Samsung could be preparing to launch the successor to the Galaxy Fit 3, which we'd expect to be called the Galaxy Fit 4. That name might be predictable, but the design could be predictable too.

Thanks to a trio of videos that have landed at Android Authority we get to take a look at what's claimed to be the Galaxy Fit 4 in three colours – black, white and light blue.

From the outside, there don't appear to be any changes to the design, and with no official details from Samsung it's difficult to verify exactly what the changes might be to this affordable fitness tracker.

The Samsung Galaxy Fit series is designed for affordability (it's £54 in the UK), providing fitness tracking functions with a compact screen, but costing a lot less than Samsung's Galaxy Watch models. It's lightweight, offers tracking for daily steps and sleep, while also offering assisted GPS – ie., it needs a connected phone for accuracy.

The Galaxy Fit 3 was announced in early 2024, but this isn't a device that Samsung has regularly updated. The Galaxy Fit 2 was announced in 2020, so there's not really a launch pattern to stick to.

That might see the Galaxy Fit 4 appearing in 2027 – and the only pattern in this family of devices is that most of them have been announced in February. The eagle-eyed will notice that the screen shows the date of 25 January. Some manufacturers put the launch date on their official images – but again, not always.

Previously, leaks have identified a device with the model number SM-R391, with BLE support, but that's about all.

That leaves us with very little information about what to expect from the Samsung Galaxy Fit 4. It's a device that doesn't fit into the current screen-less tracker trend, potentially aiming to offer a slim and light device with a screen for a lower price.

This is a device that Samsung's likely to launch without too much fanfare, so expect it to just appear rather than get stage time at an upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event.

Oura has spent the last few years steadily transforming its smart ring from a sleep and recovery tracker into a more rounded health and fitness wearable.

Its latest update continues that evolution by introducing two features to help you understand not just how much you exercise, but how those workouts affect your cardiovascular fitness.

The new Cardio Effort and updated VO₂ max features bring more sophisticated exercise analysis to the Oura app, including personalised weekly training-load assessments and automatic cardiovascular fitness estimates based on GPS-enabled workouts.

Training harder isn't always training smarter

Cardio Effort measures the cardiovascular demands of individual workouts and accumulates those scores into a weekly total.

The feature considers both exercise duration and intensity; a short, demanding workout can contribute as much effort as a longer, low-intensity session.

The system uses Training Impulse (TRIMP), an established exercise physiology framework that estimates the internal cardiovascular load associated with exercise.

Individual workout scores contribute towards five weekly effort categories: Light, Fair, Maintaining, Building and Reaching.

These ranges are personalised using your recent activity patterns to help you understand whether your current exercise routine is sufficient to maintain fitness, potentially improve it or place unusually high demands on your body.

It's not quite the same as Garmin's comprehensive Training Status or Training Readiness systems, but it represents another step towards connecting Oura's established recovery insights with the activities that influence them.

No more walking tests

The second upgrade concerns VO₂ max, one of the most widely used indicators of cardiovascular fitness.

Previously available through Oura's Cardio Capacity feature, the metric traditionally required users to complete a dedicated six-minute walking test to generate an estimate.

(In my experience, it was wildly unreliable.)

The updated system removes that requirement by automatically estimating VO₂ max from qualifying GPS-enabled workouts.

After five eligible activities, you receive an initial estimate, expressed in millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (ml/kg/min).

The Oura app then assigns a fitness category from Low to Peak, and displays historical trends, highlighting any changes.

You can also manually record VO₂ max results from lab testing or other devices, but these measurements won't influence Oura's own estimate or fitness rating.

Cardio Effort will be available on Oura Ring Gen 3 and newer models, while the updated VO₂ Max experience is launching through Oura Labs for the same generations.

Oura has not yet provided a specific wider rollout date for the VO₂ Max feature.

Garmin’s Fenix line has become increasingly lifestyle-focused over the years, but luckily, the brand has always kept its outdoor prowess intact. The latest Fenix 9 Pro is probably the smartest-looking rugged wearable I tested in years, even though it doesn’t really add much in terms of smart functionality. Still, if you’re looking for the best outdoor watch right now, I must admit, this is the one to beat.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review

Price and availability

The Fenix 9 Pro was announced in August 2026 and is available now at Garmin UK, Garmin US, Garmin EU and Garmin AU, with prices from £950 / $1,100 / €1,100 / AU$ 1,749. It comes in three sizes (43mm, 47mm and 51mm) and optional inReach connectivity. The Fenix 9 Pro Solar version adds solar charging but replaces the AMOLED with a Memory-in-Pixel screen.

Specs and build quality

The Fenix 9 Pro is Garmin's smartest-looking Fenix to date. Its titanium bezel and case give it a more premium appearance, and the new “nano-moulded” construction makes it noticeably slimmer than the Fenix 8 Pro (13.8mm versus 16mm).

Interestingly, the 47mm model weighs slightly more than the standard Fenix 9 (56g versus 53g, case only), matching the Fenix 8 Pro despite its slimmer profile.

The 1.4-inch AMOLED display retains the same 454 x 454 resolution as its predecessors, but brightness now reaches an impressive 3,000 nits, up from 2,000 nits on the Fenix 9.

Storage has also doubled from the Fenix 8 Pro's 32GB to 64GB, matching the standard Fenix 9, while the built-in LED torch now offers white, red and green illumination.

You also get a scratch-resistant sapphire lens, leakproof inductive buttons, a 10 ATM water-resistance rating and Garmin's familiar five-button layout.

Performance

In terms of performance, the Fenix 9 Pro feels remarkably similar to the Fenix 8 Pro. That's hardly surprising, given that Garmin has retained its excellent Elevate Gen 5 heart rate sensor and multi-band GPS technology.

I tracked runs, bike rides and walks during testing, and accuracy was consistently excellent. The biggest test came during the Eden Half Marathon, where the recorded route followed the event's winding forest trails and dirt paths almost perfectly.

The smartwatch measured 21.76km, slightly longer than the official half-marathon distance, although some variation is to be expected on a partially off-road course.

Garmin also claims up to 30% faster map panning thanks to increased RAM and an updated mapping engine. It's a welcome improvement, but ultimately an incremental one that does little to change the overall user experience. Mapping was already excellent on previous Fenix models.

Sleep tracking remains as comprehensive as ever, while Garmin's training and recovery insights continue to be among the best available.

One notable software addition is Garmin Epic, which combines activities and biometric data into a single, shareable adventure. It's a fun concept, particularly for multi-day expeditions and group adventures, though I've only tested it on my own activities.

Battery life was impressive. Starting at 83%, the watch lasted almost 11 days before dropping to 6%, despite regular GPS workouts, continuous wear, overnight sleep tracking and a software update. Charging from 6% to 100% took just over 90 minutes.

I didn't retest the Fenix 9 Pro's inReach satellite connectivity, having already experienced the technology on the Fenix 8 Pro. It's potentially invaluable for remote adventures where mobile coverage is unavailable, but the additional subscription cost makes it harder to justify for everyday users.

Verdict

The Garmin Fenix 9 Pro is arguably the best outdoor watch you can buy right now, combining premium construction, outstanding tracking accuracy and comprehensive training features. However, its titanium case and faster mapping are ultimately incremental upgrades over the Fenix 8 Pro.

Depending on your preferences, I'd find it hard to recommend upgrading even from the Fenix 6 Pro, unless you're particularly keen on an AMOLED display. That said, it's a brilliantly capable wearable with just about every smart, health, fitness and outdoor feature under the sun. You just have to be willing to pay the price.

Suunto has unveiled its latest performance running watch, the Race 3S, bringing some substantial hardware improvements and an entirely new coaching experience to its popular Race series.

Despite its relatively compact 46mm case, the new watch promises up to 45 hours of battery life with dual-band GPS enabled, representing a whopping 40% improvement over the previous Race S.

Not bad for a watch that weighs just 56g with its silicone strap (or 38g without).

The lightweight construction includes a titanium bezel and sapphire crystal lens, giving the watch some welcome durability credentials without adding unnecessary bulk.

More power, better tracking

The Race 3S features a new 1.32-inch LTPS Hybrid AMOLED display with a resolution of 466 x 466 pixels and a maximum brightness of 2,000 nits, which is more than three times as bright as the display on the Race S.

The watch is powered by the new Apollo 510 processor and has an upgraded optical heart rate sensor with six LEDs and four photodetectors, positioned behind curved sensor glass.

Suunto claims the updated hardware improves tracking accuracy during activities, including in challenging conditions involving sweat, cold temperatures and arm movement.

The Race 3S offers free worldwide offline maps, now featuring contour lines and place names, alongside improved satellite positioning in challenging environments such as forests and canyons.

Runners also get Climb Guidance, which provides real-time information about upcoming ascents and descents, helping them manage their effort over demanding routes.

A forthcoming Race Planner feature will take things further by generating personalised pacing strategies based on the route, weather conditions and individual race goals.

However, this functionality won't be available immediately and is expected to arrive through a future software update.

Suunto gets an AI coach

Launching alongside the Race 3S is Suunto AI Coach, a conversational coaching assistant integrated into the Suunto smartphone app.

The new assistant is said to let users ask questions about their performance and receive personalised recommendations based on their data.

It can explain training trends, generate charts and visualisations, and even create structured workouts, training plans and running routes.

These can subsequently be saved in the Suunto app, with compatible workouts and routes synced directly to the watch.

It's an interesting development for Suunto, particularly as sports watch manufacturers increasingly focus on helping users understand their training data rather than simply collecting more of it.

Race 3S buyers who activate their watches before 31 December 2026 will receive three months of Suunto AI Coach access free of charge.

Elsewhere, the watch offers more than 100 sports modes, 64GB of onboard storage and up to 12 days of battery life in daily use.

Offline music playback is also planned, though it will arrive later in a post-launch software update.

The Suunto Race 3S launches in Europe today, 15 October 2026, priced at £435 / €499, with North American availability following on 29 October for $599. Find out more at Suunto.

Garmin has unveiled the third generation of its MARQ collection, introducing six ultra-premium smartwatches that combine luxury materials with some of the company's most advanced wearable technology.

The new collection includes the MARQ Adventurer, Athlete, Aviator, Commander, Diver and Golfer, each designed around a different activity or lifestyle.

While the MARQ family has always represented the more luxurious end of Garmin's smartwatch portfolio, the latest generation introduces several significant upgrades, including satellite connectivity, larger AMOLED displays and improved navigation.

Perhaps the biggest addition is built-in inReach connectivity, which brings satellite and LTE communication capabilities to the MARQ collection.

The feature was introduced on the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro and allows you to send text and voice messages, share location information and access weather forecasts using satellite or LTE connectivity, depending on the feature.

You can also trigger an SOS message to Garmin's 24/7 Response coordination centre in an emergency.

Luxury meets adventure technology

All six watches feature Grade-5 titanium construction, sapphire crystal lenses and ceramic bezels with distinctive designs.

Garmin has also increased the display size to 1.4 inches, making this the largest AMOLED screen ever fitted on a MARQ.

The borderless display is complemented by exclusive watch faces inspired by traditional timepieces, including World Timer, Panda and Flieger designs.

Other upgrades include worldwide preloaded TopoActive maps, address search, a built-in LED flashlight and a speaker and microphone for voice commands and connected smartphone features.

Garmin added ECG functionality, which is now available alongside health features such as sleep, stress, HRV and recovery tracking.

Six watches, six different personalities

Each MARQ model has a distinct identity, with dedicated features and materials to match its intended use.

The MARQ Adventurer combines an Italian leather strap with advanced navigation tools, including Preloaded ClimbPro, which provides information about upcoming climbs without requiring a preplanned route.

The MARQ Athlete focuses on performance and offers advanced endurance metrics and running economy measurements.

As you'd expect, the Aviator adds aviation weather information, flight mapping and UTC time tracking.

For more specialised applications, the MARQ Commander includes tactical features such as stealth mode, night-vision compatibility and an Applied Ballistics solver.

Perhaps the most interesting addition is the MARQ Diver, a new model designed for scuba diving, freediving and snorkelling down to 40 metres.

It also includes marine features such as autopilot control and tack assist, making it useful above and below the water.

Finally, the MARQ Golfer offers more than 43,000 preloaded golf courses, Virtual Caddie functionality and green contour data, with some features requiring a Garmin Golf membership.

Despite the extensive technology, Garmin claims all six models can deliver up to 18 days of battery life in smartwatch mode.

The third-generation Garmin MARQ collection will be available from 5 November 2026, with prices starting at £2,200 / $2,700 / €2,750 / AU$4,250.

Visit Garmin UK, Garmin US, Garmin EU and Garmin AU for more information on the collection.

Google has launched the Fitbit Edge, its latest tracker that slots in between the Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch. As such, it has a compact design like a fitness band, but incorporates a display to make it a little more useful.

It looks as though it's the spiritual successor to the Fitbit Charge 6, sitting very much in the same space, but showing plenty of influence from Google's design input.

That sees a 1.34-inch display nestled into a body that's just 11.58mm thick with a weight of 17.7g (without the band). Google says that the display is 46% bigger than previous Fitbit trackers and although it's not explicitly stated, it's fair to assume that's comparing it to the Fitbit Charge 6.

That's not the only comparison that Google makes: on Google's own blog post it makes a point of saying that the Fitbit Edge is 45% lighter than the Apple Watch Series 12, highlighting that's it's great for wear all day and night with the advantage of offering seven days from a single charge.

These types of devices appeal to those who want to wear them all the time, tracking everyday stats like steps, including the hardware and display for workouts, while also being discreet enough to sleep in without being uncomfortable.

The sensors on the back are designed to collect a full range of metrics, not just heart rate, but more advanced features like blood pressure trends and insulin resistance are also tracked. That's on top of sleep quality, temperature and heart rate variability, able to tell you how well rested and recovered you are so you can plan your day.

In addition to an optical heart rate sensor, the Fitbit Edge will measure oxygen saturation as well as supporting an ECG app. Google Health Coach is supported, cycle tracking, AFib detection, cardio load, readiness and 40+ exercise modes are available right from your wrist.

There's water resistance up to 50m as well as IP68 certification, so you don't have to worry about it getting wet, while there are a full range of designs too.

The Fitbit Edge will come in four body colours – Matte Black Aluminium, Satin Silver Aluminium, Satin Pyrite Aluminium and Champagne Gold – and there are a selection of band colours and designs, including a Stephen Curry Special Edition.

The display is OLED, there's GPS built-in for real-time workout tracking, and you get 64GB of storage to track your data.

The Fitbit Edge is now available for pre-order, priced from $179.99 in the US or £159.99 in the UK. It will be on shelves from 27 October.

Coros has spent the past few years building a reputation as the brand that gives Garmin watch fans something a little cheaper to chew on. But while the big rival tends to load its wearables with the latest smarts such as lifestyle features, app stores and contactless payments, Coros takes a different approach.

This company is all about doing the sporty stuff really well and not worrying too much about everything else. The Pace series in particular has become a favourite among runners and triathletes who care more about accurate GPS, long battery life, and lightweight builds than their Spotify playlists – and so far it’s worked.

The Pace 4 Pro is the latest addition to that lineup, sitting above last year's Coros Pace 4.

What Coros has managed to cram into this thing is pretty remarkable: you get a bigger, brighter AMOLED display than anything the firm’s done before, a titanium bezel with sapphire glass, full offline maps with turn-by-turn navigation, an ECG sensor, a built-in speaker and a quoted 60 hours of GPS battery life. All of that in a case that weighs just 43g.

On paper, it reads like a watch that should cost considerably more than its RRP. But does real-life performance live up to what this running watch says on its spec sheet? I've been wearing the Pace 4 Pro for the past few weeks across runs, gym sessions and daily life to see whether the brand has pulled it off. Here's what I think.

Coros Pace 4 Pro review

Price and availability

The Coros Pace 4 Pro launched in September 2026 and is available to buy now in black with a nylon strap or white with a nylon or silicone strap, directly from Coros and various online retailers, for £389 / $449 / AU$779.

That's quite the step up from the standard Pace 4, which starts at £229 / $249 / AU$430, and puts it into some fresh territory against rivals.

The obvious comparison anyone will make first is with Garmin, and on price alone, the Pace 4 Pro definitely has the edge.

The Garmin Forerunner 970, which is arguably its closest rival in terms of features, costs a wallet-busting £629 / $749 / AU$1,399, making the Pace 4 Pro nearly half the price.

The also AMOLED Garmin Forerunner 265, meanwhile, sits at around £379 / $449 / AU$799, which is almost the same price but comes with fewer premium materials and noticeably shorter battery life.

Design and build

The Pace 4 Pro makes a strong first impression right out of the box. The packaging is pretty elevated compared to what you’d usually find for a mid-range sports watch, and it feels like Coros has taken real care to ensure it has that premium edge, which sets the tone nicely for what's inside.

The watch itself is slim at 11.8mm thick with an impressive 47.6mm case and titanium bezel, all of which give it a subtle high-end feel that the standard Pace 4's polymer case doesn't.

The sapphire crystal covering the display should also keep scratches at bay far better than mineral glass, which is reassuring if you're planning to wear it for trail runs and outdoor workouts where knocks are almost guaranteed.

In the hand, the Pace 4 Pro is ridiculously light. At 43g with the nylon strap, you could almost forget you're wearing it, which is great news for running and sleeping.

Although I must say, the polymer case body, while perfectly sturdy, feels a bit plasticky and almost toy-like at first, which is an odd contrast with the titanium and sapphire sitting right next to it. It doesn't feel cheap exactly, but it also doesn't feel as premium as those materials might suggest on paper.

The good news is that once it's on the wrist and the display lights up, that concern fades pretty quickly. The screen certainly does a lot of heavy lifting in the overall design and build.

Speaking of the screen, it’s a 1.47-inch AMOLED panel, making it Coros' biggest ever. It runs at 466 x 466 resolution with a peak brightness of 3,500 nits during activities, meaning it’s super vibrant and sharp.

I had zero trouble reading it outdoors in direct sunlight, which is exactly what you need from something you’ll be glancing at mid-run. There's an always-on display option too, which looks clean and doesn't drain the battery as aggressively as you might expect.

