HUAWEI WATCH D3 Debuts With Smarter BP Monitoring
HUAWEI WATCH D3 expands wrist-based blood pressure monitoring with exercise measurements, environmental reminders, and a lighter design.
Tag Archives: Smartwatches
Pixel Watch 5 arrives with incremental upgrades and Gemini Intelligence, but are you willing to pay more?
It’s that time of the year for Google to introduce its line-up of smartphones, smartwatches, and everything else that is destined for greatness. Samsung showed off last month what’s in their kitty, Apple’s going to reveal all the excitement next month, and bang in between is Pixel, right now. We already revealed our initial impressions of the Pixel 11 and the Pixel Tag, so now it’s the Pixel Watch 5 under the scanner.
The new wearable from the Google camp was making all the news in the weeks leading up to the final announcement, and most of those leaks have come true. Just like the Pixel Watch 4, the new wearable gets the same 360 domed Gorilla Glass 5 and more or less the same material composition from which the chassis is constructed. Last year’s Pixel Watch was good, and this one is an even better upgrade if you want to roll into the Google ecosystem.
Designer: Google
The watch designed for Gemini Intelligence gets a 320ppi AMOLED LTPO display supporting DCI-P3 color, but still has the same 3,000 nits brightness level as the predecessor. Under the hood, this wearable gets a clocked-up version of the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 (claimed to be 12 percent faster than last year’s offering) mated to an upgraded 3GB RAM (from 2GB last year) and 64GB storage, which again is an upgrade from the 32GB on the Watch 4. However, I was expecting the Snapdragon Wear Elite (based on the 3nm manufacturing process) to grace the smartwatch, just like on the new Galaxy watches. That said, it isn’t a deal breaker in any way.
Just like with all the newer gadget offerings, this one improves on the health tracking and claims to bring accurate sleep tracking for loyal users. Other reliable features include the loss of pulse detection (called the Breathing emergency detection) and skin temperature tracking. SpO2 monitoring and ECG tracking also come standard with both the models.
Improvement of life features include recovery recommendations based on heart rate and sleep metrics, custom strength routines, and the Google Health Coach with custom workouts. According to Google, the route tracking accuracy on the Pixel Watch 5 has improved by almost 100 percent. Do look out for the Blood Pressure Trends and non-invasive Insulin Resistance Trends, which could be a deal-maker if you are looking for exactly those kinds of features in a smartwatch.
Quite predictably, Google is offering the IP68 and 5ATM-rated Pixel Watch 5 in 41mm and 45mm sizes, in both Wi-Fi-only and LTE variants. The 41mm version gets a 332mAh battery pack while the 45mm variants have a beefier 465mAh battery on board. Both are slight bump-ups from last year’s version for a few hours more of juice. The 41mm version lasts for around 30 hours, and the 45mm version for 40 hours on one full recharge. According to Google, the Quick charge dock adds 15 hours of runtime with just 15 minutes of charge.
Google is offering the 41mm model in Matte Black, Polished Silver, and Champagne Gold colors, whereas the bigger 45mm variant will be available in just the Champagne Gold hue. The prices on both the Pixel Watch 5 models and their variants have gone up slightly. The 41mm version for the Wi-Fi model costs $399, and the LTE variant goes for $499. The bigger 45mm version is priced at $29 for the Wi-Fi model, and the LTE version costs $529.
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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Series and Watch9 Launch
Samsung launches three Galaxy Z foldables and two Galaxy Watches, offering new AI tools, upgraded cameras and deeper health tracking.
Motorola’s Patent Isn’t a Phone You Wear, It’s a Watch You Unfold
The idea of merging a smartwatch and a smartphone into a single device has been floating around the industry for years, mostly because the obvious inconvenience is right there: two screens on two separate devices, one tiny and worn on the wrist, the other large and kept in a pocket, each doing essentially half the job the other can’t. The logical question is whether one of those devices could do both jobs depending on the situation.
Motorola’s latest patent, officially registered as US12,693,705 under the title “Pivoting wearable reconfigurable screen,” proposes exactly that. The device starts on the wrist as a conventional smartwatch, its flexible display curved around the band. When more screen real estate is needed, the strap pivots and unfolds, flattening into a short, wide display format that functions as a handheld device. A third configuration folds the bottom quarter into an “L” shape, turning the unit into a self-standing desk display.
