Tag Archives: Wearables

Most Fitness Watches Tell You How to Live, the Moto Ultra Listens

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Motorola built the moto watch ultra around a premise most fitness wearables skip past: that a healthy lifestyle looks and feels different to everyone. Rather than forcing a single definition of fitness onto every wearer, the watch adapts around whoever’s wearing it, from 5 a.m. training regimens to people just starting to pay attention to their own bodies. It’s Motorola’s most ambitious attempt yet at making a smartwatch feel personal rather than prescriptive.

That personalization comes from Polar, whose science-backed algorithms power features built around distinctly different priorities. Serene offers real-time biofeedback for relaxation, tracking how long someone spends in three serenity zones and whether their breathing synced with an optimal rhythm. Nightly Recharge and Sleep Plus Stages work in tandem overnight, calculating a personal sleep score from time spent in light, deep, and REM cycles alongside nervous system recovery.

Designer: Motorola

For anyone chasing more active goals, Activity Score and Active Intensity Zones translate daily movement into numbers that actually mean something, weighing heart rate and motion against a tailored target rather than a generic step count. Energy Sources goes a layer deeper, breaking down how the body burns fat, carbs, and protein mid-workout. Running Coach rounds things out with guided pacing cues, useful for someone training for a first race or trying to shave minutes off a personal best.

None of that tracking requires staying tethered to a phone. As the first moto watch with LTE functionality, the ultra lets wearers take calls, send texts, and manage notifications entirely from the wrist, useful for a run where carrying a phone feels like unnecessary weight. Google Wallet and NFC support cover an impromptu coffee stop afterward, while dual-band GPS keeps navigation accurate even through dense urban blocks or wooded trails.

Software adds another layer of convenience. Running Wear OS by Google unlocks YouTube Music, Google Maps, and Google Gemini directly from the wrist, while built-in Motorola Qira, a first for any Motorola wearable, lets someone raise their wrist or simply say “Hey Qira” to pull up saved information across compatible Motorola and Lenovo devices. A Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chip keeps all of it running without noticeable lag between apps.

Physically, the watch carries a 46mm stainless steel case with a 1.5-inch OLED display that hits 2700 nits of brightness, bright enough to stay legible under direct sun during a midday run. Third-party 22mm band compatibility opens up styling options beyond Motorola’s own silicone and leather choices, letting the watch shift from gym equipment to something that pairs fine with a blazer.

Durability backs up all that daily flexibility, with IP68 and 5ATM protection covering pool laps, rainy commutes, and steamy yoga studios alike, while Corning Gorilla Glass 3 guards the display against scratches picked up during actual use rather than careful display-case handling. Battery life holds up its end too, delivering up to 2 days of active use on a charge, or 24 hours from a 15-minute top-up before heading out the door.

Pricing lands at $349.99 when the moto watch ultra arrives on Motorola.com on September 10, followed by Verizon on September 24 and additional carriers in the months after. Between Polar’s wellness algorithms, LTE independence, and a design built to move between a trailhead and a boardroom, Motorola seems intent on proving a smartwatch can flex around a life instead of asking a life to flex around it.

The post Most Fitness Watches Tell You How to Live, the Moto Ultra Listens first appeared on Yanko Design.

This $500 Wearable Tracks Your Brain All Day, Even While You’re Moving

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Our brain is still a mystery, of which only a small part has been completely understood. Every single decision we make, every move in stressful situations, and the ability to plan way ahead of time can be attributed to the grey matter between the ears. While most wearables want to bring the prowess of advanced medical-grade brain monitoring to everyday life, the strings attached nullify the comprehensive level of scanning required for deeper insight.

Atlas Mankind, a startup, wants to change that with a $500 wearable that sticks to the back of your ears to function in the background as we go on with our daily lives. That’s a leap from other similar wearable gadgets, which require the wearer to stay still or only function while you are asleep. Dubbed Atlas 1.0, the advanced EEG gadget monitors electrodermal activity, voice patterns, and head movements throughout the day to make precise readings of what your brain is doing.