One design detail that really impressed me – and I’ve probably not said this about a watch before – was the charger. Instead of packing yet another proprietary cable, Coros has designed a small key fob-style adapter that magnetically clips to the back of the watch and then accepts any standard USB-C cable.

It's genius, and a nice touch that makes you wonder why every gadget brand isn't doing it. Who knows, maybe they will be once they see this?

Performance and features

Getting the Pace 4 Pro up and running is about as painless as it gets. All you need to do is download the Coros app, pair it via Bluetooth, and you're going from box to wrist in about ten minutes. The app is well-designed and super slick, connecting without any drama to ensure a super-smooth setup.

On the wrist, the watch is snappy and responsive. Swiping between widgets, scrolling through menus and launching workouts all feel fluid, with no lag, probably thanks to the extra RAM that Coros has packed in compared to the standard Pace 4.

You really feel this when you're loading and panning around the offline maps, for example, as they render almost instantly.

As you’d expect from Coros, the Pace 4 Pro’s fitness and training features are very detailed, boasting dual-band GPS that locks on quickly and tracks routes accurately, as well as a multi-channel optical heart rate sensor that feels reliable during steady runs and gym sessions.

You also get SpO2, ECG, altitude, ambient temperature, and the full suite of training metrics that serious runners want, such as VO2 Max, training load, recovery tracking, race predictions, pace planning and interval workouts.

However, the offline maps are probably the watch’s most impressive feature. With 32GB of onboard storage, you can download detailed topographic and landscape maps with street and trail names, points of interest and proper turn-by-turn navigation, which is ideal for trail runners and hikers.

The maps load quickly, scroll smoothly, and the larger display makes them far more readable than on smaller-screened watches where you're doing a lot of squinting.

Battery life is where the Pace 4 Pro really excels. Coros quotes up to 60 hours of GPS tracking with all satellite systems active, or 46 hours with the always-on display running during activities.

For daily use, you're looking at up to 21 days with raise-to-wake, or around seven with always-on enabled. In my testing, with regular notifications, a few GPS workouts per week and raise-to-wake, I got about two weeks between charges, which (with this display) is pretty impressive.

Where the Pace 4 Pro falls short is in the smartwatch department. You won’t find an app store, music storage for offline listening, or contactless payments, and notification handling is pretty basic.

If you want a watch that doubles as a proper day-to-day smart companion alongside a serious training tool, Garmin and Apple still have the edge there.

But, as Coros fans will know, the brand has always been upfront about prioritising sport over smarts, and the Pace 4 Pro only continues that philosophy.

Verdict

The Coros Pace 4 Pro has to be the best watch Coros has made. The display is stunning, the battery life puts most AMOLED competitors to shame, and the combination of offline maps, accurate GPS tracking, deep training features and a build that weighs next to nothing makes it a seriously compelling package for runners and endurance athletes alike.

The plastic body won't feel premium to everyone, and at its price point, the Pace 4 Pro has moved well beyond Coros’ budget roots and into a space where Garmin’s offerings start to become serious considerations.

Smartwatch and lifestyle features are pretty lacking, too; if you depend on contactless payments, offline music or a proper app store on your wrist, this probably isn't the watch for you.

But if your priority is a lightweight, long-lasting sports watch with a brilliant screen, accurate tracking and offline mapping at a price that undercuts the Garmin equivalent by a couple of hundred quid, the Pace 4 Pro delivers all of that and then some.

Garmin has launched the Enduro 4, and although its latest ultra-endurance smartwatch looks remarkably similar to its predecessor, it offers some substantial upgrades.

The new model gets 50% more RAM, twice the storage, and an upgraded mapping engine that the brand says delivers 30% faster map panning.

The Garmin watch also gets new training features aimed at trail runners and endurance athletes.

Faster maps (and more room for them)

In addition to the extra RAM, Garmin says the Enduro 4's updated map engine delivers a smoother, more intuitive experience when using its built-in routable maps.

The new perspective view provides more detail both up close and farther ahead to help runners and hikers anticipate what's coming next.

Storage has doubled from 32GB to 64GB, providing considerably more room for onboard maps, music and other data.

The Enduro 4 also introduces grade-adjusted pace-based workout targets to the series.

Grade-adjusted rolling pace performs a similar trick in real time, and new stamina zones show how your remaining stamina is affecting an activity.

A stamina curve can also show how your endurance changes over time based on your fitness and training history.

There are more than 100 activity profiles, and Garmin has expanded support for a couple of increasingly popular activities.

Indoor rowing now includes additional metrics, including VO2 max and power curve, and rucking lets you change your recorded pack weight during an activity and set targets such as calories burned.

If it ain't broke...

The Enduro 4 looks very similar to its predecessor and uses a 51mm case with a titanium bezel, a fibre-reinforced polymer body, and a scratch-resistant Power Sapphire lens.

There's also the familiar integrated LED flashlight with white and red modes, plus 10 ATM water resistance.

The ComfortFit Fabric Band is designed to wick moisture during extended wear and now incorporates Garmin's QuickFit system, with the complete watch weighing just 66g.

Interestingly, Garmin hasn't increased the already bonkers headline battery figures.

The Enduro 4 still offers up to 90 days of smartwatch use with solar charging or as much as 320 hours of activity tracking in its extended battery mode under Garmin's specified solar conditions.

The Garmin Enduro 4 is available now for £800 / €900 / $900 / AU$1,449 at Garmin UK, Garmin EU, Garmin US and Garmin AU.

You don't need to spend £500 on a high-end Garmin to get many of the training tools that make the company's watches so popular with runners.

Shop all Garmin deals on Amazon

Case in point, the Garmin Forerunner 70 has just dropped to £168.82 at Amazon, down from its £219.99 RRP. That's a saving of just over £51, or 23%, on one of Garmin's most accessible AMOLED running watches.

More importantly, this appears to be a genuine record low. Amazon price history shows the Forerunner 70 previously bottoming out at around £177–£178 in September, before climbing back above £200. Today's deal takes another £9 or so off that previous low.

The Forerunner 70 sits towards the affordable end of the Garmin watch family tree, but that doesn't mean it's dumb. Oh no.

It's built around a 1.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen and includes built-in GPS, wrist-based heart rate monitoring and more than 80 activity profiles.

It'll track the fundamentals you'd expect, including pace, distance and heart rate, but it also gives runners access to considerably more sophisticated training data.

That includes Garmin Coach adaptive training plans, daily suggested workouts, recovery time and HRV Status, bringing features once associated with much more expensive sports watches within reach of newer runners.

Battery life is another major advantage over conventional smartwatches. Garmin quotes up to 13 days in smartwatch mode, so you're not committing yourself to charging it every night just because you want an AMOLED screen.

That's why the Forerunner 70 makes so much sense as a first serious running watch. It's approachable enough for someone training for their first 5K, but there's enough training data under the bonnet to remain useful as your running becomes more ambitious.

Google is preparing to launch a new wearable device with a screen, which looks like a replacement for the Fitbit Charge.

The new device is said to be called the Fitbit Edge and features a compact display, according to an image leak from Android Headlines. The image previously appeared in a family photo that surfaced just after the launch of the Pixel 11.

The Fitbit Edge appears to offer a middle ground between the Pixel Watch 5 and the Fitbit Air and will likely be popular with those looking to a fully-featured lifestyle tracker, without the bulk of a smartwatch.

The device is said to have integrated GPS, an altimeter, as well as the expected health tracking functions, in a package that offers seven days of battery life.

It's also detailed that there will be access to apps like Google Maps and YouTube Music, suggesting that it runs WearOS.

Notifications will be supported, while the Fitbit Edge is said to work both with Android and iOS. As the images suggest, it will come in colours to match the Pixel 11 Pro models, including black, green and orange, although it's likely that the band will be easy to switch for further customisation.

There appears to be one button on the side for control, while the screen will support touch for navigation through the display's pages, which basically outlines the same control mechanisms as the Fitbit Charge 6.

The price is said to be between $149 and $199, which more or less correlates with the Fitbit Charge 6 price too.

With that in mind, we have a good idea of who the Fitbit Edge will appeal to. The advantage of such as compact device is that it suits those who don't want the bulk of a watch, either just because they don't want one or because they have smaller wrists.

It will be a great device for those who want sleep tracking, as well as background monitoring of steps and things like heart rate variation. Fitbit is well placed to provide these things, having long offered digestible information that's easy to understand.

This will feed into the Google Health app, while the display is big enough to glance at those statistics on the fly.

One of the big features here is the GPS: this means that those using it for sports tracking will have independence from a connected smartphone, getting more accurate data than rival bands that don't have their own GPS hardware.

The addition of altitude makes for greater accuracy in tracking, allowing the device to understand elevation change rather than just 2D location change. Again, that should mean that when tracking a hike, for example, it understands how much ascent or decent has taken place.

The Fitbit Edge looks like an interesting device, with the source suggesting it will launch later this month (October).

If you've been waiting for a good excuse to put an Oura Ring on your finger, this might be it. Amazon has dropped the Oura Ring 4 to just £199, down from its £349 RRP, as part of its early Prime deals.

Shop all early Prime Day deals

That's a hefty £150 saving, or 43% off, and, more importantly, it appears to be the lowest price we've seen for the Oura Ring 4 in the UK. Previous big sales have taken it to around £199.99, making Amazon's latest £199 price particularly noteworthy (albeit only by 99p, but still).

It's a Prime-exclusive deal, and pricing can vary between colours and sizes. At the time of writing, the Silver model is £199, with Amazon also displaying the Black and Stealth versions at the same price in selected sizes.

I've worn the company's smart rings extensively over the years, and although there's now a newer generation available, I still think the Oura Ring 4 makes an enormous amount of sense at this price.

The fourth-generation's completely smooth interior ditched the sensor bumps of older models, making it considerably more comfortable for round-the-clock wear.

It monitors heart rate, heart rate variability, body temperature, respiratory rate, sleep and activity, then turns all of that into Oura's excellent Readiness, Sleep and Activity scores. Its sleep and recovery insights remain among the biggest reasons to buy an Oura.

Oura rates the Ring 4 for up to eight days between charges, meaning it can collect several nights of sleep data without the charging routine associated with many smartwatches.

One thing to note: Oura Membership is required to unlock the full experience after the included introductory period. That's worth factoring into the long-term price, even when the hardware itself is this heavily discounted.

Still, £199 changes the equation considerably. You're saving £150 on a discreet, comfortable wearable that's particularly good at sleep and recovery tracking, and you're getting most of what makes the Oura experience appealing without paying flagship smart-ring money.

I really liked the Garmin Venu X1 when I reviewed it, but its hefty price tag was one fairly sizeable problem. That problem just became a lot easier to overlook thanks to this Amazon deal that reduced the price of this otherwise excellent smartwatch to just £484.99.

Shop all Garmin watches on Amazon

That’s 19% below Amazon’s listed £599.99 RRP, but the saving looks even better compared with the £679.99 price the Venu X1 launched at. Against that figure, you're saving £195, just shy of 29%. More importantly, it takes one of Garmin’s most unusual watches comfortably below the £500 barrier.

The Garmin Venu X1 occupies an interesting position in Garmin’s line-up, pairing an enormous 2-inch AMOLED display with an exceptionally slim 7.9mm case. The screen is huge by Garmin standards, yet the watch doesn’t feel remotely as bulky as the brand’s traditional adventure models.

You’re not giving up all the useful Garmin hardware to achieve that slimmer design, either. The Venu X1 has a sapphire crystal lens, an integrated LED flashlight, a speaker and microphone, onboard maps and a broad selection of Garmin’s health, fitness and training features.

Battery life is rated at up to eight days in smartwatch mode, so it also comfortably outlasts most conventional smartwatches despite the giant AMOLED panel.

At £484.99, it’s still a premium smartwatch, but this feels much closer to where the Venu X1 makes sense, particularly if you want Garmin’s ecosystem without wearing a massive sports watch every day.

The black Garmin Venu X1 is currently £484.99 at Amazon UK, down from the retailer’s listed £599.99 RRP. Amazon marks the price as its lowest in the past 365 days. The other colour options shown on the listing are currently more expensive.

Casio has given the ultra-tough G-Shock GDG-B100 a surprisingly modern upgrade.

The new MUDMAN keeps the mud, dust and shock resistance the line is known for, but adds a high-contrast MIP display, activity and training features, Bluetooth connectivity and even smartphone notifications.

It arrives at a relatively approachable £200, making it an interesting alternative to the considerably more expensive sensor-packed models elsewhere in Casio's Master of G family.

(Not to mention the Casio G-SHOCK "Blue Rose" MRG-D5000, which sells for £67,000.)

Its chunky bumper-style construction takes inspiration from off-road vehicles and survival equipment, with a multifaceted front bezel and rear bumper designed to protect the central case against impacts from multiple directions.

Casio has also used its Carbon Core Guard structure, with carbon fibre-reinforced resin helping increase rigidity while maintaining the airtight seals needed to keep mud, dust and water outside.

Gaskets around the button shafts provide another layer of protection, while the bezel and band interlock to strengthen the attachment points.

The caseback features the line's familiar mole mascot racing across rough terrain, while a tread-like pattern inspired by the character's boot appears across the dial and strap.

A much smarter MUDMAN

Casio has equipped the GDG-B100 with a Memory-in-Pixel (a.k.a. MIP) LCD, designed to provide clearer, higher-definition information than a conventional digital display, particularly outdoors and in bright light.

At night, the watch switches things up again with an automatic red LED backlight.

Casio says red illumination is gentler on the retina than bright white light and helps preserve the wearer's adaptation to darkness, which makes plenty of sense on a watch designed around night-time and outdoor use.

The company has also borrowed a few ideas from its more fitness-focused G-SQUAD watches, such as the Casio G-SQUAD PRO GSW-H1000.

The GDG-B100 can measure distance, speed, pace and estimated calories burned in addition to stopwatch timing, while a built-in accelerometer handles step counting.

It can also store up to 100 lap times and includes an interval timer with up to five programmable time settings.

Vibration alerts can tell you when you've reached certain elapsed-time or calorie targets without requiring you to constantly look at the screen.

Your phone can talk to it, too

Bluetooth brings another layer of functionality through the Casio Watches app.

Training sessions and daily activity data can be transferred to a smartphone, while the app also handles automatic time adjustment, watch settings and world time for around 300 cities.

Perhaps more unusually for a MUDMAN, the GDG-B100 can vibrate when the connected smartphone receives supported notifications, including incoming calls, emails, social media alerts, calendar notifications and reminders.

You aren't going to start replying to WhatsApp messages from your wrist, but it gives the watch a useful dose of smartwatch functionality without compromising the straightforward digital G-Shock experience.

Casio is launching the GDG-B100 in three outdoor-inspired colourways: black, dark green with orange accents, and a particularly good-looking sand-coloured strap with a black bezel.

All three versions of the G-Shock GDG-B100 MUDMAN cost £200 (~$270 / €230 / AU$410) at Casio in the UK and will be available from October.

Less than a year after its latest software update, Polar just made six of its best running watches much less dependent on your phone with a huge free update

The company is rolling out a big software update, with a key improvement being reduced reliance on your smartphone.

Polar OS6 is arriving today as a free update for the Polar Vantage V3, Vantage M3, Grit X2 Pro, Grit X2, Ignite 3 and Street X.

The update concentrates on removing some of the little frustrations that crop up when you actually live with one every day.

Leave the phone in your pocket

One of the biggest changes is the arrival of nine additional trend graphs directly on the watch.

Previously, checking trends for many metrics meant heading into Polar Flow on your phone.

OS6 brings that information to your wrist, so you can see how your data is changing without opening another app.

Key sport-profile settings can now be adjusted directly on compatible watches.

This is a big improvement for people using older Polars, as syncing your watch with the Polar Flow app has always been a treacherous business.

Furthermore, you can enter your weight directly on the watch and view your previous seven entries as a trend graph.

There's finally a programmable button

Polar is also turning the upper-left button into a customisable shortcut.

You can choose what the button activates during everyday use or while training, turning it into a programmable hotkey for whatever function you use most frequently.

The one exception is the Polar Ignite 3, which doesn’t get the feature.

Another welcome addition is an optional 80% charging limit. When enabled, the watch stops charging before reaching full capacity, a familiar battery-preservation technique already used by smartphones and other rechargeable devices.

It’s switched off by default, but could be worth enabling if your Polar spends a lot of time sitting on its charger.

Polar has also refreshed the menu interface with updated colours and smoother transitions, while the watch faces introduced with the Street X are being rolled out across Polar’s other AMOLED models.

Polar OS6 is available from 30 September as a free update for the Polar Vantage V3, Vantage M3, Grit X2 Pro, Grit X2, Ignite 3 and Street X.

It can be installed by syncing a compatible watch with the Polar Flow app.

For more information about the update, head over to Polar.

G-Shock has finally brought one of its more unusual watches to the UK, offering athletes an alternative to the increasingly smart running wearables from Garmin, Coros and Apple.

The G-Shock GBA-950-1A is not brand new, as Casio has been selling the GBA-950 family in Japan and other Asian markets since July 2025.

However, this is the first time UK buyers have been able to get their hands on it officially.

And although it looks much more like a traditional G-Shock than a modern running watch, there's a surprising amount of fitness tech hiding underneath that chunky analogue-digital face.

The GBA-950 connects to the Casio Watches app via Bluetooth and can track steps, distance, pace and calories burned.

It also offers an Auto Lap function that automatically records your time over predetermined distances.

You also get activity history in the app, and workout data can be shared with Strava.

One caveat is that even though the GBA-950 is smarter than your average G-Shock, it doesn't have built-in GPS.

Instead, the GBA-950 can use your smartphone's GPS to calibrate its distance measurements.

Once that's done, Casio says the watch can estimate running distance and pace without remaining connected to your phone.

A running watch you don't have to charge

That relatively simple approach has one rather substantial advantage in battery life.

Instead of charging the GBA-950 every few days (e.g., Apple Watch) or weeks (e.g., Garmin watch), it runs on a conventional CR2025 battery that Casio says should last approximately two years.

On top of this, you also get the toughness you'd expect from a G-Shock.

The watch is shock- and water-resistant (to 200 metres), with a carbon-fibre-reinforced resin case protected by an integrated bezel and strap construction. It measures 48.5 x 43.9 x 16mm and weighs 53g.

Casio developed the strap with Japanese company OUTSENSE using what it calls "origami engineering".

