Category: Wearables

Smartwatches, fitness trackers and wearables that complement your Android phone, with clear guidance on health features, battery life and ecosystem fit.

Garmin Venu 4 Beta 17.25 Update Fixes Recovery Mode Bug and Improves Battery Estimates
Garmin has rolled out another beta update for the Venu 4, delivering over a dozen fixes and refinements to the mid-range smartwatch. Beta 17.25 is available globally through Garmin’s Beta Program and tackles a notable bug that could cause the watch to enter recovery mode during a software update, among several other improvements.

The update arrives a day after Garmin pushed comparable beta builds to the Venu X1, Vivoactive 6, Forerunner 570, and Forerunner 970. The Venu 4 (currently $499 on Amazon) now gets its own update in the form of Beta 17.25, which Garmin says brings 13 changes to the device, including updated translations. The release also coincides with Garmin Connect Mobile picking up additional translations through its own v3.90 update.

There are no new features in this build – the focus is squarely on stability and accuracy. Beyond the recovery mode fix, Beta 17.25 resolves two separate issues that were causing device resets on earlier builds, and it also addresses a problem with battery estimate accuracy when switching power modes during activities. A few other quality-of-life fixes round out the changelog.

To install Beta 17.25, users enrolled in Garmin’s Beta Program need to trigger the update manually. The path is: Main Menu → Settings → System → Software Update → Check for Updates.

The full changelog from Beta 17.19 to Beta 17.25 is as follows:
- Fixes a possible crash when routing back to start.
- Fixes an issue that could cause the device to enter recovery mode during a software update.
- Fixes an issue that could cause the device to reset when adding apps via Garmin Connect Mobile.
- Fixes an issue that could cause the device to reset when viewing the evening report.
- Fixes an issue that could result in counting reps incorrectly during strength training activities.
- Fixes an issue that could result in the post-activity summary map being centered incorrectly for multisport activities.
- Fixes an issue where the duration could be missing from the workout card in the morning report.
- Fixes battery estimates when switching power modes for activities.
- Fixes other minor bugs.
- Fixes various other issues that could cause the device to reset.
- Fixes weather app not updating when you enter the app.
- GCM Translations – 3.90
- Updates translations.
May 14, 2026
Moto Tag 2 Goes on Sale with UWB Support and 600-Day Battery Life
Announced earlier this year, the Moto Tag 2 has quietly gone on sale in select regions, bringing UWB-powered precise tracking to Android Find Hub along with a significantly improved battery life.

The Android Find Hub tracker market is well-stocked at this point, with plenty of options to choose from. What set the original Moto Tag apart from the crowd — and what carries over to the sequel — is UWB support for precise, directional tracking. That capability remains rare among Find Hub trackers, with virtually no competing options offering it.

That said, UWB was already available on the original Tag, which raises a fair question: what actually makes the Moto Tag 2 worth upgrading to?

Motorola Moto Tag 2
Easy to set up and locate on any Android phone: Just attach moto tag to your belongings, and use your Android phone to locate anything with pinpoint precision, anywhere in the world.
$42Amazon

Beyond a new orange colorway, the headline improvement is battery life. Motorola is touting “over 600 days on a single battery” using a standard CR2032 cell — a substantial leap over its predecessor and a strong practical argument for the newer model.

Motorola has opened sales in select markets over the past few weeks. In the UK, the Moto Tag 2 is available for £29.99, while German buyers can pick one up for €40. The US launch hasn’t been officially announced yet, but the tracker is already appearing on Amazon through third-party sellers at $119.99 for a 4-pack — which works out to roughly $29 per unit, consistent with standard retail pricing. Early buyers have confirmed these are genuine products, and the listings don’t raise any obvious concerns — all are fulfilled by Amazon.
- Moto Tag 2 (4-pack) at Amazon
There’s currently no single-unit option available in the US, so the 4-pack is the only route for American buyers at the moment.
May 13, 2026
Garmin Beta 17.19 Update Rolls Out to Venu 4 and Vivoactive 6 with Bug Fixes and New Features
Garmin has pushed out another beta update for two of its recent mid-range smartwatches. Beta 17.19 is the second update the company has issued to the Venu 4 and Vivoactive 6 during the current v17.xx development cycle, building on the two dozen or so changes that arrived with the first release in this round. Based on how Garmin has handled previous beta cycles, at least another two to three updates are likely before the company promotes v17.xx to its stable software branch.

Beta 17.19 brings eight changes shared across both the Venu 4 and Vivoactive 6 (currently $249 on Amazon). Among the fixes, Garmin has resolved an issue where the turn arrow would disappear during course navigation — a fairly disruptive bug for anyone relying on the watch for outdoor routing. The update also improves UI responsiveness when starting a timer, which should make the experience feel snappier during workouts.