Designer: Atlas Mankind

According to Atlas Mankind, the compact EEG tracker doesn’t restrict the wearer’s movement or only function in certain situations, thereby making it a more natural and unbiased instrument for understanding the internal state of the wearer. It creates a longitudinal record of the brain’s activity in real-life situations, “which is much more meaningful than a single test or isolated brain scan.” The wearable functions in conjunction with the compatible app to track three metrics, which are Presence, Stress, and Energy Burn. That is much more comprehensive than having the half-baked metrics of your stress levels, heart rate, skin temperature, sleep analysis, and generic brain activity that other advanced wearables tout.

Coming back to the three main metrics on which Atlas 1.0 excels – Presence represents whether your attention is inwards or outwards. For instance, during a conversation with your friend, how engaged you actually were. This is done by analyzing the speech patterns and the hemisphere of the brain that was activated during that time. Then there is the Stress tracking, which keeps a very close tab on your physiological stress in the background. The last one is Energy Burn that identifies the activities that were most taxing during the course of the day.

In conjunction with the app that connects to your calendars, event logs, and schedules, the wearable determines the level of shift in these metrics for an in-depth analysis of the brain state over a period of time. The patterns revealed can help the user identify which habits and activities are worth taking up and which ones are better avoided if possible. Atlas 1.0 sticks to the skin behind the ears on an adhesive pad and records the brain waves, as well as voice patterns (not the actual speech for data safety) and movement 24×7. With a dataset of more than 50,000 brain recordings to power the advanced algorithm, the prospects here are exciting.

According to Ana Montero, co-founder & chief executive officer, “For the first time, some of the most important moments in a human life are becoming measurable.” This is supported by André Marques-Smith, PhD: co-founder & chief technology officer, who says, “commitment to accuracy makes ATLAS a tool for genuine mastery and personal science, not just measurement and vanity metrics.” He adds that the engineering challenge of capturing “research-grade data while in motion” is what makes Atlas 1.0 special.

The company is already taking pre-orders for the non-invasive wearable, and it does come with a $30 monthly subscription to keep going. It’ll be interesting to see how accurate the wearable turns out to be, since it is not cheap and you’ll have to keep paying a monthly subscription to make it relevant.

 

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Huawei Finally Made a Blood Pressure Watch That Looks Like Jewelry

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Huawei used IFA 2026 to show that a smartwatch can care for you in two very different ways without ever feeling like two different products. The HUAWEI WATCH 6 Series and the HUAWEI WATCH D3 launched together, one built around elegance and daily versatility, the other built around round-the-clock medical monitoring. Both treat the wrist as a place worth designing carefully, just toward different ends.

The WATCH 6 leads with restraint. Huawei carries forward the sleek, minimalist design legacy of the WATCH family, introducing a timeless aesthetic that exudes sophistication, and backs that look with real engineering. The 42mm model claims the lightest design in the history of the HUAWEI WATCH Series at just 38g and 10.2mm thin, while the 46mm version leans into a durable stainless-steel case for anyone who prefers heft on their wrist.

Designer: Huawei

Huawei Watch 6

Four finishes carry that design further, from Black Stainless Steel to a Gold Aluminum Alloy paired with a soft pink strap, each fitted with the new HUAWEI EasyCross Strap for a smoother, more breathable fit. The Pro tier pushes materials even harder, with a Space Edition pairing a black ceramic bezel against gold detailing, and a 43mm model marking the first all-ceramic watch in Huawei’s lineup, finished with 18K gold accents for a genuinely jewelry-like presence.

Underneath that shell, the WATCH 6 quietly tracks a lot. An upgraded X-TAP pulls up a full Health Glance with one touch, spanning 11 metrics across basic, endocrine, cardiovascular, and respiratory categories. A new Diet clover rounds out Huawei’s four-leaf wellness model, nudging users toward balanced habits around exercise, sleep, mood, and food instead of just logging numbers nobody revisits.

Connectivity rounds out the experience without demanding constant phone contact. Built-in eSIM keeps calls and messages flowing through a swim or a run, while Safety Check quietly shares location and status with family during less predictable moments. A new wrist rotation gesture lets someone scroll through menus with a flick, freeing the other hand for a coffee cup, a leash, or a set of keys.

