that is doing is creating confusion amongst a confused wearable market.

We need distinctions between what a fitness tracker is and what a smartwatch is. There has been a move from some manufacturers to try and give the best of both, however they do make compromises to do this. So maybe a name along the lines of the “Honor Fit ES” would’ve been better? Hey, what do I know, I am no marketing specialist!

I have covered the design more in my unboxing which you can read here

Moving on from the design to the internals.

Hardware

What is it that makes this device tick (pun very much intended)? Well, information on exactly what chip this device runs is a bit scarce but we do know that it is Huawei’s own silicon. That’s no bad thing as Huawei’s got very good at making chipsets that are efficient and powerful. Alongside that is the battery. This delivers up to 7 to 14 days of life without the need to plug in, which is awesome to see and I am very happy about. We also have a load of sensors on board to record our movements on a human level and the movement of oxygen in our blood on a microscopic level. The latter can be done via a SpO2 sensor on the rear. SpO2 sensors are appearing more and more on smartwatches and some of the more high spec fitness bands. So the Watch ES being a crossover or hybrid of these two segments, it, of course, has one on board. Now, unlike the Apple Watch or the Galaxy Watch 2019, the Watch ES can only tell you what your SpO2 is and not what is actually wrong with you. For this, you will need to still go and see a doctor.

I did like the inclusion of the sleep monitor as, when I am wearing the Watch ES in bed, it will keep an eye on my sleep patterns which I now know are sketchy and erratic. This us a feature that all smartwatches should have but to do this they need a watch that will last more than 24 hours.

On a final note about the hardware, I was happy with the strap as it proved to be comfortable and thankfully didn’t cause any irritation whilst I was wearing the Watch ES. I have had other watches which become uncomfortable to sleep in, this wasn’t. Another important thing about the way the Watch ES sits on my wrist is that it doesn’t stand that proud off my arm as to cause discomfort. I have found this with my TicWatch S2 –  when I was working whilst wearing carpenters gloves that have a decent size velcro strap, the button would get pressed. Partly due to its smaller footprint both in width and depth I have not had this problem. This particularly something worth bearing in mind as we come into the chillier parts of the year.

That about sums up my thought on the physical aspects of the Watch ES.

Now to get on with the digital elements.

Software

During my time with the Watch ES, I started to realise that I need to think of it not as a smartwatch or a fitness band but as a hybrid of the two devices. It was once I started looking at it in this way that things started to make more sense and I could start to realise the capability of this device. I found that the battery would just keep going and going it was akin to be powered by those damn little bunnies from the adverts. When it did finally succumb to the low battery life death it was quickly rejuvenated without losing too much of that all-important fitness data that I had been working on building up.

On the fitness from the Watch ES is great it tells me when I need to get up and to do some exercise. This has been very useful in my current working climate of at home working. A quick jaunt up and down the stairs, a few times and I was back in action albeit feeling more rejuvenated if a bit sweaty!

If I had been wanting to do a bit more than the stair climbs then The Watch ES has some Fitness Course built-in which with the very helpful guided steps and exercises I could take part in. I only got as far as the stretching one to be fair but I felt that I was guided through it very well by the Watch. It is like having a teeny tiny fitness buddy attached to your wrist just without the protein shakes.

As for the other features that I found myself using, they were nearly all present and correct. I had weather forecasting at a glance and swipe away. I could control my music from my phone (it does need you to start playback on the phone first though). I could set timers and alarms at will with only a few taps needed. It tells me I haven’t been getting enough sleep and that I am not as stressed as I thought I was, so all in all this is a very competent piece of kit.

However that is not the full story, and for those of you who have read some of my previous wearable reviews, you already know what is coming. The way Watch ES handles notifications is a deal-breaker for me as it was on the Zepp E watch that reviewed recently as well. I have become very accustomed to using Google Wear on my smartwatches and I have become comfortable with the notification system on it. The ability to dismiss messages completely from the watch is a godsend, particularly with emails. It means I only have to do it once. On the Watch ES, I can delete the notification from the Watch but it will still be on my device. This becomes laborious after some time and the reverse is also true. This is the missing element for me that sets the device apart from a full smartwatch. I understand the reasons why and the fact that a propiertry OS for a watch can only have so much control over a phones OS but I have just become so used to the harmony between Android and Google Wear that it is hard to let it go.

Conclusion

So where does that leave us then?

It leaves us with a really good fitness band, probably one of the better ones out there especially given the price. On the flip side, it gives us a poor smartwatch. Thank God this is not being used to target the customers who, like me, want the full smartwatch experience. This watch has been built for those who want the best of both those camps and in this, it excels. If this is you then I would thoroughly recommend the Watch ES as you will struggle to find hybrid fitness band and smartwatch for a better price. The only real competition is its closely related cousin the Huawei Watch Fit which is about £30 more expensive due to the fact it has GPS on board.

Honestly, once I made the mental switch to the hybrid way of thinking I was very pleased with the Watch ES and for the non-techy user who wants to keep track of their fitness, this is a great device and well worth the £99 asking price.

You can pick up an Honor Watch ES now from the Honor Webstore for £99 and they will throw in either some Honor Bluetooth headphones or a Min Speaker for free!

The post Honor Watch ES – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

It’s got a curved 4.01″ AMOLED flexible display with a unique design, Bluetooth calling, on-board music control, easy scroll-based interaction, customisable display messages, heart rate and health monitoring, sleep tracking, sedentary reminder and workout tracking. You can control everything via the Nubia Wear smartphone app too.

This looks to receive text messages and updates from your favourite smartphones apps too.

Battery-wise, this has a 500mAh unit which should last 7 days on standby or 36 hours in “daily use”.

Head to the buy page to get one.

The post Meet the Nubia Watch. Oooo, proper lush. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

The Watch ES comes in a fairly unassuming box with the normal glossy graphics upfront. Once you open the box up it reveals the Watch ES front and centre. This can then be removed to find two sections on either side. The first of which contains the pogo pin-style charger on the left and the instructions and warranty info on the right side. That is it really, no extra straps or other goodies. Onto the watch itself.

The screen is a clear indication that this has been designed more like a band than a watch in that you have a tall rectangular face which is dominated by the 1.64″ AMOLED display with a 456×280 pixel resolution. As it is AMOLED it also features always-on display ability if you require it.

On the right-hand edge of the watch, we have a single button which has a nice red inset on it. This makes it easier to see where the button is and adds a nice design touch bring some colour to the rather plain plastic shell.

The left-hand side is completely barren, which is not really surprising as what else would you expect on a watch or indeed a fitness band. The screen itself has a very gentle curve to it, and this is continued into the body to allow a snug fit on the user’s wrist.

Either end of the watch is where you will find the lugs for attaching the straps. These are moulded into the body, so should be strong and secure. This is nice attention to detail as I have seen some cheaper watches and fitness bands that look weak in this area.

The straps come in one size which should fit most wrist sizes. It is made from a fluoroelastomer material which should cope with even the toughest and most abusive owners. I was pleased to see that the single retaining loop has got a nubbin on the underside that will hold it in place with the other half of the strap.

Around the underside, we have got the pogo charging connectors which allow for the charger dock to magnetically connect. I would have preferred to see Qi for the charging but at the price, it can be excused here. Below the pogo pin connector is where you will find a variety of sensors used for measuring your health data and biological rhythms.

We can find the following senors in place:-

• Heart rate Monitor
• SPO2 sensor
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light sensor

We don’t have an onboard GPS, which is again understandable for the price. However, we do have a dual processor that sips at the battery to give up too 10-day battery life (halved if you have AOD activated). I am so pleased to see that battery life on these things is getting better over time as I hated having to do a charge every night. It will also recharge fully in 100 minutes and, if you can only spare 30 mins, then you will get up to 70%. Fast charging wearables are here people it’s about time!

Here is the unboxing video for you to enjoy…

That about sums things up for the unboxing. I going to be using this as my daily driver for the next couple of weeks to thoroughly test it out so check back in with us for the full review then.

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This is for fitness fans, and packs 117 fitness modes, a dedicated sport button, GPS, heart rate, sleep tracking, blood oxygen tracking – plus it only weighs 32 grams.

Specs-wise it’s got a 1.39″ AMOLED 454×454 screen and you can switch between 100 or more faces.

Connecting via Bluetooth 5.0, you get a charging dock and it’ll track elevation, plus you can go swimming with it too.

Head to mi.com for more info on this one.

The post Mi Watch – All you need to know. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Let’s get one thing out of the way. I like smartwatches. No, that’s not quite right. I really like smartwatches. I have reviewed many smartwatches for Coolsmartphone in my years as a writer for the site. They have varied from the complex, like the TicWatch Pro, to the simple ones like the Xioami 3 (which, to be honest, is more of a fitness band).

They come in all shapes and sizes and they all present different ways of doing things. Some of them use well-known operating systems and some use their own propriety software. The one thing they have to have in common though is that they have to be simple to use for their core functions. These, in my opinion, are the following..

• The must tell the time
• Provide basic step counting
• Have good app support on the phone
• Be non-intrusive
• Have a good battery life
• Be forgettable when worn
• Be durable

These are must-haves for me and yes, that last one is a bit weird, so I will explain. I don’t want to have to worry too much about my watch. I just want to be able to put the thing on and it’s there when I need a specific task or function. Using these criteria, some smartwatches have fallen flat in the past, but some have also excelled. It is now time for me to see where the Zepp E smartwatch fits into the picture.

Design
First and foremost is the design of the Zepp E It is very, very reminiscent of a smartwatch that is in the mainstream and could (and was) be easily be mistaken for its counterpart. At first glance, you could think that the Zepp E was an Apple Watch. To be honest, unless you look closely, it’s easy to see why.

I have been using the square-faced Zepp E (you can get a round one too) and – bar the rotating crown on the Apple Watch – they do look very similar. I can only imagine this has been done intentionally as the Apple Watch is very popular and has become a sign of status amongst its users. The Zepp E is nice to look at and is very comfortable to wear during the day and also overnight. It does not get in the way and doesn’t feel like it is weighing down your wrist.

The body is made of a combination of glass screen that blends nicely into a stainless steel body. It is about 1/3 glass and 2/3 metal, and it looks brilliant. There is one single button on the right-hand side which serves as a multifunction button depending on whether you long-press, short press or hold. I like its simplicity and sleekness.

I was initially worried that – as the watch is completely flat – it would be uncomfortable, but that has not been that case at all. This is due to the lugs where the strap is fixed being angled just right so that the strap comes off at an angle that fits to my wrist perfectly. The watch comes with two strap sizes and I have been using the small one which fits just right. The straps are made of soft leather and they soon mould themselves to your wrist nicely. With the straps being leather they don’t recommend that you wear the Zepp E in the shower or swim with it as the leather will start to degrade over time.

The watch itself though has been tested to 5ATM and this proudly laser-etched into the rear of the case around the sensor array. If you are wanting to use the Zepp E in the water you can buy an optional fluoroelastomer strap for that purpose. To be honest it would have been nice to have had this included in the box as this is not a cheap watch. That being said, you don’t get additional bands with either the Apple Watch or the Samsung Galaxy Watch so no major loss.