The Venu 4 gets three additional changes on top of the shared fixes. A bug that prevented the watch from accepting incoming calls has been squashed, as has another that caused the back and down keys to stop functioning during bouldering and indoor climb activities. Garmin has also adjusted how the mute setting behaves — it will now only stay active for the duration of the current phone call rather than persisting indefinitely afterward.

The full changelogs for both devices are below.

Venu 4 & Vivoactive 6 changelog
- Adds support for Approach CT1 club sensors.
- Allows LiveTrack to be enabled automatically on a per activity type basis.
- Fixes an issue that could cause the turn arrow to be missing when navigating a course.
- Fixes other minor bugs.
- Fixes send off time not vibrating during swim workouts.
- Fixes various issues that could cause the device to reset.
- GCM Translations – 3.80
- Improves responsiveness when starting the timer.
- Prevents automatic track detection during trail run activities.
Venu 4 specific changelog
- Updates mute setting to only persist for the current phone call.
- Fixes a possible issue where the back and down key would not work for indoor climb and bouldering activities.
- Fixes an issue that could result in not being able to accept an incoming call on the watch.
April 29, 2026
Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro: 4 Features Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch Still Don’t Have

Huawei has officially launched the Watch Fit 5 Pro in its home market, and the sports wearable arrives with a set of upgrades that put it in a different league from most competitors. Four features in particular stand out — all of them still absent from Apple and Samsung’s current smartwatch lineup.

Huawei has been pulling ahead of both brands in wearable battery life and health tracking for some time now. The Watch Fit 5 Pro shows exactly how the company continues to push that gap wider year after year.

1. A Smarter Strap Design

Most smartwatches treat the strap as an afterthought, but the Watch Fit 5 Pro offers a Breathable Braided Strap option built specifically for active use. The AirDry strap material repels water and wicks sweat more effectively, keeping the wrist comfortable during workouts, hot weather, or humid conditions. It’s a practical detail that most rivals still overlook.

2. Micro-Motion Guidance

The Watch Fit 5 Pro introduces a Micro-Motion feature that detects when the wearer has held the same posture for too long and prompts them to move. The guided movements target 10 body areas — including the head, neck, shoulders, and back – across 30 total movement sets. A panda companion character adds a lighthearted touch, offering visual guidance, mood-responsive expressions, and gentle nudges to build better movement habits throughout the day.

3. New TruSense Health System

Huawei has built the latest-generation TruSense system into the Watch Fit 5 Pro, designed to track vital signs like heart rate, blood oxygen, mood, and sleep with greater accuracy and speed. The system reads subtle physical changes to produce more complete and reliable health data. Sleep tracking runs on the TruSleep 5.0 algorithm, which evaluates rest across two dimensions – sleep structure and sleep stability – for a more thorough picture of sleep quality.

4. Battery That Lasts Longer

The Watch Fit 5 Pro uses a high-silicon battery material that bumps energy density up by 14% and total capacity by 18% compared to previous iterations. Full charging takes just 60 minutes. In real-world terms, the watch delivers 10 days of use in normal mode, 7 days under typical use conditions, and 4 days with the Always-On Display active — numbers that Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch still struggle to match.

April 27, 2026
Huge Smartwatch Discounts: Pixel Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 8 Now at Their Best Prices

It rarely makes sense to pay full price for Google’s flagship Pixel Watch 4, since the smartwatch goes on sale often. This is one of those moments. It is not at its lowest-ever price, but the Pixel Watch 4 is currently $40 below its MSRP, and buyers can choose from several band color options, including Lemongrass, Iris, Obsidian, and Porcelain.

Google Pixel Watch 4 (41mm, Wi-Fi) is 11% Off

The Google Pixel Watch 4 (41mm, Wi-Fi) is currently discounted to $309.99 at Amazon, which works out to 11% off and a $40 savings. Price tracking on CamelCamelCamel shows that this is still above the all-time low, as the wearable dropped to $289.99 during much of March and early April. It remains to be seen whether it will fall back to that level again.

Even so, this is still a strong offer. The Pixel Watch 4 features a 1.4-inch Actua 360 AMOLED display with a 456×456 resolution and 3,000 nits of brightness, all protected by Gorilla Glass 5. Inside, it runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragaon W5 Gen 2 (4nm) processor, paired with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of built-in storage. Google says the watch can last up to 30 hours with the always-on display enabled, or up to 48 hours when Battery Saver mode is turned on.