Designer: Motorola (via Burnplate, David Kowalski/xeaks7)
The mechanism that makes it possible is the strap itself. Rather than housing a traditional watch face with a fixed display, almost the entire outer surface of the band carries a flexible screen. Worn, it reads like a standard wearable. Removed and unfolded, that same surface becomes the display area of a compact, landscape-oriented device. The pivot point is what separates this from simply being a wrist-wrap phone like earlier concepts.
That distinction matters because Nubia tried the wrist-phone idea back in 2018 with the Alpha, and the result was a fascinating but limited object. The Alpha wrapped a 4.01-inch OLED display around the upper wrist, delivering more screen real estate than any smartwatch before it, but the display stayed wrapped. It curved beautifully, could make calls, take photos, and run apps, but it never transformed into anything. The watch was the watch, full stop.
Nubia Alpha
Motorola’s patent reverses the logic. Rather than making a phone you can wear, it proposes a watch you can unfold. The distinction isn’t purely semantic. A device that starts as a watch and transforms into a handheld is solving a different problem than one that starts as a phone and straps to your wrist. The first carries a reasonable identity in both states; the second always feels like a compromise in one of them.
Nubia Alpha
The Nubia Alpha’s sticking point wasn’t the display, which was genuinely impressive and ahead of its time. It was the software, the battery, and the form factor’s limits in practice. Nubia never took the concept further after the original and a 2020 follow-up. The flexible display remained horizontal and wrist-bound, never taking the step toward becoming a genuinely detachable, self-sufficient screen.
Whether Motorola’s patented concept eventually ships as a real device is a separate question entirely. Patents are filed routinely without becoming products, and this one would require flexible display technology durable enough to handle daily wrist bending and regular unfolding, a battery that fits within strap dimensions, and software that transitions cleanly between modes. None of those are trivial problems.
Still, the direction of thinking has clearly shifted since 2018. Nubia asked what happens when a smartphone lives on your wrist. Motorola is asking what happens when a watch becomes a screen the moment you need one.
The post Motorola’s Patent Isn’t a Phone You Wear, It’s a Watch You Unfold first appeared on Yanko Design.
Cosmo School-Fi Makes Kids Smartwatches School Ready
Cosmo introduces School-Fi, an intelligent geofencing system that automatically limits smartwatch distractions while keeping kids safely connected at school.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra2 vs Watch9 Compared
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra2 and Watch9 combine AI health tools with brighter displays, longer battery life, and designs for different users.
This $19 Module Solves the Hard Part of Building a Custom Smartwatch
The consumer smartwatch market has become a fairly predictable place. Most wristwear from major brands covers health monitoring, notifications, and a tightly controlled app ecosystem, with little room for deviation. Tinkerers and developers who want something outside that formula have traditionally had to cobble together components from different sources, which is more a test of patience than a creative process and rarely results in something worth wearing.
Elecrow’s CrowPanel Watch Display is a ready-made starting point for building something more personal. It’s an all-in-one development module built around the ESP32-S3 microcontroller, packaged as a wrist-sized board complete with a 2.01-inch touchscreen, a microphone, a rotary encoder, and expansion contacts. The idea is that most of the hardware problem is already solved, leaving you with the more interesting part: deciding what the device should actually do.
Designer: Elecrow
The IPS panel has a resolution of 240×296 pixels, capacitive touch, and a 178-degree viewing angle. Navigation doesn’t depend on touch alone. A rotary encoder functions like a traditional watch crown for scrolling and selection, and a dedicated side button rounds out the physical inputs. Both keep the interactions familiar to anyone who’s worn a watch before.
Under the hood, the ESP32-S3 runs a dual-core Xtensa LX7 processor clocked at up to 240MHz, with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5. That means the watch can pull weather data, push notifications from a paired phone, or interact with a smart home network from the wrist. The Wi-Fi capability also makes it a viable control panel for home automation, a secondary identity the hardware handles just as comfortably.
The built-in microphone and speaker add voice control to the mix, allowing spoken commands to trigger actions on the device or interact with connected services. That’s a feature most entry-level wearable modules skip entirely, and it opens up a range of hands-free interactions well beyond setting a timer. For anyone building a smart home companion for the wrist, that’s a significant difference in day-to-day usability.
