All the big stories from the week that was
Welcome back to the Week in Wearable Tech – where we look at the last seven days to offer a digest of the hot topics in fitness trackers, smartwatches and anything you can stick on your body (within reason).
This week is a smartwatch bonanza as the wearable industry kicks into serious overdrive ahead of a packed holiday season. Are you ready? You better be.
Huawei super-charged watch inbound
The new Huawei watch will follow on from the Huawei Watch 2 (above)
A pair of leaks this week from within Huawei show that the Chinese company could be about to storm the smartwatch space. The Huawei Watch GT has broken cover, and the spec sheet looks fairly spectacular. Wear OS, GPS, waterproofing, advanced fitness tracking, a boss AMOLED screen and 14 days of battery life are the headlines – and it could be with us by the end of the month.
And it seems the company is also set to announce the Huawei Terra fitness tracker – again with waterproofing and a big AMOLED display, which doesn’t scrimp on specs or battery life either. If these rumours come true, this will shake things up massively.
LG is back in the smartwatch game with a slightly bonkers new device – the LG Watch W7. A stripped back Wear OS smartwatch, the LG Watch W7 puts physical hands on top of the screen – for a hybrid approach.
Those hands sit in front of a 1.2-inch, 360 x 360 resolution, LCD display. Of course, that causes some visibility issues, so when you press the crown on the side, the hands move out of the way.
But it’s a pretty barebones experience: stuff like NFC for Google Pay, heart rate and GPS are all M.I.A – and it’s retailing for a fairly mega $450. Sure, it’s making a play for that dress watch aesthetic – but the offering does feel slightly dated, and we’ll need some review time to work out whether the moveable hands avoid being as awkward as they look.
Check out our guides to the best smartwatches and the best hybrid watches money can buy.
Citizen gets into hybrids
After seeing the success of Fossil’s hybrid smartwatch play, it seems Citizen wants a piece of the action – and it’s enlisted the help of the Texan fashion company. Yes, Fossil and Citizen are set to team up courtesy of a two-year licensing deal that will put Fossil’s technology (from the Misfit buyout) in Citizen cases.
There’s no news on availability or features – but let’s hope these start landing in 2019, when we’re expecting the first fruit from similar licensing deals Fossil has signed with both Puma and BMW.
Spotify lands on Garmin watches
Garmin gave us a shock this week when it announced the availability of a Spotify app for its sports watches – and about time, too. The Fenix 5 Plus is the only one set to benefit right now, but the Forerunner 645 Music will doubtlessly be close behind.
It ends the Spotify hegemony of Samsung’s wearables – and marks something of a watershed moment for those who like to work out with music. Both Garmin and Spotify are runaway leaders in their respective disciplines, so this should benefit millions of users. What’s more, it will put pressure back onto Apple – who has had seamless music/workouts sewn up with Apple Music and the Apple Watch.
Check out our guide on how to use Spotify with your Garmin watch.
Louis Vuitton smartwatch hits FCC
A new Louis Vuitton Wear OS smartwatch seems to have been uncovered this week – which could see an update to Wareable favourite the Tambour Horizon.
Apparently the watch will measure 52.35mm x 47.49m including lugs and crown – in a 42mm case size. And we’re expecting them to feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 3100 chip inside, given that LV was one of the manufacturers alongside Fossil to announce support for the new chipset.