It features carefully positioned mountain and valley folds to allow the strap to flex around the wrist while helping the case sit securely against it.

Phosphorescent hour markers and hands improve visibility at night, while the digital display handles workout information.

There's also an exercise-intensity indicator, an interval timer, a stopwatch, five daily alarms and a double LED light.

It's clearly not going to replace a Garmin Forerunner 970 for serious runners, but that's arguably the appeal here.

The GBA-950 is basically a tough, relatively inexpensive G-Shock that keeps tabs on your runs and sends the results to Strava. Simple as that.

The G-Shock GBA-950-1A is available now in the UK for £130 from Casio UK

Blood pressure monitoring has become one of the next big battlegrounds for smartwatches, and Huawei’s Watch D Series has been leading the way for years.

Unlike other health watches that estimate blood pressure using optical sensors and algorithms, Huawei built a miniature mechanical airbag directly into the strap that inflates around your wrist like a conventional blood-pressure cuff and produces actual systolic and diastolic readings.

It’s not entirely new for the company, as the original Huawei Watch D could already take blood pressure readings. However, the Watch D3 shrunk and made the hardware significantly more appealing; from a distance, you’d find it hard to tell the Huawei and a mainline Apple Watch apart.

The body is now just 11.3mm thick, down from 13.3mm on the D2, and its 1.92-inch AMOLED display reaches a claimed peak brightness of 3,000 nits. Huawei has also reduced the weight of the strap and narrowed the airbag.

As a result, the Huawei Watch D3 no longer feels much like a medical device. The company has hidden some unusually sophisticated health hardware inside something that looks and feels like a normal smartwatch. Whether its blood pressure readings are quite as convincing as the hardware, however, is another matter.

Huawei Watch D3 review

Price and availability

Huawei announced the Watch D3 in September 2026, and it's available now at Huawei UK for £399.99. It comes in Black, Gold and Mocha Gold. That puts it firmly at the premium end of Huawei’s smartwatch range, although the integrated cuff-based blood pressure monitoring gives it functionality few mainstream rivals can match.

The Watch D3 costs €449 in Europe, and there is no official US launch or pricing, so American buyers would need to import it if they wanted one. AU price and availability TBC.

Design and display

The Watch D3 feels like an ordinary smartwatch on the wrist in the best possible sense. The strap is inevitably thicker than a conventional smartwatch band because it contains the inflatable airbag, but I never found it cumbersome.

Huawei has done an impressive job miniaturising the pump, pressure sensors and cuff system into something that still resembles a mainstream wearable.

The D3’s proportions aren't far removed from an Apple Watch, either: the case measures 46.5 x 41 x 11.3mm and weighs around 40g without the strap.

The 1.92-inch AMOLED panel is another highlight, with its bright, colourful screen that’s easy to read outdoors. The brand quotes 3,000 nits of peak brightness, making it noticeably larger and brighter than the D2's 1.82-inch, 1,500-nit panel.

Blood pressure monitoring

Taking a blood pressure reading is remarkably straightforward on the Huawei Watch D3. Start a blood pressure measurement, position your arm correctly across your chest, and the airbag quietly inflates around your wrist – simple stuff.

Huawei uses the oscillometric method, combining a mechanical cuff with a pressure sensor to produce systolic and diastolic readings. I was told the system has EU CE-MDR medical-device certification.

I was surprised by how quiet the watch was during the readings. It makes virtually no sound, and the only way to tell it’s actually working is the increasing pressure around your wrist. Traditional blood pressure monitors aren't exactly deafening, but you'll certainly know when one starts inflating. I’ve never had a similar experience with the Watch D3.

However, my results gave me pause. I compared the Watch D3 with a Garmin Index BPM upper-arm monitor several times and consistently got lower readings from the Huawei:

Across those three tests, the Huawei's systolic result was around 16 mmHg lower on average, while diastolic pressure was around 5 mmHg lower. That's too consistent a difference for me simply to ignore in a review, particularly when blood pressure monitoring is the main reason to buy this watch.

These are only a handful of examples from my review period, but the Huawei generally reported lower figures than the Garmin, and almost all readings from the Huawei were under the optimal 120/80.

It’s worth noting that mine wasn't a clinical test and Garmin’s device isn't a laboratory reference device, either. Not to mention factors including body position, timing, and even which arm you use for the test can affect measurements. As such, I wouldn't conclude from my testing that the Watch D3 is universally inaccurate.

Interestingly, the Huawei app never warned that my readings were abnormally low, which makes sense as even my lowest result of 105/72 remains comfortably above the NHS definition of hypotension, which is below 90/60mmHg.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring

The Watch D3 can also perform ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, or ABPM, taking readings repeatedly throughout the day and night.

This can be much more useful than taking your blood pressure only when you remember. Huawei's system collects regular daytime and overnight readings, helping reveal patterns a single measurement can't show.

When the watch wants to take a daytime reading, you still need to get yourself into the correct position, with your wrist raised across your chest. That's perfectly manageable if you're deliberately monitoring your blood pressure, but it can become a faff during a normal working day.

However, I missed several scheduled readings simply because I was busy doing something else. Night readings are fine, as they are done automatically, but during the day, you must assume the Watch D3 reading position with one elbow cradled in your other hand. This ensures the best readings (well, about that).

It’s completely understandable that you need to do that; you would have to do the same with a blood pressure cuff, and I don’t expect the Watch D3 to do everything automatically and be just as accurate as full-size cuffs. I would have liked it to be a bit more accurate, though.

One caveat is that Huawei says battery life drops from up to six days in normal use to around one day with ABPM enabled. Not like you would have to do it too often.

Health and fitness tracking

Blood pressure might grab the headlines, but the Watch D3 is also arguably Huawei's most comprehensive general health watch.

Health Glance can combine up to 11 measurements into a single report, while the watch also offers ECG, heart-rate monitoring, SpO2, HRV, sleep tracking, skin temperature, stress and Huawei's expanded Emotional Wellbeing feature.

It also adds a new Physical Readiness Score, improved sleep analysis, and Health Insights that combine longer-term blood pressure trends with activity and sleep data.

The Huawei Health app does an excellent job of exposing all this information. It has a similar issue to the Ultrahuman app, namely that it can be overwhelming to see all that health data presented. It's comprehensive rather than elegant.

To me, Oura’s approach is still the gold standard. It shows a few top-line numbers but allows you to dig deeper if you want to. The Huawei app tries something similar but ends up showing you way too much information.

This is not a Huawei-exclusive issue. As wearables get smarter and collect more data, you’ll inevitably be shown more and more. Gamification (e.g., sleep and stress scores) helps package it in a more palatable way, but at the end of the day, all I care about is whether I’m healthy. I don’t need to know how my light sleep was 7% under my average.

Fitness tracking is robust, and the Huawei Watch D3 offers more than 100 workout modes, including golf, skiing and trail running, route navigation and off-course alerts. I still wouldn't buy one instead of a dedicated Garmin Watch or one of Huawei’s dedicated performance wearables if serious endurance training were my priority, but fitness tracking doesn't feel like an afterthought.

Smart features and battery life

The Watch D3 covers most smartwatch basics well, including notifications, Bluetooth calling, calendar features and NFC payments through Curve Pay in the UK.

Huawei officially quotes up to six days, but my Watch D3 comfortably exceeded that figure. After charging it from 8% to 100% in no more than 55 minutes, I still had 34% remaining six days later.

That testing period also included a software update and an hour-long GPS-tracked walk. Based on the average drain I saw, the watch was heading towards roughly nine days between charges, although your mileage will obviously depend on which health features you use.

Verdict

The Huawei Watch D3 is the strongest argument yet for putting proper blood pressure monitoring into an everyday smartwatch.

Huawei has managed to hide a mechanical pump, pressure sensor and inflatable cuff inside something that looks and feels remarkably close to a conventional wearable. Add its bright display, long battery life and enormous collection of health metrics, and this is probably Huawei's most comprehensive health smartwatch to date.

The only reason my recommendation isn't more straightforward is the one feature that matters most. My Watch D3 repeatedly produced lower blood pressure readings than the Garmin Index BPM I used for comparison.

As a small-scale test, my results aren’t enough to overturn Huawei's medical-device certification or prove either device definitively right or wrong, but the discrepancy was large enough that I'd want to look into it further. That's a shame because almost everything else about the D3 is superb.

It isn't cheap, but there’s still nothing quite like the Watch D3, a wearable that puts genuine cuff-based blood pressure monitoring into a smartwatch body that doesn't look or feel like you've strapped a medical instrument to your wrist.

Smart rings are on the rise in popularity, but one thing that might have prevented some from taking the plunge has been their price. There are several models on the market today, from some big name brands, but they often start in the £100s. And some require a monthly subscription, too.

Not so the Sekonda Smart Ring. Made by the British watch manufacturer, the entry-level ring isn't only affordable, you get all of the features without having to pay additional fees.

It comes with five to seven days battery life and its own charging case, so can be worn day and night with only occasional need to remove it. That allows for sleep, as well as heart rate (and HRV), blood oxygen, stress, and skin temperature tracking. It also supports women's cycle tracking.

The Smart Ring is compatible with both iOS and Android, connected via Bluetooth, and can sync with both Apple Health and Google's Health Connect.

Made from stainless steel, it has water resistance down to 50-metres, so can be worn swimming or in the shower, as well as during a heavy rain shower.

There are six sizes available – from size 7 to 12 – and two colour options – silver and gold. A silicone protector can also be found in the box, along with the charging case and a USB cable.

Perhaps the most incredible aspect of Sekonda's first ring is the price. It's just £79.99 in the UK – a fraction of the price of smart rings from the likes of Oura, Ultrahuman and Samsung. You'd be hard pressed to find a second-hand alternative at that price.

Of course, we've not yet tested it ourselves here at T3, and by all accounts this is an entry-level device. But, those unsure how much they need a smart ring in their lives might be tempted to give it a try at that cost.

The Coros Pace 4 Pro has arrived, and it looks like the company is making a serious play for runners who want the features and materials of a premium GPS watch without strapping something enormous to their wrist.

Sitting above last year's Coros Pace 4, the new running watch gets the biggest and brightest display the company has ever fitted on its wearable, plus sapphire glass, a titanium bezel, considerably longer battery life, and full onboard mapping.

Despite all that, Coros has kept the watch remarkably light at 38g (body only), rising to just 43g with the nylon strap. The case measures 11.8mm thick (not including the optical sensor bump), so it's pretty thin, too.

Big screen, small watch

The 1.47-inch LTPO AMOLED touchscreen is covered in 2.5D sapphire glass, has a 466 x 466 resolution and can hit a maximum brightness of 3,500 nits during activities.

Coros says it's the largest display it's ever used on one of its watches, and those specs make me agree.

The LTPO panel can dynamically alter its refresh rate, which should help preserve battery when the screen isn't doing much. It also allows for smoother interactions when you're scrolling through menus or moving around maps.

The Pace 4 Pro has twice the RAM of the Pace 4 and 32GB of storage, with landscape and topographic maps, street and trail names, points of interest and turn-by-turn navigation all supported.

Coros has also fitted its new fourth-generation five-channel optical heart-rate sensor, alongside dual-frequency GPS, a barometric altimeter, compass, SpO2 sensor and ECG hardware used for HRV measurements during its Health Check feature.

The built-in speaker and microphone let you answer calls when the watch is connected to your phone, use voice controls and leave voice notes or location-specific Voice Pins during activities.

One omission remains contactless payments, as there's still no NFC, and offline music (e.g. Spotify, Deezer, etc.) isn't supported either.

You can manually transfer MP3 files to the watch’s 32GB of storage and play them through Bluetooth workout headphones.

Battery life remains very Coros

Perhaps the most impressive specification is battery life.

Coros claims up to 60 hours of GPS tracking in its High GPS mode or 45 hours with the always-on display enabled.

Dual-frequency Max GPS mode provides up to 40 hours, dropping to 30 hours with always-on enabled.

Normal smartwatch use is rated at 21 days, or seven days with the always-on display enabled.

That's an unusually strong combination for a thin AMOLED watch, and it means Coros hasn't sacrificed one of the Pace family's biggest selling points just to add a brighter screen and premium materials.

The Pace 4 Pro is also rated to 5 ATM and uses standard 22mm quick-release straps.

It launches today, 22 September 2026, for £389 in the UK, $449 in the US, €449 in Europe and AU$779 in Australia.

Black and white versions will be available, with silicone and nylon strap options depending on colour.

Amazfit has been going after Garmin for years, and with its latest smartwatch, it's finally offering something the wearable giant can't match just yet.

The T-Rex Dual Solar is a new outdoor watch with solar charging surfaces on both the front and back.

The company describes it as the world’s first AMOLED sports watch with a dual-sided solar charging system, combining a 3,000-nit display with a second solar collector built into its glass-ceramic caseback.

The rear charging area is more than twice the size of the front collector, although it obviously can’t harvest much light while the watch is being worn.

To address that, Amazfit includes a woven lanyard that lets you attach the T-Rex Dual Solar to a backpack, bag, or other outdoor gear.

This exposes the rear panel to sunlight and lets the watch keep harvesting energy when it isn’t on the wrist.

Two sides are better than one

Amazfit’s battery figures suggest the larger rear panel can make a sizeable difference under the right conditions.

Typical battery life is rated at up to 25 days without solar charging.

With the front solar collector getting around 50,000 lux for three hours a day, that increases to 34 days, while the rear collector boosts it to up to as much as 51 days under the same conditions.

In Clock Mode, which switches off all-day heart-rate monitoring, the Bluetooth phone connection and other smartwatch functions, leaving only step counting and basic sleep tracking active, the watch can survive 15 days without solar.

This goes up to 92 days with the front solar panel and a whopping 424 days with the rear panel, again based on three hours per day at 50,000 lux.

Amazfit stresses that solar charging is designed to slow battery depletion and can't effectively charge the battery.

Solar charging can also be disabled when temperatures get too high, or the battery is nearly full.

Built for longer adventures

The unusual charging system is designed for trekking, climbing, and multi-day expeditions, where access to a conventional power source may be limited.

The specs back this up. The T-Rex Dual Solar has a 1.32-inch AMOLED display protected by sapphire crystal, a Grade 5 titanium bezel, 64GB of storage and 10 ATM water resistance.

It also supports recreational diving to depths of 50 metres and is designed to operate in temperatures as low as -30°C.

Navigation features include dual-frequency, six-satellite positioning, preloaded full-colour maps, contour maps, offline route planning and waypoints.

Amazfit also lists more than 180 sports modes, alongside Hybrid Training tools, Zepp Coach support and recovery features.

It also has a built-in flashlight with white and red modes, Bluetooth calling, offline MP3 playback, and Zepp Flow voice controls.

Pricing and wider availability for the Amazfit T-Rex Dual Solar are unconfirmed at the time of writing.

Head over to Amazfit for more information about the watch.

I feel it’s been quite a while since Ultrahuman started teasing its new ring, but it might just be that we haven’t seen a new ring from the brand for nearly three years before the Ring Pro launch, apart from the Rare and Diesel collab models.

Three years is a long time for wearables. So long that Oura launched two new smart rings between the release of the Ultrahuman Ring Air and when I actually got to try the Ring Pro.

That said, I was excited to try it, as even though its data accuracy was a bit so-so, I have fond memories of the Ring Air. It came out when smart rings were just going mainstream, looked sleek, and provided plenty of health data to digest. I also liked that Ultrahuman offered a significantly different experience from Oura, its biggest rival.

Things are different in 2026. The smart ring market is a lot more saturated, and it feels like there is a smart ring launch every month these days. Not just that, but Oura has solidified its leading position with refined hardware and software.

Plus, Samsung is still the only big tech brand to have a finger wearable, so the expected final stage of smart ring maturation never materialised. At least, not yet.

With that in mind, the Ultrahuman Ring Pro had one aim: to match or surpass what the Oura Ring 5 offers. Has it, though? The short answer is no, but as always, the situation is a lot more nuanced than that.

Ultrahuman Ring Pro review

Price and availability

The Ring Pro was announced in February 2026, and you can buy it now directly from Ultrahuman for £429 / $479 / €499 / AU$769. Ultrahuman currently shows shipping from 15 September in the UK, US, and Australia. The Ring Pro comes bundled with the Ring Pro Charger.

The ring has the highest starting price among the flagship smart rings from Ultrahuman, Oura and Samsung (although premium finishes of the Oura Ring 5 cost even more). It comes in four finishes: Bionic Gold, Space Silver, Aster Black and Raw Titanium. All carry the same price tag.

Design and build quality

Design is probably the most surprising thing about the Ultrahuman Ring Pro. Usually, smart rings get lighter and thinner with each generation, but Ultrahuman seems to have done the opposite.

At 2.65mm thick and between 3.3g and 4.8g depending on size, it's both thicker and considerably heavier than the 2.4mm, 2.4g Ring AIR it succeeds. It feels substantial on the finger and looks especially chunky next to the much slimmer Oura Ring 5.

The Ring Pro has a titanium construction with a PVD coating and a redesigned inner surface. It's well made, but I'm not convinced that the bigger-and-heavier approach is where the smart ring market is headed in 2026.

Features and tracking

A quick disclaimer before we get into things. I tested the Ring Pro throughout August and a little bit in September, during which time the Ultrahuman app has changed its layout. The new layout looks lovely, but some screenshots below may show the previous app iteration.

Back to the review. The Ultrahuman app provides all sorts of health data, from sleep stages, HRV, resting heart rate, and temperature to stress, cardiovascular metrics, sleep debt, circadian timing, and several more experimental scores, and after three weeks of testing, I still felt like I was discovering new stuff almost daily.

Circadian Phase Alignment, for example, divides the day into stages, including Phase Advance, Minima, and Phase Delay. It also recommends when to exercise and when to seek light (or avoid it) for better sleep.

It’s not a new addition to the Ultrahuman ecosystem, but I still don’t think I understand it properly. For example, the app told me that being active during the Phase Advance stage can help shift my sleep timing earlier, but when I'm already going to bed early and consistently getting excellent sleep scores, I'm not sure why I should do that.

This is an issue not just with Ultrahuman’s system, but with all other brands’. Simply put, they aren’t ready to say anything when you already have a steady and working wellness routine. I get that most people will need a lot more guidance than me, but I would still appreciate some pointers to improve things.

