8.0

Massage 7.5/10

Heat 8.0/10

Ease of use 9.0/10

Value for money 8.0/10

Pros

• – Six vibration motors cover the back and thighs
• – Four intensity levels and five massage patterns
• – Individual massage areas can be switched on or off
• – Heat works independently of the vibration massage
• – Simple controller and long timer options

Cons

• – Vibration only, with no Shiatsu rollers or physical kneading
• – Corded rather than battery powered
• – The “Kneading” mode is simply continuous vibration

Design and setup

There is almost nothing to set up here, which is exactly how it should be. You put the Snailax Massage Cushion on a chair, plug it into the wall and start using it. The controller is permanently attached, so there is no pairing, charging or messing around with batteries. Two straps can be adjusted to hold the Snailax in place – and it takes all of about 30 seconds to set it up.

I have mostly used it on my computer chair, and it sits there surprisingly well. The elastic strap holds the back section securely, while the perforated anti-slip material on the rear helps keep everything from sliding around. It feels like Snailax has designed it to work with most normal chairs rather than expecting you to find the perfect fit.

The cushion itself is comfortable enough to leave in place for long periods. It adds a couple of centimetres to your sitting height, but I did not find that it pushed me forward or changed my normal position. The padding is soft, but not so soft that you sink into it, and overall it looks perfectly decent for something that is basically a massage mat with motors built into it.

I also ended up using it away from the desk quite a bit. When I wanted something a bit more relaxing, I would stretch it out on the sofa or bed and use it there instead. Lying against it lets you put more body weight into the cushion, which makes the vibration feel noticeably stronger than when you are sitting upright.

The wired controller is the one part of the design I am still a little undecided about. On the plus side, you cannot lose it, it never needs charging and it is always ready to go. On the other hand, you do have a cable permanently running from the controller to the cushion, and that can get annoying depending on how you are sitting. A wireless remote would look tidier, but then you would probably end up searching for it between the sofa cushions.

Overall, the physical design gets most of the basics right. It is light, easy to move around, comfortable to sit on and stays where you put it. More importantly, there is basically zero friction between deciding you want to use it and actually starting a massage, and that is probably one of the better things about the SL-262P.

Controls and massage options

The controller looks a bit busy when you first pick it up, but it is actually pretty straightforward. You can choose which part of the cushion you want running, change the vibration pattern, adjust the strength and switch the heat on or off. After a couple of minutes, you pretty much know where everything is.

There are six vibration motors spread across the cushion, and you can target different parts of the body rather than having the whole thing buzzing away every time. You can focus on the upper, middle or lower back, as well as the thigh area, or just switch everything on at once. That last option is what I usually go for, although being able to isolate one area is handy if that is where you are feeling particularly tight.

You also get five vibration patterns and four intensity levels. The patterns mostly change the rhythm of the vibration, so some pulse, some alternate and others feel more constant. But in all honesty, there is not a huge amount of difference between them.

There is even a mode called Kneading, although that name is a bit generous. There are no rollers moving around inside the cushion, so it is still vibration rather than anything that genuinely feels like someone kneading your muscles.

Snailax SL-262P

Vibration massage seat cushion with heat.

View at Amazon

I usually leave the intensity on the strongest setting. The lower levels are fine if you just want a gentle buzz in the background while you are working, but personally I want to actually feel that something is happening. Even at full strength, though, this is not going to fool you into thinking a pair of hands is working on your back. It is much more of a steady vibration massage.

The timer can be set to 15, 30 or 60 minutes, which I like. A lot of massage products cut you off after 10 or 15 minutes, whereas here you can leave it running while working, watching TV or just lying down. There is enough adjustment to play around with, but not so much that using it turns into a project.

What the massage feels like

The main thing to know is that this does not feel anything like a pair of hands working on your back. There are no rollers or moving massage heads inside. It is vibration, pure and simple, just spread across different parts of the cushion.

As mentioned, I usually keep it on the strongest setting. At that level it has enough kick to feel worthwhile. Sitting on it at my desk gives you a fairly steady background massage, while lying on it on the sofa or bed feels noticeably stronger because your body weight presses you harder into the motors. I actually prefer using it that way when I want to properly relax.

The different patterns mostly change the rhythm of the vibration rather than the feel of the massage itself. I played around with all of them at first, but pretty quickly found myself sticking with the stronger and more continuous options.

What I like is that you can just leave it running and forget about it. After 20 or 30 minutes, your back does feel more relaxed, especially after spending a long time sitting at a desk. The thigh motors are a nice extra too, although for me the back section is still where most of the benefit comes from.

Just do not buy it expecting some deep tissue experience. It is not going to dig into a knot or work a particular muscle the way an actual massage would. But as a strong vibration cushion that you can use while working, watching TV or lying down, it does a decent job and is pretty easy to get used to.

Heat performance

Testing the heat function in the middle of an unusually hot UK summer has not exactly been ideal timing. Most of the time I actually found myself using the Massage Cushion with the heat switched off. When the room is already warm, deliberately heating your back and backside is not particularly appealing.