Pixel Watch 4 (41mm, Wi-Fi): $309.99 (11% off)
Pixel Watch 4 (41mm, Wi-Fi + Cellular): $389.99 (13% off)
Pixel Watch 4 (45mm, Wi-Fi): $359.99 (10% off)
Pixel Watch 4 (45mm, Wi-Fi + Cellular): $439.99 (12% off)

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (46mm, Wi-Fi) is 26% Off

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 8 (46mm, Wi-Fi) is also discounted, with Amazon listing it at $369.99, or 26% off, for a much larger savings compared with its regular price. This model is also above its all-time low, though only slightly; it briefly reached $349.99 a couple of times since last December.

The Galaxy Watch 8 is thinner, lighter, and brighter than the previous generation. It also introduces a new cushion shape and Dynamic Lug bands, along with a larger battery — 325mAh versus 300mAh — that delivers up to 30 hours of battery life. Google Gemini support is included as well.

More Smartwatch Deals

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2024: $469.89 (28% off)
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2025 (47mm, LTE) + $100 Amazon Gift Card: $649.99 (13% off)
Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS): $299 (25% off)
Fitbit Versa 4: $149.95 (25% off)

April 27, 2026
OnePlus Smartwatch Leaks Early – Premium Design Revealed Before Launch

A new OnePlus smartwatch has cleared Google certification ahead of its official debut. The OnePlus Watch 4 is expected to launch soon and will come in two colour options — though owners of the Watch 3 may find the hardware underneath very familiar.

OnePlus spent last week teasing the Pad 4 tablet, a high-end release confirmed for India so far. Around the same time, early details about the company’s next smartwatch began circulating on X. Now, that same device has shown up on the Google Play Console, carrying the identical model number and retail name from last week’s leak. The listing doesn’t pin down a release date, but it does shed light on several key specifications before any official announcement.

The news isn’t particularly exciting for Watch 3 owners hoping for a hardware leap. As earlier rumors suggested, OnePlus appears to have carried over the internal components largely unchanged. The Google Play Console listing confirms the Watch 4 pairs 2GB of RAM with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 chipset — not the newer Snapdragon Wear Elite that some had hoped to see.

The display situation follows the same pattern. The Watch 4 is listed with a 466 x 466-pixel resolution at 320 DPI, matching the Watch 3’s screen specs exactly, which points to a 1.5-inch panel once again. Taken together, the Watch 4 is shaping up to look a lot like a rebranded Oppo Watch X3 — a device Oppo is set to launch in the Eurozone on April 21 for €379 (approximately $449). The OnePlus Watch 3, for reference, is currently available on Amazon for $249.99, so it’ll be interesting to see where OnePlus prices its successor given the minimal spec changes.

April 22, 2026
Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro Launches Globally with 3,000-Nit AMOLED and Up to 20 Days Battery Life

Amazfit has officially introduced the Cheetah 2 Pro to the global market, marking the debut of its new Cheetah 2 series. The launch follows a wave of recent leaks and brings a high-end smartwatch with a focus on endurance and outdoor tracking.

The Cheetah 2 Pro features a 1.32-inch AMOLED display housed in a 48 mm case, while still supporting relatively slim 20 mm straps. The screen reaches up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness and offers a resolution of 466 × 466 pixels, resulting in a pixel density of 353 PPI.

Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro
Built with extraordinary durability for high-mileage runs, the grade 5 titanium case and scratch-resistant sapphire glass protect a vibrant 1.32″ AMOLED display. Unnecessary material is removed while rigidity and precision are preserved.
$449.99Amazon

Battery life is a key highlight. The smartwatch packs a 540 mAh battery, with Amazfit claiming up to 29 hours of use with GPS enabled, 7 days in standard smartwatch mode, and up to 20 days under “moderate activity” conditions.

On the hardware side, the device includes Amazfit’s in-house 5PD PPG heart rate sensor and an Airoha Technology AG3353 GNSS module for positioning. It also features a built-in speaker, a digital microphone, and a LED flashlight—similar to what’s found on devices like the Garmin Forerunner 970 and Venu 4. The watch weighs 46 grams, supports 5 ATM water resistance, and uses sapphire glass for display protection.

The Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro is now available across the Eurozone at €449 including taxes, slightly under earlier expectations of €459. In the US, it is priced at $449.

Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro
Built with extraordinary durability for high-mileage runs, the grade 5 titanium case and scratch-resistant sapphire glass protect a vibrant 1.32″ AMOLED display. Unnecessary material is removed while rigidity and precision are preserved.
$449.99Amazon

This positions it notably higher than the original Cheetah Pro, which launched in mid-2023 at a significantly lower price and has since dropped to around $179.99 on Amazon. For more details, Amazfit directs users to its official website.

April 19, 2026
First Look at Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro – Sleeker Design and Larger Display Spotted

Huawei appears to be planning a revamp of its Watch Fit series shortly, and a new round of leaks has already provided us with an early glimpse at what to expect. The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro has appeared in real-world pictures, indicating a design that is familiar yet refined this time around.