Sleep tracking itself is much easier to digest. You get total sleep, efficiency, HRV, temperature, sleep stages and even a count of complete sleep cycles. The latter is interesting to look at, although I'm not sure knowing that I completed four sleep cycles materially changed anything I did the following day.

I wore the Oura Ring 5 alongside the Ultrahuman Ring Pro, and they showed different sleep stages, which isn’t a massive issue, since neither measures brain activity directly and it’s all just guesswork based on the vitals the rings can read.

Activity tracking was considerably less impressive. The Ring Pro missed many of my walks altogether, while recorded activity surprisingly often appeared to be rounded into the nearest 5-minute blocks.

That's a weakness next to Oura, which has become much better at automatically detecting everyday exercise, and reinforces my feeling that Ultrahuman remains much stronger as a sleep and recovery tracker than as an overall wellness wearable.

I also struggled with some of Ultrahuman's more ambitious health scores. Ultra Age told me my biological age was 45 despite me being 43 during testing, making it the only wearable I've used that has suggested my health or fitness is older than I am. This on its own wouldn’t be a big deal, but I'm puzzled about why it suggested it.

The Pulse Age feature in the app said my blood-flow smoothness is potentially problematic (much too smooth, apparently), despite recent vascular-health readings from both a Withings smart scale and the ECG-compatible Huawei Watch D3 suggesting nothing similar.

Of course, this could mean the Ultrahuman Ring Pro is the only wearable that can accurately detect my blood flow smoothness, but circumstantial evidence suggests otherwise. That said, the app said it needs more time to calibrate, so I take these results with a pinch of salt.

On top of all this, for the most accurate Ultra Age, I would have to upload a blood report or use Ultrahuman’s Blood Vision service. Living in the UK, with its crumbling National Health Service, means I haven’t had a blood test done for quite a while, so I won’t get the most accurate Ultra Age (whatever that might mean).

I enjoyed my Brain Waste Clearance score, which is a fun way to repackage deep sleep, HRV, and related data into something more tangible. However, beyond seeing how well my brain waste was (apparently) cleared after a good night's sleep, I'm not sure how much actionable information I can get from stuff like this.

One of Ultrahuman's main marketing lines is that it provides all this health and fitness data for free. And while that’s true, there are a lot of things you need to pay for in the app. For example, Jade, the AI health assistant, is free but limits how many questions you can ask a day.

Unless, of course, you upgrade to Jade Pro, which carries a monthly subscription that's a bit over half as much as Oura’s. And that’s just for the AI assistant. PowerPlugs is the same story. There are plenty of free options, but most of the new additions that make headlines cost money.

Once you add up these comparatively small expenses, you will end up paying a lot more than an average Oura user. I appreciate the modular approach, though, which lets people tailor their experience how they want. For money, of course.

Battery life and charging

Ultrahuman claims up to 15 days from the ring itself, although longevity depends heavily on which battery mode you use. This is excellent news, even though I’m usually only impressed by longer battery-life claims if the product stays the same size or gets smaller. As we’ve already established, the Ring Pro is a lot chunkier than its predecessor.

As for real-life battery performance, the results were impressive. I started by setting the Ring Pro to Chill Mode, and was still at 93% after one day, 79% after three days, 64% after almost six days and 53% after roughly nine days. The trade-off is that Chill Mode reduces some of the ring's functionality, and I eventually realised that stress tracking wasn't operating at full capacity.

After switching to Turbo Mode to get more out of the ring, battery consumption increased significantly. The ring dropped from 53% to 15% after roughly another five days, suggesting over 12 days of battery life. It’s worth noting that I have one of the larger sizes, which has a bigger battery.

Charging with the Pro Charging Case is reasonably quick, too. Starting at 15%, it reached 40% after 30 minutes, 52% after 45 minutes, 65% after an hour and 84% after an hour and 40 minutes. It was fully charged by the time I checked after around two hours and ten minutes, although it may have reached 100% slightly earlier.

Verdict

The Ultrahuman Ring Pro packs in an enormous amount of health data, excellent battery life and a flexible feature set that avoids forcing everyone into the same subscription. However, the bulky hardware, occasionally overwhelming app and mediocre fitness tracking stop it from closing the gap to Oura. There’s plenty of potential here, but I’d like the next generation to be smaller, simpler and more focused.

Coros has spent the last few years steadily chipping away at Garmin’s dominance of the performance running watch market, and its latest software update closes another fairly significant gap.

The most important part of the September software update is full mapping support coming to the Coros Pace 4.

It brings landscape and topographic maps directly to the lightweight running watch for the first time.

Maps can display street and trail names, points of interest and surrounding geographical detail, making the Pace 4 considerably more useful for following unfamiliar routes.

You can download maps through Map Manager in the Coros app.

The company says one reason it originally held back full maps on the Pace 4 was the watch’s relatively small display and 4GB of storage.

After testing mapping on the screen, however, Coros decided the experience worked well enough to release it, especially since most runners only need maps around their home area or an upcoming destination.

The feature launches in beta, so it may still have some rough edges, but it represents a major upgrade for one of Coros’ more affordable running watches.

Maps are only the beginning

Plenty more is tucked into the September update. The new Adventure Journal Timeline feature essentially turns recorded workouts into miniature travel journals.

You can add photos and videos taken during an activity to its GPS track, and pins, voice notes, and images recorded during the activity are automatically incorporated.

Plus, there is an option to add pre- and post-activity images afterwards before sharing the finished journal with friends and family.

Cyclists also get Climb Alerts, which automatically identify climbs along a loaded route.

The watch warns you when one is approaching and shows information including distance, elevation gain and average gradient.

Once you start climbing, you can see your position on the elevation profile alongside the remaining distance and ascent.

Compatible watches can now respond to commands including “Open Navigation”, “Start a ten-minute timer” and requests to set nutrition, heart-rate, trainer resistance and power alerts.

Voice Control remains in beta and is currently available in English on the Coros Nomad, Pace 4 and Apex 4.

The update also adds faster firmware transfers over Wi-Fi, new Torque and Total Work cycling metrics, Left/Right Balance data in exported FIT files and more detailed battery history covering the previous 25 days.

The September feature update is rolling out through the Coros app, with Pace 4 mapping initially available as a beta feature.

Visit Coros for more info on the watches and their features.

Garmin watches are discounted fairly regularly these days, but deals on the flagship Fenix range are still the ones that tend to make me pay attention.

Shop all Garmin deals at H.Samuel

This one especially caught my eye, as H.Samuel has taken a huge chunk off the price of its exclusive version of the Garmin Fenix 8, bringing one of the best Garmin watches down into considerably more approachable territory.

The model in question is the 47mm Garmin Fenix 8 with an AMOLED display, slate grey finish and black silicone band. H.Samuel specifically describes it as an exclusive colourway, and it carries the model number 010-02904-01.

That's worth pointing out because Garmin's regular slate grey and black 47mm AMOLED model uses a slightly different 010-02904-00 model number. Visually, the distinction between the two is certainly subtle, but if you want this particular H.Samuel version, you won't find the exact same SKU everywhere else.

More importantly, you aren't getting a cut-down version of the Fenix 8. This is Garmin's full-fat adventure watch, complete with its bright AMOLED touchscreen, built-in LED flashlight, speaker and microphone, offline maps and multi-band GPS.

It also offers the enormous selection of sports, training and recovery features that has made the Fenix series such a firm favourite among runners, cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts. Training Readiness, Training Status, advanced workout tools and navigation features are all present, while the 10 ATM water rating and dive functionality mean it's built for significantly more than tracking the occasional 5K.

Battery life is another major reason I'd still choose a Fenix over most conventional smartwatches. Garmin quotes up to 16 days in smartwatch mode for the 47mm AMOLED version, or seven days with the always-on display enabled.

There is now a newer Fenix 8 Pro in Garmin's line-up, but the big additions there are LTE and satellite connectivity. If you don't need to send messages or trigger an SOS without your phone, the standard Fenix 8 remains an incredibly capable multisport watch.

I've seen the regular Fenix 8 47mm fall close to this price before, but I haven't found this particular H.Samuel-exclusive model cheaper.

The Garmin Fenix 8 Exclusive Colour 47mm is available from H.Samuel for £549.99, down from £789.99, which works out as a saving of £240 or 30%.

If, when you hear the words “Suunto” and “watch” in the same sentence, your brain automatically fills in the letters “GPS,” we should clear something up: the Suunto Core 2 isn’t a GPS watch, or a smartwatch or any kind; it’s an outdoor watch.

Can’t all watches be worn outdoors, you ask? Well, yes, but this watch offers quite a bit more than the old Casio that you used to time your track workouts in days gone by…and a lot less than other Suunto models like the Vertical 2, Race 2 or 9 Peak Pro. So what’s it all about?

The Suunto Core 2 is the upgraded version of the Finnish brand’s original ABC watch (that stands for Altimeter, Barometer, Compass), which came out back in 2007. With those tools, you can use it for basic navigation and telling time, but nothing more.

Now granted, the original release was four years before the first Garmin watch came out, and it was the same year that the very first iPhone was released, so we can forgive them for not thinking of adding GPS capability, a heart rate monitor or an AMOLED screen back then.

Fast forward to 2026, however, and Suunto still hasn’t budged on those details. The Suunto Core 2 is still geared towards bushcraft enthusiasts, and the key upgrades include a higher-contrast LED dot-matrix screen, red and green backlight, storm alerts, Bluetooth, a simple step counter, moon phase tracking and a more durable build. You can sync it with your Suunto app for updates, but the app itself won’t show any data.

It’s a rugged outdoor watch, and it’s clearly aimed at those who want to properly get off grid when they head out into the wild, but also quite like having a few field tools at their disposal without digging around in their backpack.

I’ve tested quite a few Suunto watches, and the Vertical 2 is one of my favourite GPS watches ever, but I have to admit to being a bit stumped when this arrived. I’ve grown to really appreciate the merits of a good GPS watch for hiking in recent years (hello, Garmin Fenix 8 and aforementioned Suunto Vertical 2).

Without colour maps and tracking, was there really enough here to get my teeth into? Over the past month, I’ve had it out in the hills of western Scotland and the trails of Chamonix to see if I can appreciate a simpler approach to adventure watches.

Suunto Core 2 review

Price and availability

The Suunto Core 2 was released in July with an MSRP of £155 / $199 / €199 and is available in one colour: black. At this time, it seems to be sold out on Suunto’s website, but it is available on Amazon.

The price is a substantial discount from the original Suunto Core, which had an MSRP of £199, although that’s now generously discounted thanks to the new release.

It doesn’t really make sense to compare this to the pricing of a GPS watch, I know, but I do think it’s worth pointing out that these days you can find fully loaded smartwatches like the Amazfit Bip 6 much cheaper at under £80, while you can get your hands on Garmin models like the Instinct 2 or Forerunner 55 for under £150, so I can’t make a case for buying this for economic reasons alone.

The fairest comparison is the Casio Pro Trek PRG 270-1, which is a little pricier at £184 and also a no-frills ABC watch.

Design and build quality

Back in 2007, I was living on the Upper East Side on New York and my outdoor adventures tended to revolve around taking the train to Long Island, so I never had the opportunity to test the original Core. Therefore, my comparisons here are based on the information from Suunto, but the upgraded model is very well built with a large 48mm display made using reinforced composite with a rotating stainless steel bezel.

The 1.3” Corning Gorilla Glass display is an upgrade over its predecessor’s mineral crystal, and is apparently 40% brighter, but I must admit I find it really quite dim during daylight hours. This isn’t helped by the fact that I only seem to be able to get it to light up for five seconds at a time.

The silicone strap sits comfortably on my wrist and has lots of adjustability, but the case sits quite proud of my wrist at a chunky 14.84mm thick, making it difficult to wear with long sleeves. It looks the part of a tactical, rugged adventure watch and therefore also looks quite silly on my small wrist. Given that it’s not packed with tech, it seems to me they could make a smaller and slimmer version available, but what do I know about watch-making?

It has five buttons, much like a Garmin: one to turn on the backlight (which annoyingly only works for a few seconds), a back button, one to switch between the outdoor modes (Altimeter, Barometer, Compass, and Tools) and the final two to toggle up and down. It’s reasonably intuitive, but I couldn’t help wondering why a watch that does so little needs so many buttons?

App compatibility

The Core 2 is designed to work independently of the Suunto app, but it has Bluetooth, so you can pair it. As far as I can tell, this allows you to easily change the time when you move into a different time zone, and lets you run software updates; however, after a hike or run, there is no record in the newsfeed, so if you’re looking for a more distraction-free approach to metrics, you might prefer a fitness band like the Garmin Cirqa or Amazfit Helio Strap.

Field tools

The three main tools to explore are the altimeter, barometer and compass. As a hiker, I rely on an altimeter quite a bit, especially if I end up climbing in thick fog and want to gauge how close I am to the top.

It’s useful, but the one on my Core 2 started giving me inaccurate readings, first telling me I was at 329 metres above sea level when I was at home in Glasgow, which is roughly 64 metres (210 feet) above sea level.

I manually updated it, but the next day it said I was 29 metres below sea level. After a software update, it now shows accurately, but it strikes me that in a more rudimentary watch, the exact thing I want to be free of is bugs and software fixes.

Meanwhile, the barometer, which isn’t something I typically use, seems to be roughly in line with my Garmin Fenix 9 Pro and Suunto Vertical 2 watches. I really like the idea of the storm alerts, which detect sudden drops in air pressure and sound an alarm, but sadly I haven’t received one yet.

The compass was reasonably easy to calibrate the first time, and seemed to hold calibration well until I did the software update. It has a small orienteering arrow at the top of the display, a digital magnetic needle that appears when the compass is in use, and two glow-in-the-dark lines (that aren’t very visible in the dark) on the rotating bezel that serve as the Direction of Travel Arrow.

It’s all fairly straightforward to figure out if you’re used to using a compass. However, when my slightly long-sighted partner tried it, he found that he couldn’t see the arrows at all, which is an issue.

After several years of using a GPS watch to navigate, I felt a little rusty, so I first took a bearing with my Silva Expedition compass to remind myself of the steps, then replicated it with the watch, and was pleased to see it was pretty accurate.

That said, I don’t think it’s a true replacement for a see-through compass that you can place on a map for really precise navigation, more a handy backup in a pinch. Because the screen only lights up for a few seconds, I also question how useful it would be compared to a regular compass and headtorch when navigating at night.

Speaking of the new display, it lets you choose between red and green backlight. Thanks to recent upgrades in GPS watches like the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro and Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2, both of which have a green light option in the torch, I now understand the difference: red light is kinder on your eyes; green light makes it easier to see obstacles.

I’m not sure this is as useful in a backlight versus a torch, and on the Core 2, the difference is nearly indistinguishable to my eyes in daylight, but at night the display is much easier to see (if only it would stay lit). Maybe they should forget about display options and add a torch instead?

The main display shows useful information like the temperature, and I love being able to see sunset and sunrise times, particularly now that the days are starting to shrink.

Honestly, my favourite thing about this watch is having the moon phases on my wrist – I love being outdoors at night during the full moon, and I can see this being helpful information for fishing, too.

Health and fitness tracking

Without a heart rate or blood oxygen monitor, there’s not much tracking the Core 2 can do, but it does have a basic step counter. Because the Suunto app doesn’t log any activity data, it’s a little hard for me to compare the steps with another watch, but the total steps from a recent trail run were on par with what I’d expect for the distance.

Battery life

If I sound a little nonplussed about this watch, it’s because I am, but it has one clear advantage over GPS watches: you never have to charge it. Ever. This Core 2 is powered by a CR3032 coin cell battery for a mammoth 15 months, at which point I expect to receive an alert telling me to change it. That is all. No range panic here, thank you.

Verdict

In a world where we expect the kitchen sink from our watches, it’s a little difficult not to view the Suunto Core 2 as lacking. Taken on its own, it mostly does what it says, even if the screen is quite dim and the compass is only for those with 20/20 vision.

Clearly, I’m not the target audience for this watch, but I still have a hard time imagining who might be. The people in my life who hate the thought of a constantly buzzing watch and much prefer analogue adventures would probably prefer using a regular watch and an actual compass.

But if you’re a bushcraft enthusiast in the market for a tough watch with some tools that let you leave your phone at home and don’t mind paying more than you would for a basic smartwatch, I’d say this is one of only two options out there.

Also consider

If you’re looking for a more basic adventure watch, I’d actually recommend you check out the Coros Nomad, which doesn’t give you annoying notifications or an obnoxiously bright screen, but does have the addition of colour maps.

Circular has never been short of ambition when it comes to smart rings, and at IFA 2026 in Berlin, the French wearable brand is having another go with what looks like its most convincing hardware yet.

The new Circular Ring 3 Series comes in two versions, the Circular Ring 3 Pro and Circular Ring 3 Slim, and it's not just about different looks, either.

Both are smaller than the outgoing Circular Ring 2, bring back the company’s distinctive haptic vibration system, and both add NFC for contactless payments.

Circular says the new rings are the first to combine comprehensive health monitoring with secure contactless payments in a single wearable.

Supported Visa and Mastercard cards can be used by tapping the ring against a compatible payment terminal without a smartwatch or phone in sight.

Circular experimented with vibrations on its original smart ring, but the feature disappeared from later models.

It now returns with support for silent wake-up alarms, medication reminders, health alerts and guided breathing exercises.

Two rings, two very different priorities

The Circular Ring 3 Pro is the flagship and packs in a broader selection of health features.

These include single-lead ECG with AFib detection, blood pressure trends, glucose trend estimates, advanced sleep analysis and the usual assortment of heart rate, HRV, SpO2, temperature and activity data. Circular claims up to 12 days of battery life.

The Ring 3 Slim lacks ECG and blood pressure tracking, but offers sleep, heart rate, HRV, SpO2, skin temperature, and activity monitoring, plus NFC payments and haptics. Battery life is quoted at up to 10 days.

The Slim measures just 5.9mm wide and 2.35mm thick, with weight starting at approximately 1.9g depending on size.

The Ring 3 Pro is 6.8mm wide and weighs roughly 3–4g, while the previous Ring 2 measured 7.8mm across.

Both new rings are available in sizes 6–14, offer 50-metre water resistance and support wireless charging.

