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Tech News
The Una Watch, previously offered for $350 during its Kickstarter campaign, is now priced at $199. It features a 1.2-inch MIP LCD display, up to 10 days of battery life, and an open-source design covering its SDK, housing, and circuit boards, allowing users to repair or modify it themselves.
Garmin has released a software update giving the Venu 4 all-day fall detection, which sends live location alerts to chosen contacts if the wearer falls. The update also adds hands-free 'OK Garmin' voice control and running tools like Quick Workout and Run Coach plans to devices including the Fenix 8 series, Venu 4 and X1, and Vivoactive 6. The rollout is underway now via Garmin Connect or Garmin Explore and may take a few weeks to reach all eligible devices.
A study covered by The Conversation had 58 adults cycle while wearing devices from Apple, Samsung, Garmin, and Fitbit alongside a metabolic analyzer that measures actual gas exchange to determine calorie burn. Comparing the watches' estimates to that gold-standard measurement, researchers found substantial inaccuracies, with errors reaching 100% or more in some cases, particularly among people with higher body fat percentages.
COROS has released the Pace 4 Pro, an endurance-sports smartwatch featuring a 1.47-inch LTPO AMOLED display, the largest the company has made, with sapphire glass and a titanium alloy bezel. The watch offers up to 21 days of battery life (seven with always-on display), doubled RAM over its predecessor, and is available now in Black or White for $449.
Android Authority's Paul Jones argues that despite the $350 Moto Watch Ultra's strong feature set—LTE eSIM, Wear OS 6, a 1.5-inch pOLED screen and Polar health tracking—its weaker processor and limited two-generation OS upgrade path make it a risky buy. Instead, he recommends five alternatives including the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025), Google Pixel Watch 4, Samsung Galaxy Watch 9, Garmin Venu 4 and Amazfit Balance 2. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2025, now around $330 on Amazon, is highlighted as the top pick for Samsung phone owners thanks to its rugged sapphire-glass build, 64GB storage, multi-day battery and four years of promised software updates.
Garmin CIRQA owners report that workouts started directly from the wearable disappear when they tap 'End' from the Activity in Progress prompt in the Garmin Connect app. Garmin has confirmed the bug, is investigating, and is contacting affected users for more details.
Amazon has discounted the recently released Garmin Vivoactive 6 fitness smartwatch by 23% off its list price, marking the lowest price the device has seen since launch. The deal applies to Garmin's latest wearable, which tracks fitness and health metrics.
Apple unveiled a Health Age feature for the Apple Watch, joining Whoop, Oura, Garmin, Withings and other companies in offering a metric that claims to estimate a user's physiological age based on fitness and health data. The Verge's Victoria Song tested several of these tools on herself and found wildly inconsistent results, with different devices estimating her age anywhere from 26 to 42 despite her actual age being 38.
Counterpoint Research's Q2 2026 report found global smartwatch shipments fell 4% year over year, even as Apple, Huawei and Garmin posted gains. Apple grew 14% to capture a 20.1% share, trailing only Huawei's 21.8% share, with the Watch Series 11 and Watch SE 3 driving over 80% of Apple's volume. Huawei's growth was concentrated in China, which made up about 80% of its shipments.
A Brazilian ANATEL certification filing lists 10 unannounced Garmin products with nearly identical model numbers, differing mainly by a single letter prefix. This pattern mirrors a similar Indonesian filing last month for a 'CIRQA Smart Ring' that was later removed from public view. The number and structure of variants suggest Garmin is preparing multiple sizes of a wearable device rather than a smartwatch.
Amazon is selling the Garmin Instinct 3 Tactical Solar 45mm for $399.99, a $100 reduction from its $499.99 list price. This matches near the lowest price seen outside June's Prime Day sale, and the watch carries a 4.6-star rating from buyers.
Florida International University researchers tested the Apple Watch Series 8, Fitbit Sense 2, Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Garmin Forerunner 955 against a Cosmed K5 metabolic device and ECG chest strap during controlled workouts with 58 participants. All four smartwatches overstated calorie burn, with margins of error ranging from 15% to 25%, meaning a reported 200-calorie burn could really be closer to 160-174 calories. Apple Watch was the most accurate, while Samsung and Garmin overestimated more, and Fitbit had enough tracking glitches that some of its data had to be excluded.