This week the folks at Fossil revealed a new set of smartwatches aimed at simplicity, beauty, and functionality. It would appear that at this point in the history of the smartwatch, Fossil's realized that their best bet at taking on the titan that is Apple and its Apple Watch is making a solid, reliable experience that doesn't break the bank. With that in mind, they've revealed the Fossil Gen 5 LTE smartwatch.
The Neo is a smartwatch made in a collaboration between Disney and Vodafone. This watch utilizes technology developed or licensed by Vodafone with characters, sounds, and imagery from Disney. The Neo is called "the smart kids watch" by Vodafone, and is "designed & connected by Vodafone, featuring Disney." One of the "sidekick" characters featured with the device is Grogu, AKA The Mandalorian character previously known as "The Child" (unofficially nicknamed Baby Yoda!)
Garmin made a smartwatch specifically for gamers called Instinct Esports Edition. As the name implies, this is a version of a watch that's already been released, this time made instead with gamers in mind, instead of a primary focus on outdoor sports. This new watch will be sold in stores in time for the holiday season 2020 - you might even see them available for sale later today!
The Polar Vantage V2 was revealed with a "stunning lightweight premium design" right out the gate. This device has advance performance testing and splits its focus between training, recovery, and "life." This smartwatch works with the full suite of Polar service as well as your average everyday smartwatch features.
Today the folks at Mobvoi revealed the first Wear OS watch to utilize the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor platform. The device is called TicWatch Pro 3, and it rolls with a surprisingly robust set of features for its price. This smartwatch works with fitness tracking, health monitoring, "duel-display 2.0" tech, NFC with Google Pay, and a quoted "up to 72 hours use in Smart Mode" battery life.
There's a new subscription service from Apple called Apple Fitness+ that's centered on the Apple Watch. This service utilizes the sensors and the display powers of the Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV to deliver an all-encompassing health and fitness service. It'll be available soon in the USA, UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, and Australia.
The Apple Watch SE was revealed by Apple today as a low-cost alternative to the main series wearable. This device works with the same look and feel of the full-powered Apple Watch. It has the same display as the main Apple Watch Series 6, and it works with standard Apple Watch straps - so what's the drawback?
Today Fitbit was announced to gain FDA clearance for their new ECG app. Fitbit also received a CE mark in the European Union for their ECG app. This app will work with the Fitbit Sense, a wrist-bound smart fitness device that looks a lot like a watch but provides fitness tracking and health features aplenty.
The most interesting smartwatch revealed this year has to be the Huawei Watch Fit. This device comes in several different colors, has a rectangular face, and works with its own unique operating system. This is easily the most sleek looking smartwatch we've yet seen with this sort of... stretched look to it - with 1.64-inches of AMOLED goodness therein.
Apple may toss a wrench into expectations for their next big event. Where before this week it was expected that Apple would soon reveal the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, rumors today suggest that we'll see an iPad and an Apple Watch instead. Could this be a major upset for iPhone fans looking to upgrade to a new model this Fall, or is this just a sign that Apple's switching up their game just a little bit?
Remember the Pebble smartwatch? Despite being officially discontinued and several years old at this point, there are still some diehard fans out there keeping the hardware alive, and a team called Rebble Alliance plays an important part in this. Whereas the web services for Pebble watches used to come from Pebble Technology Corp., they now come (unofficially) from Rebble, which has announced a new initiative called Rebble Grants.
The next Apple Watch is in focus in today's next batch of leaked product info. From Taiwan we've got a leak about Apple Watch 6, s watch that'll reportedly come with a new blood oxygen monitoring sensor. This Apple Watch Series 6 release will be released with a big health focus, with a number of other sensors and smart monitoring features onboard.