Wearable Computing & Fashion - Page 3

Buying an Apple Watch Ultra 2 just got cheaper in China after Apple started to allow people to buy a refurbished model via its website. Apple regularly offers refurbished products but this is the first time that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 has been offered in this way outside of the United States. It now seems more likely than ever that the refurbished Apple Watch Ultra 2 will start to go on sale in other countries around the world sooner rather than later.

Buying a refurbished Apple Watch Ultra 2 will save you around 15% off the price of a new one, according to MacRumors which was the first to report on the new buying option. The refurbished products do tend to come and go in terms of stocks however, so make sure to place your order for a refurbished Apple Watch Ultra 2 if you want to be sure of getting one soon.

Apple's refurbished products have all been thoroughly checked and cleaned and come with the usual 12-month warranty and 14-day return window. They also offer people the chance to take out AppleCare+ for additional coverage while all wearables come with all of the usual accessories and are fully functional. Buying a refurbished product from Apple is definitely a batter option than buying refurbished elsewhere unless you can get a particularly good deal.

If you own an Apple Watch you'll already be very familiar with its various features, especially if you're someone who enjoys physical activities like walking or running. It's a wearable that has long been a go-to for people who want to maintain, or improve, their fitness. As part of that the Apple Watch collects a ton of data on the wearer's activity and movements and that means that it can be uniquely placed to offer insight into fitness data.

As part of that, new data shared by the Apple Heart and Movement Study offers some insights into the training habits of people who are working towards being able to run a marathon, a common thing that people aim for when they are trying to improve their fitness. The study looks into how Apple Watch wearers use their wearable when walking and running. It does that based on data collected from November 2019 through January 1, 2024, across almost 198,000 people who recorded at least a single walking workout and more than 99,000 people with at least a single running workout.

Of those people, more than 50% of the people who recorded either exercise achieved a 5K (3.1 miles) distance or more at least once. The study goes on to wonder that if all the running and walking workouts were added together in a given period, how long would it take to reach the 26.2-mile marathon point?

If you own an Apple watch Series 9 or Apple Watch Ultra 2 you might have been suffering from so-called ghost touches since the models launched back in September of 2023. But now Apple has a fix, and it also seems that the problem is affecting more devices than was first thought.

While it was thought that the ghost touch problem was limited to Apple's latest wearables, the company has now apparently admitted that the issue is affecting those who own Apple Watch Series 7, Apple Watch Series 8, and Apple Watch Ultra devices as well. That's according to information shared in a memo that was sent to Apple Authorized Service Providers.

Those service providers have been told that they should not replace the watches of those who report the ghost touch issue, but should instead tell users to try a forced restart of their devices instead. That force restart involves pressing and holding the side button and Digital Crown at the same time for 10 seconds or until the watch restarts. Apple also says that affected Apple Watch owners should be told to make sure that they are running the latest versions of watchOS, perhaps suggesting that the company intends to release a software fix for the issue at a later date.

If you're planning to pick up a new Apple Watch this year it might be worth your while waiting for the new model this September after a new report claimed that Apple intends to bring a new OLED display upgrade to bear.

The report, courtesy of The Elec, claims that Apple will use a new low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) thin-film transistor (TFT) technology for the upcoming Apple Watch. The wearable has previously been tipped to be called the Apple Watch X, with Apple celebrating the wearable's 10th birthday as it did with the iPhone and the iPhone X.

According to the report, the new display technology uses a method of applying oxide on the driving TFT and switching transistors behind each pixel. Those switching transistors control the voltage that is applied to each cell, giving Apple more control over the amount of light that passes through each of the Apple Watch display's pixels. Current Apple Watches only use LPTO TFT on a few switching transistors.

The Apple Watch had long been rumored to be planned to gain a new microLED display at some point and while that might still happen, a new report note claims that Apple's in-house team has been wound down in recent weeks which also means that there are being job cuts. It's reported that the cost and complexity of the development of the technology was simply too great, with Apple now having chosen to reorganize the teams that worked on engineering the displays. Several dozen roles in the United States and Asia are said to have been eliminated.

