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TicWatch Pro is a smartwatch with 30 day battery life

NEWS – Powered by Google’s Wear OS, the TicWatch smartwatch is a premium quality watch that does something that other smartwatches can’t do. It can run for up 5 to 30 days on a single charge. Five days is considerably longer than the majority of smartwatches that are currently on the market. So how are they able to do that? The TicWatch Pro uses a special layered display:

enabling the user to switch between an FSTN (Film compensated Super Twisted Nematic) LCD display and an OLED display that sit on top of one another. The FSTN display (top layer) is a transparent LCD display chosen due to its low power consumption, high visibility in direct sunlight, and transparent quality when not turned on. This is important in order to ensure the OLED (bottom layer) display’s brightness and colors aren’t compromised when in use.

The TicWatch Pro has different two modes that switch between the two displays. In “Smart Mode”, the OLED display is active along with Wear OS by Google, and battery life is up to two full days of usage. In “Essential Mode”, only the FSTN display is in use to show the time, date, step counting, and heart rate monitoring. In this mode, battery life can last up to 30 days. When Smart Mode reaches low battery, the Essential Mode can be automatically activated so the watch can last for another three days before it needs to be recharged.

We’ll have a review soon, but you can read more about the TicWatch Pro and buy one now for $249.99 from Amazon.

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TicWatch Pro is a smartwatch with 30 day battery life originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 6, 2018 at 12:00 pm.

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The Misfit Path smartwatch will make you feel pretty

Let’s be honest, the vast majority of smartwatches are designed by and for men. I’m not saying all smartwatches have a bulky masculine style, but most do and it’s time to find a smartwatch that is smaller and more feminine. The Path Hybrid Smartwatch from Misfit looks like it fits that criteria.

Misfit is well known for their fitness and activity tracking wearables, and the Path Hybrid smartwatch won’t disappoint with its feature set. The watch includes fitness tracking features like steps walked, calories burned. sleep tracking, and movement alerts that will keep you from sitting too long.

The Path Hybrid is swim-proof and water resistant to 50 meters and is available in four color combinations including the rose gold and black stainless steel shown here. In addition to the fitness features, the watch also alerts you when you have an incoming call, text message, and app alerts. There’s even a button that you can program to play music, take a picture, and find your phone.

The Misfit Path watch will run for up to 6 months on a replaceable CR2025 battery, so you don’t have to worry about charging it each night like you have to do with other watches.

The watch is available now and is priced at $149.99. You can save an additional 25% off if you use the code PATH25 when you buy it from Misfit’s site. The discount code expires on 5/13/18.

The post The Misfit Path smartwatch will make you feel pretty appeared first on The Gadgeteer.

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The Misfit Path smartwatch will make you feel pretty originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 28, 2018 at 11:00 am.

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(Hopefully) the third time is the charm: Apple Watch Series 3 review

The title says it all… I’ve purchased both the Series 1 and Series 2 Apple Watches, taking them both back within Apple’s no-questions-asked return window. Each time going into the relationship starry-eyed and hopeful. But ultimately determining that I didn’t need Apple’s smartwatch or I missed my old school timepieces. Well, oops I’ve done it again, the Series 3 was calling my name and I finally gave in and pulled the trigger. For this write-up, I won’t be diving very deep into the specs (that’s all over the Net) but more into the experience as an old (emphasis on Old…) time watch guy who loves tech gear and fitness. 

I find that as I near 50, my workouts have become less frequent and not nearly as epic as back in the day. While I stay in decent shape, old age is winning. It is my hope that an Apple Watch will help stem the tide and enable me to raise the bar. Being an AR number cruncher, I find the real-time data a smartwatch gives me both nagging and motivating.

After getting over the hump of whether or not to buy a Series 3, the next question is which Apple Watch would satisfy me the most. As I said, I am a long time watch guy. While (a bit) unnecessary in today’s world of smartphones, I enjoy the feel/heft of a timepiece on my wrist. The aluminum and glass Apple Watch always felt a bit light to me, lacking the weight I have come to prefer. So, long story short, I decided to splurge and get the stainless steel black sport Apple Watch with sapphire glass screen. The stainless steel watch is only available with LTE, which I don’t know if I’d have chosen if given the choice. But overall, I walked away with little to no regrets, that deep down I know I would have if I had purchased the base model.

I have benched my classic timepieces and been using the Apple Watch for a few weeks. It really has motivated me to do more. In my hectic life, I find myself walking the stairs in my building more, hopping on the elliptical more often before settling down for dinner, and most importantly…finding the time/energy/motivation to run more.

Theoretically, any smartwatch could do this for you (or better yet sheer willpower) but our family lives in the Apple ecosystem and the Apple Watch only adds to the seamlessness of that world. The watch makes an excellent companion for all my Apple devices from my iPhone to my MacBooks. WatchOS 4.0 and built-in LTE has definitely improved the smartwatch experience making the latest Apple Watch as close to an iPhone on your wrist (or Dick Tracy) that you can get these days. There are several LTE enabled Android/Tisen watches on the market but they’re bulky and lack the refinement of the Apple Watch.