The sensor array around the back is set into a raised circle on the rear and this contains four different sensors. Set astride of this you will see the pogo charging pins for the charger to mount onto. I’ll be honest i would have liked to see this charge via Qi but this would have added further cost and complication so I can forgive it.

The charger secures magnetically so it does the job, it is just not as easy as having a standardised charger in the form of Qi. I have previously mentioned the lugs for the straps to fit into and these are machined straight out of same metal as the main body so should be strong and resilient. The strap width is 20mm so a bit thinner than I would normally use but it all helps to the design of the watch, making it very sleek and subtle.

Onto the absolutely stunning screen then, and it is crystal clear. I have had no issues with reading it, even in the brightest of conditions. The text is displayed crisply and looks sharp. It is a 1.65″ AMOLED square screen with a PPI of 341 – really great. It also features an always-on display which will have an impact on your battery life, but not something to worry about (more on that later).

I’ll be honest, I don’t tend to use always-on displays on my tech but I have been inclined to use it on the Zepp E as it just looks so damn good! As I have mentioned the watch can also comes as a round style which has the same AMOLED screen but it is a bit smaller at 1.28″ with a PPI of 326. The watch is kept very slim by the slim screen – it only uses a third of the total 9mm thickness !

I briefly mentioned the battery life above and now seems to be about a good a time as ever to cover this off. The battery life on this watch is quite frankly awesome. I have been using it for nearly 2 weeks and I have only had to charge it once. It was also really quick to charge – only taking about 2 hrs from zero to full. Battery life has always been a pet peeve of mine when it comes to smartwatches so I am really impressed by this aspect of the watch!

Lastly, I think we need to briefly cover the contents of that sensor array. It contains a lot of stuff, so here is the list..

• Biological Tracking Optical Sensor
• Acceleration Sensor
• Geomagnetic Sensor
• Linear Vibration Motor

All of these sensors will work to give a large amount of information through the watch but also through the Zepp health app which we shall cover in more depth now

User experience

So, like any smartwatch worth its salt you need it to have a good UI that is intuitive and easy to use. I think in this case it is fair to say that the Zepp E has this covered. The main watch face can be chosen from a gallery of different styles to display lots of different information. These range from a straightforward clock face to one that will show you all your stats – distance heart rate, calories burnt etc.

I have opted to use one with more information, as I do like to see my stats at a glance. If you swipe up from this it will bring up a preview of notifications which can’t be actioned annoyingly, but it is nice to have on here. Swiping down from the main screen will bring down a shortcuts bar for settings and it will also show the date. Going either to the left or the right will open a carousel of more screens showing Activity Goals, Heart rate, Music controls, and Weather (this is the order if you swipe right to left the order will reverse if you go the other way).

If you press the button on the right-hand side then it brings up the main menu. which allows access to a few more features such as full settings menu, Workout, Alarms, and widgets to name a few. Finally, a long press brings up the options for work out tracking, this can be configured to perform a different task if required. I have to say the UI is very nicely laid out and is very intuitive.

Here is a brief demo of the UI on the watch.

It is simple to navigate around and features pretty much everything I need from a smartwatch bar one two major exceptions.

The first one is that notifications management. One major draw for me has always been the ability to manage my incoming smartphone notifications on my watch. I receive a lot of crap in the form of emails that I am not interested in. I really like the ability to delete these emails or messages from my wrist without having to remove my phone from my pocket. I also really like the option to be able to reply to messages from my watch quickly and easily. This is a major feature for me that is missing from the Zepp E and for me, this is a core feature of what a smartwatch is.

The second feature that I miss is the ability of my watch to interact with my smart assistant. This is something that I do less often, but I do want to be able to do it from time to time when it is handier to just say “Hey Google” and to get an answer.

The first feature is actually what made me start wearing a smartwatch all the time over a normal watch. I was at MWC many years ago and there were three of us from the CSP team covering the event. We were in constant chats over whats app or hangouts to keep us in the know as to where the others were and what they were doing. In that busy environment, we didn’t have the time or the spare hands to be pulling phones out of our pockets all the time so a smartwatch with actionable notifications was essential.

Other than the above two items I would say that the UI on the Zepp E is pretty much fully complete and, if you are like the vast majority of people who use a smartwatch for its fitness aspects, then you will be fully covered by the Zepp E. For the minority like me, it will still be useful, but you may find it frustrating that you can see the notification but can’t do anything with it!

So that is the watch UI covered, how about the other part of the puzzle, the smartphone app? Well, again here Zepp does not disappoint.

Now, this should hardly be surprising as a little known secret is that Zepp has been doing this for a while – albeit under a different name –  Amazfit. What this means is that the Zepp app is refined and well presented. It has a multitude of options for pulling fitness data in from various smart tech. We are of course only really interested in the details pertaining to the watch. So let us dive in together and find out what is on offer.

The App Home screen presents you immediately with your daily step count, your calories burned and your sleep info. Below this, you can see your heart rate. Next up is the sleep score section which gives your sleep a rating out 100. The last section before that is relevant to the watch is your PAI which is a score based upon what activities are done, their intensity and your heart rate during the activity. The higher the score, the better you are doing. This is also present on the watch but I didn’t use it so removed it from the carousel view as I didn’t find it that useful.
If you select the enjoy tab from the bottom of the screen then you are taken to a screen that allows you to set the app and watch up with an area that will take you to the Watch face Gallery. It is also where you can set up Notifications access or App Alerts as they call it.

Lastly, under the profile page, you can see the devices linked to your account and the other bits about your profile. If you tap on the Zepp E under “Devices” then you get into the finer details about setting up the watch as can be seen below. This section is also where you would go to set the watch up initially.

I would say that the watch is easy and straightforward to use but the app is a bit more manic in its layout, mainly because it is catering for many different devices, but once you get past the initial overloading of information it is not too bad. I found that once I set the watch up I didn’t need to use any screen on the app other than the first one which gave me my health stats.

Here is a brief overview video of the app..

Incidentally, I have been looking at another smartwatch fitness band during my review period and I found the UI and Apps to be very similar in terms of functions, so Zepp is not missing a trick here. One thing that I did find very helpful is that the Zepp software allows the data it obtains to be passed through to Google Fit which is the service I use as my main health tracking tool. This was a nice touch.

How is it as a fitness tracker?
In short, it is good, the longer answer I think it may be too good. So what do I mean by that statement? Well up until I had started testing this watch I had been using a Wear OS powered Tiwatch S2 which has been my trusty companion for my smartwatch and fitness tracking for nearly a year. I found that the step count on it was always a little questionable, to say the least. I had a temporary job during the peak of lockdown as a mail sorter at a local Royal Mail Depot. This job did not involve a massive amount of walking but did involve a lot of movement of my upper body, in particular, my arms. I would come back from a 4 hr shift and my watch would inform me that I had walked a few miles when I know that I had not. I can only conclude that the arm movement was causing the watch to think I was walking hence the confusing reading. The same cannot be said about Zepp E.

I’m not sure what the difference is but it doesn’t seem to record arm movements as step and therefore doesn’t give me erroneous readings. My current job requires me to be sat at a desk for most of the day typing and using a phone and as a result, I have been getting very low step counts. The Zepp E was consistently lower than the Ticwatch so I can only conclude that it is better at actually counting steps than the Ticwatch.

Going back to my original statement then. It seems that I have may have been misled to think that I had been doing a good job of keeping myself moving based on the data I was getting from the Ticwatch. So, as a health and fitness tracker if you want to have something that actually pushes you to achieve your goals then I think the Zepp E will do this as it does seem to be more accurate than the Ticwatch alternative. So for Fitness enthusiasts this definitely ticks the boxes.

How is it as an extension to your phone?
Again, in short not as good as a Wear OS-powered watch. I feel that if you want a smartwatch to help you to manage your time and use the actual functions of your phone then you still need to go down the route of Wear OS, Apple Watch or Samsung Watch as these are what I truly define as being a smartwatch. The fact that these watches can have additional apps added and replicate functions from your phone or even work with these functions sets them apart from the more fitness-based watches on the market. I can’t help but feel that the Zepp E just doesn’t fit this category at least as far as I am concerned.

This is a real shame as i feel that the Zepp E has the potential to be a great smartwatch but it just hasn’t been realised by the limits that the proprietary operating system. It cannot use additional apps or to integrate deeply with the phones own OS. It also has not got a significant amount of onboard storage for use as a music player (storage size is not even quoted in the specs).

Conclusion
So how does the Zepp E stack up for me as a Smartwatch when I factor in my criteria that I laid out at the top of the review. Well, let’s look at the criteria and try and work it out.

• The must tell the time – It does this and displays it clearly regardless of conditions.
• Provide basic step counting – It does this superbly well making me now realize that my step count has been incorrect fort he past year!
• Have good app support on the phone – The app on the phone is satisfactory but not great and the interaction between the watch and phone is poor as you cannot manage notifications or use the phones, digital assistant
• Be non-intrusive – It doesn’t get in the way and is sleek and subtle
• Have good battery life – the battery life is amazing at 10+ days with ease it also charges really quickly
• Be forgettable when worn – Dues to its design it can be worn without you being aware of it until you need it so yes
• Be durable- I have been wearing it 2 weeks and I can not see any signs of damage or marking.

So with these criteria being checked off is this the ideal smartwatch for me. Sadly no because I require a watch where I can manage the data being fed into it from my phone. However, I am bit weird and most people dont need or want this functionality. So for the normal Joe Public then this watch would be an excellent suggestion and one that would be very well received. However, there is one more slight thorn that needs to be addressed.

It is, of course, the price, I don’t think that this watch is worth its asking price. Don’t get me wrong if this was a £150 watch then i would be giving it a thorough recommendation but it isn’t it is a £210 watch that is too close for comfort to some Wear OS powered watches that will give you more features and also it is much higher than fitness-focused watches that will give you the same functionality for a lower price. A similar watch with similar specs is coming to the review table soon and I am inclined to think as a value for money proposition this will be a better option than the Zepp E. It is from a known brand and the brand has already made ground for itself in this category.
So as a final conclusion is the Zepp E worth your hard-earned cash. Well, it depends on who you are and what you want from your smartwatch it also depends on your aspirations as a status symbol. If money is no object and you want one of the best looking fitness-focused smartwatches then go for it. If however, you want a full smartwatch then you need to look elsewhere. Also if you dont mind about the looks of the things then there are cheaper options out there and we are testing one very soon.

The post Zepp E Smartwatch – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

So, when I heard that there were was a new one on the way I was intrigued. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait very long as you can see from the title. The TicWatch Pro 3 GPS is now a reality and boy does it look good.

The biggest news is of course that this is one of the first batches of the new and improved Snapdragon Wear 4100 platform. This is a new platform that promises to quite literally get the – until now – sluggish UI of Wear OS up to speed. Don’t get me wrong, on the older platform it coped but you had to do some slight tweaking to really get the most from it. On Wear 4100 you shouldn’t have this problem anymore.

Along with the big headline features, the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS also has some other cool bit onboard, including TicOxgen to monitor oxygen levels in your bloodstream. TicZen will monitor your stress levels and tell you when you need to use Ticbreathe to bring them back under control. To ensure that these levels are not caused by noise, TicHearing will keep an ear open to the ambient environment and advise you as appropriate.