The move to microLED technology would have allowed Apple Watches to feature brighter and more vibrant displays, but that now seems to be a feature for much further down the line. There was also the assumption that microLED technology would expand to other products in Apple's lineup, but again, that now seems to have been put on the back burner.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that the move to cancel the project came around the same time that Apple also chose to ditch its plans to launch an autonomous car. It's said that, in both cases, Apple is giving affected people the chance to locate new jobs within the company while those who cannot find a new job will be laid off and provided severance.

If you're in the market for a new smartwatch in 2024 you might have an unexpected option to consider if a new report is any indication. The report claims that while we already knew that there would likely be two new Samsung Galaxy Watch models to look forward to, there might actually be a secret third option in the mix.

That's according to a post on X by the known tipster @kro_roe that was spotted and then picked up by 9to5Google. Details are extremely hard to come by right now, but the report claims that there will be three models of Galaxy Watch 7 to choose from rather than the more familiar two.

As the 9to5Google report notes, there had already been reports of an additional square display-equipped version being launched to go with the normal Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch 7 Pro, but at this point, it's difficult to be sure what Samsung's plans really are.

The Apple Watch's primary mode of interaction is of course touching its display while Siri is also an option for those who aren't infuriated every time they use it. But when Apple released watchOS 10 and the new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra last year it also added a new option: gestures. The Double Tap gesture allows people to tap their fingers together to interact with on-screen menus in much the same way they can when using the Apple Vision Pro, but it seems that Apple isn't finished. New gestures could be on the way.

That's according to a new report that points to an Apple patent that offers an array of different types of gestures that could potentially be used to interact with the Apple Watch without having to touch it. That could be hugely beneficial for a variety of reasons including a really simple one - using your Apple Watch when it's cold and you're wearing gloves.

In the case of this new patent, Apple includes a few different options including a flat palm with fingers outstretched and then moving the fingers from side to side horizontally. Apple hints that such a gesture could be used to answer calls or reply to messages, while another example is a clenched fist that could also trigger specific features or menus. Other examples of gestures mentioned include rotating the hand and holding it in a specific position while it's possible that Apple could generate more gestures in the future.

Apple has long been rumored to want to switch a future Apple Watch Ultra to new microLED display technology but recent reports again suggest that the company might be having issues in finding a supplier for those displays.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, a company that produces manufacturing equipment Kulicke & Soffa reported that one of its "strategic customers" has now canceled a project related to the "advanced display" market. While there was no clarification on who the customer is or what the display would be, display analyst Ross Young suggests that this is related to Apple's future Apple Watch Ultra plans.

The project, previously called Project W, the project was thought to be related to a microLED watch and as a result of the cancelation, it's said there will be up to £140 million in surcharges.

The current Apple Watch situation is a bit of a mess if you are planning on buying one in the United States, and it shows little sign of improving any time soon. But there does appear to be scope for that to happen in the future, according to a new report.

As a reminder, the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 are currently prohibited from being sold with working blood oxygen sensors as a result of a ruling that confirmed Apple infringed upon a Masimo patent in relation to the technology those wearables use. Apple was forced to disable the feature at the turn of the year, although an appeal has been lodged. Now, it appears that those who buy an Apple Watch with the blood oxygen sensor technology disabled may well be able to get it reenabled at a later date should Apple's appeal be successful.

That's according to an IP Fray report which notes that new documentation has been published which explains exactly how Apple removed the feature from the Apple Watches being sold today. According to that report, Apple disables the blood oxygen sensor at the point when the wearable is paired with an iPhone but after Masimo tested the software lock it found that it was able to bypass it on a jailbroken device. And while not everyone has a jailbroken iPhone, the fact that the software lock could be bypassed suggests that there could be hope for the future.

Some Apple Watch owners have been complaining of so-called phantom display taps no their Apple Watches for some time now, with people saying that apps have been responding as if they touched the display with their fingers. For those who experienced the issue, the results could be dramatic with calls being placed when they aren't needed, messages sent accidentally, and more. Now, there might be some light at the end of the tunnel for those who have been waiting for Apple to issue a fix.

That fix might be part of the watchOS 10.4 software update that Apple rolled out yesterday with Apple's release notes ecpficially calling out the problem. Apple says that the watchOS 10.4 software update fixes an issue that caused some users to experience what it calls false touches and those suffering with the problem will no doubt hope that Apple is true to its word here.