A gyroscope handles motion sensing, and a vibration motor is on board for haptic feedback. The package doesn’t include a heart rate sensor or GPS, which rules out the health-tracking and location features that define most commercial smartwatches. A battery isn’t included, but the board provides the necessary contacts to connect one, giving builders control over form factor and battery capacity from the outset. For a DIY module at this price, that tradeoff is expected.
The module sells for $18.99 as a bare PCB, without an enclosure or strap. That part of the build is left entirely to the maker, which is the point. For engineers, hobbyists, or students who’ve wanted a genuinely custom wearable without sourcing a dozen individual components, it’s a reasonably priced foundation that does far more of the groundwork than most development boards at this size and cost.
The post This $19 Module Solves the Hard Part of Building a Custom Smartwatch first appeared on Yanko Design.
Honor Watch 6 Review: Great Endurance, Not Quite Perfect
PROS:
- Excellent battery life
- Great AMOLED display
- Unique soccer and badminton sports mode
CONS:
- Honor Health app lacks polish
- Twilight Brown leather strap feels stiff
With the Watch 6, Honor has given the series a complete visual reset. After the square-faced Watch 5, this new model arrives with a round case that feels more in step with the look of a traditional wristwatch. That redesign is backed by a fairly clear set of priorities. The Honor Watch 6 focuses on the things users are likely to notice first, such as a bright, attractive display and battery life that can stretch beyond a month.
After spending time with it, the Watch 6 comes across as a smartwatch built around practical strengths rather than bold innovation. The hardware makes a solid first impression, and the core experience is clearly aimed at people who want something dependable and easy to live with. At the same time, a few details, from the software experience to the quality of the leather strap, keep it from feeling quite as refined as it initially suggests.
Designer: Honor
Aesthetics
The Honor Watch 6 leans heavily into the visual language of a traditional wristwatch, and that gives it an immediate sense of familiarity. Its round face, sculpted lugs, and restrained detailing make it feel more like an everyday timepiece than a piece of sporty tech. That approach gives it some welcome versatility, allowing it to fit easily into casual or more polished settings.
At the same time, the design also feels a little too safe. There is nothing awkward or unattractive about the Watch 6, but there is also very little that feels surprising or distinctly memorable. It is clean, balanced, and easy to like, yet it stops short of making much of a visual statement.
Honor offers the Watch 6 in two versions. The Twilight Brown model I received pairs a silver-colored 316L stainless steel body with a brown leather strap, giving it the more classic look of the two. The Shadow Black version uses a black aluminum alloy body with a matching black fluoroelastomer strap, which feels more understated and fitness-oriented.
The leather strap on the Twilight Brown unit is where the aesthetic story loses some of its polish. From a distance, it looks fine and complements the silver-toned case well, but up close, it feels stiff and a little synthetic. Thankfully, it uses a 22mm quick-release system, so swapping it out for something better is easy.
Ergonomics
With its 46.5mm case and 10.8mm thickness, the Honor Watch 6 sits squarely within the familiar modern smartwatch zone in terms of size. It is large enough to feel substantial on the wrist and give the display room to shine, yet it never looks ridiculously bulky, even on my relatively small wrist. There is a definite presence here, but it is handled with enough restraint that the watch does not feel visually overwhelming in daily wear.
The Shadow Black version comes in at 41 grams, while the Twilight Brown model weighs 50 grams, both figures excluding the straps. That makes the Watch 6 relatively light for something this large, though not dramatically so. You are always aware that you are wearing a sizable device, but it does not become overly cumbersome during normal daily use.
The physical controls are straightforward and familiar. On the right side of the case, Honor places two buttons in a layout that will feel instantly recognizable to most smartwatch users. The top control is a rotating crown that lets you scroll through apps, while the lower button serves as a shortcut to the workout menu. The crown is responsive, and the haptic feedback is satisfyingly strong.
Gesture navigation is equally easy to grasp. Swiping down brings up the quick menu, swiping up reveals notifications, and swiping left or right cycles through panels. The touch experience is not completely foolproof. I noticed a few instances where a scroll gesture was interpreted as a tap instead, which led to accidental selections. It is a minor frustration, but it chips away at the sense of polish.
Performance
The Honor Watch 6’s display is easily one of the best parts of the entire experience. It uses a 1.4-inch AMOLED panel with a 464 x 464 resolution, and the result is exactly what you would hope for from a modern smartwatch screen. The bezel is not especially thin, but colors look rich, and text appears crisp, giving the display a bright, polished quality that stands out in everyday use. Brightness is another major advantage. With a peak brightness of 3000 nits, the display remains clearly visible even under bright sunlight, which makes a real difference during outdoor use.