Circular is also updating its Kira app, which uses AI to analyse ring data and provide personalised wellness insights and recommendations.

The big unanswered questions are price and when you'll actually be able to buy one.

Circular is showing both Ring 3 models at IFA Berlin, but says it won't announce pricing, availability, or pre-order details until the coming months.

Head over to Circular for more info.

There’s no shortage of Apple Watch lookalikes, but Huawei’s latest square smartwatch has something rather unusual hiding inside its strap.

The new Huawei Watch D3 was unveiled today alongside the Watch GT 7 Series, flagship Watch 6 Series and FreeBuds Neo earbuds, but for me, it’s comfortably the most interesting product of the bunch.

That’s because the D3 can take actual blood pressure measurements using an inflatable airbag built into its strap.

It works much like a conventional cuff, compressing the wrist as an internal pump inflates and deflates the airbag to determine systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

That’s fundamentally different from what Apple currently does, which can identify patterns that may suggest hypertension using its optical heart-rate sensors.

However, they don’t directly measure your blood pressure or give you conventional blood-pressure readings.

Adding Huawei’s system to an Apple Watch would presumably require a substantial rethink of the strap and associated hardware, which is why this could remain one area where the D3 has a considerable advantage.

Huawei has also worked hard to make the technology look less... medical.

While previous iterations looked a bit clunky, the D3 deliberately borrows heavily from Huawei’s much more conventional Watch Fit family, almost fully disguising its special cuff design.

It's 11.3mm thick and weighs 40g, with Huawei shaving 8g and roughly 2mm from its predecessor.

The inflatable strap is narrower too, while the display measures over 1.9 inches and reaches a claimed 3,000 nits.

More than a clever cuff

The Watch D3 supports 24-hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring, taking automated readings during the day and while you sleep.

Its blood pressure function has CE marking under the EU Medical Device Regulation.

One of the most interesting additions in this generation is pre- and post-exercise blood pressure measurement.

The watch can now take readings immediately before and shortly after exercise so users can see how their blood pressure responds to exertion.

Huawei says the D3 still manages up to six days of battery life despite housing the pump, while Health Glance can gather up to 11 health indicators in around a minute.

The Watch GT 7 Series is probably the brand's biggest mainstream launch this September.

Huawei has given its sports watch a noticeably more outdoorsy look this year, but some of the cleverest changes are happening under the hood.

A new positioning system combines GPS with the watch’s accelerometer and gyroscope to estimate movement when satellite reception disappears.

Huawei says this can improve route recording through tunnels and tree cover, while also reducing GPS polling during ultra-long activities to save battery.

To boost its snow sport prowess, the GT 7 can now download maps for more than 3,000 ski resorts, track individual turns and even estimate the G-forces generated while carving.

It also adds an indoor skiing mode that relies on onboard motion sensors rather than GPS.

Cyclists gain climb planning, gradient information and warnings when approaching sharp turns too, while Huawei has finally added a Physical Readiness score that factors in metrics including sleep and HRV.

The Watch GT 7 starts at £280 (~$378 / €326 / AU$528), with the GT 7 Pro from £380 (~$512 / €443 / AU$717), and both are available to order from today. The Watch D3 costs £400 (~$540 / €466 / AU$755) and goes on sale on 23 September.

Google has announced a special edition of the Fitbit Air, partnering with The Pokémon Company for the – deep breath – Google Fitbit Air Special Edition Pokémon Sleep.

The new tracker comes with a bespoke Pokémon design – including a custom silk label that puts a cute little, sleeping Pikachu on your wrist.

Combining all the goodness of the Fitbit Air with the fun of the Pokémon Sleep app, this new special edition fitness tracker should encourage better sleep habits while providing plenty of fun along the way.

Starting with the core of the Fitbit, this provides a lightweight route to 24/7 tracking, gathering data about your steps, activities, heart data and sleep. Because the Fitbit Air is just a band rather than a watch, it's less intrusive when sleeping – and there's no screen to distract the wearer.

The Sleepy Blue colour makes this version standout a little, but the tracking that it offers will sync to Google Health as normal. That's how we make the jump into the Pokémon Sleep app, which gamifies sleep – a great way to reinforce healthy sleep behaviours.

You'll have to link Google Health (which replaced the Fitbit app) to Health Connect or Apple Health, depending on whether you're using an Android or iPhone. Then, Health Connect or Apple Health can be connected to the Pokémon Sleep app.

That will see your real sleep data feeding into Pokémon Sleep which is where the fun starts.

Pokémon Sleep uses real sleep data to unlock rewards in the app, making sleep an interactive experience. As you sleep, Pokémon will gather in the app, letting you complete your Sleep Style Dex.

The type of sleep you have – and the length – will reflect the Pokémon that appear, so you can continue to collect them all while sleeping. Your Sleep Score will be used to generate Drowsy Power for Snorlax and the higher the Drowsy Power the more Pokémon you'll see.

Of course, you don't have to use the Pokémon Sleep app (it's available for use with other devices), you can just get the special edition Fitbit Air Pokémon edition because you like the design and you're a Pokémon fan.

Preorders for the new version of the Fitbit Air are open in the US, with shipping from 15 September. It's priced at $129.99, so it's $30 more than the regular Fitbit Air.

Garmin has released another sizeable software update for some of its most popular smartwatches.

Public Beta Version 18.27 is rolling out to the Garmin Forerunner 570, Forerunner 970, Venu 4, Venu X1 and Vivoactive 6, with Garmin now listing the update as available to members of its Public Beta programme.

The company says the update addresses a potential issue that could cause unexpected display behaviour and inconsistent gesture response.

Garmin has also fixed an issue that could prevent the always-on display setting from taking effect, along with a problem that could stop button tones from sounding.

Version 18.27 addresses a bug that could cause alert tones to fail to play when Garmin's Incident Detection feature is triggered.

The sound of software problems

Audio accounts for a surprisingly large chunk of the latest update.

Garmin says it has fixed problems with music failing to pause properly when the selected music provider is set to control your phone, as well as an issue where volume adjustments in the music app might not work correctly.

The company's Phone Assistant functionality also gets some attention.

One fix addresses voice commands failing to be recognised, while another tackles a problem where the assistant could stop working after being interrupted by an incoming call.

Garmin's Spectator Messaging feature gets two fixes. Audio messages should no longer be cut off before they finish playing, and Garmin has also tried to make them easier to hear when music is playing at the same time.

Golfers haven't been forgotten either, with Beta 18.27 fixing a delay that could occur before the score prompt appeared.

The release also includes a handful of other minor fixes and updated translations, but no new features this time around.

In other words, this is very much a housekeeping update, albeit one that addresses quite a few irritating problems.

As this is Public Beta software, you'll need to be enrolled in Garmin's Beta Software Programme to get it. Once enrolled, you can check manually from Settings > System > Software Update > Check For Updates.

One important caveat for Venu 4 owners: Garmin says the ECG app is disabled in the current beta software and recommends staying on the stable software if you want to keep access to ECG.

The feature is expected to return towards the end of the quarterly beta cycle, before the software becomes a full public release.

[via NotebookCheck, Garmin Forums]

Garmin’s screenless wearable was rumoured for what felt like forever before the brand finally announced the Cirqa in July 2026. Of course, I was otherwise engaged, as is often the case when Garmin launches a new product, so I didn’t start testing the new screenless wearable until a couple of weeks ago.

As a longtime Garmin watch fan, I have been waiting for years for the company to launch a screenless wearable, but I thought it would be a smart ring, not a Whoop- and Polar-rival band. There is nothing wrong with bands, but given the popularity of models like the Oura Ring 5, I thought Garmin would bring out a finger wearable first.

I was wrong (not the first time), but I’m not disappointed. The Cirqa has some personality and does what a screenless wearable should do: passively track your health and fitness. Better still, it gives you access to the company’s polished ecosystem for a lot less than your average Forerunner or Fenix.

All that said, the Cirqa suffers from the same issue as other casual Garmin wearables: the algorithm caters more to athletes than everyday people. Still, it’s hard not to like the Cirqa. If you have a Garmin watch but don’t like wearing it to bed, the Cirqa might be a good accessory. It’s also beneficial for people who do resistance training and often handle kettlebells.

Garmin Cirqa review

Price and availability

The Cirqa was announced in July 2026 and is available to buy now at Garmin UK, Garmin US, Garmin EU and Garmin AU for £180 / $200 / €200 / AU$299. It comes in two sizes (S-M and L-XL) and four colours, including Black, Captain Blue, French Grey and Mauve. It’s one of Garmin's more affordable wearables and is on par with watches like the original Vivomove.

Design and build quality

The Garmin Cirqa is essentially a heart rate sensor with a vibration motor attached to a strap. The removable module itself measures 27 x 47 x 9mm and weighs just 14.8g with the smaller S-M strap. The L-XL strap makes the setup marginally heavier at 21.2g, but it’s quite light overall.

The case is made from fibre-reinforced polymer, the same material most Garmin watch cases use. The 24mm-wide fabric strap attaches using 14mm quick-release pins. The smaller strap fits wrist circumferences between 120 and 200mm, while the larger fits 145 to 240mm. You can also pair the module with an optional upper-arm band.

The Cirqa uses Garmin’s Elevate Gen 4 optical heart-rate sensor. It’s not the latest Gen 5 hardware used by watches such as the new Fenix 8 Pro or the Forerunner 970, although this particular implementation also supports skin-temperature tracking.

It has 128MB of onboard memory (for data, not music), Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity, and a 5 ATM water-resistance rating, making it suitable for swimming.

Features

The sensor can also track blood oxygen (a.k.a. Pulse Ox) and includes an accelerometer, but no built-in GPS. Like cheaper fitness trackers, the Cirqa uses connected GPS from a paired smartphone to track outdoor position.

The band can continuously monitor heart rate every second and feed data into familiar Garmin metrics, including HRV Status, Body Battery, stress, sleep, Training Readiness, and Training Status. It also supports advanced sleep tracking, nap detection and respiration monitoring.

Performance

It’s hard to talk about the Cirqa band's performance, as it’s essentially the same as other Garmin wearables that use the Elevate v4 heart rate sensor. It has no screen or GPS, so it mainly tracks your vitals and sends them to the Connect app, where the algorithm makes sense of it all.

I have Active Intelligence, part of Connect+, Garmin’s paid subscription service. As a result, the algorithm provided activity summaries and suggested workouts based on my activity. The Cirqa band tracks workouts (e.g. walks) automatically and takes them into account.

Now, the issue is that even though I walked loads during the testing period, my sciatica prevented me from doing any proper workouts like runs or cycles. Even though I reached over 650 intensity minutes in a week, my Training Status still said I was in ‘Recovery’.

Not sure about you, but doing that much walking a week does count as workouts for me and the algorithm, but Garmin’s athlete-centred training features don’t seem to care, which creates a strange situation where you’ll continuously feel you’re not exercising enough while also doing quite a lot.

Another strange thing is that Active Intelligence requires an internet connection and won’t give you any info without it. Most companion apps, including Oura, will provide plenty of insights without data usage, so I don’t understand why Garmin can’t do the same.

As for data accuracy, there isn’t much to criticise. The Elevate v4 is more than sophisticated enough to track most of what you'd track with the Cirqa band. Sleep, stress, and blood oxygen all seemed okay to me compared to the Oura Ring 5 and the Ultrahuman Ring PRO, both of which I wore simultaneously.

Battery life and charging

Garmin rates the Cirqa for up to 10 days of battery life, which sounds good until you realise that on most wearables, the display eats up most of the battery power. Since the Cirqa doesn’t have one, even with the sensor being on most of the time, the band will last for well over a week.

My testing came close to Garmin’s official figure. I took the Cirqa off the charger at 100% when I started testing it, and it had dropped to 86% just over a day later. After a little over five days of continuous wear, there was still 40% remaining.

The battery finally reached 12% just over eight days after the test began. Based on that discharge rate, I would have expected the Cirqa to make it comfortably through a ninth day and potentially get very close to Garmin’s quoted 10-day maximum.

Charging is fairly quick, too. Starting from 12%, the Cirqa recovered almost 80% of its battery in 57 minutes. You probably won't need to charge it particularly often, then, and even a relatively short top-up should be enough to keep it running for several more days.

The Cirqa uses the same four-pin charger the company has used for years, so if you already have a watch, you should be able to charge your band with the same cable.

Verdict

The Garmin Cirqa is a comfortable, discreet and impressively long-lasting fitness tracker that makes Garmin’s excellent health ecosystem more accessible without putting another screen on your wrist. It works particularly well as a companion to a Garmin watch (and is a decent enough fitness tracker on its own), although the company’s athlete-focused algorithms still feel less accommodating to casual activity, and some of its smartest insights sit behind Connect+.

Casio has unveiled a new G-SHOCK that blurs the line between rugged surf watch and fitness tracker.

The GBX-H5600KI-5 is the fourth signature timepiece created with professional surfer and G-SHOCK ambassador Kanoa Igarashi.

It takes the already feature-packed GBX-H5600 G-LIDE and adds a distinctive new design inspired by one of Igarashi’s favourite training locations.

The GBX-H5600 launched earlier this year as the first G-LIDE model to feature a heart-rate monitor, bringing Casio’s surf-focused range closer to the capabilities of its G-SQUAD fitness watches.

Alongside tide graphs, moon data and sunrise and sunset information for thousands of locations worldwide, the watch tracks workouts, steps, sleep recovery and training metrics using Polar-powered algorithms.

For Igarashi’s fourth collaboration with G-SHOCK, Casio has given the square watch a unique finish inspired by the cliffs and rocky coastline around Ericeira, Portugal, where the surfer trains.

The brown mixed-colour resin bezel and strap are designed to recreate the look of the landscape, with purple accents representing the “magic hour” around sunrise and sunset.

Because of the unique moulding process, every watch features a slightly different pattern.

A lighter G-SHOCK

Casio has been dabbling with turning its classic watches into fitness trackers for years.

The Japanese brand teamed up with Polar to add smart features to its G-SHOCK watches through the Powered by Polar system.

Casio uses its own optical heart-rate sensor and accelerometer to collect raw data, then Polar’s algorithms/library turn it into training and recovery insights.

The GBX-H5600KI-5 features a lightweight carbon fibre-reinforced resin case back, reducing weight by around 18g compared with the previous heart-rate-equipped DW-H5600.

Despite the lighter construction, it retains the features G-SHOCK fans expect, including shock resistance, 200-metre water resistance, solar-assisted charging and a high-visibility MIP LCD display.

As a signature model, the watch is packed with Igarashi-specific details.

His signature appears on the watch face and case back, while the number “50” on the strap references his competition number on the World Surf League Championship Tour and the meaning behind his surname.

The Casio G-SHOCK GBX-H5600KI-5 is priced at $370 and will be available at G-SHOCK from September 2026.

If you’ve been waiting for a Garmin outdoor watch that doesn’t cost Fenix money, this could be the deal to watch. The Garmin Instinct 2X Solar has dropped to just £199.99 at Ernest Jones, saving £140 off its usual £339.99 price tag.

Shop all Garmin deals at Ernest Jones

The Instinct 2X Solar sits in a slightly different corner of Garmin’s ecosystem to the company’s premium Fenix and Epix watches. It focuses on being a tough, dependable companion, with a rugged fibre-reinforced polymer case, solar charging and a monochrome display designed to be readable in bright sunlight.

Despite its more utilitarian appearance, it still packs many of the features that make Garmin watches so popular with runners, hikers and outdoor enthusiasts. You get built-in GPS, extensive sports tracking, health monitoring, navigation tools, and a built-in LED flashlight.

The biggest selling point remains battery life. Thanks to Garmin’s Power Glass solar charging lens, the Instinct 2X Solar can last dramatically longer than most smartwatches, making it a great option for multi-day hikes, camping trips and anyone who doesn’t want to charge their watch every night.

Newer Instinct models are available, but the Instinct 2X Solar remains a very capable watch, especially at this price. If you’ve been tempted by Garmin’s adventure watches but couldn’t justify spending several hundred pounds, this is one of the easiest recommendations right now.

Hot off the back of launching a full swathe of Pixel 11 devices, Google appears to have revealed an unreleased product, with speculation it could replace the Fitbit Charge 6.

On an advert showing the range of Pixel devices, there's something that we've never seen before. While the Pixel 11 models are easily identified, along with the Pixel Watch 5, there's a slimmer device like a tracker, with a compact screen.

The Fitbit Charge 6 was launched in 2023 and exhibits a design that's more Fitbit than Google. It's a comprehensive tracker with a slimmer profile than the Pixel Watch, which leads us to think it's a logical replacement for the incumbent Fitbit.

What's interesting about this line-up of products is that the Fitbit Air (the most recent launch) isn't shown, which perhaps suggests that this isn't going to be a Fitbit branded device – perhaps it will carry Pixel branding instead.

The interface that it shows looks like a condensed version of the Pixel Watch, while the design fits in with curved-edge displays that we seen on Google's wearable devices.

The adverts were served up to Reddit users (via 9to5Google) and it's interesting to note that these both come from Google Australia. The device is shown in two forms, once with the strap spread out and once without.

That seems a little too deliberate to be an accident, with some speculation that the image was just thrown together with AI before being pumped out – which still might be the case.

We knew that Google was planning new Fitbit hardware in 2026 and that resulted in the Fitbit Air, but that might not be all that was planned. It could be that there's another device coming, with Google choosing to launch the more fully featured Pixel Watch 5, before turning its attention to a slightly more compact and affordable device.

The other thing to consider is that the Fitbit Charge was previously launched in September, so it could be that Google plans to stick to that date and get this new device out (let's call it the Fitbit Charge 7), so that it can get onto Christmas lists and benefit from Black Friday sales.

We don't have any other information about this device, but its appearance in this advert is certainly interesting.

Wearables have become remarkably good at telling us what has already happened. They know how far we ran, how high our heart rate climbed, how well we slept afterwards and, increasingly, how much strain that workout placed on our bodies.

Could a smartwatch eventually recognise that you are heading towards an injury before you feel the first warning signs, or notice that your body is fighting an illness before you wake up feeling terrible? And, if it can, how much should you trust what it tells you to do?

Samsung is already pushing its wearables in that direction, though the company is careful about where it draws the line.

