smartwatches

A collection of cheap imitations of the original Apple Watch are currently posing on Amazon as a perfect alternative to the far more expensive alternative. Brands like YAMAY, Willful, Letsfit, SKYGRAND, and ANBES make little effort to hide the fact that they're not only using lookalike UI - in some cases, they're literally selling the same devices under different brand names. Scratch that - in quite a few cases... in a CONCERNING number of cases, companies appear to be selling the same product with different brand names for different prices.

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Chinese brands have had the reputation of being copycats. Chinese phone makers have indeed been guilty of that for a time but, for the past years, they have been working hard to change their public image but, last October, Xiaomi single-handedly undid much of that. It's hard not to see the Mi Watch as a ripoff of the Apple Watch except for the fact that it didn't work with iPhones, ironic as that may sound. As of December 3 in China, however, that sweet irony no longer stands as the Mi Watch will now behave a bit like the original, at least as far as iPhone pairing goes.

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Huawei recently announced a Google-less MatePad Pro tablet and two new MateBook D laptops against a backdrop of uncertainty and doubt about its future. Not even 24 hours later, its subsidiary Honor is doing the same, launching admittedly impressive new products that may already be unfairly judged because of their association with the Chinese giant. In the past, Honor seemed to be trying to push an image of an independent yet related brand from Huawei, proving that it could actually carry its parent company on its back. This time, the ties that bind that two are clearer than ever, perhaps unintentionally showing Honor's solidarity with Huawei.

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With the Galaxy Watch Active 2 now out on shelves, Samsung has decided to bring some of its functionality to older models. Samsung announced today that it's bringing a number of UX features from the Galaxy Watch Active 2 over to the original Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Watch Active. These UX features will be packed into a software update that's launching today on a region-by-region basis.

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Fitbit was one of the remaining bastions of the independent wearable market. Emphasis on "was" after it was acquired by Google (pending regulatory approval) which puts its future in question. There have been very few concrete statements, let alone actions, that would assure Fitbit users that things will go either way, which is what makes this rather unexpected update to Fitbit OS feel a bit ominous.

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Apple is dominating the smartwatch business and Google is finally feeling the FOMO. With Apple Watch devices capturing almost 46% of the market in Q2, Google with its WearOS smartwatch software, knew it had to respond. On November 1, Google paid $2.1 billion to acquire fitness-tracker brand Fitbit. They current sit second in the wearable band market, at 24%.

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Throughout the years, Fossil has attempted to stand out in a sea of other watches through its hybrid lines - devices that look like conventional watches but have the feature sets of smartwatches. Today, the company announced its new Hybrid HR smartwatches, which are comprised of two lines: Hybrid HR Collider, which is aimed at men, and Hybrid HR Charter, which is aimed at women.

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China-based smart device maker Xiaomi just released a "Xiaomi Mi Watch" that looks a whole lot like the Apple Watch. It has a very, very similar size and shape... and home screens (watch faces). See if you can tell which of these watches (at the head of this article) are from Xiaomi, and which are from Apple. There are some simple giveaways, but really - there's no getting around the idea that there's some MAJOR design inspiration going on here - to put it kindly.

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Today we're looking at Xiaomi's latest released clues about their next smartwatch, the Mi Watch. This is a watch that looks a WHOLE LOT like an Apple Watch - but sorta like if Apple decided to do an "SE" version of said device. Not that they'd ever do such a thing, but still - here's what Xiaomi's got. The Xiaomi Mi Watch will have a rounded-corner rectangular display and a digital crown on its right side for controlling its UI.

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The Huawei Watch GT 2 is a smartwatch that runs the company's own mobile operating system Lite OS. It does not run Google's Wear OS, and it's not exactly like what Samsung has with their smartwatches running Tizen. This watch looks a lot like most smartwatches released over the past several years, with a few watch faces built-in, a few sensors under its hood, and a decent display. But here's the kicker: It's got the battery life of your average tablet.

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Apple has released watchOS 6.1, adding support for the new AirPods Pro, and delivering some excellent news for the earliest-adopters of the smartwatch. Pushed out today, this new version brings watchOS 6 to Apple Watch Series 1 and Series 2 owners, an impressive feat given that now means almost all generations of the wearable are compatible with the latest software.

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Raise your hand if you thought the Moto 360 would make a comeback? One of the earliest Android Wear smartwatches, the Moto 360 carved out a place in many Android users' hearts with its circular display and near-analog styling. Now, it's being brought back from the crypt, but as with any resurrection there's some small print.

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