The Watch 6 covers the broad health tracking essentials that most mainstream users actually want. It handles heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen monitoring, sleep tracking, step count, and general day-to-day wellness features in a way that feels accessible and easy to understand. Nothing here feels especially groundbreaking or deeply specialized, but that could also be part of the appeal. Honor has focused on delivering a practical set of features rather than overwhelming users with more data than they are likely to need.
The same can be said for the fitness experience. The Watch 6 does not try to present itself as a hyper-technical performance tool for elite athletes, but it does offer enough depth to keep active users engaged. The data is presented clearly, the core features are easy to access, and the overall experience feels designed for people who want useful feedback without having to decode a mountain of analytics.
There is also a healthy amount of variety for exercise tracking. The watch includes 122 sports modes, which should be more than enough for most people, whether they are casual walkers or more active users looking for something specific. If you are inspired by the World Cup, there is a professional soccer mode that adds a little more personality than the usual generic workout presets. During exercise, you can view step count and distance in real time, while post-workout data includes top sprint speed, average speed, and even a heat map.
Another unusual addition is the badminton mode, which goes beyond simple calorie tracking and actually tries to capture the rhythm of play. Here, you can check swing count, swing speed, shot power, forehand to backhand ratio, and stroke type. Features like these do not transform the Watch 6 into a specialist sports device, but they do make it feel more considered than a smartwatch that simply piles on empty exercise labels.
Other smart features include notifications, the ability to make and answer phone calls, and a remote shutter function. If the watch is connected to an Android phone, you can also control music playback. When paired with an Honor phone, it can be used as a voice recorder as well. Honor also says NFC support will roll out to available markets in July, which should add a little more convenience depending on where you live.
On the software side, the Watch 6 is functional but not especially refined. It works with both Android and iOS through the Honor Health app, which is good news for users who do not want to be locked into one ecosystem. Pairing and everyday syncing are straightforward enough, and the app gives you access to the usual health data, settings, and customization tools.
Still, the interface does not feel especially sophisticated. It gets the job done, but it lacks the polish and clarity found in the better smartwatch companion apps. Some of that lack of refinement shows up in the workout menu as well. Instead of grouping activities with the kind of color coding seen on many rival smartwatches, Honor presents them in a much plainer way. It gets the job done, but it makes the interface feel less intuitive and less thoughtfully designed.
That lack of refinement becomes especially noticeable when you start looking for watch faces. There are plenty of options available, which is great in theory, but the browsing experience could be much better. Instead of organizing faces in a way that helps users quickly narrow down what they want, too much of the selection feels thrown together. Compared to other smartwatch apps that sort faces into clearer styles or categories, Honor’s approach feels less curated and more cluttered. It is not a deal-breaker, but it does make personalization feel more cumbersome than it should.
Battery life, on the other hand, is impressive. The Watch 6 packs a 980mAh battery, and Honor claims it can last for up to 35 days. That figure is only possible if you turn off features like automatic blood oxygen detection, automatic stress detection, and raise to wake, while limiting exercise to light weekly activity. Even so, the claim gives a good sense of what the watch is aiming for, which is endurance far beyond what most smartwatches in this category can offer.
Honor says regular usage should deliver around 17 days of battery life, and based on my experience, that sounds believable. I have been wearing the watch for about 10 days and still have 55 percent battery left, so I have little reason to doubt the company’s estimate. When it is finally time to top up, charging is handled through the included magnetic pin charger.
Sustainability
Sustainability is rarely a headline feature for smartwatches, but the Honor Watch 6 does make a few sensible moves. Its IP69 and 5ATM ratings suggest it should hold up well against sweat, water, dust, and the wear of everyday use. In practical terms, that simply means it is built to take more abuse before becoming a problem.
Honor also says the watch uses recyclable aluminum alloy, which adds a small but welcome nod toward material responsibility. Paired with the excellent battery life, the Watch 6 feels like a device designed to stay in use rather than one that constantly asks for attention. It does not do anything groundbreaking on the sustainability front, but for a smartwatch, it makes a decent case for itself.
Value
At £229.99 for the Shadow Black version and £249.99 for the Twilight Brown model, the Honor Watch 6 sits in the upper mid-range part of the smartwatch market. That works out to roughly $295 and $320, respectively. It is not exactly cheap, especially for a smartwatch that does not offer the most polished software experience, but it does bring a few strengths that help justify the asking price.