“We’re never going to necessarily say, ‘You’re going to get sick, you’re going to get injured,’” Lee Dinham, Ecosystem Product Specialist at Samsung, told me.

Instead, he says Samsung wants the Galaxy Watch to recognise patterns in the data it collects and give users enough information to make a better decision themselves.

“We might say, ‘We’ve noticed that you’ve trained quite intensely over four days out of five,’” Dinham explains. “The data that we gather and the history suggest that if you keep training, there’s a higher chance that you will get an injury. So we would recommend that you maybe take a day off.”

Your watch might become increasingly capable of identifying the circumstances in which injury, illness or excessive fatigue become more likely, but Samsung does not want it to become a digital doctor issuing definitive instructions from your wrist.

Knowing when to back off

One of the clearest examples is Daily Cardio Load, introduced with the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 and Galaxy Watch 9. The feature considers factors like heart rate and vigorous activity and compares your recent workload with your goals.

Someone preparing for an ultramarathon should naturally accumulate far more training load than someone exercising a few times a week to maintain fitness.

“When you actually set that feature up, you can tell it the goals that you want to achieve,” Dinham says. “That Daily Cardio Load will be tailored to what your goals are.”

In other words, a high training load is not automatically a bad thing. Dinham uses his own gym routine as an example. If his watch suggests his cardiovascular load is getting high, he might shorten the treadmill portion of his next session or reduce his overall workload.

However, he also makes an important point that can easily get lost as wearable recovery scores become more sophisticated: you still know your own body.

“If I find that actually my watch is telling me that I’m going over my cardio load and I actually feel really great, that means I probably need to change my goals in the Samsung Health app,” he says.

Plenty of us have looked at a recovery score in the morning and let an algorithm-generated number influence whether we train at all. As those recommendations become more persuasive, wearable guidance risks being interpreted as instruction.

Samsung insists that is not what it is designed to be. “We’re just there as a helping hand and giving users that guidance based on the data that watches collect,” Dinham says.

When data becomes advice

The challenge is getting more complicated because the amount of information modern wearables collect has exploded.

Samsung Health now includes sleep tracking, body composition, stress, blood pressure, ECG, Energy Score and training-load metrics alongside the more familiar activity data. That creates another problem, namely knowing which number you should care about.

Dinham says personalisation is becoming increasingly important here, both in how the information is displayed and in what Samsung chooses to recommend.

The Samsung Health app can be customised around goals such as sleeping better, eating better or improving general fitness, while users can remove information they do not want to see.

“I think the misconception is that we’re just telling you how many steps you’ve done or how many hours you’ve slept,” Dinham says. “Really, we’re giving you recommendations.”

Sleep, he said, is a useful example. Eight hours might look impressive on paper, but Samsung can also factor in sleep quality, sleep stages, bedtime consistency, and other signals before presenting its assessment.

That is where AI increasingly enters the equation, turning a pile of measurements into something intended to be understandable without a sports-science degree.

Your watch is not your doctor

There is inevitably a point where health guidance starts to resemble medical advice.

Samsung already offers features such as blood pressure monitoring, ECG and sleep apnoea detection that sit much closer to the medical end of the wearable spectrum than an activity score.

Dinham is keen to distinguish those regulated features from the broader wellness recommendations generated elsewhere in Samsung Health.

“A lot of the features that we have on our devices are guidance,” he explains. “Here’s the data we’ve gathered. Here’s what we think you should do.”

That distinction could become increasingly important as wearables start noticing subtle changes before their owners do.

Dinham highlights Samsung’s Vitals feature, which establishes personal baselines across several measurements. If skin temperature begins climbing over several nights, for example, the watch might flag the deviation and suggest taking it easy or prioritising sleep.

It does not diagnose an infection or claim that you are definitely becoming ill, but it might recognise that something has changed before you consciously notice it yourself.

“Without a wearable device, you’re not necessarily going to be able to feel [that] until it’s kind of a bit too late,” Dinham says.

For Samsung, that is where the wider opportunity lies. “The long-term vision with Samsung wearables is all about preventative health.”

A watch that knows what you’re running on

The latest hardware is also becoming better at understanding the context around exercise rather than simply recording it.

Samsung's Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, for example, puts greater emphasis on trail running, and Dinham says its accelerometers can analyse characteristics such as cadence, stride, and movement patterns to help infer what kind of terrain the wearer is crossing.

“If you’re going downhill and those strides are smooth, it will know that it’s more of a tarmac surface,” he explains. “If you’re going downhill and it is more bumpy, it’s going to know that that’s a dirt or a rock surface.”

That information can sit alongside elevation, GPS data and other workout measurements to build a more complete picture of what the athlete has actually been doing.

Samsung has also added hydration prompts, including recommendations to replace electrolytes after sufficiently demanding efforts, along with route navigation and dual-frequency GPS.

The interesting part is that watches are gradually gaining more context. A five-mile run is no longer just a five-mile run; the watch can increasingly understand whether it was fast, slow, mountainous or technically demanding, and whether it placed more strain on you than your normal training.

That context is what could make future injury-prevention features substantially more useful.

Five years from now

Dinham is understandably unwilling to predict exactly what Samsung's wearables will be doing several product generations from now, but he sees improving sensors and AI as the two forces likely to push health tracking forward.

“As those sensors get better, more accurate, [and] can track more things, we can gather more data [and] make more recommendations to our customers on what they do for sleep, nutrition [and] activity,” he says.

He also points towards closer links between wearables and healthcare providers as part of the longer-term opportunity. “It’d be great to be involved in real-time syncing with medical institutions and things like that, so you can get real-time feedback.”

That does not mean Samsung envisages your Galaxy Watch replacing your GP.

“We never want to say you never want to see your doctor again,” Dinham says. “But we definitely want to put things in place where you can reduce the need to see your doctor.”

That might ultimately be the more realistic future for wearable health. Your smartwatch may never confidently declare that an injury is coming next Tuesday or diagnose an illness while you are making breakfast, but it does not necessarily need to.

If it can notice that something about your training, sleep, temperature or recovery is drifting away from normal, then explain that change clearly enough for you to act on it.

This could be considerably more useful than another dashboard full of numbers. So, as things stand now, the watch provides the warning signs, but Samsung still wants you to make the final decision.

You only need to be in the same room as a Garmin wearable to know it has more features than you could ever use.

The options can be overwhelming, and even though I’ve been testing the best Garmin watches for years, I’m the first to admit that I’m not getting the most out of these tenacious timepieces when I’m on the trail.

Whether I’m trekking to Everest Base Camp with the Garmin Fenix 8 or going for an easy run out my front door with the Forerunner 570, I just upload a GPX file for navigation, choose my activity and bound off down the trail.

When I get to the end of an adventure, I know how far I’ve gone, how long it took me and what my heart got up to along the way. What else is there to know? Well, quite a bit, as I recently learned when I met up with Garmin’s product team for some wearable wisdom.

I travelled to South Wales for Love Trails, a five-day trail running festival where reps from the GPS watch giant were dishing out all the best advice for optimising your Garmin.

They strapped their flagship watch, the Fenix 8 Pro, on my wrist, gave me a tutorial on maximising its potential on the trails, then let me loose in the forests, causeways and beaches of the Gower Peninsula.

Over the next few days, I discovered features that help me get better fitness readings, navigate more precisely, and even take better care of my health on the trail. If your adventures take you off the beaten path, these are the Garmin functions I recommend you start using today.

Log your pack weight

Does your Garmin watch tell you that you’re losing fitness even when you’re hiking and trail running regularly and feeling great? That might be because it doesn’t know you’re carrying a heavy backpack, which could slow you down or raise your heart rate more than usual.

I typically carry anywhere from 2kg of water and supplies in my trail running vest to 10kg of overnight camping gear in my hiking backpack, and if I don’t let my watch know that, I’m essentially getting penalised with every weighted step I take.

Garmin’s Pack Weight feature debuted last year when the brand added the Rucking activity mode, but you can add your pack weight to Hike or Trail Running modes for more accurate metrics.

If you have a newer Garmin model with the Rucking or Weighted Activity feature (like the Fenix 8, Enduro 3, or Instinct 3), open your activity, scroll down to Settings, select Pack Weight, and enter your backpack's weight before you set off.

The next time you start that same activity, it will save that pack weight, so make sure you update it as needed.

Set up hydration and nutrition reminders

I always carry water and snacks on the trail, but I’m terrible at remembering to fuel regularly. Instead of waiting until I’m lightheaded, the Garmin team helped me set up hydration and nutrition alerts, and I think they are super valuable whether you’re hiking for pleasure or trying to set a trail running PB.

If you need reminders to sip and snack when you’re on the go, open the activity profile on your Garmin watch and scroll down to Settings, then Alerts, where you can add a new Custom alert.

Here you’ll find built-in options like Eat and Drink where you can set activity-specific reminders based on time or distance to make sure you don’t run out of gas.

My watch now buzzes every 30 minutes on a hike to remind me to drink water, and suggests I eat every 5k. For trail running, I adjust these alerts based on my intended distance and the weather. That little reminder helps me take better care of myself and cuts down on bonking or dehydration headaches.

Plot your route like a pro

In November 2025, I hiked a 70-mile trail from the Scottish borders to Holy Island over four days, and with limited daylight, every day was a race against time. I preloaded the route’s GPX file to save time, but I could have been more savvy.

Take Course Points, for example. I mistakenly thought that this feature was only for planning aid station stops during races, but it can be useful for planning any adventure.

If your Garmin watch has maps, create or upload a route, then tap Edit and choose Add Course Point. Here you can add waymarkers such as public toilets, places where you can refill your water bottle, scenic viewpoints or towns where you want to take a break and refuel.

You can specify how long you want to stop in each place, then once you’re moving, your watch can take all the guesswork out of things

Just because you’ve plotted your route to a T doesn’t mean you have to stick to it like glue. Sometimes I find a trail that looks better on the ground than it did on my watch screen, and in those cases it’s helpful to enable rerouting so you don’t spend the next two hours with your watch telling you you’re off route.

Open an activity, scroll to Settings, then head to Routing. Under Courses, select Use Map so your watch automatically reroutes when you deviate, using popular paths and trying to keep your total distance as close as possible to your original plan.

Enable ClimbPro for hilly days

By nature, trail adventures involve lots of up and down, and when you don’t know how long you have left on a climb, it can be easy to go too hard at first and then run out of steam. I’d overlooked ClimbPro as a feature for cyclists, but it turns out it’s valuable for hikers and trail runners too.

This function alerts you to an upcoming climb and tells you the distance and percentage grade so you can prepare mentally or physically. Once you start ascending (or descending), you can see how long you have left by looking at the handy colour-coded profile.

This feature only works when you’re following a pre-planned route, but it’s worth enabling it in your watch's Activities settings. Set it to When Navigating, and when you’re on a slope, you'll know if you need to whip out your trekking poles, adjust your pace, and manage your effort to stay motivated.

Use Garmin Share when you’re out with friends

It can be lovely to meet a friend who's planned an adventure and let them do all the planning and guiding, but for safety reasons, it’s a good idea for everyone to have the route available.

You can carry a map, of course, but if you’re both wearing a Garmin watch, sharing the route takes seconds and means you can pull it up if you get separated or your friend needs help.

With Garmin Share, you can send your course to anyone else wearing a Garmin watch. Press the Menu button, then scroll down to Garmin Share.

Here, you can either receive a file or select one to share with others. This clever tool is great for running and hiking clubs, and it lets me use other functions like ClimbPro and rerouting even when I’m following someone else.

And use LiveTrack when you’re solo

More often than not, I hit the trails solo, and I can be away for several days at a time. Until I got my Garmin InReach Mini 2, I relied on texting my loved ones each night when I arrived at my destination, but if things went wrong, that would have added hours between needing help and receiving it.

If investing in a satellite communications device isn’t right for you, most Garmin watches have a safety feature, LiveTrack, which you can activate in the Garmin Connect app on your mobile device or from your desktop.

This feature sends your (pre-selected) loved ones a unique link to track your real-time location, so in theory, someone always knows where you are. However, it relies on having your phone with you and it being in service, so it’s not a catch-all.

For those who really want to go off-grid, the Fenix 8 Pro is Garmin’s first watch with built-in satellite technology, and it might be worth the hefty investment for that feature alone.

Casio has taken one of the most recognisable digital watch designs on the planet and given it a surprisingly useful upgrade.

The new Casio F-B100W takes clear inspiration from the legendary F-91W, but adds Bluetooth connectivity and activity tracking, creating something that sits somewhere between a traditional digital watch and a basic fitness tracker.

It launched in Japan earlier this month for ¥8,800, where the initial allocation quickly sold out, and Casio has now listed the F-B100W in the UK as a new August 2026 model.

That makes it considerably more expensive than the standard F-91W, which you can still pick up for around £20, but you get much more functionality for the money.

Old-school outside, smarter inside

The biggest addition is a built-in accelerometer that automatically counts your steps throughout the day.

Your total appears directly on the LCD, alongside a small graph showing progress towards a daily target.

You can set targets between 1,000 and 50,000 steps, and a step reminder can nudge you if you've been inactive for too long.

Bluetooth also lets the watch connect to the Casio Watches app, where you can log activity data and adjust settings.

Smartphone connectivity enables automatic time correction, access to world time settings and a phone-finder function.

It also offers some useful sports features. The stopwatch supports lap and split times and can store up to 200 records, alongside a timer and five daily alarms.

It's certainly not trying to compete with a Garmin, Apple Watch or Fitbit.

There's no heart-rate sensor or GPS, but you do get basic movement tracking without another bright touchscreen strapped to your wrist or a device that needs charging every few days.

Despite the added hardware, the F-B100W remains just 8.8mm thick and weighs 26g.

Casio has even retained the F-91W's familiar strap design on the outside, while adding ventilation slits underneath for comfort.

Battery life is rated at approximately two years from a replaceable CR2016 battery.

That's a considerable drop from the roughly seven years offered by a standard F-91W, but two years without charging still makes most smartwatches look rather high-maintenance.

The Casio F-B100W is listed on Casio's UK website now, with availability expected soon. The black and green versions are expected to cost £55.

[via HiConsumption]

Among Google's mass of new Pixel mobile products revealed today, 12 August 2026, there's also an upgrade to its wearables.

The all-new Google Pixel Watch 5 is the key new reveal, which will bring blood pressure and insulin resistance reports as part of its health suite.

However, the Fitbit Air will gain the very same upgrade from next month, so from September owners of the fitness tracker will also benefit.

As part of Google's Health Guardian expansion, blood pressure monitoring will create reports based on data models to assess your readings – and identify potential vascular issues worth investigating.

The insulin resistance report works in the same way, using data models to assess your readings to determine recognisable signs of prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, or other issues to be further investigated by a health professional.

Pixel Watch 5

But let's focus on the Pixel Watch 5's other features – as this newly announced smartwatch is now even more proactive with your health, brings more advanced GPS, and a new Workout Builder.

Google is keenly promoting its Gemini AI voice control system in all its new products, including the Pixel Watch 5, which can present proactive suggestions based on the context of what you're doing. It even offers offline Gemini.

The Pixel Watch 5's display maintains the same super-bright 3000 nit output as its Pixel Watch 4 predecessor, adding At a Glance cards into this software build, plus new Generative Watch Faces for a more personalised finish.

Route mapping in urban environments is said to be twice as accurate as before, too, as Google has utilised map topographies to include building reflections and other oddities to guide GPS to be as accurate as possible with your routing – something runners will no doubt appreciate.

The new Workout Builder is a first for this generation, too, bringing weight and rep tracking to the Pixel Watch, complete with rest timers, audio cues and ability to programme your workouts as relevant.

Sleep tracking has been improved, too, bringing the most comprehensive tracking and recovery details to date. Health Guardian also brings a new Breathing Emergency feature.

The Pixel Watch 5 will go on sale from 20 August, with a price from £369 in the UK, $399 in the USA, and AUS649 in Australia.

Garmin's entry-level running watches have always been sought after, which might explain why there is hardly ever a discount on them. All the more reason to get excited over this Forerunner 70 offer, which makes the wearable the cheapest it's ever been.

Shop all Garmin deals on Amazon

Amazon has dropped the Black model to £186.59, down from its £219.99 RRP. That’s a saving of £33.40, or 15%, and the lowest price we’ve seen for Garmin’s beginner-friendly running watch.

The Forerunner 70 sits at the accessible end of Garmin’s running line-up and is specifically designed for newer runners who want useful training and health data without stepping up to one of the brand’s increasingly expensive performance watches. Garmin itself describes it as an easy-to-use GPS running watch for tracking training and overall health. Garmin

The Forerunner 70 has a bright AMOLED touchscreen, wrapped in a lightweight 43mm case, while retaining Garmin’s familiar physical controls. Battery life stretches to up to 13 days, so it still comfortably outlasts most mainstream smartwatches between charges. Amazon

You also get 80+ sports apps, built-in GPS and HRV Status, plus Garmin’s usual collection of everyday health and fitness tools. Safety and tracking features are included as well, while its 5 ATM water resistance means you don’t need to baby it around water. Amazon

There are considerably more advanced Garmin watches available, but that’s arguably missing the point. The Forerunner 70 packages the features most runners actually need into a straightforward, modern-looking watch without bombarding beginners with the more specialised metrics found further up the range.

At £186.59, it makes even more sense, especially if you want to get into running with Garmin without spending £300 or more.

Garmin is preparing another free software update for the Fenix 8, with fixes targeting some particularly frustrating problems encountered during workouts and everyday use.

Beta Version 23.22 is now being distributed to watches enrolled in Garmin’s Public Beta programme.

Despite the lengthy changelog, this is primarily a reliability update and not one packed with new training or navigation features.

The most noteworthy change for runners is a fix for an issue that could cause pace and speed data to drop out, especially during interval training.

Losing real-time pace information is inconvenient on any run, but it is particularly disruptive during a structured session when each interval may have a specific speed or intensity target.

Garmin is also addressing a problem that could cause its flagship outdoor watch to reboot sporadically.

Other fixes target resets while viewing the Morning Report or receiving an audio spectator message, as well as a crash that could occur when incident detection was activated.

Tuning up

The update also includes several smaller quality-of-life improvements.