Huawei Watch 6

Set beside all that polish, the WATCH D3 takes a more clinical approach, though it never abandons comfort to get there. At 11.3mm thick and 40g, paired with a 25.5mm ultra-narrow airbag strap, the watch stays slim enough to sleep in without leaving a mark. Three finishes, Black, White, and Mocha Gold, keep it looking like an accessory rather than a piece of medical equipment.

Huawei Watch D3

That comfort matters because the D3 asks more of its wearer than a typical smartwatch. A mechanical airbag delivers effective compression and precise sensing across a minimal skin-contact area, paired with a high-precision sensor for readings that hold up against actual blood pressure cuffs. Huawei built in 24-hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring, quietly inflating overnight with reduced noise so sleep tracking and blood pressure tracking can finally happen at the same time.

A dedicated pre- and post-exercise measurement mode adds a layer most fitness trackers skip entirely, checking whether blood pressure sits in a safe range before a workout begins and tracking how it shifts once the effort is over. That monitoring carries real weight too, having earned CE marking under the EU Medical Device Regulation, a certification that puts the D3 closer to clinical hardware than typical wearables ever get.

Family features tie the D3’s data into something more useful than a personal log. Health Community lets users view a parent’s or partner’s Health Glance, blood pressure, heart rate, and SpO2 readings from their own wrist, with real-time alerts triggering if something looks off. It turns a single watch’s readings into a small, informal support system for whoever’s paying attention.

Both watches launch in the UK from £399.99 (around $540), with the WATCH 6 Pro topping the range at £599.99 (around $810). Seen together, the WATCH 6 and WATCH D3 make the case that Huawei isn’t chasing one definition of a smartwatch, but building toward two: one dressed for a dinner reservation, the other quietly watching over blood pressure while its wearer sleeps.

The post Huawei Finally Made a Blood Pressure Watch That Looks Like Jewelry first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei Just Made a Watch That Tracks Your Skiing Inside, Without Real Snow

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Huawei built the WATCH GT 7 Series around a simple idea: that a smartwatch meant for the outdoors shouldn’t have to wait for good weather or a full calendar to be useful. Unveiled at IFA 2026, the series unites bold design, advanced outdoor capabilities, and comprehensive health monitoring to deliver a smarter, more capable wearable experience. It’s a watch built to follow someone from a ski lodge to a coastal bike route without missing a beat.

That versatility starts with fit. The WATCH GT 7 comes in 46mm and 41mm sizes across eight colorways, from a woven pink strap to sun-bright yellow silicone, while the Pro model steps up its materials with a nano-tech ceramic bezel and a titanium alloy middle frame. A fluoroelastomer strap using Huawei’s EasyCross design keeps everything secured whether someone’s typing at a desk or crouched into a bike’s drop bars.

Designer: Huawei

Where the GT 7 earns its outdoor reputation is in a new suite of snow sports features that don’t require snow to actually fall. Indoor snow sports modes remove seasonal and geographical constraints, letting a multi-sensor array detect skiing or snowboarding activity and track training time by reading posture and elevation changes, even when GPS signal disappears entirely inside an indoor slope facility.

Huawei Watch GT 7

Outdoors, that same intelligence sharpens further. Riders get access to maps for more than 3,000 ski resorts worldwide, downloaded through the Huawei Health app and synced instantly, useful for a beginner trying to avoid an accidental black diamond or an expert hunting for a faster line down a familiar run. A new Turn Detection feature counts short and long turns by calculating turning radius, while G-Force detection measures the centrifugal pull of a sharp carve.

Huawei Watch GT 7 Pro

Team-Up rounds out the slope-focused features, letting a group track each other’s locations and performance metrics in real time, so nobody has to guess where the rest of the party ended up after a run splits everyone apart. It’s a detail built less for solo athletes chasing a personal record and more for families or friend groups navigating a mountain together.