The strongest part of its value proposition is that Honor has clearly invested in the features users will notice most often. The display is gorgeous, the battery life is genuinely excellent, and the core health and fitness features are broad enough for most people. At the same time, the stiff leather strap on the Twilight Brown version and the merely functional software keep it from feeling like a complete home run. The Watch 6 offers solid value if your priorities are battery life and screen quality, but it is a little harder to recommend purely on refinement alone.
Verdict
The Honor Watch 6 succeeds by keeping its priorities simple. It delivers a lovely display, excellent battery life, and a broad enough set of health and fitness features to satisfy most people who want a smartwatch for everyday use. Just as importantly, it wraps those strengths in a design that feels far more wearable and familiar than the square-faced direction Honor took before.
At the same time, it does not feel like a fully polished package. The software works, but it lacks the refinement and thoughtful organization that would make the experience feel truly premium. The leather strap on the Twilight Brown version also lets the hardware down a bit, since it looks better from a distance than it feels in the hand or on the wrist.
That leaves the Watch 6 in an interesting spot. It is not the most exciting smartwatch in its class, and it is not the one I would point to as the benchmark for software or overall finesse. But if your priorities are a gorgeous screen, long battery life, and a classic watch-like design, Honor gets a lot right here. The Watch 6 may not be the most memorable smartwatch of the year, but it is an easy one to live with.
The post Honor Watch 6 Review: Great Endurance, Not Quite Perfect first appeared on Yanko Design.
Xiaomi Watch S5 46mm Review: Looking Good, Lasting Longer
PROS:
- Stylish and premium design
- Bright, vibrant display
- Excellent battery life
CONS:
- Limited app ecosystem compared with Wear OS
- Sleep tracking can miss naps
The Xiaomi Watch S5 46mm looks less like a gadget trying to pass as a watch and more like a watch that happens to be smart. That distinction matters because design still shapes how often a wearable actually ends up on your wrist. Xiaomi seems to understand that, and the Watch S5 leans hard into premium materials, a traditional silhouette, and a feature set built around daily usability.
Beyond the styling, there is a solid hardware pitch here, too. Xiaomi is promising a bright 1.48-inch AMOLED display, updated health tracking, new cycling features, and battery life of up to 21 days under light use. If those claims hold up, the Watch S5 could be appealing for people who want a smartwatch that feels less demanding and more natural to wear. I spent some time with the Watch S5 to see whether that mix of style and practicality actually comes through in daily use.
Designer: Xiaomi
Aesthetics
That design-first approach is obvious the moment you see the Watch S5. It sticks with a classic round shape, but the detailing keeps it from blending into the crowd. The slim bezel and minute markings make it feel closer to a proper wristwatch than a lot of smartwatches that still come off as generic or overly sporty. Combined with the forged stainless steel frame, the design has a solid sense of polish without trying too hard.
The lineup itself is well judged, too. The black and silver versions are the standard models, both using the stainless steel frame and a cleaner, more understated finish. The Ceramic Blue version is clearly the dressier option, with a zirconia ceramic bezel, enamel-filled markings, and a leather strap that gives it a more tailored look. The Jungle Green model I received takes a sportier approach, swapping in a forged carbon bezel and a hybrid strap that make it feel more rugged and outdoorsy. It is a smart spread of styles, and it gives the Watch S5 range more character than a simple color refresh would have.
Ergonomics
At 46mm, the Xiaomi Watch S5 is not a small watch, but it wears better than that number suggests. I used the Jungle Green version, and even on my small wrist, it never felt bulky or awkward. Xiaomi lists it at 46 x 46 x 10.99mm and 46g without the strap, so it is still very much a full-size smartwatch, but in day-to-day use, it comes across as lighter and easier to wear than I expected.
A lot of that comes down to how the watch sits on the wrist. It has enough presence to feel substantial, but it never feels clunky or uncomfortable. The hybrid strap on the green model helps, too, since it feels secure and practical for longer wear. That sense of ease carries over to the controls. The rotating crown and side button are both responsive, which makes the watch straightforward to use, though I would have liked slightly stronger haptic feedback from the crown.