We have seen a lot of these features in the new Apple Watch 6 but things like TicHearing are features that have not been seen on Wear OS devices as of yet. This puts the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS in a unique position in the market one which I think it will capitalise upon. The reason for this is down to the dual personality aspect of the watch.

Yes, like its predecessor the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS can be used in two modes and will drive a different screen layer depending on what mode you are using. It has now been developed to Dual Mode 2 and still features the AMOLED screen and the Always-On FSTN screen. This was what intrigued me the most about it forerunner but in truth, I did find it was a bit buggy, so I have hopes that it will have gained some improvements by – in part – the increase in power from the Wear 4100 platform.

Another area of improvement is in the size of the watch, in particular, the thickness as this has now been reduced by 0.4mm. Now I know this doesn’t sound like much but from the picture below, it looks like it will make a difference.

In addition to the thinning, there has also been a weight loss as well with a reduction in weight of 28 grams. Again, very significant for something that is being worn day in and day out. What is really amazing is that they have still managed to pack in a GPS module that works with GPS, GLONASS, GNSS, BEIDOU, QZSS and GALILEO. Which in layman’s terms means you are covered for Position information pretty much anywhere in the world.

To top all this off as well you will get some stunning battery life coming from a 577mAh battery that gives projected battery lives of 72 hours in Smart mode and up to 45 days in Essential mode!

So I think it is fair to say that the new TicWatch Pro3 GPS makes for a pretty damn compelling Wear OS smartwatch and I for one cannot wait to get my hands on it. You can buy one know from either Amazon or Mobvoi now for £289.99

For the full specs then check out this table.

TicWatch Pro 3 Smartwatch Specs:

The post TicWatch Pro 3 GPS launched is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

So, ahead of the full review, here’s a look at this tasty new smartwatch. It comes from a brand that I have not come across in the UK before, but from the first impressions things are looking good. Zepp is actually a rebranding of Amazfit, who have been in the smartwatch and wearable game for a number of years, so they come from good pedigree.

The packaging is high-quality ad looks very professional with its slightly glossy surface and soft-touch inner box.  The actual inside of the box is just as nice. You are immediately presented with the watch front and centre with a leather strap fitted. The shiny aluminium body of the watch and the AMOLED screen are winking at you, inviting you to peel the protective layer off and get stuck in.

We are, however, going to skip the screen and head to the back to check the sensors round there.

This is where things start to get more interesting from a fitness tracking point of view. We have an array of sensors for the following measurements:-

Health
Biological Tracking optical Sensor
Sport
Acceleration Sensor.
Geomagnetic Sensor,
Ambient Light Sensor

On the right hand side we can see a single button that acts as both a power button and sleep/wake button. However, with a longer press it will allow you to enter different apps depending on the shortcut that has been set. This is a nice way to gain access to an app quickly and it’s very intuitive.

That about sums it up for the hardware side of the watch. The rest of the functionality lies within the software which will be covered in the full review after I have spent some time using it.

I going to use this as my day to day device for the next week and this will give me a chance to put it through its paces.

The watch has a 1.65″ AMOLED  screen operating at 348×442 pixels (341 PPI). This, the square model, weighs in at 36 grams (the round one is slightly lighter) and comes in a greater range of colours.

Both the square and round watches have a 7 day typical usage and will charge back up again in 2 hours via the magnetic Pogo Pin charging system. The watches also have biological optical tracking sensors, Bluetooth 5.0, light sensors, geomagnetic sensors, acceleration sensors and are controlled via the Zepp app – this is available for Android or iPhone.

Right, onto the unboxing!

If you’re interested and you want to get one of these watches then you can order one here for £209.

The post Zepp E Smartwatch Unboxing is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Vodafone and Disney are currently working on something which could appeal to a lot of kids – a premium kids smartwatch with excellent mobile connectivity and Disney characters – all in time for Christmas..

NOT the Vodafone / Disney smartwatch

We don’t have a great deal of detail other than that, so we’ve stolen some pictures of a random Disney watch from Amazon. The press release tells me that the new Disney / Voda smartwatches will have “interactive content and features”, but not much else.

Also NOT the Vodafone / Disney smartwatch

Lutfu Kitapci, Managing Director at Vodafone Consumer IoT, told us..

At Vodafone we are building a full range of products that will improve everyday living through the magic of smart technology. Our commitment to connect our customers to the most important things in their lives runs through everything we do and what could be more important than staying in touch with our children.

Disney tell us that it’ll be the “smartest watch yet” and will be “innovative and fun”.

Further details as we get them.

The post Disney and Vodafone to create a new kids smartwatch is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

It’s cheap, costing just £54.99 (€59.99 / $59.99) and comes with 14 workout modes (running cycling, yoga and swimming too – it’s IP68 water and sweat proof) plus 24/7 sleep and health monitoring.

There’s a 10 day battery life (7 in “normal use” though) and it takes a couple of hours to charge back up. You can customise the watch face by using snaps from your own phone. There’s 4 faces pre-installed and 17 others to downloaded via the Mobvoi app on your phone too.

The sleep tracking delivers proactive sleep tracking which automatically detects and tracks sleep without tapping any buttons. In addition, the health monitoring adds a comprehensive, real-time history of your heart’s health and steps taken on an hourly basis.

Notifications are supported too, so you can be notified of incoming calls and messages. There’s also the ability to control music, weather, stopwatch, timer, torchlight and more.

Alongside 4 preloaded watch faces to choose from, the TicWatch GTX allows users to personalize their smartwatch more than ever before, with the option to use photos from your mobile phone’s camera reel. An additional 17 watch faces can be downloaded from the Mobvoi app.

The post Mobvoi brings more sensible smartwatch prices with the TicWatch GTX is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

So in keeping with this theme and too add in some new additions Honor has started their new ” Back to School” deals. now normally this wouldn’t concern us but this year the timing has fallen in very nicely with the addition of Honor’s recent announcement from IFA. Due to this, we have now got an all-new lineup laptop and some new wearable being included in the offers.

So let’s see what was announced

In the laptops arena, we had one brand new product announced in the form of the Honor MagicBook Pro. As the moniker suggests this is the top of the range version of the established MagicBook line up. they also took the time to do some updates to the existing range of MagicBooks in the form of the 14 and 15. All of the laptops now feature AMD Ryzen chips of various levels of performance. The MagicBook Pro also has integrated Graphics courtesy of Radeon allow lightning-fast performance even under high loads such as gaming and video editing. The MagicBook Pro will have 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD storage drive and 16GB DDR4 dual-channel RAM too make a powerhouse in mobile computing terms. All of this is crammed into a lightweight and sleek all aluminium body.

Most importantly is that this awesome amount of computing punch is available from the Honor store now for £849.99 and it will come with some very nice bundled options. You can choose from either the Magic Watch 2 or Magic Watch and  Router 3 or Magic earbuds and Rotes 3. Well worth a look if you are in the market for a new laptop for going back to school.

As I mentioned above the MagicBook 14 and 15 have also both had some updates mainly in the form of a faster processor with them now moving to an AMD Ryzen 4500U over the current generations 3500. This will make these already great everyday computers even better and more capable while still keeping their minimalistic and sleek design and size.

Sadly though this new generation will not be available for a little bit longer as they won’t hit the Honor store until 21/09/2020 at£669.99 for the MagicBook 14. The MagicBook 15 will be a little bit more of a wait until early October with a price of €699.90 with UK pricing to be confirmed. Both of these are also come to come with a free gift from these options – Mouse/HONOR Bluetooth Earphones/ HONOR backpack/HONOR Router 3

Whilst that covers it for the laptops we ant quite done with portable computing as Honor also announced a new tablet in the form of the Honor Pad 6. this will feature a 10.1″ Full Hd display and high immersion dual speakers. it is a lightweight in terms of its physical presence as well with a weight of only 460g and a svelte 7,55mm thickness. it will be available as Wifi only and a Wifi and LTE version with details of when and where to be confirmed.

Moving onto wearables Conor had two products to announce in the form of the  Honor Watch GS Pro and the Honor Watch ES. These are two new cutting edge wearable that builds upon the Honor Watch magic from previous years.

The GS Pro is designed to take on the urban jungle with its rugged MIL-STD-810G standard build. it will also outlast all but the longest Urban exploration with 25-day battery life! With built-in satellite position systems (yes there are two) you will always be able to find your way and perhaps, more importantly, your way back. If urban fitness is more your thing than hardcore exploring then you will be pleased to know that the GS Pro will support up to 100 different workout modes including mountain climbing, hiking, indoor and outdoor running skiing and free training (answers on a postcard as to what that is please). If that wasn’t enough for you health junkies out there you will, of course, get a full suite of health feature to monitor you as well.

The GS Pro is available now as part of the Back to School sale for a steal at £249.99 with some freebies of either Honor MagicEarbuds or Honor Bluetooth Earphones and a Router 3. It also has a few different colour options to fit in with your urban wardrobe with the choices being Charcoal Black, Marl White and Camo Blue, the last sounds appealing to me personally but each to their own I guess.

The Honor Watch ES is a different beast entirely and will cater to those who demand something a bit more stylish and subtle. It is, in essence, the evolution of the Fitness band in that it has a much larger display making it easier to gain your stats from its 1.6-inch AMOLED display. That display will be put to good use by showing you one of the 12 animated workout courses specifically designed to help with things such as fat burn and abs workout. Let’s face we all need that little bit of help getting rid of our “lockdown weight” so this can only help in that area especially as going to the gym is not as easy as it once was. It is able to deliver all of this fitness goodness in a device that I bang on cue interns of design and most importantly inexpensive. 

Which lead me nicely onto the price, the Watch ES will come in at a scintillating price of £99.99 with a pair of Honor Bluetooth Earphones or Honor Sport Pro or an Honor Band 5 for someone else in the family. they will also come I a few different colours with the choices being Meteorite Black, Coral Pink, and Icelandic White. It is available now as part of the Back to School sale.

Those are the normal sort of things we expected to see announced at IFA but Honor also took the opportunity to launch another 3 product from their Honor Choice lineup. these are not items that we would have typically expected from Honor but it seems that they are taking a leaf out of Xiaomi’s book and diversifying their product range to the wider electrical market.so the other 3 Honor Choice product are Percussion Massage Gun EVO, usmile Sonic Electric Toothbrush P1001, and Antibacterial Cordless Vacuum Cleaner! Now we have very little information about these part from that they will be available from the HIHONOR store after launch. At the time of writing there is little to no information about these items on there so only time will tell if we ever see them come to these shores. 

HONOR adds new outdoor smartwatch and high performance laptop to its all-scenario smart life ecosystem at IFA 2020

[4 September 2020 – Berlin, Germany] Global technology brand HONOR today announced a suite of smart life products with expanded capabilities and upgraded features at the 2020 IFA Technology Conference. Under the theme “Expand Your Smart Life,” HONOR highlighted how it is committed to empowering young people, expanding the way they approach fitness, creativity, productivity and everyday entertainment. The upgraded line-up of products offer “Urban Exploration” with the HONOR Watch GS Pro, “Fashionable Fitness” with the HONOR Watch ES and “Creative Productivity” with the all-new HONOR MagicBook Pro. In addition, HONOR announced processor upgrades for the HONOR MagicBook 14 & 15, as well as unveiling the HONOR Pad 6 and three HONOR Choice products to further strengthen its 1+8+N IoT strategy. Specific details for all of the new products can be found on HIHONOR store after the launch.