Well, long story short, I’m keeping the Apple Watch Series 3 for the following reasons: refinement, material/build quality, enhanced Apple ecosystem experience, and added motivation. I’m still up in the air about activating T-Mobile LTE on it but I’ll continue to ponder the usability and potential impact on battery life (which I currently find stellar, with 75% power remaining on a typical day and more than 50% on a running & streaming music day). Overall, I truly like the watch and have promised myself I won’t look back or wear my other watches till I lose 10 pounds and hopefully rekindle my workout mojo. Wish me luck 😉 …

Source: The sample for this review was purchased with my own funds. Please visit their apple.com for more info.

 

Product Information

Price: $649
Manufacturer: Apple
Pros:
  • Excellent material/build quality
  • Best smartwatch OS to date
  • Enhanced Apple ecosystem experience
  • Great motivational tool
  • Built-in LTE
Cons:
  • Expensive

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(Hopefully) the third time is the charm: Apple Watch Series 3 review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 29, 2017 at 10:23 am.

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Samsung’s Gear Sport smartwatch puts fitness first

It was just last week that Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 8, but that isn’t stopping them from launching some new products at IFA 2017. But instead of a phone, they have focused on launching several wearables at the show, and these wearables are all focused on fitness. The star of the line up is their new Gear Sport. The Gear Sport is smaller and sportier than their previous smartwatches, which are both aspects we wholeheartedly welcome.

The Gear Sport touts a battery life of up to 4 days and it’s available in a choice of blue or black in a 42.9 MM casing. Blue or black may not be very exciting choices, but Samsung is coming out with a variety of different color straps from leather to silicon to nylon, as well a hybrid band which is a rubber based product with leather on the top. There will also be lots of color based matching watch faces to choose from.

Beyond its actual looks, the Gear Sport is heavily focused on fitness with an emphasis on nutrition. To that effect, it helps you do things like figure out how much exercise you need to do for the day to burn off the right amount of calories to stay fit. These kinds of practical features go beyond telling you to just go to the gym, and it’s what makes the Gear Sport really stand out. To coincide with these features, the Gear Sport offers continuous heart rate monitoring, GPS, and it’s military grade certified. As a matter of fact, it’s durable enough to take swimming – even in salt water. Speaking of swimming, the Gear Sport can track your swim workouts. Samsung has partnered with Under Armor and Speedo to bring their fitness apps and functionality to the watch. A 12-month premium membership for Under Armor is also included with purchase.

But even though the Gear Sport is considered a sports watch – it’s also a jack of all trades. For starters, Samsung Pay is built in, allowing you to use the watch to make payments NFC terminals – even if the watch isn’t connected to the internet. Another nifty feature of the Gear Sport is that it lets you control Powerpoint presentations directly from your wrist (Windows 10 only). You can even use the watch face as a touchpad to rotate through a VR experience when using the Samsung Gear VR. Samsung has also partnered with Spotify to make the Samsung Gear Sport the first smartwatch to offer Spotify offline playback, which was a heavily requested feature for their Gear S3 smartwatch. The catch for us is that the Gear Sport is running the Tizen OS as opposed to Android Wear, but Samsung emphasized that to date there are currently thousands of apps and watch faces available for Tizen.

In addition to the Gear Sport announcement, Samsung announced an update to their IconX wireless earbuds which brings many improvements, including longer battery life, and the addition of a personal training coach. The Gear Fit2 Pro was also announced as an update to last year’s Fit2 model. The Gear Fit2 Pro tracks laps, distance under water, and now has continuous heart rate monitoring that can work under water.

Samsung’s Gear Sport and new IconX will be available sometime in the fall. The Gear Fit2 Pro will be available for preorder on August 31st and it will be available in store on September 15th for $199.

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Samsung’s Gear Sport smartwatch puts fitness first originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 30, 2017 at 12:00 pm.

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Turn your favorite analog watch into a smartwatch with Chronos

Have you always wanted to have smartwatch features but haven’t wanted to give up your favorite analog watch? Now you don’t have to trade your watch for an expensive new one when you add the Chronos smart disc to the back of your existing watch.

The Chronos smart disc pairs via Bluetooth with your smartphone to add basic smartwatch features to your old-school watch like:

  • Fitness Tracking
  • Music Control
  • Notification Alerts
  • Tap to Find Your Phone

The stainless steel disc uses micro-suction tech to stick to the back side of your watch so it sits between the back of the watch and your wrist. The disc has LEDs that flash different colors for notifications, and it can vibrate too.

Chronos has a built-in battery that lasts up to 2 days before it needs to be recharged using its included wireless charger.

The Chronos Smart Disc is available now for $99.95. You can read more about it at wearchronos.com and you can buy one from The Grommet.

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Turn your favorite analog watch into a smartwatch with Chronos originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 29, 2017 at 9:37 am.

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