Performance
A lot of the Watch S5’s appeal comes down to how easy it is to use, and the display does a lot of the heavy lifting there. It uses a 1.48-inch AMOLED panel with a 480 x 480 resolution and up to 2500 nits of peak brightness. The bezel is slimmer too. Xiaomi says it measures 2.6mm, which is 40 percent narrower than the previous generation, and that helps the screen feel more open and modern. In use, it looks sharp, vibrant, and bright enough to stay readable outdoors without much effort. That alone goes a long way on a smartwatch, since a dim screen can get annoying very quickly when you are checking the time or glancing at notifications on the move.
Fitness and health tracking are a big part of the Watch S5, even if I am not really the target user for the more training-heavy side of it. I am not someone who works out intensely or spends much time digging through performance metrics during exercise, which happens less often than I would like to admit. That is partly why I found the Watch S5 surprisingly approachable. It gives you some flexibility over what data shows up on the watch, so it does not have to feel like a wall of numbers every time you start moving.
Most of my time with it was spent on walks and a light hike rather than anything especially demanding, but I still found the tracking useful. Being able to glance down and see things like heart rate, distance, and workload made the experience feel a bit more engaging, especially during the hike when I was already feeling tired. I would not suddenly pretend this turned me into a training-focused person, but it did make the data feel more motivating than I expected.
The Watch S5 uses the same heart-rate sensor setup found in the flagship Xiaomi Watch 5, with 4 LEDs and 4 PD, alongside L1 plus L5 five-system GNSS and 5ATM water resistance. There are also more than 150 sports modes, so the watch clearly has a much broader fitness toolkit than the small slice of it I used. Sleep tracking is a bit more mixed. Xiaomi claims its updated sleep algorithms improve fall-asleep and wake-up detection by 11 percent, with sleep-stage tracking improved by 14 percent. In my use, though, it still had a tendency to miss naps. That does not make the feature useless, but it is a reminder that health tracking claims on paper do not always translate perfectly in everyday use.
Beyond health and fitness, the software experience is mostly straightforward, too. The Watch S5 runs Xiaomi HyperOS 3, and for the most part, it is easy enough to get around. The interface is straightforward, and it does not take long to figure out where everything is. Swiping down brings up notifications, though your options are fairly limited once you are there. You can dismiss them, but you cannot quickly reply to messages, which makes the experience feel a bit more passive than on some rival smartwatches.
The rest of the navigation is a little uneven. Swiping up opens widget cards, while swiping right lets you cycle through the watch faces stored on the device. Swiping left, though, does nothing at all. I found that a bit frustrating, especially since I do not change watch faces very often. It feels like Xiaomi could have made better use of the side gestures here, or at least given users the option to customize them.
Pressing the rotating crown opens the app list, while the side button brings up the control center. That all works as expected, but the software does feel more limited once you look beyond the basics. Since the Watch S5 does not run Wear OS, there is no access to the Google Play Store, and Xiaomi’s own app selection for HyperOS 3 is still quite limited. On the phone side, the Mi Fitness companion app covers the essentials and also gives you access to plenty of free watch faces, which is a nice way to add some variety even if the wider software ecosystem remains fairly basic.
Battery life may be the Watch S5’s most practical strength. Xiaomi rates it for up to 21 days of light use from the 815mAh battery, which it says is a 68 percent jump over the previous generation. In my case, with Always On Display turned on and all the health tracking features enabled, it lasted about six days. That is genuinely impressive, and it makes the Watch S5 feel far less needy than many smartwatches. Charging happens through the included proprietary magnetic pogo-pin charger, which works fine, though it does mean dealing with yet another device-specific cable.
Sustainability
Sustainability is not a major part of Xiaomi’s pitch for the Watch S5, though to be fair, that is true of most smartwatches. There is no clear emphasis here on recycled materials or repairability, so it is hard to give the watch much credit on environmental grounds alone. What it does offer, though, are a few practical touches that could help with longevity.
The 5ATM water resistance also helps on the longevity front, especially for a watch that is meant to handle swimming as well as everyday wear. The use of standard 22mm quick-release straps is another plus, since it makes the watch easier to refresh over time without being locked into one specific band. That may sound like a small thing, but replaceable straps can help a device stay in use longer, especially when comfort or style preferences change. The stainless steel frame and the more premium material options should also hold up well over time. For now, the Watch S5 feels built to last, even if it does not make much of a sustainability case.