HONOR Watch GS Pro: A Rugged Outdoor Smartwatch Made for Adventure Lovers

The HONOR Watch GS Pro is a rugged smartwatch that helps urban adventurers to boost their performance and explore the great outdoors. Equipped with an extraordinary 25-day battery life, the smartwatch is one of the longest-lasting smartwatches currently available in the wearables market. It is built to withstand challenging environments, meeting the 14 MIL-STD-810G standard. Supported by high-precision built-in dual satellite positioning systems, the HONOR Watch GS Pro is equipped with a route back function and route deviation alert to help users explore without worry. In addition, the HONOR Watch GS Pro supports more than 100 workout modes including mountain climbing, hiking, skiing, indoor and outdoor running and free training. It also comes with intuitive health features to monitor users’ wellbeing.

The HONOR Watch GS Pro will be available for pre-order on HONOR Watch GS Pro UK, HONOR Watch GS Pro France, HONOR Watch GS Pro Germany, HONOR Watch GS Pro Italy and HONOR Watch GS Pro Spain from 7^th September at an MSRP of €249.9, and will be available in Charcoal Black, Marl White and Camo Blue.

HONOR Watch ES: Your Personal Virtual Coach On-the-Go

The HONOR Watch ES caters to fashion-forward fitness enthusiasts who aspire to lead healthier lives. With a stylish 1.64-inch AMOLED display, 95 workout modes, 12 animated workout courses with specific scenarios such as fat burn and abs workout and a range of stunning health and fitness tracking capabilities, the HONOR Watch ES helps users to manage their physical and mental wellbeing while sporting a trendy look, without the premium price tag.

The HONOR Watch ES will be available for pre-order on HONOR Watch ES UK, HONOR Watch ES France, HONOR Watch ES Germany, HONOR Watch ES Italy and HONOR Watch ES Spain from 7^th September at an MSRP of €99.9, and will be available in Meteorite Black, Coral Pink, and Icelandic White.

HONOR MagicBook Pro: A Powerhouse to Unleash Your Creativity

The HONOR MagicBook Pro, pre-installed with Microsoft Windows 10, helps creative professionals to enhance their productivity and boost their creativity. Boasting a state-of-the-art AMD Ryzen 5 4600H processor with integrated Radeon Graphics and 6 cores and 12 threads, the HONOR MagicBook Pro delivers smooth performance even when handling complex tasks. With an ultra-fast 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD storage drive and 16GB DDR4 dual-channel RAM, the HONOR MagicBook Pro guarantees blistering data speeds when reading and transferring files.[1] Furthermore, it features a stunning 16.1 inch FullView display with 100% sRGB color gamut, making it perfect for viewing photos, movies and browsing the web as well as for professional applications that demand greater color accuracy and consistent image brightness. With a smaller footprint, measuring at 369 mm x 234 mm x 16.9 mm, its compact and lightweight design makes the HONOR MagicBook Pro perfect for today’s flexible workforce, allowing users to enjoy games, movies and work on the go.

HONOR also announced its collaboration with Red Bull as the Official Mobile Services and PC Partner of Red Bull Basement 2020. The HONOR MagicBook Pro aims to help students innovate at university today and make a positive impact on the world tomorrow.

The HONOR MagicBook Pro (16+512GB) empowered by AMD Ryzen 5 4600H processor will be available on HONOR MagicBook Pro Germany from 7^th September, on HONOR MagicBook Pro UK, HONOR MagicBook Pro France from 8^th September at an MSRP of €899.9 respectively.

Designed for day-to-day tasks to take users from work to play, the AMD refresh of the HONOR MagicBook 14 and 15 enhances computing experience with Ryzen 5 4500U processors, along with a stunning minimalist design and a FullView display, all packed into in a slim and lightweight body. The latest additions to the HONOR MagicBook Series embody the brand’s relentless pursuit of bringing the highest quality and finest craftsmanship of products to its global users. 

The HONOR MagicBook 14 (8+512GB) empowered by AMD Ryzen 5 4500U processor will be available on HONOR MagicBook 14 UK, HONOR MagicBook 14 France and HONOR MagicBook 14 Germany from 21^st September at an MSRP of €749.9.

The HONOR MagicBook 15 (8+512GB) empowered by AMD Ryzen 5 4500U processor will be available on HONOR MagicBook 15 UK, HONOR MagicBook 15 France and HONOR MagicBook 15 Germany from early October at an MSRP of €699.9.

HONOR also introduced the HONOR Pad 6 and three HONOR Choice products including the Percussion Massage Gun EVO, usmile Sonic Electric Toothbrush P1001, and Antibacterial Cordless Vacuum Cleaner, to build a comprehensive suite of smart life products for global youth. Featuring a 10.1” Full HD display and symmetrical 1620 high-amplitude dual speakers, the HONOR Pad 6 promises users a truly immersive audio-visual experience. Weighing just 460g and with a slim body that is just 7.55mm thick, coupled with enhanced connectivity through Wi-Fi and LTE options, the HONOR Pad 6 is the perfect daily companion for carrying around on-the-go whether traveling, commuting or relaxing at home.

HONOR’s new product launches were recognized by the 2020 IFA Product Technology Innovation Award (IFA-PTIA). Jointly presented by International Data Group (IDG) and the AHK (German Industry & Commerce Ltd.), supported by IFA, CE China, and CE Summit, the IFA-PTIA awards outstanding products that are pioneers in the development of the consumer electronics industry. The HONOR Watch GS Pro and HONOR MagicBook Pro were awarded the Outdoor Innovation Wearable Gold Award and High-Performance Innovative Laptop Gold Award respectively.

“At HONOR, we are committed to bringing unrivalled products at unbeatable value to our global users, and we’re happy to see the overwhelming response from them. The HONOR Router 3 was recommended by Tech Advisor as one of the best budget routers, while HONOR’s PC achieved a 287.9% increase in shipment between Q1 and Q2 of 2020. For wearables business, HONOR achieved a year on year growth in shipments of 235% in H1 2020. As young people around the world adapt to a new way of living, working and playing, HONOR is dedicated to providing innovative technology and inspiring products to empower global youth, encouraging them to expand their smart life,” said George Zhao, President of HONOR Global.

For more country-specific product information, please refer to hihonor.com.

Launch Offers on hihonor.com in Germany

Product

Sales Date

RRP

Promotion Offer

HONOR Watch GS Pro

Pre-order from 7^th September

€249.9

€50 off

HONOR Watch ES

Pre-order from 7^th  September

€99.9

€20 off

/€99.9 bundled with HONOR Sport Bluetooth Earphones

HONOR MagicBook Pro

(AMD Ryzen 5 4600H/16+512GB)

7^th September

€899.9

€100 off

HONOR MagicBook 14

(AMD Ryzen 5 4500U/8+512GB)

21^st September

€749.9

One accessory for free

(Mouse/HONOR Bluetooth Earphones/ HONOR backpack/HONOR Router 3)

###

About HONOR

HONOR is a leading tech brand for the global youth, born during the growth of mobile internet, and shaped by groundbreaking technology resulting from the company’s unwavering focus on R&D investment. Embracing every possibility in the era of 5G and AI, HONOR aims to create an intelligent new world for youth by developing a smart living ecosystem and inspirational youth culture. HONOR will continue to set itself apart by discovering the fun in innovation, introducing a tech chic lifestyle, and offering a diverse and open online community for its ardent, growing fan base.

For more information, please visit HONOR online at www.hihonor.com or follow us on: 

https://www.facebook.com/honorglobal/ 
https://twitter.com/Honorglobal 
https://www.instagram.com/honorglobal/ 
http://www.youtube.com/c/HonorOfficial

Appendix[2]

Launch Offers on hihonor.com in UK

Product

Pre-order Date

RRP

Promotion Offer

HONOR Watch GS Pro

8^th September

£249.99

One HONOR Bluetooth Earphones and one HONOR Router 3 for free

/One HONOR Magic Earbuds for free

HONOR Watch ES

8^th September

£99.99

One HONOR Sports Pro Earphones for free

HONOR MagicBook Pro(AMD Ryzen 5 4600H/16+512GB)

8^th September

£849.99

One HONOR Watch Magic and One HONOR Router 3 for free

HONOR MagicBook 14

(AMD Ryzen 5 4500U/8+512GB)

21^st September

£669.99

One accessory for free

(Mouse/HONOR Bluetooth Earphones/ HONOR backpack/HONOR Router 3)

The post Honor announce Back to School event is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

There’s nothing like the approaching winter to remind you that you need to cover your fingers in a touchscreen-driven world. Upon writing this, here in the UK, we are being warned of a “cold snap” – so time to warm those hands up.

In a world where people can’t live without a way to operate their touch-sensitive devices, Moshi has now produced a pair of stylish touchscreen gloves that actually keep your hands warm while you tweet, update and browse. Meet the Digits Touchscreen Gloves.

Design
Digits are designed to provide warmth and functionality to its users. They are dual-layered touch screen gloves that are made with a special conductive fiber. This enables the wearer to have responsive and accurate gesturing on smartphones and tablets.

The Moshi Digits have a unique GripTrak pattern on the inside of each glove for a slip-free grip. The inside of the gloves are lined with microfleece for comfort and warmth, and are 100% hand-washable. They are available in 3 sizes and two colours the small and medium sizes come in light gray and the large size come in dark gray.

In Use
In my day to day job I spend a good majority of my time outside. Not only that but I have to use a tablet, so this gave me the chance to give the Digits a full test run during the freezing night-time temperatures.

When it came to using them with my device I found they worked really, really well. I used the flat pad of your finger as opposed to the tip when wearing the gloves. I also found that I had to press down just a little bit to make a connection, apart from that, the gloves worked perfectly. The GripTrak pattern really makes a difference when handling my phone.

The gloves are comfortable and they kept my hands really warm, I’ve tried other touchscreen friendly gloves in the past – gloves that are flexible and very touch-sensitive – but those end up being so thin that cold goes air right through! You’ll still end up with cold hands. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, thicker gloves do keep my hands warm, but they’re not sensitive enough for you to use the device.

The Moshi Digits gloves are the Goldilocks “just right” the perfect combination of functionality, comfort, and insulation.

Conclusion
The Digits from Moshi are priced at £29.99 (although you can get them on Amazon for £24.95). Some people might think that’s a little on the expensive side, but remember these are in line with other high-quality gloves. The build quality here is incredible. The only thing I would like to see is some more colour options.

The post Moshi Digits Touchscreen Gloves- Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Over the last month I’ve been checking out something new – the Honor MagicWatch 2. It’s available on Amazon for £159.99 but, when I filmed the video review below, it was a bit cheaper.

We covered the smartwatch back in December last year and I asked the Honor people to borrow one. It arrived just before Christmas and I’ve had it on my wrist since then. That alone is a good sign – this is comfortable, well-designed and prtty unnoticeable under a shirt.

Whilst Honor and Huawei still haven’t got their Health app to integrate with Strava, the rest of the watch is absolutely brilliant. A 14-day battery life, bright and colourful AMOLED screen, a stress monitor, stacks of running courses, personalised watch faces, goal-based fitness, accurate GPS, sleep tracking and heck – you can take phone calls on it too.