Still, I did give it a proper try, and the heating works well enough. There are heating areas across both the back and seat, so the warmth is spread over a decent portion of your body rather than concentrated in one small spot. It takes a few minutes to get going, then gradually builds into a fairly noticeable warmth.

I would not describe it as scorching hot, which is probably a good thing considering you could be sitting on it for half an hour or more. It feels more like the steady warmth of a heated seat than a hot water bottle pressed against your back. You can also use the heat without having the vibration motors running, which makes the SL-262P useful as a heated seat cushion in its own right.

For me, though, this is probably a feature that will get much more use once autumn and winter arrive. During testing I generally preferred the massage on its own, particularly when using it at my desk. Come January, I suspect that preference could flip pretty quickly.

Who its for

The Massage Cushion makes most sense for someone who spends a lot of time sitting and wants something they can use without stopping whatever else they are doing. I can see it working particularly well on a desk chair, where you can leave it running while you work rather than setting aside time for a dedicated massage session.

It is also a good fit if you prefer vibration to aggressive kneading. Some massage cushions really dig into your back with hard rollers, whereas this is much gentler and easier to live with for longer periods. You still get plenty of strength on the highest setting, but it never reaches the point where it feels like the cushion is trying to rearrange your spine.

Snailax SL-262P

Vibration massage seat cushion with heat.

View at Amazon

The flexibility helps too. You can keep it on a chair for everyday use, then move it onto the sofa or bed when you want something more relaxing. Add the heating function and I can see it being particularly appealing during the colder months, even if I barely wanted to touch that button during a hot UK summer.

Other products in the range

The SL-262P sits at the simpler end of Snailax’s massage cushion range because it relies entirely on vibration. If you want something that actually kneads your back with moving massage heads, Snailax has several Shiatsu models that take things quite a bit further.

The SL-256 is probably the obvious next step. It has four massage nodes that physically travel up and down your back, with full, upper and lower back zones plus a Spot mode for concentrating on one area. You still get vibration through the seat, but the back massage is a very different experience from the SL-262P because there is actual pressure and movement rather than just vibration.

Move further up and there is the SL-233, which adds dedicated neck and shoulder kneading as well as the travelling back rollers. You can adjust the neck position and roller width, choose between different back zones and use heat and seat vibration alongside the Shiatsu massage. Snailax also sells an app-controlled version, although I am not convinced controlling a massage cushion from a phone is something I particularly need.

The SL-234 follows a similar idea, with four Shiatsu nodes around the neck and shoulders and another four working on the back. Then there is the SL-236, which starts getting much closer to a compact massage-chair setup. Along with neck and back Shiatsu, it adds three-level compression around the seat plus adjustable vibration.

At the top end, models such as the SL-229 and SL-248 add even more elaborate kneading and compression systems. They are also considerably larger and more expensive, so you start losing some of the simplicity that makes the SL-262P appealing in the first place. If you mainly want something light that you can throw onto an office chair or stretch out on the sofa, the SL-262P makes sense. If you want something that feels closer to an actual pair of hands working on your back, one of the other Shiatsu models is the direction I would go.

See Snailax massage cushions on Amazon

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Zepp OS 6 rollout continues

Earlier this month, the Active 3 Premium received its Zepp OS 6 update. That release brought additional workout features including FTMS rowing support, manual rest for swimming, permanent touchscreen locking during workouts and map improvements.

Zepp OS 6 itself introduces a wider collection of changes, including Multi-Device Activity Sync, an expanded Daily Briefing and more tools for structured training. Not every feature necessarily reaches every watch, so the exact Active Max package may differ from newer devices that shipped with Zepp OS 6 from day one.

The upgrade continues a steady stream of additions for the Active Max since its launch. Previous updates have already expanded its training capabilities, including the arrival of lactate threshold tracking.

The Active Max was already a well-equipped watch for its price, with a 1.5-inch AMOLED display, offline maps, onboard storage and more than 170 sports modes. As we found in our review, battery life and the overall fitness package are among its stronger points.

Zepp OS 6 does not completely transform that formula. Instead, it brings the software underneath it up to date and adds some of the training tools Zepp Health has been introducing across its newer lineup.

Training Library arrives on Active Max

Another addition, this time around, is something called Training Library. It appears near the top of the workout section. This gives users easier access to structured training content directly from the watch rather than relying as heavily on the Zepp app.

Training Library is part of Zepp Health’s broader push towards more structured training in Zepp OS 6. The platform also supports Training Calendar and improved handling of planned workouts, bringing Amazfit’s software closer to the approach used on its newer watches.

Don’t expect the Active Max to suddenly look like a completely different device, though. The basic navigation remains familiar, including the existing swipe gestures and functions assigned to its two physical buttons.

As usual, the firmware appears to be rolling out in stages. So if Zepp OS 6 has not appeared on your Active Max yet, that does not necessarily mean anything is wrong. With the rollout now underway, availability should broaden from here.

The post Zepp OS 6 lands on the Amazfit Active Max right on schedule appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

IFA runs until September 8 at Messe Berlin, with more than 1,900 brands expected across the wider consumer electronics show. For wearable tech, though, the exhibitor list tells a more interesting story than the overall numbers.