Value
The Xiaomi Watch S5 makes a pretty strong case for itself on value. At £149.99, or about $205, for the black and silver versions, and £169.99, or roughly $232, for the Blue and Green models, it sits in a price range that feels competitive for what you are getting. The stainless steel frame, bright AMOLED display, strong battery life, and broad fitness feature set already give it a solid hardware foundation, and the more premium Blue and Green finishes do at least look like they justify the small step up in price.
That pricing also helps make some of the watch’s limitations easier to accept. The software is straightforward but not especially deep, and the app ecosystem is still quite limited compared with Wear OS alternatives. Even so, the Watch S5 is not really trying to compete as the most app-rich smartwatch in its class. It feels more like a well-rounded option for people who care about design, comfort, battery life, and fitness basics, and at these prices, that balance is easier to appreciate. For the money, Xiaomi is offering a lot of watches.
Verdict
The Xiaomi Watch S5 succeeds by focusing on the right things. It puts design, comfort, battery life, and the kind of fitness features that are useful without becoming overwhelming at the center of the experience. That makes it easy to recommend, especially for people who want something that looks more like a proper watch and less like a tiny gadget strapped to the wrist.
The trade-off is that Xiaomi HyperOS 3 still feels fairly limited once you look past the basics. You are not getting the depth or flexibility of a Wear OS device, and that will matter to some buyers. Even so, the Watch S5 gets enough right to stand out where it counts. At £149.99, or about $205, for the standard versions and £169.99, or roughly $232, for the Blue and Green models, it offers a lot without asking too much in return.
The post Xiaomi Watch S5 46mm Review: Looking Good, Lasting Longer first appeared on Yanko Design.
This Huawei Kids Watch Flips, Detaches, and Packs 2 Cameras
Huawei is returning to the children’s wearable category with the Watch Kids X1 series, a new lineup that feels noticeably more design-driven than the average kid-safe smartwatch. Announced during the company’s global launch event in Thailand, the series generated visible excitement from the audience, signaling strong interest in a product that brings a more playful and expressive take to kids’ tech. Instead of reducing the device to a wrist-bound tracker with calling features, Huawei gives it a more dynamic physical identity. The result is a wearable that balances parental reassurance with the kind of tactile, camera-friendly interaction that actually appeals to kids.
The series includes the Watch Kids X1 and Watch Kids X1 Pro, and both models lean heavily into transformable hardware. The standard version uses a flippable, 360-degree rotatable design, while the Pro adds a detachable module that can be removed from the strap and used more like a tiny handheld camera with its housing case. That shift in form makes the X1 series feel less like a miniature adult smartwatch and more like a hybrid object designed around play, communication, and movement.
Designer: Huawei
Both devices feature a 1.82-inch AMOLED touchscreen with a 480 x 408 resolution, giving the watches a bright, modern face that feels more premium than the category usually suggests. Huawei also equips the lineup with a 5MP front camera and a 13MP rear camera for HD video calls and photos, reinforcing the idea that these are communication-first wearables rather than simple step counters with GPS.
Safety remains a core part of the pitch. The Watch Kids X1 series supports multiple positioning methods, including dual-band satellite and GNSS-based tracking, along with additional location assistance modes designed to improve accuracy indoors and outdoors. Huawei also includes parental controls and health-oriented features, framing the watch as both a child-friendly gadget and a practical family tool.
There is also a more expressive side to the design. The watches support filters, stickers, timer shooting modes, and friend-adding gestures such as touching devices together or shaking hands. These details may sound small, but they turn the product from a passive utility into something performative and social, which is exactly where children’s tech often succeeds or fails.
Battery life appears to be centered around an 850mAh cell, with reports claiming charging can reach 50 percent in about 20 minutes. Connectivity includes cellular support with 2G, 3G, and 4G compatibility, alongside WLAN, Bluetooth, and GNSS. That combination positions the X1 series as a compact communication hub for calls, messages, photos, and location sharing.
The Watch Kids X1 series shows that Huawei does not treat safety features and delight as opposing ideas. The flip, rotate, and detach mechanics give the product a sense of personality, while the cameras and bright display make it feel more like a creative object than a compliance device. For a category that often defaults to chunky plastic and strictly functional design, that is a meaningful shift.
The Watch Kids X1 is priced at €249, while the Watch Kids X1 Pro comes in at €349. If those figures hold across broader availability, Huawei is clearly positioning the pair above the most basic children’s wearables and closer to a premium family tech accessory with stronger industrial design ambitions.
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