This is a bit of a big one so I wanted to review the watch in video…

One thing I didn’t mention is the fact that the activities can also be started and stopped via the Huawei Health app on your phone. It integrates well with the watch and gives you good run-down of your activities and progress. I realise why Huawei / Honor are not integrating with apps like Strava (mainly because they want you to use their mapping / progress / tracking) but this needs to be added so that you can at least export activity.

Overall, I absolutely love this. It’s pretty much the Huawei Watch GT2 but, no matter what you call it, it’s waterproof to 50 metres, it’s well-priced, it’s customizable and easy to use.

I loved the fact that I could not only pick a watch face but also adjust how that face looked. I loved the battery life and the notification system.

I love the litle voice that talks to you and lets you know how well you’re doing and I hate the fact that I have to give this thing back. It’s a great bit of kit.

Note the speaker here

The 46mm black version we have here isn’t as cumbersome or as insane as some of the smartwatches we’ve tested. The two easy-to-locate buttons (called “up and down” in the interface). I enjoyed the notifications from apps and the fact that it monitored my heart rate all the time without nailing the battery. Little additions like the weather forecast, on-board music, a torch and a “find my phone” option were also nice to see.

It also did brilliantly in lighting the display when I wanted it lit (I chose not to use the “always on” display), plus – despite the strange accent on the voice – the loud read-outs of your split times and heart rate were nice to have and gave me a good push.

Software

The “Health” app, as shown in the video above, has a huge amount of features. It acts as your one-stop-shop, sorting out the connection to the watch, the options it has and all the settings – such as whether you choose to have metric or imperial. I showed a lot of the app above but here’s some shots..

Heres the main “Device” screen with pretty much everything you could want. Turn off that activity reminder if you don’t want to be bugged about sitting on your bottom too long.

Change your watch face here. Nice and simple.

Lots of settings here – copy music to the phone, set your fave contacts, weather settings and so on..

You can set which of your apps will send notifications to your MagicWatch 2 and get a more detailed report on your activity throughout the days, weeks and months. Nice and easy to understand all this. If you want to get a look at the app itself, just download the app for Android or iPhone right now.

Overall

The lack of Strava integration is still something that Huawei and Honor need to work on. This is a stand they’ve taken across all their fitness products and it’s disappointing. However, in every other respect this smartwatch is simply excellent. As a watch, as a notification system, as a hands-free phone, as a music-player and as your fitness companion it excelled in every respect. Simply fantastic.

Currently it’s available for £159.99 on Amazon.

The post Honor MagicWatch 2 – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Headline stats then, and this has a 14-day battery, a Huawei Kirin A1 CPU, an ultra-thin profile, Bluetooth calls, music playback, scientific sleep monitoring, stress monitoring, information assistant, heart rate monitoring, GPS tracking, fitness monitor and an always-on 1.39″ full-colour AMOLED touchscreen display.

The Charcoal Black 46mm smartwatch will be fully available on December 20th, then there’ll be an Agate Black 42mm version in early 2020. Pricing for that one will be announced later too. It sounds like that one won’t have a 7-day battery life though.

There’s 15 fitness modes, including 8 outdoor and 7 indoor sports. It includes running, hiking, cycling and triathlons plus indoor pool swimming, free training and rowing machines. There’s also 13 professional indoor and outdoor running courses from beginner to advanced levels.

The MagicWatch 2 also has the Huawei TruSleep 2.0 tech, which tracks and diagnoses 6 common types of sleep disorders, suggesting new ways to improve your sleep quality. Added to that, this can also let you know when you’re a bit stressed out thanks to the “TruRelax” brains from Huawei.

The MagicWatch 2 is water resistant up to 50 meters, so you can go swimming and measure distance, speed and burned calories. Calls can be made or received via Bluetooth with headphones or with the built-in speaker and mic – up to 150m away from your phone. It’ll also show your latest WhatsApps, texts, emails and your calendar appointments. Built-in apps include Weather, Alarm, Timer, Find My Phone and more.

The post Honor MagicWatch 2 Unveiled. Available to buy shortly. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

It’s powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 and runs Wear OS – compatible with both Android and iPhone. Inside there’s 1GB RAM, 4GB of storage.

This has its own independent 4G connectivity (and works with Vodafone OneNumber Number Sharing). By doing this you can share minutes and data for calls, notifications and music streaming etc. Either that or you can register a standalone Vodafone number for it.

The watch also connects via WiFi and Bluetooth. It’s got GPS, a heart rate sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, e-compass, ambient light sensor and a low latency off-body sensor. Battery power is said to be 2-days and it’s a tough cookie with Military Standard 810G durability (you can go swimming with this).

The TicWatch Pro is launching on the Vodafone UK network (although we can’t find it on their wearables page right now) and you can also grab it via Amazon or the the Mobvoi website.

Other features include Google Pay (NFC), which means you can tap to pay for your beer and TicSleep to maintain healthy sleep habits.

The post Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro 4G Now available is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

The fitness tracker of choice for many is Fitbit, but with so much competition in that particular field, the company has been making a loss of late. Today Google have announced that they’ll be buying the company for £1.6 billion ($2.1 billion), with the transaction said to complete next year following the various bits of rubber-stamping from regulators.

The price is slightly more than Fitbit is worth, but it’s a worthy purchase for Google, who are keen to grow their wearable portfolio. It’s also a bit chunk of users – some 28 million Fitbit owners and the stacks of fitness data that goes along with it.

In a company announcement, Google were keen to point out that health and wellness data from Fitbit device won’t be sold on or used for Google ads, plus users will be given the chance to move or review the data too.

Over the years, Google has made progress with partners in (the wearable) space with Wear OS and Google Fit, but we see an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well as introduce Made by Google wearable devices into the market. Fitbit has been a true pioneer in the industry and has created engaging products, experiences and a vibrant community of users. By working closely with Fitbit’s team of experts, and bringing together the best AI, software and hardware, we can help spur innovation in wearables and build products to benefit even more people around the world.

Google also tell us that they’re “committed to Wear OS and our ecosystem partners”, and that they plan to work “closely” with Fitbit to combine platforms.

The post Got yourself a Fitbit? It’ll soon be a Google Fitbit is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

As some of you may know I have been on the hunt for a wearable device recently that will give me 3 things, along with battery life, simple and easy to use the software, affordability. Up until now, I have been mainly focused on the Smartwatch end of the market and I had paid very little attention to the lower-priced fitness band end. Well, that is all about to change as I have been spending nearly the last month testing out the new Mi Smart Band 4 from Xiaomi and boy have I been missing a trick.

The Mi Band lineup has been around for a few years now and I first came across them in passing when it was recommended to me by another writer here on this very site. Now me being me I never took that suggestion on board for a few reasons, at the time my wearable needs where being met by my Pebble Time and also the Mi Band 2 (which was the newest generation at the time) was difficult to get in the UK and had very little support for the UK market.

Since then things have changed massively for Xioami and also to a lesser extent me. Xiaomi now has a retail store in the UK and you can buy their products with relative ease. Also, it was very interesting with an aggressive price point of £34.99! So when the option to review the Mi Smart Band 4 dropped in my lap I jumped at the chance.

So what is it then? Well, it is in the most simple form a smart fitness band that has a large and very readable display. It now utilises an AMOLED panel up front to allow for better visibility in sunlight and to help conserve power (more on this later). The band is also very subtle about its design as it does not have any protruding buttons or fiddly connections on the strap.

The band come in two main parts the strap and the module. The module as I am going to call it is where all the tech is located. It is a shaped like a pill and it about 45 mm in length and about 15 in width. It is however quite thick at 12 mm, now I know that doesn’t sound overly thick but I feel it could have been slimmer if they had maybe elongated it slightly and maybe added some curve to the design. I am however nitpicking at the is pint as it is comfortable to wear and doe snot gets in the way at all.

The strap is a single piece of hypoallergenic thermoplastic elastomer material with a large cutout for the module to sit inside of and then holes for getting it to the correct wrist size. The fixing on the end is a very simple pop in stud style that is strong and secure and at no point over the last month have I had any reason to doubt it for security. The module pops into the strap with a very snug fit keeping it in place very well.

The only other thing that comes along in the box is a USB charging dock, which rather annoyingly requires you to remove the module from the strap. That being said it is held into the dock very securely by a small clip-on either side. The charging is done via a pogo pin-style connection which is fine as it is not something you will have to do very much.

On the back of the module next to the charging pogo pins are the heart rate monitor and some certification logos. That is about it for the rear. On the front is where we find the most obvious upgrade from the previous-gen device in the form of the AMOLED screen. This measures in at 0.95” in width which is 39.9% larger than the Mi Band 3 that came before. The resolution is 120×240 and it has a brightness of up to 400nits. This gives you a lot more room on the display for notifications and on-screen controls etc. The screen is also very tough, I have quite an active job and this thing has taken a few knocks over the past month without even as much as a scratch.

The other key features in terms of hardware are listed below

-Display
• 0.95” AMOLED touchscreen display
– 120×240 pixel resolution
– Screen brightness: 400 nits (max. brightness)
• 2.5D tempered glass with anti-fingerprint coating
-Dimensions
• Sensor size: 17.9 x 46.9 x 12.7mm
• Sensor weight: 10.6g (without strap)
• Total weight: 22.1g (including strap)
• Strap width: 247mm
• Strap adjustable length: 155 – 216mm
• Hypoallergenic thermoplastic elastomer band material
• Black
-Sensors
• 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, capacitive proximity
sensor, PPG heart rate sensor
-Battery
• 135mAh LiPo battery
• Input voltage: DC5.0V
• Input current: 250mA (max)
• 20-day* standby time
-Connectivity & Compatibility
• Bluetooth 5.0 BLE
• Android 4.4 or above, iOS 9.0 or above
-Water Resistance
• Rated to 5 ATM (Up to 50m)

A few key things want to point out in the above list are the sensors, the battery Bluetooth 5 and the water resistance rating. Let’s break these down individually then. First, up the sensors, we have 4 mains ones in the form of a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis gyroscope, a capacitive proximity sensor and a PPG heart rate sensor. These are pretty much essential for any sort of smart device that is going to be used to track your fitness these days and I am very happy to see them all being here. I am most impressed with the hear rate senors as it was only a few years ago that these were the reserve of much more expensive devices.

Next up we have the battery it seems from the specs that this isn’t anything special and it isn’t really. The Ticwatch S2 that I reviewed recently had a much bigger 415 mAh battery which is nearly 3 times the size, but it also driving a fully blown Wear OS-based smartwatch with a much larger and more pixel-dense display at 1.39″ across. Now, why am I comparing a fully blown smartwatch with the Mi Smart Band 4 well very simple really, battery life.