The watchOS 10.4 software update brings with it a handful of other improvements including a fix for a bug that caused some contacts not to sync to Apple Watches for some users.

If you're the owner of a Tesla electric vehicle you know only too well how easy it can be to find yourself locked out when your phone's battery dies. If you have your keycard handy you won't have an issue of course, but if you don't, you're stuck. And that's what happened to one person whose phone died and had to resort to borrowing a phone to call their husband. The husband unlocked the car remotely, but it was enough for the owner to send a message to Tesla CEO Elon Musk on the X social network to ask for a better alternative.

The Tesla owner pondered whether the better option here would be for the Apple Watch to be capable of unlocking a Tesla without the need for a working phone, something that other cars that offer Apple's CarKey feature already do. And while there has so far been no indication that Tesla is working no an Apple Watch app, that might now be changing.

In a reply to the Tesla owner who locked themselves out of their car, Musk simply replied "sure" when asked about potential Apple Watch support.

Apple has long been rumored to be working on taking the Apple Watch Ultra and adding a new microLED display to the mix, replacing the OLED panel that is currently being used. There were recent claims that Apple had ditched the project, but now it appears these reports might have been a little premature.

Now, rather than being canceled, a new report claims that Apple is actually very much hard at work on getting the matter sorted - with some saying that Apple ash multiple internal teams working on microLED projects.

Previously, a report claimed that OSRAM had announced that a "cornerstone project" of its own had been unexpectedly canceled. It was then said that the project was actually one that related to the Apple Watch Ultra but now both DigitTImes and ETNerws say that while Apple may have pulled the plug on plans to use an OSRAM LED chip, that doesn't mean that it's the end of the road.

If your fancy new smartwatch or ring claims that it can measure your blood glucose levels without piercing your skin, it might be lying to you. Or, at the very least, providing results that shouldn't be used to inform your decisions in terms of medication. That's according to a new FDA safety warning which suggests that such devices might not be quite so smart as they claim.

With smartwatches already hugely popular and smart rings now expected to boom in popularity, there are plenty of eyes on such technology. Oura's smart rings are the best on the market right now and Samsung's Galaxy Ring will be officially unveiled later this year. Apple was also recently tipped to launch its own smart ring sooner or later, and blood glucose monitoring is something that people seem to really need, especially if they're diabetic.

But knowing how much glucose is in the blood normally means pricking a finger, and that isn't something rings can do for obvious reasons. Non-invasive checks are where technology is going, but the FDA isn't convinced. No smartwatch or ring has been cleared by the FDA to do such a thing, but that doesn't mean that they aren't available. Apple is thought to be trying to make blood glucose monitoring a feature of future Apple Watches, but it hasn't done so to date.

The Apple Watch is currently the only wearable that Apple makes, and while it also happens to be the world's most popular smartwatch that isn't where Apple intends to stop. With talk of the global smart ring market exploding in the coming years, a new report claims that Apple is ready to get involved with its own entry - the wearable that we'll all call the Apple Ring until told otherwise.

The Apple Ring will likely go up against competing products from the current market leader, Oura, as well as Samsung and others. Samsung teased the Galaxy Ring last month and is set to officially unveil it later this year. Now, an ET News report claims that Apple is set to join the fold and has already been applying for patents that relate to such a device.

Citing Business Research Insight, the ET News report claims that the smart ring market is set to increase from $20 million last year to a huge $197 million by 2031. With such a figure in mind, it's perhaps unsurprising that Apple is eyeing a slice of the pie.

If you're the proud owner of an Apple Series Series 9 or Apple Watch Ultra 2 and have found that your smartwatch has been doing strange things, you apparently aren't alone. In fact, the issue is so widespread that Apple is aware of it and is already investigating what's happening and how it can go about fixing things.

The issue, MacRumors reports, is that some of the very latest Apple Watches are suffering a touch-related issue that causes some models to recognize touches on their display even though nobody has actually touched them. The result is "ghost touches" that cause apps to misbehave.