Garmin says it has fixed a volume slider that could bounce around and become unresponsive in the music controls, as well as an issue that prevented audio spectator messages from playing while music was paused.

Voice output should also work more reliably after receiving a spectator message, while silent mode should now be correctly honoured when Activity Focus Mode is enabled.

Morning and Evening Reports have been adjusted to time out properly rather than remaining on screen indefinitely.

The software introduces a prompt explaining that watch face selections made during Boat Mode will only appear after Boat Mode has been disabled.

Quatix 8 users should also regain the ability to change and customise watch face styles.

Version 23.22 applies to Garmin’s current family of premium outdoor watches, including the Fenix 8, Fenix 8 Pro, Fenix 8 Pro MicroLED, Enduro 3 and Quatix 8.

At the time of Garmin’s announcement, the beta had reached around 20% of eligible Public Beta participants.

Enrolled users can check manually by opening the watch’s main menu and heading to System, Software Update, and Check for Updates.

[via NotebookCheck, Garmin]

It shouldn’t be too long before we see iOS 27 arrive in its final form. The upcoming software update for iPhone is currently available as a public beta, but it is expected to land around the same time as the next iPhone models. With previous patterns taken into account, that should be sometime in the first half of next month.

A number of new features will arrive with iOS 27, including a Liquid Glass slider so you can increase or decrease the transparency. There will also be new EQ settings for AirPods and photo editing features.

Now another new feature has appeared on the latest beta (via 9to5Mac) – iOS 27 is bringing GymKit to iPhone and AirPods Pro 3.

How does GymKit work with iPhone?

GymKit was first introduced for Apple Watch back in 2017, enabling compatible gym equipment to connect and securely share data with Apple’s smartwatch with a tap.

The Apple Watch provides the heart rate data, while the equipment fills in the other trackable details – such as incline on a treadmill, for example.

With iOS 27, GymKit is expanding to iPhone and AirPods Pro 3. This means that while anyone with an Apple Watch will still likely continue to use that, if you forget your watch at home or your battery is dead, you can still track your training. Compatible gym equipment can use heart rate data from AirPods Pro 3 while relying on your iPhone as the workout computer.

Having tried it out on the beta version, 9to5Mac said that while the exercise ring didn’t update when working out without an Apple Watch, it caught up when the smartwatch was put back on after. The Fitness app also updated with the right data.

Without AirPods Pro 3, the iPhone disconnected from the GymKit machine as there was no heart rate source. Also, when the site tried to start GymKit from iPhone with an Apple Watch on, it was pointed back to the Workout app on Apple Watch.

However, the setup of using an iPhone to connect to a GymKit machine was reportedly simple, with a quick tap like Apple Watch requires. That was followed by the selection of Indoor Run or Indoor Walk when connecting to a treadmill.

Apple notes during setup: “After the workout, data is stored privately and securely on iPhone and removed from the equipment.”

Remember, you will need a GymKit-compatible machine at the gym, a supporting iPhone and Apple AirPods Pro 3 with the heart rate permission turned on in settings. You’ll also need to be running iOS 27, which for now, is beta only.

However, this is all very promising for those who don't have an Apple Watch or have left theirs at home.

Casio’s wonderfully strange Ring Watch could be evolving into a fully fledged wearable, complete with health sensors and smartphone notifications.

The new CRW-H001 builds on Casio’s miniature digital watches that went viral at launch and adds biometric tracking and Bluetooth connectivity.

The reported feature list includes everything you'd expect from a modern health tracker, including heart-rate, blood-oxygen and body-temperature monitoring, alongside sleep, recovery, step and calorie tracking.

Walking, running and cycling activities are also said to be supported.

Unlike most of the best smart rings, the CRW-H001 retains its tiny digital display, allowing you to check the time without opening a companion app.

It might be an obvious feature, perhaps, but one missing from rivals such as the Oura Ring 5 and Ultrahuman Ring Air.

A miniature vibration motor is said to deliver notifications for incoming calls, messages and alarms.

The ring is also said to come in only three sizes (9, 10 and 11).

The Casio smart ring we’ve been waiting for?

Casio’s existing Ring Watch has become a cult gadget by shrinking a functional digital watch down to finger size, but it offers none of the health features associated with a modern smart ring.

Adding activity tracking and notifications would turn that novelty into a far more useful everyday wearable, albeit one considerably less discreet than the usual screenless ring.

That said, the quirky look of the Ring Watch is what made it popular in the first place, so it would make no sense to remove it now.

There is, however, a reason to temper your excitement: Designboom's article says the model is "available exclusively in China."

However, Casio China only lists the existing CRW-001 Ring Watch, not the health-tracking model. For now, anyway.

If and when the CRW-H001 finally arrives, it might become one of the most interesting smart rings of the year.

A health tracker that also looks like a tiny 1980s Casio watch? Yes, please.

RingConn first announced its third-generation smart ring at CES 2026, but the ring is finally available to buy. There’s a special partnership running over the summer, too.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, as well as RingConn’s own fifth birthday, RingConn has partnered with Warner Bros Home Entertainment for a campaign based on being an “Everyday Hero”.

US customers who currently buy a RingConn Gen 3 will receive a Lord of the Rings-themed charging case pouch (you need to be one of the first 3,500 buyers). And if you don’t make it into those first few thousand, you’ll get a digital movie code to redeem any three films from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies.

What features does the RingConn Gen 3 offer?

In terms of the smart ring itself, its headline feature is vascular health tracking, coupled with smart vibration alerts, next-generation sensing and up to 14 days of battery life.

For vascular health tracking, you’ll see a sliding scale between Stable, Slight and Noticeable, determined by the ring monitoring nighttime patterns, daily habits, and manual inputs.

In terms of the vibration alerts, the RingConn Gen 3 directly vibrates on your finger to flag health alerts, sedentary reminders and low battery in a bid to reduce reliance on phone notifications.

With vibrations turned off, the battery life is claimed to be two weeks, which would be the latest Oura Ring 5, though with them turned on, you’re looking at between 10 and 12 days.

Elsewhere, the titanium ring offers sleep apnea pattern insights, women's cycle predictions and continuous tracking of SpO2, respiratory rate, skin temperature and stress, all without a subscription. It ships in five finishes, spans sizes 6 to 15, and comes with a new universal wireless charging case.

If you want to be in with a chance of getting one of those LOTR pouches though, you had better get a wriggle on. Prices start at $349 on the RingConn website.

Samsung Galaxy Watch users will soon be able to access Strava Routes on their wrist through Samsung Health, thanks to a significant expansion of the two companies’ partnership.

Strava will be pre-installed on new Galaxy Watches sold globally, beginning with the latest Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2.

Buyers of either smartwatch will also receive a 60-day trial of Strava’s subscription service, which unlocks a complete selection of premium training and route-planning features.

More importantly, Strava Routes will be integrated natively into Samsung Health later this year, giving you on-wrist access to routes created through Strava without relying solely on the separate Strava watch app.

Strava and Samsung haven’t fully explained how the integration will work, including whether routes will synchronise automatically or which older Galaxy Watch models, such as the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, will be supported.

However, the companies say the Samsung Health integration will begin rolling out globally to Galaxy Watch users in the coming months.

Finding a better way around

Strava Routes uses activity data from the company’s enormous user community to generate courses suited to different sports, distances and preferences.

Strava Premium subscribers can also create their own routes and download them for navigation in areas without a reliable data connection.

The feature could make Galaxy Watch more competitive with outdoor watches from brands such as Garmin, Suunto and Coros, where route creation, synchronisation and on-wrist navigation are already important parts of the experience.

Its arrival is particularly timely after Strava expanded its hiking tools in June.

The recent update introduced improved route planning, navigation and trail-discovery features, reflecting the company’s efforts to become more useful beyond running and cycling.

Samsung is also placing greater emphasis on personalised fitness services across its wearable ecosystem.

Alongside the Strava announcement, the company revealed that iFIT’s Tailor personal trainer will use sleep, heart-rate and recovery information recorded by Galaxy Watch to generate adaptive workouts through Samsung Health.

The two integrations arrive with the new Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2.

The Watch9 is Samsung’s everyday health-focused model, while the Ultra2 adds an 800mAh battery, trail-running metrics, hydration guidance and support for recreational diving.

Strava says the Routes integration is the first of several improvements planned for Samsung users, although it hasn’t revealed what will follow.

Strava Routes requires a paid subscription once the complimentary 60-day trial has ended.

Read more about the integration at Strava.

Samsung is adding an AI-powered personal trainer to Samsung Health that can turn data collected by a Galaxy Watch into personalised workouts and weekly training plans.

Created through a partnership with connected-fitness company iFIT, the new feature combines Samsung’s health and recovery insights with iFIT Tailor, the brand's AI fitness coach.

Tailor builds training plans around your goals, current fitness, workout history, available time and location.

According to the company, it can recommend anything from strength and HIIT sessions to cycling, yoga, Pilates and mindfulness, drawing on workouts created by iFIT’s team of 180 trainers.

The feature can also continually adjust its recommendations as you complete workouts, recover or change your routines.

Samsung says information already captured by Galaxy Watch, including sleep, heart rate and recovery data, will feed into its Fitness Index and help the coach decide what the user should do next.

That could make the partnership considerably more useful than a conventional library of follow-along workout videos.

A coach that travels with you

The feature can also account for where you are training and how much time you have available.

iFIT says Tailor can generate an appropriate workout for home, travelling or when you're heading out onto a trail.

Progress milestones, activity streaks and achievement recognition will of course be included to encourage consistency, while the plans will remain available through Samsung Health on compatible Galaxy devices.

Samsung and iFIT unveiled the expanded integration alongside the new Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2.

The Watch 9 is positioned as Samsung’s everyday health and fitness smartwatch, while the more rugged Ultra 2 introduces an 800mAh battery, specialised trail-running metrics, hydration guidance and support for recreational diving.

There are, however, two catches. iFIT Personal Trainer will require a paid iFIT membership and is not included as a free Samsung Health feature, although monthly and annual subscriptions will be available directly through the app.

The initial rollout will also be limited to India, South Korea and the US later this year.

Samsung and iFIT say other markets covered by their partnership will receive the feature during 2027, meaning Galaxy Watch owners in the UK will have to wait a little longer to try it.

For more information, visit iFIT.

Ultrahuman has pushed what it calls its "biggest platform update ever" – which includes a number of new features and a redesigned app for owners of its smart rings.

Available from today, 23 July, the update introduces the "UltraSphere" a new centrepiece for the app and decision engine that helps you make fitness choices without needing to plough through your own data first.

It will generate options for you as "Next Best Actions", which you can then choose to enact. These will be based on the numerous readings from an Ultrahuman ring, including sleep, recovery, HRV, skin temperature and more.

Actions will also take into account your location and even the weather outside. So you might be advised to "get light" – ie. step outside for a few minutes – or "cut caffeine" in order to get better sleep.

Ultrahuman claims this is a more intuitive way to interact with its app, rather than having to wade through your own data and make your own plans. That's possible still, of course, but the 60-plus suggestions might cut down time and effort.

What else is added with the Ultrahuman Emerald platform update?

The update also brings a "fundamental change" to the way your Ultrahuman ring works. All processing is performed on the ring itself, so insights and Next Best Actions will be available to you when offline – such as on a plane.

There is also better workout tracking for both the Ultrahuman Ring Pro and Ring Air. It is now more accurate so should better detect your workout automatically. There are are new heart rate algorithms too.

Finally, the brand's VO₂ Max fitness marker has also been improved. The algorithm now takes into account a study by Ultrahuman of over 100 athletes.

There are a wide array of other tweaks and user experience improvements that will be found right across the updated app, but those are the headline additions and improvements.

The Emerald update is free to all Ultrahuman users.

With the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, Samsung is putting forward a compelling reason for tech companies not to rush a new version of their gadgets every year.

If the brand’s new smartwatch is anything to go by, skipping a year does mean the next iteration of the wearable can be significantly different, so much so that it might even entice people who own the previous version.

So what’s the fuss about? The new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 received some big updates, including a thinner case, lighter strap, and larger battery, and it also has a much brighter screen than before – in fact, it’s probably the brightest of all smartwatch displays out there. The watch now uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite processor for buttery-smooth performance.

Features have also been upgraded. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 can do turn-by-turn navigation like Garmin watches, track elevation, and provide hydration guidance based on estimated sweat loss. Plus, it now has dedicated diving support, courtesy of Mares. Best of all, the watch still looks pretty cool and performs even better.

Best smartwatch of 2026? Well, it’s not all sunshine and lollipops, but Samsung is certainly trying to better its hardware and software. Should you upgrade if you have an older Samsung watch, and is it worth jumping ecosystems if you have – let’s say – an Apple Watch Ultra 3? Let’s find out.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 review

Price and availability

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 was announced on 22 July 2026, the same day pre-orders for the watch opened. The wearables will go on sale on 7 August for the recommended price of £649. EU, US and AU prices and availability TBC. The watch comes in two colours, Titanium Silver and Titanium Grey.

For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra retailed for £599/ $649.99/ AU$1,299 at launch, but can now be bought for as little as £400. The Apple Watch Ultra 3’s recommended retail price is $799 / £749 / AU$1,399 / €899, a fair amount higher than the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2.

The 44 mm version of the also brand new Galaxy Watch 9, which comes in either Graphite or Silver colour, sells for £349, while the smaller 40 mm version (colour options: Graphite and Cream) retails for £319.

Design and build quality

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 follows the original Ultra’s blueprint, retaining Samsung’s distinctive “cushion” design, which I like quite a lot. This combines an angular, rounded-square titanium case with a conventional circular display, allowing the screen to look like a traditional watch face while also giving the wearable a unique look.

Case

The 47 mm titanium case is said to be 12% thinner than before, despite the much larger 800mAh battery it houses. For context, the original Galaxy Watch Ultra measured 47.4 x 47.1 x 12.1mm and weighed 60.5g without its strap.

My Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 sample registered 61g on the scales, suggesting Samsung has reduced thickness without making the watch body itself significantly lighter.

I should add that my kitchen scales can’t measure 0.5 grams, so it’s entirely possible that the new watch is exactly the same weight.

(For the record, Samsung didn’t provide a spec sheet or feature list for the review. I will update it once I get hold of them.)

Strap

The new strap makes a more noticeable difference: it weighs 24g on my scales and is claimed to be 25% lighter than its predecessor. The material also feels genuinely softer and more pliable, helping the large watch sit more comfortably against the wrist.

Numerous perforations provide ample adjustment and should improve airflow during exercise, while Samsung’s Dynamic Lug System allows the strap sections to be released using buttons on the underside of the case.

Controls

The three-button layout is back, located at the right edge. It includes the circular Quick Button, distinguished by an orange surround, which provides immediate access to frequently used outdoor and exercise functions. The two flatter buttons above and below handle the usual Home and Back duties.

There is no mechanically rotating bezel, although the fixed bezel gives the display a useful degree of protection and supports Samsung’s touch-bezel navigation.

The numbered markings and orange index add to the watch’s technical, outdoorsy appearance. The bezel itself is touch-sensitive and can be used to navigate menus.

Display

The circular AMOLED display is protected by a sapphire crystal lens, but peak brightness has risen to a whopping 5,000 nits, which exceeds the original Ultra’s and the Apple Watch Ultra 3’s already impressive 3,000-nit maximum.

Other design details

Samsung positioned the original model as its toughest watch, equipping it with 10ATM and IP68 water resistance, MIL-STD-810H certification and an operating range of -20°C to 55°C.

The Ultra 2 is clearly cut from the same rugged cloth, although its final durability ratings will need to be confirmed once Samsung publishes the complete specification sheet.

Health tracking

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 carries over the extensive health toolkit of its predecessor, including continuous heart-rate monitoring, blood oxygen saturation, sleep and stress tracking, ECG readings, blood-pressure monitoring, and BIA-based body-composition analysis.

That is not necessarily a problem. Samsung Health is exceptionally polished, and both the phone app and watch interface present a considerable amount of information without becoming difficult to navigate. I particularly enjoyed the on-watch body-composition measurements, but sleep tracking was arguably the most impressive part of my testing.

Sleep tracking

I wore the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 alongside the Oura Ring 5, my current benchmark for consumer sleep tracking. Neither can be considered as accurate as a clinical sleep study, but comparing their results provides a useful indication of consistency.

The two devices produced remarkably similar results. The sleep window difference was only 7 minutes, and the total sleep time difference was only 10 minutes (over nearly 9 hours).

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 detected 32 minutes of awake time, while Oura reported 33 minutes. Deep sleep differed by only five minutes, with Samsung recording one hour and 17 minutes and Oura measuring one hour and 22 minutes.

REM and light sleep showed larger differences, but since sleep stages are all guesswork across wearables, it certainly isn’t a deal-breaker. Sleep latency was 17 minutes according to Samsung and 10 minutes according to Oura.

Both measured an average sleeping heart rate of 48 bpm, while average blood oxygen saturation differed by a single percentage point: 96% on the Galaxy Watch and 97% on the Oura Ring.

That degree of agreement is excellent for two consumer wearables using different form factors and algorithms. It does not prove that either device correctly identified every sleep stage, but it gives me confidence in the Galaxy Watch’s estimates.

Samsung also provides plenty of depth. Alongside sleep duration and stages, the app shows movement, overnight blood oxygen saturation, skin temperature deviation, average heart rate, and respiratory rate.

It offers bedtime guidance, seven-day trends and sleep-consistency analysis, although its presentation is more clinical and less interpretive than Oura’s. The Ring does a better job of connecting sleep to concepts such as efficiency, restfulness, sleep debt, body-clock alignment and readiness.

Snore detection is available, but it relies on the paired phone being positioned near the bed and connected to a charger. That makes it considerably less seamless than the watch’s other overnight measurements.

Body composition tracking

The on-watch body-composition feature uses bioelectrical impedance analysis to estimate skeletal muscle mass, fat mass, body water, body fat percentage, BMI, and basal metabolic rate. To take a reading, you enter your weight and place two fingers against the watch’s buttons while keeping your arms away from your torso.

I compared its results with my Withings Body Comp smart scales. The measurements were taken two days apart, so changes in hydration, food intake and other variables prevent this from being a controlled comparison. Nevertheless, the directly comparable results were impressively close.