This is where this device literally blows every other wearable I have ever used out of the water. I have been wearing the device now for nearly a full month and during that time I have charged it twice with the second charge being today. That is quite frankly awesome I have to charge my Ticwatch S2 near enough every 2 days and this is par for the course of most smartwatches. When I used a fitness band from Samsung I was charging every 4 days and even my Pebble Time was every 6 days and remember that was running an E-Ink display! There are, of course, two fundamental reasons why the Band 4 can get such a long-lasting battery and they are down to the OS and the lack of location awareness. So I will talk about the OS later on but the lack of Location awareness could be a problem for some however for me it was never an issue as I was always within range of my phone. That leads me nicely onto the connectivity

The Band 4 supports up to Bluetooth 5 as a means to connect to your phone and this can be either Android or iOS (as long as the OS requirements are met). This meant that when I was pared with my Huawei P30 Pro I was able to get a better connection than I was with the Ticwatch S2 or indeed the Huawei Watch 2 that I have been using more recently. It also seems to be much faster to reconnect whenever I strayed out of range of the phone. I found that it was very rare that I ever had to manually reconnect to the band whereas I was having to reconnect to my watch manually all the time. Now, this could be down to the relative complexities of Wear OS over the much simpler OS that the Band is running but it was refreshing to see.

Lastly but by no means least is the water resistance rating. Again this is an area where things have come along so much in the last few years. It was not long ago that if you bought a “wearable for under £50 and wore it whilst washing the dishes, walking in the rain having a shower then it would curl up the corner and die. This was the exact way I killed my first Pebble Time which was mean to be IP rated!

However, the Band 4 is not only IP rated but it goes to the next level of ratings and it up to 5ATM rated for water resistance. This means that unless you are actually going to be using this device whilst scuba diving then most of your waterborne activities will be fine. I have had no problem wearing this in the shower, whilst working outdoors in the rain etc. my one complaint is that the screen lock feature is buried away to deeply in the settings so you do get some interesting behaviour from droplets of rain hitting the screen (or I am just too lazy to activate it!).

So, on the whole, I am pretty impressed with the hardware how does it stack up for software and ease of use. Well, this is a two-part question really as some of the software is based around the phone whilst some are on the Band 4 itself.

I decided that the best way to go about the software part of the review was to film the device in action along with a screen recording of the App on my phone. So feast your eyes on the video below.

The UI on the Band is fairly basic but it is functional as well it delivers pretty much all the info that you could want from a fitness tracker. It also makes for a reasonable watch if you are not too concerned about style. It is definitely a case of function over form here and I am personally okay with that.

As I have stated int he video I have not really delved into the exercise aspect of the Band that much as my needs are fairly simple. That being said it is capable of monitoring various styles of workouts The preset ones are Outdoor Running, Treadmill, Cycling, Walking, Generic exercise and Pool Swimming. This last one is something that the marketing team at Xiaomi are making waves about as it is their first wearable to feature SWOLF tracking. All you need to do is put in the length of the pool from either the preset or a custom length and then press go. It will then work out your total swim time your lengths swam your stroke rate and various other pertinent data.

The walking exercise is a little bit more simple in that it will monitor your step count and then using the location data from your phone it will plot your course on a map overlay for you to review later. It will also, of course, show your distance, steps and heart rate as well. Running is pretty much the same with the addition of pace as a tracked metric this time around. The treadmill will swap your pace out for cadence and in the cycling mode distance and speed are covered along with heart rate. These are pretty much all the details a potential buyer would be looking for.

If you are someone who heavily into fitness and all the stats that go alongside that I will give the same advice that I give to those considering a Wear OS or Samsung Smartwatch/Band this product is not for you. It is however ideal for the casual user who just wants to try and keep track of some very basic health metrics and not spend a great deal of money in doing so.

So have I been impressed with the Mi Smart Band 4 and would I buy one for myself? Well, I have to say in answer to the first question yes I have been very impressed particularly with the battery life. This very much a wearable that you can put on and then not have to worry about for a few weeks at a time. the fact that it is tough and water-resistant as well come as a massive added bonus for me as in my job I need theses features.

Would I go out and spend my hard-earned cash on one though, probably not as I have a selection of smartwatches available to me which do give me a little bit more functionality than the band. If only they had similar longevity then I would be a happy camper.

If you are interested in getting a Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 4 then you can grab one from either the Mi Store or Amazon for £34.99.

The post Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 4 – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

This is a ring. Just a ring.

First up, yes, I must confess that these things are expensive. Think £300+ for a Smart Ring in either black or silver, but they are being used by some very important, famous health-conscious people at the moment.

Once you’ve bought one, it’s just a matter of whacking it on your finger. This is packed with sensors on the inside – infrared LEDs, a 3D accelerator, gyroscope and a body temperature sensor. This all means that it can see hwo well you’re sleeping, what your blood volume is and the amplitude and intensity of your body movement. Sleep quality measurements, REM sleep, trends, resting heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, temperature trends, goals, calories and much more. This is fully featured.

It’s always on, tracking your activity, and the people behind this have had the product tested in a clinical setting for accuracy.

The accompanying app is available on Google Play and the Apple Store. The Ring has a 1 week battery life with fast, wireless charging and it’s water resistant up to 100 metres.

Find out more on ouraring.com

The post Personal improvement. Ring. Now. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

There’s Bluetooth voice calls, monitoring of your heart rate, daily sleep and other attributes.

Running on the Huawei LiteOS, there’s a 46mm version with a 1.39″ OLED 454×454 screen and a 42mm model with a 1.2″ OLED 390×390 screen. There’s GPS and that Bluetooth 5.1 plus they’re water resistant up to 50 meters. Not only that, but in addition to all the health buts it’ll display your app notifications and social media updates too.

As demonstrated during the launch, the Watch GT 2 has a microphone and a speaker so that you can pretend to be Michael Knight from the 80’s and speak to people without lifting the phone out of your pocket or – indeed – your car as it’ll do line-of-sight Bluetooth up to 150 metres away.

The 14-day battery life doesn’t include that Bluetooth usage of course, and if you crank GPS tracking on you’ll drop to 30 hours with music playback dropping things further.

You can also have the screen on all the time to kill the battery a bit more if you wish.

Shipping in October, Huawei tell us that the 46mm Watch GT 2 will cost €249 and the 42mm will be €229.

More as we get it on this.

The post Live – Hands-on pics with the new Huawei Watch GT 2 is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Built on the exploits of countless explorers.

It’s a rugged smartwatch “designed for life” with GPS and, if you have the “Pro Solar Edition”, solar charging too.

Specs vary depending on the model, but the base fēnix 6 (which is £529.99 and lacks solar, maps and music) has a 1.3″ 260×260 screen, up to 14 days of battery (or 36 hours on GPS), 10 ATM waterproof-ness, 64MB memory, a colour display, GPS, compass, accelerometer, thermometer, gyroscope, altimeter, heart-rate monitor, Bluetooth, WiFi, ANT+, phone notifications, weather and a whole load of safety and tracking features like a step counter, live tracking, assistance, incident detection and more.

As this is Garmin kit, it’s filled with activity tracking features – floor climbed, calories burned, distance travelled, intensity minutes, fitness age, stress tracking, cardio workouts, strength workouts, rep counts, speed, laps, interval training, heart-rate zones and more.

Glossy advert coming up here, or you can head to the Garmin website for more details.

The post Garmin fēnix 6 smartwatches now available is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

I’ve still not really got “into” smart watches, but the new Galaxy Watch Active2 could well change my mind. For a start, it’s a very sexy looking thing and, whats more, it’ll do 4G connectivity too.

There’s also two sizes – a 44mm and 40mm diameter watch, which are available in two styles – aluminium with a “casual” band and a solid stainless steel model with a leather strap.

Available in aluminium in Aqua Black or Pink Gold or black and gold in stainless steel, there’s a 1.4″ 360×360 (34mm) screen on the 44mm model or a 1.2″ (30mm) 360×360 screen on the 40mm model. Both get Super AMOLED, a full colour always-on screen and Corning Gorilla Glass. The 44mm model gets a 340mAh battery whilst the 40mm model gets a 247mAh unit.

Powered by an Exynos 9110 Dual core 1.15 GHz CPU it has the Tizen OS and the non-4G model comes with 4GB of storage with 768MB RAM. The 4G version gets 1.5GB memory with the same storage.

In addition to the 4G (if you have that model), there’s WiFi, NFC for payments, Bluetooth 5.0, aGPS, heart rate monitoring, an ECG, accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer and ambient light sensor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WJD4XjYGTM

Charging is performed via a wireless charge system. I you get the 4G model that you can receive and make calls from the watch with apps accessible directly from the watch too. The Galaxy Watch Active2 upgrades the rotating bezel navigation to let you select your favourite apps.

The smartwatch can manually track more than 39 workouts with seven of them automatically activated. This includes running, walking, cycling, swimming, rowing, the elliptical machine and dynamic workouts. Great for the gym.

If you’re interested in one of these, get on the pre-register page and get your name down.

The post Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 announced is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Well, this does seem a bit pricey at £210, but it does include a 3 month subscription and we’re going to take a look and review the device very soon.

This is a wearable GPS Personal Alarm which, once you’ve bought it and used up the 3 month initial subscription, costs just £4.99 each month to run. It offers worldwide coverage plus GPS, mobile triangulation, WiFi and Bluetooth location tracking.

When you’re out in the open this will be accurate to one meter but we have to of course mention battery life. This is up to 120 hours in Standby Mode and up to 24 hours live tracking.

It’s suitable for kids and the elderly with a geofence alarm, unlimited location history plus an SOS button. There’s also a call function, heart rate monitor and a fall sensor.

If you’re interested, you can get one of these minifinder Nano Wearable GPS Personal Alarm gadgets in white or black on Amazon.

Read more on minifinder.com

The post MiniFinder Nano wearable GPS personal alarm is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

If you buy a Samsung S10 device with the watch then Vodafone will knock £5 off a month for the duration of your contract. That’s £120 off.

The Vodafone OneNumber system means that you get to use your mobile phone allowances on other gadgets like this Galaxy Watch 4G,. So your data, minutes and texts are shared and you can choose the device which is most useful to you at any given time.

The Galaxy Watch is available in either Rose Gold or Silver. It has a rotating bezel plus a circular AMOLED screen and has been available on EE for a while now. Now you can head to this Vodafone page for more information.

The post Samsung Galaxy Watch 4G now on Vodafone is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

All joking aside though this does look to be a really nice and functional smart band. I’d like to get a hold of one given that I am currently testing out a whole load of wearables. It gives you a lot more than the predecessor, which was still a great option, I know people who use it alongside a smartwatch!

We have already written about this new smart band on the site but wanted to bring you the news of its debut right here on the cutting edge of smartphone and wearable technology news.

If you want to get one then head over to the Xioami Site now where you can order one as long as the colour you want is Black. it will be winging its way to your doorstep in 7 to 9 days.

You too could be this happy

While you are on the site it might be worth checking out there amazing Xioami Mi 9 smartphone that is being reviewed by our Editor in Chief Leigh at this very moment.

The post Mi Smart Band 4 now available is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

For this review, I am going to concentrate on what makes it different from the S1 and how those differences affect me the user in the real world. I have used the watch as my main device for about 2 weeks now and I have been very pleased with how it has performed over this time.

So what are the differences and why should you go with the Pro version over the S2. The biggest and most important difference for most people will be the inclusion of Essential Mode. What this does will be covered in more detail a little bit further in but for now, let’s take some time to go around the device and look at the design.

Hardware and Design

I have already posted an Unboxing video of the Pro and I would encourage you to have a look at it here.