The MacRumors report cites an internal memo shared with Apple Authorized Service Providers this week that says some users are reporting that Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 models are causing issues. The Apple memo says that this can cause some APple Watch models to jump around erratically or just behave in an unexpected manner. Examples of issues experienced include some Apple Watches placing calls unexpectedly or users being unable to correctly enter their passcode because the watch's display misinterprets real taps.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the best Apple Watch on the market right now and one of the best smartwatches, period. But there are still places where it could be improved and reports have long suggested that Apple intends to turn its attention to microLED as an upgrade for its display. But a new report hints that previously suggested release schedules might turn out to be optimistic.

There had been some suggestion that Apple would switch to microLED Apple Watch displays in 2026, with research firm TrendForce saying so throughout 2023. Some other sources had pointed to the switch happening as soon as next year, but a new report says that neither timing is likely to happen and that potential Apple Watch Ultra buyers should look to 2027 instead.

That's according to a report by The Elec which says that problems relating to the manufacturing costs and production yields associated with new microLED Apple Watch Ultra displays could see the launch delayed into 2027.

If you're an Apple Watch owner you're going to get a new software update within the next few weeks, but before that can happen it's been made available to developers to ensure that mode testing is done before the big release. That watchOS 10.4 update isn't expected to bring a huge number of new features to Apple Watch owners, but there's something for emoji fans to look forward to.

In terms of those new features, the software has only just landed so we might find new tweaks and improvements over the coming hours. However, right now, it's believed that the new emojis are the biggest change here. There have been a number of new additions including a lime, a brown mushroom, a phoenix, and a broken chain. Two new shaking heads have also been added to cover the "yes" and "no" movements.

Those who are registered developers can now download the new watchOS 10.4 update via the usual methods. That involves using the Watch app on the iPhone the Apple Watch is paired with and then choosing the Software Update section. The Apple Watch will need to be on the charger and have at least 50% battery charge at the time of the update otherwise it will not commence.

Apple has been told that it has to stop selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 smartwatches in the United States all over again. The news relates to an ongoing legal dispute over the use of blood oxygen-sensing technology that is used in those two models.

That technology has already been found to infringe upon a patent owned by the medical device firm Masimo, a company that Apple was once said to have tried to buy. A ban was previously ordered before Apple was able to get a stay on the ban while the initial stages of its appeals process were underway. However, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit declined Wednesday to grant Apple a longer pause.

Apple had to briefly stop selling the affected Apple Watches over the Christmas period before the stay was applied, but the ban will once again begin tomorrow which means that Apple Stores and Apple's online presence will have to stop selling these models at that time. An import ban will also come into effect. That means that while third-party retailers can continue to sell the wearables, they will not be able to replenish their stocks once they run dry.

Buying an Apple Watch in the United States is easier today than it might have been if a ban on Apple's best wearables had gone ahead. That ban was paused after Apple appealed a decision to ban its Apple Watch in December, but now the UInternationla Trade Commission has formally opposed the stay, saying that Apple's arguments against a ban are weak.

The original ban kicked in on December 25 after the Biden administration chose not to intervene following a decision to ban the watches over patent infringements. Those infringements are over patents relating to health technology created by Masimo and a legal battle has been underway for years. At issue is the blood oxygen monitor used in the Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple Watch Series 9, and slightly older models not including the Apple Watch SE - that model doesn't have the blood oxygen monitoring technology and is not affected as a result.

Apple briefly paused sales of the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9, before it was able to get a stay on the ban that runs until January 15 at the earliest. That's when arguments from all parties will be taken into account, and a ban could be reinstated as a result.

The Apple Watch Ultra and Apple Watch Ultra 2 look almost identical and are both made from titanium, Apple's latest material of choice. But where the iPhone 15 Pro comes in multiple colors, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is only available in the same natural color that the previous model shipped in. There were rumors that might not have been the case, but ultimately the natural color was all that we got.

However, the story has been given additional credence today following the leak of an Apple Watch Ultra band that appears to have black hardware, the kind that would be used on an Apple Watch band that was going to be fitted against a black titanium Apple Watch Ultra. The band itself looks to be genuine and matches other Apple Watch Ultra bands, with the only difference being that black hardware.

The source of the leak was X user DongleBookPro and as ever, it's important that we take these kinds of leaks with a pinch of salt. But the band does appear to be what the leaker says that it is.