The leaked pictures, which were posted on Chinese social media platform Weibo, show the watch within its retail box. At first sight, it appears to follow the same square design language, yet there are a few significant differences. The model pictured has vivid orange highlights around the frame and a matching woven strap, which is consistent with Huawei’s recent stylistic choices. The metal body appears to have been maintained, along with the crown on the right and a secondary button just below it.

Where things become interesting is with the display. Side-by-side photographs with the Watch Fit 4 Pro indicate that Huawei has significantly reduced the bezels. The difference is significant enough to make the newer model appear cleaner and more modern. There’s also a switch to 2.5D curved glass, removing the previous generation’s flat panel, which should make swipes feel smoother and the watch seem more premium in hand.

Some early Weibo discussion suggests a 1.92-inch AMOLED panel, up from the 1.82-inch screen on the Fit 4 Pro. However, there is still much we do not know. The leaks don’t go into detail about internals yet, thus battery life, sensors, and new health features are all still unknown for the time being.

However, the date is consistent with Huawei’s regular pattern. The Watch Fit 4 series debuted in May of last year, so a similar release timeframe for the Watch Fit 5 lineup would not be odd.

The Watch Fit series has generally performed well by remaining lightweight and reasonably priced while also providing reliable fitness tracking. So far, the Fit 5 Pro appears to have a more “premium look” to it.

April 17, 2026
Samsung Unlocks Long-Awaited Blood Pressure Feature for Galaxy Watch in the US

After being regionally limited for years, blood pressure tracking will now be available to Galaxy Watch users in the United States. Users in the US will be able to get blood pressure monitoring, but it requires a Galaxy phone to function.

As with ECG readings, customers in the US will have access to blood pressure monitoring via the Samsung Health Monitor app. This is a gain for the Galaxy Watch 4 and later, all the way up to the Galaxy Watch 8, as the rollout won’t be restricted to any particular Galaxy Watch model.

According to Samsung, blood pressure data should be used to supplement general health metrics rather than to prevent or diagnose excessive blood pressure. Similar to an ECG exam, wearers of Galaxy Watches must start a reading. Once finished, the watch will display blood pressure and heart rate readings, which will be saved in the companion app.

Official use will be restricted to watches coupled with Galaxy phones due to the tool’s reliance on the Samsung Health Monitor app. Additionally, it appears that the feature requires calibration with a conventional upper arm cuff. Calibration will be required every 28 days, according to the press release.

To ensure accuracy, users are required to calibrate their Galaxy watch using an upper arm cuff (sold separately) every 28 days. Compatible Galaxy Watches measure systolic and diastolic blood pressure along with your heart rate using the internal heart rate monitoring sensors.

Since its debut on the Galaxy Watch Active 2 in 2020, blood pressure monitoring has notably been excluded from the Galaxy Watch’s feature set in the United States, whereas other regions have benefited from both the feature and a more comprehensive set of health monitoring capabilities. With this information, it appears that US restrictions have changed, allowing Samsung to start releasing previously restricted tools.

Galaxy Watch users should start seeing availability with the linked Samsung Health Monitor app as an update starts to roll out today.

April 13, 2026
Huawei Unlocks More Flexible NFC Payments on Newer Watch Models
Curve Pay is available in Europe for the Huawei Watch Ultimate 2, the Huawei Watch GT 6, and a number of other Huawei smartwatches, significantly enhancing the contactless payment experience.

In the past, Quicko was the only contactless payment method available in Europe for smartwatches like the Huawei Watch GT 6. But as compared to Google Pay and Apple Pay, this approach has a lot of drawbacks. On the one hand, Quicko is not accepted in many retail chains, and credit needs to be topped up beforehand rather than just using a debit or credit card.

With the introduction of Curve Pay to Huawei smartwatches, Huawei is finally making amends. Like Apple Pay, Curve Pay lets you store numerous cards and use the NFC chip in your timepiece to make contactless purchases with them. Curve Pay is compatible with any bank account and permits cash withdrawals at an ATM, according to the vendor. The following Huawei smartwatches are compatible with Curve Pay:
- Huawei Watch GT Runner 2
- Huawei Watch Ultimate 2
- Huawei Watch GT 6
- Huawei Watch GT 5
- Huawei Watch 5
- Huawei Watch Fit 4
The Curve Pay app must be downloaded from Google Play, the Apple App Store, or the Huawei AppGallery in order to utilize the service. Instead of constantly switching to the smartphone app, stored payment methods can be chosen directly on the smartwatch via an integrated smart wallet once the app has been loaded, configured, and connected to the smartwatch. Curve Pay is free to use, but you may purchase different subscriptions if you want features like more cashback or bigger limits for free payments overseas.
April 11, 2026