The design of the Pro is a lot more subtle than the S2 it also has a more classic look to the watch. The watch is made of both metal and plastic (I assume it is Polycarbonate but cannot be sure). I do like the metal bezel although again this is a not moving part like it was on the S2. That is easily forgiven though when you see the screen as it is glorious in terms of resolution but not so great for brightness again an issue I found with the S2. The rear of the device is now a metal panel which helps to give a feeling of premium quality although I am not sure how this will affect the actual durability of the watch over the long term. One difference that can easily be seen on the base of the watch is the hole that is now present for the speaker which was sadly omitted from the S2. This does have a downside though as due to its inclusion the watch is no longer as water resistant as it was on the other watch. We now only have an IP 68 rating. This means that the watch is no longer swim safe which is a shame.

The watch is a touch thinner than the S2 was and this actually makes a big difference when you are wearing it as it doesn’t feel quite as cumbersome. Don’t get me wrong it is still large and those with smaller wrist may find this troublesome.

A nice improvement is the addition of the secondary button on the crown of the watch as this now becomes a programmable button via software, which we will delve into later on. Both the buttons have a positive click and feel solid. I would be hesitant about pressing them whilst under water as this is how I broke a previous water resistant watch! in between the buttons is a microphone for picking up voice commands and also for when you are using this for making calls.

As on the S2 the lugs for the strap mounting position are very solid and will take straps of varying styles as long as they are 22mm in width. I have used the strap from my old Pebble Time and I have also tried the white strap from the S2 which looked a bit weird but this is an aspect that is very much down to individual tastes.

The good news here is that the included strap is very comfortable and is quite robust looking. It is a hybrid of leather on the outward facing side of the strap and rubber on the inside. This is a nice touch especially when you are wearing the watch whilst working out as it will stop the strap from beginning to smell which I have found can happen on leather straps when sweat is involved! It is yet another thing that separates this from the S2 as a more premium feeling watch.

The other big thing that has been included on this over the S2 is the facility to use Google PAy on the watch via the inbuilt NFC, again this is good to see and although it is not something I personally use (the curse of being a phone reviewer) I can see it being a big factor for those that use it. The ability to pay for items without having to get either your phone or wallet out is very handy especially if you live somewhere that has adopted the standard for things like public transport etc. This is another place where having that second button becomes useful as it can be set up to trigger Google Pay with one press.

The last thing that I need to cover is the Pro’s USP. This is the fact that the watch has two screens. the first screen is the same as that found on the S2 which is a 1.39” AMOLED 400 x 400 display. This is where you will be doing all of your actual interaction with the watch as it would be on any other Wear OS device. However, when other Wear OS devices will go blank after a predetermined period of time or it will switch to “Always On Display” mode the Pro does something entirely different. It will actually turn off the OLED screen entirely and the turn on an FSTN LCD screen which displays the Time, Date Heartrate and your steps. You will not get any notifications coming through and it looks like an old school Casio! The reason for doing this is it gives you a functional watch with excellent battery life when you don’t need the smart features. So much so that it can actually be set as the one and only function of the watch. This is called “Essential Mode” and in this state, one can expect up to 30days of battery life. Now I have not tested the watch in Essential Mode as I wanted to use the smart features that are afforded by Wear OS. I did utilise the hybrid-esque function of having the watch go into the essential mode when not in use and found it be very useful.

That about sums up the differences between the S2 and the Pro. As you can see there are a few positive’s to the Pro but also a few negatives as well. From a hardware perspective, I do have to say that I prefer the Pro.

Software

So now that the hardware and design section is finished up with how does the Pro differs on software.

Well, in a nutshell, it doesn’t, it runs on Wear OS after all and it has the same additions to the software that are to be found on the S2. The only three key differences are

-Voice control and feedback via Google Assitant

-Google Pay

-Essential Mode

Let’s spend a bit of time looking at these then but before you do if you want to know anything about the other features of the watch you can do so by checking the review of the S2 as I have covered the software extensively there.

First up Voice control via Google assistant. This is fairly self-explanatory really and it is not something that I found myself really using very much mainly due to it being very slow. You see the problem that I have with this service is that it relies upon your data connection via your phone. Now if you are in a good signal are then you are all good. Find yourself in an area that does not deliver 4G and then you are a bit stuffed. The next problem is that you have to then transfer the data that your phone has received back to the watch via Bluetooth, which we all know can be a bit slow. So if you are trying to get Google to find a restaurant for example then you have to ask the assistant which then sends the command from the watch tot he phone. The phone then carries out the command and does the search. it then has to send that info back to the watch to let you know the result which in this case would be to look on your phone! (to be fair you can do somethings from the watch but not much).  It was useful for playing music and showing off but I didn’t really use it for much more than this.

Another area where I thought this would be useful was for dictating text but it was again patchy at best and you would be quicker doing it on your phone.

Using Google Pay via your watch. This something I did not use at all as I don’t use this on my phone so I can not really comment on its ease of use. So in the setup of the service you need to set up a screen lock which is the first thing that would be annoying in daily use. It will then pull your cards through from your phone and allow you to use them to pay for things by a simple tap of the watch to the payment terminal. Sounds easy right.

Without going to in depth to why I don’t use this it is simply down to the hassle of setting up on my phones as I switch these out so much and so frequently the banks cannot keep up and as result, I have to phone them every time I set up a new device. So I stopped doing this ages ago as I simply couldn’t be bothered. I can see the appeal of the system but I don’t use contactless payment enough to warrant it at the moment.

All this being said I am glad to see that it has been built into the watch and that you have the option for quickly accessing it via the secondary button, assuming you don’t use it for the next thing on the list which is….

Essential Mode. I thought I was really going to like this aspect of the watch however I was in for a rude awakening. In essence, it sounds brilliant when you read the way it is meant to work from the Mobvoi website

How long is battery life?

• Battery life varies for different usage scenarios. Below are two sample usage scenarios for your reference
• Using Smart Mode for 2 days (battery level from 100% to 5%), followed by Essential Mode for 3 days (battery level from 5% to 0%). In this case, the battery life is approximately 5 days.
• Using Essential Mode only, the battery life can last for approximately 30 days.

So yeah from that you would expect that the Essential Mode only comes on when the battery gets low. Well, this is not the case, Essential mode activates whenever the AMOLED screen turns off which I suppose is a good thing. It does, however, mean that when you want to use Smart mode it takes a bit of time to start up again. Now I learned to live with that bit but it was the other bit that really bugged me.

Both me and my wife use smartwatches, hers is a Nokia/Withings HR Steel and me well whichever one I have on at the time. We both like to keep an eye on our step counts throughout the day and compare them. While the Pro does keep count of steps when in essential mode I noticed that there was a difference between the steps counted in this mode and the steps counted by Wear OS in smart mode. This was then further complicated by the figure in Google Fit being out of sync as well. It makes it very difficult to gloat at beating the wife’s step count when you have 3 differing figures to look at. Now I appreciate I may have set up something incorrectly but it was really annoying.

I would have liked to see a bit more functionality in the Essential mode screen as well as this would have made it more useful but I can understand the reasoning behind its relative sparseness. I would also have liked a bit more control of when the mode started as I was not really that pleased with it automatically kicking in every time the screen went off.

Now I know that I have been a bit negative on these last 3 points but I want to turn that around now as there is a big positive to the last one. By utilising the Essential Mode facility of the watch I was able to get up 3 1/2 days of battery life which is the best I have ever seen from any Wear OS powered device. This could have been the saving grace but it was just a bit too glitchy for my liking.

Summary

So is this watch a better alternative to the other Wear OS devices out there and would I choose it over its stablemate the Ticwatch S2?

Well, it is a bit of a mixed response, from a pure battery life standpoint yes it is one of the better Wear OS watches I have used but it is by no means perfect. I like the fact that I can get by without having to charge it after a day and a half. That is a big tick for the pro column. I just don’t find the rest of the package on the software side of things to be that much of a step up from the normal offering of the Ticwatch S2. Given that the Ticwatch pro is also more expensive than its cousin I would be more inclined to go with the cheaper option and just charge it more regularly or go with another brand entirely. I find that I don’t really use a lot of the advanced features of the watch and it is for that reason that I would recommend going for the cheaper and more rugged option.

That is just me though if you wish to sue the Google Pay option and want to be able to make and receive calls from your watch then this is definitely one to consider and it is reasonably close in price to its competitors such as the Huawei Watch 2. I just found that the software was a bit glitchy and that Essential mode was a disappointment from what it was meant to be. maybe I just had expectations that were too high.

All this being said it is a really nice design and it brings a lot to the table number one being the stellar battery life, so if that is important to you then you will be hard pushed to find a better long lasting quality smartwatch within the Wear OS family.

The Ticwatch Pro is available now from Mobvoi for £214.99 if you want to get one.

Maybe I just need to wait for the long-awaited Pixel watch….

The post Mobvoi TicWatch Pro – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

This is a departure from the previous designs in that it now has a full-colour AMOLED display. It will now allow you to display all your tracked data on the screen and will also include Swim Tracking or SWOLF as it is known.

The screen will support notifications, messages and fitness stats all in glorious colour meaning you can see where things are at with nought but a glance at the screen.

The battery is now estimated to last for 20 days which is down a bit from the last gen Mi Band 3 but this is acceptable given the screen.

The Band will also support sleep tracking and smart alarm functionality. This will wake you at the least intrusive part of your sleep cycle within a preset time window. it is something that I used on my Pebble Time and I have missed on the TicWatch’s that I am currently testing.

The device will work with either Android devices on 4.4 or above and also with iOS 9.0 and above. This makes it a great and inexpensive option for those wanting a cheaper alternative than a Fitbit or Galaxy Fit style device.

It will be available later this summer from the Mi Store and will cost £34.99. We will be looking to get one in to test as soon as they become available.

Here are the specs of the new Mi Band 4

-Display
• 0.95” AMOLED touchscreen display
– 120×240 pixel resolution
– Screen brightness: 400 nits (max. brightness)
• 2.5D tempered glass with anti-fingerprint coating
-Dimensions
• Sensor size: 17.9 x 46.9 x 12.7mm
• Sensor weight: 10.6g (without strap)
• Total weight: 22.1g (including strap)
• Strap width: 247mm
• Strap adjustable length: 155 – 216mm
• Hypoallergenic thermoplastic elastomer band material
• Black, blue, orange, red and pink strap options
(availability may vary)
-Sensors
• 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, capacitive proximity
sensor, PPG heart rate sensor
-Battery
• 135mAh LiPo battery
• Input voltage: DC5.0V
• Input current: 250mA (max)
• 20-day* standby time
-Connectivity & Compatibility
• Bluetooth 5.0 BLE
• Android 4.4 or above, iOS 9.0 or above
-Water Resistance
• Rated to 5 ATM (Up to 50m)

The post Xiaomi Announce the Mi Smart Band 4 coming to Europe is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

The watch is a really nice watch to use and it is a little bit more subtle then Ticwatch’s other offering, the S2, which I am also testing. Both of the watches run on the latest version of Android Wear and use the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 2100 chipset that has been designed exclusively for wearable devices. The biggest difference between them though is in terms of the battery life.