The Galaxy Watch estimated my body fat at 17.5%, compared with 18.1% from the Withings scales. Samsung calculated 14.2kg of fat mass (vs 14.6kg on the Withings) with a recorded weight of 80.8kg. A difference of 0.6% is reassuringly small.

Muscle figures cannot be compared directly because Samsung reports skeletal muscle mass, whereas Withings reports it as a percentage. Both devices are also consumer BIA products – not clinical body-composition scanners – so individual readings should be treated as estimates.

Sound exposure tracking

Sound Exposure is one of the genuinely new health additions. It uses the watch’s microphone to estimate cumulative exposure to environmental noise and shows how much of the recommended daily allowance has been consumed.

Samsung Health divides the result into OK, Caution, and Unsafe categories. It also displays the average sound level, periods above 80dB, and exposure trends over the previous seven days.

On one day, the watch recorded an average of 77dB and a cumulative exposure of 101%, which it says was “unsafe”. This was caused by the window of my car being down for approx 4 hours while driving on the motorways – the wind clearly made quite a racket in the car.

Samsung stresses that the figures are estimates affected by device use and fit, and that they are intended for general wellness rather than professional hearing assessment.

Other health features

Elsewhere, the Ultra 2 records heart rate variability, respiratory rate, skin temperature deviation, blood oxygen levels, and other overnight signals to establish a personal Vitals baseline.

Samsung Health also provides Heart Health and Vascular Load scores, the latter of which compares overnight cardiovascular strain against the user’s baseline.

ECG, blood pressure, irregular heart rhythm notifications, sleep apnoea detection, stress monitoring, AGEs Index, and menstrual cycle predictions complete one of the most extensive health suites available on a smartwatch.

Health feature gripes

There are some familiar frustrations. As mentioned above, snore detection only works when the paired phone is positioned near the bed and connected to its charger. Certain regulated health functions also require a SIM card so Samsung Health Monitor can establish which country the device is being used in.

Samsung also talks extensively about AI, but its broader health ecosystem still lacks some tools found in other apps. Food logging from a photograph, for example, would make nutrition tracking much less of a hassle.

Also, while the software is polished, there is bloatware everywhere on the phone that’s required for all the watch functions to operate properly, which I could live without.

Fitness tracking

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 supports more than 100 exercise types, ranging from everyday walking and strength sessions to multisport events, open-water swimming and trail running. Outdoor tracking is backed by dual-frequency L1 and L5 GPS, with support for GPS, Galileo, Glonass and BeiDou satellite systems, plus onboard elevation and compass sensors.

Samsung says the new Snapdragon Wear Elite processor improves positioning accuracy and efficiency, particularly in challenging environments such as cities, forests and mountains. The watch also offers personalised heart-rate zones, VO₂ max estimates, cardio-load analysis and automatic exercise recognition.

It is a comprehensive package, although the depth of its training analysis remains closer to a premium general-purpose smartwatch than a dedicated Garmin or Coros sports watch.

Automatic exercise recognition

Automatic exercise recognition also works impressively well. The watch can detect walks and less conventional activities after approximately 10 minutes. (It even recorded half an hour of morning housework as exercise, estimating that I had burned around 200 calories.) Running detection is faster, taking roughly four minutes to recognise that a session has begun.

It’s worth noting that auto-logged outdoor workouts, such as walks, don’t trigger the GPS, so if you want to record your route, you’d best start the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 manually.

Samsung’s algorithms can nevertheless be demanding. Despite completing 16,000 steps on one particularly active day, the watch informed me that my cardio load was insufficient. General movement contributes to daily activity, but the system still expects vigorous exercise before awarding a favourable cardio-load score. Is the watch trying to kill me?

I appreciate that the WHO recommends daily moderate-to-vigorous exercise, but surely the algorithm could just determine that multiple walks and 10k+ steps a day are fine? Oh, well.

Trail running

The new trail-running profile records duration, distance, calories, speed, pace, elevation, gradient and heart rate. It covers the fundamentals, but it is not nearly as detailed as the trail-running tools found on comparable Garmin watches.

Samsung is positioning the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 as a serious adventure watch, yet its data and analysis still align more closely with those of a mainstream smartwatch.

Sweat-loss estimation is interesting, although “estimation” is the operative word. The figure is not generated in real time, either, and you have to run for at least 20 minutes and burn 90 calories before the watch produces a result.

Following a hot 45-minute trail run, it estimated that I had lost almost one litre of fluid and recommended drinking 1.5 litres to replenish it. That is potentially useful guidance, but it feels almost too hardcore for the relatively basic analysis surrounding it.

GPX and turn-by-turn navigation

I have not yet tested GPX imports or turn-by-turn navigation, although completed routes can be exported from Samsung Health as GPX files. It is also worth remembering that GPX route guidance and elevation information were already available on the original Galaxy Watch Ultra.

Diving

I was unable to test the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2’s new diving functionality, but it represents one of the watch’s most significant adventure-focused upgrades. Samsung says the dedicated diving app launches automatically when the watch enters the water and records real-time depth, dive duration and water temperature.

A separate app developed with diving-equipment specialist Mares is due later this year, adding more advanced guidance such as descent speed, recommended time at a given depth and safe-ascent information intended to reduce the risk of decompression sickness.

Battery life and charging

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 has an 800mAh battery, representing a substantial 35% capacity increase over the original Ultra’s 590mAh cell. In my testing, however, the larger battery did not produce an equally dramatic increase in real-world endurance.

Starting from 100%, the watch reached 11% after 57 hours and 10 minutes. This period included a 45-minute trail run, a 42-minute GPS-tracked walk, a manually tracked 20-minute circuit workout and almost two hours of automatically detected walking, housework and other activity.

Based on these results, I estimate a total battery life of approximately 64 hours, or just over two and a half days, with the always-on display enabled. That just about exceeds Samsung’s 60-hour claim for the original Galaxy Watch Ultra under the same display setting.

My testing also included more than three and a half hours of recorded activity, including two GPS workouts, making the result particularly encouraging. The improvement is nowhere near the 35% increase in battery capacity, but the Ultra 2 appears capable of lasting longer than its predecessor under demanding mixed use.

Charging

Charging performance is adequate rather than particularly fast. Starting at 12%, the watch reached 62% after 35 minutes and 100% after 70 minutes. It was initially estimated that the process would take 1 hour and 21 minutes, with an average charging input of around 5W.

More testing is required to see how the watch fares without the always-on screen, and without GPS workouts logged during the discharge period. Also, Samsung hasn’t provided me with specifications, so I don’t know how my results compare with the official numbers.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is a superb flagship smartwatch and a meaningful hardware upgrade over its predecessor.

Its dazzling 5,000-nit display, smoother performance, more comfortable strap and larger battery all improve the everyday experience, while sleep and body-composition tracking performed impressively against my Oura Ring 5 and Withings scales.

Samsung Health remains one of the most comprehensive and polished wearable platforms available. New additions such as Sound Exposure, trail running and automatic diving support broaden its appeal, although its training analysis and navigation tools still lack the depth offered by comparable Garmin and Coros watches.

The £649 price is also hard to ignore, especially since the original Galaxy Watch Ultra can now be found for considerably less. If you have one and it’s still functional, you might not need to rush the upgrade unless the brighter display, improved battery life, or diving features are especially appealing.

For anyone with an older Galaxy Watch who wants Samsung’s best wearable, however, the Ultra 2 is the obvious choice. It is not quite the ultimate outdoor watch Samsung wants it to be, but it may be the most complete Android smartwatch of its generation.

After months of leaks and speculation, Garmin has officially unveiled the Cirqa Smart Band, its first screen-free fitness and health tracker.

The new wearable combines Garmin’s familiar health, sleep and training tools with a low-profile fabric band designed to be worn around the clock.

There is no display, with all recorded data presented through the Garmin Connect app.

It is an increasingly popular formula already used by the Whoop MG, Polar Loop and Amazfit Helio Strap, but unlike some of its rivals, Garmin has opted for a non-subscription model.

(I should add that it's an increasingly unusual model even from Garmin not to attach at least some ongoing cost to its wearable.)

Familiar intelligence

Despite its relatively discreet appearance, Cirqa supports many of the advanced metrics usually associated with Garmin watches.

It continuously monitors heart rate, stress, Body Battery, Pulse Ox and skin temperature, while its sleep tools cover sleep stages, naps, respiration, HRV and personalised guidance on how much rest you need.

Training readiness, training status, VO2 max, workout benefit and recovery time are also included, making Cirqa much more than a basic fitness tracker.

More than 80 activity profiles are available on the band, and you can start your favourite activity by using the single button on the side.

Garmin says the Cirqa band can also automatically detect and classify various activities without any input.

The brand also added that the Cirqa will learn from the activities you confirm or correct inside Garmin Connect, allowing its automatic classification to become more accurate over time.

Made for the Garmin ecosystem

There is no built-in GPS, although Cirqa can use a connected phone to map outdoor runs, walks and rides.

LiveTrack location sharing is supported through the Garmin Connect app, too.

Cyclists can pair the band with a compatible Garmin Edge computer to display live heart-rate data during a ride.

Garmin will also sell a separate armband, providing an alternative fit beneath a cycling jersey or during sleep.

Perhaps most importantly for existing Garmin users, health and training data can be synchronised across devices.

That means you could wear a Garmin watch for workouts and navigation before switching to the less conspicuous Cirqa for sleep or everyday tracking.

The band costs £180 / $200 / €200 / AU$300, comes in two strap sizes and promises up to 10 days of battery life.

The Cirqa is hardly inexpensive, especially when several screen-free rivals are now available.

However, access to Garmin’s extensive training ecosystem without a mandatory monthly or annual fee could make it one of the strongest Whoop alternatives yet.

It will be available directly from Garmin UK, Garmin US, Garmin EU and Garmin AU from 24 July in seven colours, including Citron Grey, Mauve, French Grey, Dark Olive, Captain Blue, French Blue and Black.

Most outdoor watch manufacturers are currently competing to offer brighter AMOLED displays, more detailed maps and increasingly sophisticated health insights.

Even though the brand has launched several modern smartwatches, including the Suunto Race 2 and Suunto Run, Suunto’s latest release takes a decidedly different approach.

The Core 2 is an old-school outdoor watch built around a monochrome LED display, physical buttons and a replaceable coin-cell battery.

There is no GPS, heart-rate sensor, or app-packed smartwatch interface, but it can run continuously for up to 15 months without needing a charge.

It is the successor to the original Suunto Core, launched in 2007 and subsequently adopted by hikers, outdoor professionals and tactical users.

The new model preserves its predecessor’s chunky tool-watch aesthetic while introducing several practical hardware upgrades.

Its essential outdoor functions come from an updated altimeter, barometer and compass (ABC) sensor suite.

The watch can track altitude, ascent and descent, monitor atmospheric pressure and provide offline directional guidance using a magnetic compass with bearing lock.

Suunto has also added automatic pressure filtering, designed to reduce false storm warnings, along with an alarm that alerts the wearer to a rapid drop in barometric pressure.

Back to (outdoor) basics

The 1.3-inch dot-matrix LED display is said to be 40% brighter than the original Core's and is now protected by Corning Gorilla Glass.

You can switch between red and green backlighting, while a raise-to-wake function illuminates the screen without requiring a button press.

Water resistance has risen substantially from 3 ATM to 10 ATM, meaning the Core 2 is rated to withstand pressure equivalent to a depth of 100 metres.

Its reinforced composite case measures 49mm across and 14.8mm thick, while the watch weighs 56.5g before the 22mm silicone strap is added.

Other functions include sunrise and sunset times, moon phase information, cumulative elevation, daily step tracking, dual time zones, a stopwatch, a countdown timer, and alarms.

Bluetooth connectivity is included, although its role is deliberately limited.

Pairing the watch with the Suunto app enables automatic time synchronisation, step data transfers, and over-the-air firmware updates.

The Suunto Core 2 will be available globally from 21 July 2026, followed by a US launch on 20 August.

It is priced at $199 in the US, €199 in Europe and $155 in the UK, with AU pricing yet to be confirmed.

Head over to Suunto for more information.

Fitness trackers have come a long way, but they're all limited by one simple problem: they only measure what they can reach. Whether it's a smartwatch or a chest strap, sensors can shift during exercise, lose contact with your skin and struggle to collect consistently accurate readings. Researchers at Penn State think they have a much better solution – one you paint directly onto your body.

The team has developed a conductive ink that works like face paint, allowing custom electronic tattoos to be applied almost anywhere on the skin. Once dry, the paint forms highly sensitive electrodes capable of monitoring the electrical activity produced by your heart, muscles and brain, all while being more breathable and comfortable than traditional adhesive sensor pads.

Unlike conventional medical electrodes, the paint can be mixed with different pigments to create colourful designs, making the technology feel more like wearable art than medical equipment.

The researchers also say the material bonds closely with the skin, helping it maintain accurate readings even during movement and perspiration – exactly where today's wearables often struggle.

That opens up some fascinating possibilities. For fitness enthusiasts, these temporary tattoos could provide more accurate ECG heart monitoring or detailed muscle activity tracking during training. They could also help athletes fine-tune performance without having to wear multiple straps, patches or bulky sensors.

The medical applications are even more exciting. The same paint-on electrodes can capture EEG brain signals, EMG muscle activity and detailed ECG readings that could help doctors identify irregular heart rhythms or even detect the warning signs of a heart attack earlier than consumer wearables can today.

The researchers also believe the technology could improve the control of robotic prosthetic limbs by reading muscle signals more precisely.

Plus, the tattoos aren't permanent. They can be washed away and reapplied whenever needed, making them far less intimidating than implanted devices while remaining far more versatile than today's disposable electrode patches.

There's no word yet on when – or if – this technology will make its way into consumer products. But as fitness trackers continue to evolve beyond the wrist, a colourful electronic tattoo that looks more like body art than medical equipment suddenly doesn't seem so far-fetched.

Garmin has released another beta software update for its newest running watches, continuing the rapid pace of improvements following the launch of the Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970.

The previous Beta 18.12 release introduced features such as "OK, Garmin" voice activation and several new software additions.

The new Beta 18.14 version is almost entirely focused on bug fixes and overall stability.

There are 18 changes in total, including fixes for several music playback quirks.

Garmin has addressed issues that could cause music to continue playing over spectator messages, an unexpected increase in volume after an alarm, incorrect playback information, or a brief switch to the watch's speaker after Bluetooth headphones disconnect.

The company has also changed the default behaviour so button tones are automatically disabled when fitness headphones are connected.

The update also improves Garmin Coach reliability by eliminating a bug that could cause the training days displayed on the watch to differ from those in a Garmin Coach plan.

Another resolves problems when selecting rest days for Garmin Coach and Daily Suggested Workouts.

Garmin says it has also fixed crashes that could occur during Indoor Climb activities, as well as resets that could occur when saving Indoor Rowing workouts.

There are additional fixes for alarm behaviour, touch controls during water sports, headphone volume, Touch Lock false unlocks and a handful of translation updates.

It's not the most exciting update of the year, but it's another sign that the company is keen on refining its wearables years after their release (well, in this case, a year).

For anyone using Garmin Coach, training indoors or listening to music directly from the watch, Beta 18.14 should make the overall experience noticeably smoother.

Public Beta Version 18.14 is now rolling out to members of Garmin's Beta Program, although the company says only around 20% of eligible users will receive it initially as part of a phased deployment.

If you're enrolled in the programme, you can also trigger the download manually by heading to Settings > System > Software Update > Check For Updates.

[via NotebookCheck, Garmin Forums]

There are numerous Garmin watches in circulation at this point, but one of the strangest ones I've tried is certainly the Instinct Crossover Solar, which adds a pair of luminous hands to the digital display that are fully visible in the dark and move around when you interact with the display.

Shop all deals in Garmin's clearance sale

Back in the day, when I reviewed it, I wasn't sure why we needed such a smartwatch, but since then I've come to appreciate the wearable's quirkiness. It is a unique watch with a long battery life and access to Garmin's outdoor features and ecosystem – and now it's a whole lot cheaper than when it came out!

Interestingly, the deal is at Garmin, of all places, and not just that, but it undercuts even Amazon, which is pretty much unheard of. The Instinct Crossover Solar is currently listed as £340.85 at the online retail giant, which, according to my elementary maths skills, is a gazillion pounds more than £230.

As for the tech, thanks to Garmin's RevoDrive technology, the luminescent hands automatically recalibrate after impacts and move out of the way whenever you interact with the display.

It's built to MIL-STD-810 standards for thermal and shock resistance, offers 10 ATM water resistance, and uses a sunlight-readable monochrome MIP display with Power Glass solar charging. Under ideal conditions, battery life stretches to up to 70 days in smartwatch mode, with virtually unlimited runtime in Battery Saver mode.

Despite its retro styling, the watch packs Garmin's full suite of outdoor and fitness tools, including multi-GNSS positioning, an altimeter, barometer and compass, plus heart rate, Pulse Ox, sleep tracking, Body Battery, stress monitoring and VO2 Max.

There are built-in profiles for running, hiking, cycling, swimming, strength training and more, alongside Garmin Pay, smartphone notifications, TracBack navigation and Training Status.

Summer's here, which is when most people, myself included, realise just how unfit they've become over the past year. Part of the reason we can't stay on top of our collective fitness regimens is a lack of accountability. However, there is an easy fix for that: just get a fitness tracker.

Modern activity trackers can track everything from steps and heart rate to sleep and stress, all without feeling imposing on your wrist. Better still, one of the best models, Fitbit's Charge 6, is currently the cheapest it's ever been, meaning that you'll be able to start tracking your fitness transformation for less.

The Fitbit Charge 6 might not be the newest fitness tracker on the market, but it's still one of the easiest recommendations for anyone who wants powerful health and fitness tracking without committing to a full smartwatch.

It packs Google's ecosystem into a slim, lightweight design, with Google Maps for turn-by-turn directions, Google Wallet for contactless payments and YouTube Music controls all available from your wrist.

It also supports more than 40 exercise modes and can connect to compatible gym equipment via Bluetooth to display heart rate in real time. Battery life is another highlight, lasting up to seven days on a single charge, while built-in GPS means you can accurately track outdoor runs, rides and walks without taking your phone.

Sleep tracking, stress monitoring, ECG support and Fitbit's Daily Readiness Score round out a comprehensive wellness package.