Cycling gets its own dedicated toolkit too. Climb Planning generates a profile of upcoming elevation gains before a ride even starts, while Climb Broadcast reports live gradient and remaining distance mid-ascent. Sharp Turn Alerts step in with haptic and voice warnings if someone barrels into a bend too fast, a small addition that could matter far more than its size suggests on a descent like the coastal road these watches were clearly built to handle.

Health tracking ties all that activity back into daily life through an upgraded Physical Readiness score, blending sleep quality, heart rate variability, emotion, and calories burned into a five-level recovery snapshot each morning. Rather than dumping raw numbers on a screen, Huawei frames the data as a quick read before the day even begins, useful whether someone’s deciding to push hard or hold back.

Battery life backs up all that tracking, with high-silicon stacked batteries pushing the GT 7 Pro and 46mm models to as long as 21 days per charge under light use. Add contactless payments through Curve Pay and compatibility across iOS and Android, and the GT 7 starts looking less like a fitness tracker and more like a travel companion that happens to count steps.

Pricing starts at £279.99 (around $378) for the WATCH GT 7, climbing to £379.99 (around $513) for the Pro model, positioning the series comfortably below premium sports watches from rival brands. Between the ceramic finishes, the resort maps, and the sheer range of conditions it’s built to track, Huawei’s newest GT model reads like a watch designed for people who treat a change in season as an excuse to keep moving.

The post Huawei Just Made a Watch That Tracks Your Skiing Inside, Without Real Snow first appeared on Yanko Design.

30 Years After the Keychain, Bandai Just Made the Tamagotchi a Ring

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The original Tamagotchi was a plastic egg about 50 mm tall that you clipped to your bag and tried not to kill. Thirty years later, Bandai has announced a version you wear on your finger, the 39th entry in the main series, and by far the smallest one yet. The Tamagotchi Ring houses a 0.56-inch color LCD in a body 28 mm tall, roughly half the size of that 1996 keychain, and it took Bandai two years to figure out how to make it work.

Miniaturizing something this far doesn’t happen by shrinking the parts. It requires rethinking the entire internal layout. The Tamagotchi Ring contains 64 total components, 52 electronic and 12 plastic, crammed into a body measuring 28mm x 23mm x 35mm. The 0.56-inch display is the smallest color LCD ever fitted to a Tamagotchi, and the battery, now rechargeable rather than a replaceable coin cell, charges via an included case because there simply wasn’t room for anything else.

Designer: Bandai

What it does despite that size is the part worth paying attention to. Thirty raiseable characters are in there, along with minigames and a room customization feature. It’s a complete Tamagotchi experience, not a reduced one, running on hardware small enough that Bandai could mount it on a ring band. The design sits on the finger like a small wearable sculpture rather than a piece of consumer electronics.

The announcement arrived on August 27, 2026, timed to mark the franchise’s 30th anniversary. That timing isn’t incidental. The Tamagotchi has been through enough reinventions to know when a milestone deserves something genuinely new rather than a color variant. A ring-form virtual pet is a different object than a keychain pet, even if the creature inside behaves the same way. It changes where the Tamagotchi lives in your day and how visibly you’re tending to it.

The ring comes in three colorways: Black x Metallic Silver, Light Blue x Metallic Gold, and Pink x Pearl White. It’s designed for Japanese ring size 14, which sits at approximately 17.3 mm inner diameter, with an included adapter to bring it down to size 10. That translates roughly to US ring sizes 7 and 5.5, respectively, covering a reasonable range without requiring multiple SKUs.

Battery life hasn’t been specified, which is the honest gap in what Bandai has disclosed. The rechargeable approach means you won’t be swapping coin cells in the middle of the day, but runtime under actual gameplay conditions is still unknown. The charging case is included in the box, which at least solves the problem of where to stow it when it needs power.

Bandai hasn’t announced plans for a direct international launch, so international buyers are looking at third-party import channels for now. Shipping doesn’t start until February 2027, which is a long lead time for a preorder opened in August. It suggests the manufacturing challenge here is real and that Bandai isn’t rushing it to market. For 64 components in a ring, that patience probably counts for something.

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