If you are using them as full Google Wear devices then they will both need to be recharged after about 1 3/4 days use (from my own testing). If however, you used the pro in the “Essential Mode” then you can get between 5 and 30 days, depending on what you are doing with the watch and what it is being asked to track. This gives the Pro a significant advantage over the S2 for me as I am not a heavy fitness user, but I do want the watch to work for some smart functions.

There is however a downside though, and that is that the Pro is only going to give IP68 water resistance rating, instead of the higher 5ATM rating on the S2.

So your choice depends on what your activities are going to be while using the TicWatch. If you are a heavy fitness user and want a tough and reliable watch, then I would recommend the TicWatch S2. If however you would prefer a bit of style and want battery longevity, then I would strongly suggest the TicWatch Pro; just don’t wear it whilst taking a dip in the local pool/sea/lake!

All the watches I have mentioned are available at these links below

TicWatch S2

TicWatch Pro (Black)

TicWatch Pro (Silver)

The post TicWatch Pro reduced for Fathers Day is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Introduction

In this review, we are going to have a look at their latest device, the Ticwatch S2 and which is promising to be a smartwatch for the outdoor enthusiast.

Let’s see if it can fulfil its goal.

First, here is a reminder of the unboxing video

Design

First things first this watch is big but big in a confidence-inspiring way. I mean if you are used to using watches along the lines of the Casio G-Shock line up then you will not find this to be much larger but if you are more inclined to go with a slimline fashion focused watch then you will find that this is a bit chunky. I personally don’t mind the size as it hits the sweet spot for me and it also makes it feel solid. I love the Glacier White finish to the watch however it is very easy to mark it if you accidentally rub it up on something a bit harder than the polycarbonate body. I have got one or two small minor blemishes on the bezel which I cannot get rid of. If this worries you then the watch is also available in a more subtle black. I have never worn a watch that is quite so out there in terms of colour and I found it a bit weird at first but have not got used to it.

In terms of functionality, the bezel is there as a decorative feature and it does not move like the ones on the Galaxy S3 Active which is a shame but it is also one less thing to worry about damaging. The right-hand side of the watch presents a single button which is used for power alongside triggering launching the app menu, more on that later though.

The lugs for the straps are solid and chunky like the rest of the watch and extend quite low to allow for it fit even the skinniest of wrists (my wrist is tiny at 7.5″ diameter!) This means that the strap is on one of the smaller holes as can be seen below.

If you are someone with a larger wrist then you will still have plenty of scope for a good fit however bear in mind that only one strap length is included in the box. The good news is that the watch uses a standard 22mm strap as you can see by the pictures of it with some other straps below.

Just underneath the button on the watch is where we can find the microphone. This allows you to use the voice functionality of Wear OS when it is applicable. However, due to the water ingress protection of the watch, which incidentally is 5ATM or 50m, the watch has no speaker output at all. This means that you will not get any audio feedback for the Google Assistant feature which comes on the watch. It is not something that has bothered me in particular as I don’t use this functionality very much yet, it may change over time though depending on how easy it is and also how quick.

Around the back, we have all the usual manufacturing info and CE approval logos in a ring around the central element which is the optical sensor used for heart rate monitoring. This is lightly raised up to get better contact with the skins which is essential for accurate measurements. I have found that the heart rate reasonable accurate say to within a 10% margin for error. Next to this sensor and laid out vertically on the side, this will connect to the pogo pins on the charging pad to allow the watch the get some much-needed juice. It is all handily held in place by a magnet. This, in turn, makes for easy positioning at night when you don’t want to wake your partner.

Onto the straps, there is a little nice feature on one of the loops that hold the strap tail in place. Underneath the strap, we find a little nubbin that will fit in one of the holes, genius. That about covers everything that I can think of with regard to the design details of the watch.

Here are the full specs of the watch

Model	TicWatch S2
Dimensions (mm)	46.6 * 51.8 *12.9
Colours	Black, White
Watch case	Polycarbonate
Watch strap	Silicon (interchangeable), 22mm
Operating system	Wear OS by Google
Phone compatibility	Android, iPhone
Platform	Qualcomm® Snapdragon Wear 2100
Display	1.39″ AMOLED (400 x 400 px)
Connectivity	Bluetooth v4.1, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Built-in GPS	GPS + GLONASS + Beidou + Galileo
Sensors	Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Heart-rate sensor, low latency off body sensor
NFC payments	No
Battery capacity	415mAh
US Military Standard (MilSpec)	US Military Standard-810G: Withstands -30℃ to 70℃ temperature shock, operational between -20℃ to 55℃, 57 kpa pressure, 44℃ solar radiation, 95% humidity, salt fog, sand and dust, shock
Waterproof rating	5 ATM (swim and surf ready)

Next up is the interaction methods. which will require a video demo!

Interaction (gestures)

I have prepared a small video below to demonstrate the gestures on the watch UI. Now, this being a Wear OS device most of this is actually applicable for any Wear OS device so if you have another type of watch it may also be worth a look.

Fitness

This is by far and above one of the least important things for me in a smartwatch, as I don’t really do much in the way of proactive fitness however for thoroughness I thought it best to make an effort. There is a large tie in with Google Fit on your phone which is available on both Android and iOS devices at the time of writing. I have prefered to use the standard Google Fit options for this testing as I have got tracking history within Google Fit from my previous watch (Pebble Time).

So there are three sections of the Google Fit suite, Fit, Fit Breathe and Fit Workout.

The standard Fit App will give you two metrics on which your activity is measured by default. Both of these things are measured automatically. The first is Heart Points, which are measured by calculating the number of steps and intensity of the activity. The more intense the activity the more heart points you get. The second metric is Move points, these are accounted for by the amount of movement detected by the watch and again factor in the intensity of the movement. This metric will take into account your actual exercise type as well so if you are actively partaking in exercise then you will get a higher score. The goal is to try and get to your predetermined target each day by default these are set to the World Health Organisations recommended settings who Google have tied the app into. You can, of course, adjust these if you wish to do. You can also choose a watch face that displays these metrics so you can monitor them throughout the day. Another thing that can be done from within this app is the initiation of Heart rate Monitoring manually.

Fit Breathe is a bit easier to explain as it just gives you the option to some breathing exercises and can be used to help de-stress and also as part of a warm down process. the app will guide you through suggested patterns of inhaling and exhaling, whilst monitoring your heart rate to see if it is taking the appropriate action and calming down your heart rate after exercise or when stressed out. This is one I have found useful to do before I go to sleep at night as it helps me wind down from the day!

Fit Workout is a little bit more involved in that it will give you various options for exercise. These exercises can be intense or moderate depending on what you want to achieve and if I am honest I should be using it a lot more than I am! So there are two main categories, Strength training and Challenges. these are pretty much what they say on the tin. The challenges will give you a challenge depending on your level which you can do daily to help build up your core such as press-ups, sit-ups and squats. A really nice feature is that the challenges have little videos built into the relevant option to guide you through the appropriate exercise. Strength training, on the other hand, will give you a rep counter for whatever exercise you are doing at the time. There are also a wide varietyof other exercises which I have shown a sample of in the pictures below.

As I mentioned this is only half of what is on offer from the TicWatch as Mobvoi has created their own version of the above apps which will offer very similar modes. it also includes both indoor and outdoor running, walking, cycling and for this watch the swimming option. It also includes a freestyle weights option which will again count the number of reps that you do. In the swimming mode, you can set the pool size, target distance, target time, target trips (laps) and target calories. This activity is also widely referred to as SWOLF or Swim Golf for some bizarre reason. it is something that is becoming more and more relevant as smart watches become water resistance so it is good to see this on board. You will also find that there is a shortcut for Pool Swim on the main menu of the apps which makes it easier to use. TicExercise as the app that contains all of these options is called also has an auto-detect feature so it will try and identify the sports that you are doing from the way that the watch is moving. This is something that I have used before on a Gear S3 Active from Samsung with little success but it is handy to have.

I have not used the TicHealth options as I am happy with Google Fit offering but it is good to have alternate options if you want them

I have also taken some screenshots of the phone Google Fit app to show you what all the information looks like once it has been fed back to the phone.

All of the exercise modes will work without the watch being in the range of the phone which is very useful for when you are going on a run or going for swim etc and don’t want to have your phone nearby or on your person. The demo videos will even work when you are not connected to your phone which is a nice touch.

Software

Along with the watch’s exercise functions all the other thing that you would expect from a smartwatch are present and correct on here such as Agenda, Alarm, Contacts, find my phone, Maps, media Controls (which trigger automatically when any media is being played back), Reminders, Stopwatch, Timer, Torch, Translate and Weather.. Now some of these will require the connection to your phone to function correctly as they will require a data connection. Some of them will work without this connection as long as you have a Wifi connection as the watch will also work on 2.4ghz Wifi as mentioned above in the specs.

The last big thing that we need to cover off is notifications and how they work with the phone. So if you get an email or a message on What’s App (other IM clients are of course available), it would be helpful to be able to see them on the watch. Well, the good news is that thanks to the large resolution screen this is now possible. You can actually control what content is delivered through to your phone via the Wear OS app and I would recommend that you do this and limit what is coming through to the watch if you are at all concerned with preserving battery life. I have been running the watch with the following on.

With the watch set up like this and using a watch face that has not got a lot going on, I have been able to get through 1 and 3/4 days before having to recharge the watch.

Now I am sure that if I wanted to I could stretch a bit more battery out of the watch if I were to say turn off some of the notifications and use a static watch face, maybe turning down the brightness or a few other things. I don’t, however, want to have to do that with my watch as I want it to be useful and if I turn all these things off then I may as well have just bought a standard Casio G-Shock or similar. I want to be able to use the smart aspects of the phone so I have to make do with recharging the battery daily. This is not a major issue, to be honest as one of the things that I have used on previous devices that’s missing here is sleep tracking. This would mean I would have to wear the watch overnight in order to get this data but as it is not a feature then I don’t need to to worry about it. I just simply place the watch on the magnetic dock and then in the morning it is all ready to go for another day.

Don’t get me wrong these two things are areas where I would consider the watch to be showing its weakness compared to say my Pebble Time. Now may be as good a time as ever to look at the other weaknesses I have come across.

To be honest there are not that many. I do feel that the screen could be little brighter as when I was using the watch in the recent spell of sunshine I found it near impossible to see the screen unless I had the brightness maxed out. I have also found that at times the watch can feel that it is sluggish particularly when you are trying to connect to wifi for Play store downloads. I much preferred the older method of downloading the apps onto the phone then sideloading over to the watch. Incidentally, this is still the method used by Samsung on there watch and fitness line ups.

I have also found it is a shame that it does not have a speaker as getting the feedback from the Google Assistant would be hand in certain scenarios such as using to assist in translations

Apart from those relatively minor shortcomings, I found the watch to be very useful. It is comfortable to wear despite its size, I like that I don’t have to worry about treating it with kids gloves and that it can be worn whilst swimming.

Summary

I have enjoyed testing the watch and it has made me reassess the validity of Wear OS as a solution for me as a Smartwatch. It is for this reason that I have managed to procure some more devices, including another TicWatch this time in the Pro variant. I am also going to be using a Huawei Watch 2 which we reviewed here last year. Hopefully one of these watches will fill the void that has been left by the death of my Pebble Time but only time will tell…..

The post Mobvoi TicWatch S2 – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.