Quite a few big names are missing

Garmin will once again skip IFA, despite the company having plenty going on with its wearable range. Apple is absent as usual, Fitbit will not be there and Huawei doesn’t appear on the list. Polar will also not be there. However – Spiros Andreou, the company’s Head of Global Industry & Technology Partnerships, is speaking at IFA on September 4 in a connected-health/wellness session.

Whoop is another notable omission this time around. That is a change from IFA 2025, when Whoop had a proper stand displaying Whoop 5.0, Whoop MG and its newer apparel range.

This continues a trend we have been seeing for several years. Big wearable launches are increasingly happening at standalone events, where manufacturers do not have to fight thousands of televisions, laptops, washing machines and robot vacuums for attention.

That does not make IFA irrelevant for wearables. It just means you need to know where to look. IFA itself says IFA Next this year will put more emphasis on smart glasses, AI wearables and wearable/ring interfaces. 

Zepp Health could steal the headlines again

Zepp Health will not have a stand inside Messe Berlin, but we expect the company to follow the same approach as recent years and hold a separate event on the opening day of IFA.

It did exactly that last year. The Amazfit T-Rex 3 Pro launched in Berlin on the opening day of IFA and ended up being one of the biggest wearable announcements associated with the show.

This year we have a pretty good idea of where at least some of the attention could go. The Amazfit T-Rex Dual Solar has now appeared in several regulatory databases, including filings in Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, the Eurasian Economic Union and most recently the FCC.

An early September reveal looks very plausible. It is not confirmed for IFA week, but the timing would certainly fit with Zepp Health’s usual Berlin launch schedule.

Zepp Health has previously indicated that next-generation Helio hardware is coming in the second half of 2026. Now we did se the Helio Strap Pro launch a month ago, but this space is still worth watching.

Xiaomi might have the most to show

Xiaomi is one of the more interesting names this year. The company has an official IFA 2026 presence, and unlike several of the traditional wearable brands, it has a fairly broad line-up it can bring to Berlin.

The obvious device to watch is the Xiaomi Smart Band 11. It has already moved through regulatory approval in China, Taiwan and the UAE, with filings pointing to both standard and NFC versions.

Earlier Smart Band 11 leaks point to a 1.78-inch AMOLED display, HRV monitoring and a broader sensor package. None of those leaked specifications should be treated as final yet, but the growing pile of certifications suggests the device is getting close.

The Xiaomi Watch S5 should also be on show. The Watch S5 is already available internationally, so IFA will be more about putting Xiaomi’s latest smartwatch in front of European visitors rather than announcing its arrival.

That leaves Smart Band 11 as the more interesting Xiaomi wildcard. If the timing lines up, Berlin would be a very natural place for Xiaomi to give its next fitness band a major European push.

Samsung will be there, but don’t expect another Unpacked

Samsung is confirmed for IFA again, although most of its 2026 wearable hardware has already been unveiled. The Galaxy Watch9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra2 arrived in July, so these should provide most of the wrist-based action in Berlin.

Watch9 brings a new processor and some useful battery improvements, particularly on the smaller model. Ultra2 goes further with an 800mAh battery, thinner body and a brighter display, making it the more substantial hardware update of the two.

The bigger question is the Galaxy Ring. Samsung still has not produced a second generation, and earlier regulatory activity around the 2026 watches arrived without any sign of Galaxy Ring 2.

That does not completely rule out a surprise, but there is very little evidence pointing towards new Samsung ring hardware for Berlin. For now, IFA looks more like a showcase for products Samsung has already launched.

Withings has a couple of things worth watching

Withings will be back at IFA, and there is no convincing evidence yet of a new ScanWatch generation. That makes another flagship smartwatch launch less obvious than it was in some previous years.

The company does have other hardware to show. Withings BodyScan 2 is now available in Europe and the US, giving Withings a substantial new health product to demonstrate on the IFA floor.

RingConn, Ultrahuman and Circular return

Smart rings should once again have a noticeable presence in Berlin. RingConn and Ultrahuman are both confirmed exhibitors, although neither company necessarily needs another new-generation ring right now.

RingConn Gen 3 only arrived this year, bringing vibration alerts, upgraded sensors, Vascular Trend and battery life of up to 14 days. IFA could be more about showing how those vibration features develop through software, particularly with RingConn planning additional alert functionality later this year.

Ultrahuman is in a similar position. Ring PRO launched earlier in 2026 with a larger battery, redesigned internals and a charging case, although shipments have taken longer than originally expected.

Circular is also back at IFA. But we are yet to learn whether they will be presenting a next generation device.

IFA also lists Luna Ring as a 2026 exhibitor. And the company has more than just the Ring Gen 2 now. It unveiled Luna Band at CES 2026, a screenless health tracker very much in the Whoop and Helio Strap category.

And there are other smart ring brands such as MYnextRING, Momax and eIoT. So smart rings should make an interesting showing.

What happened at IFA 2025

Last year’s show gives us a decent idea of what to expect. There were fewer major wearable launches than in IFA’s earlier years, but our IFA 2025 picture gallery still had plenty of hardware to cover.

IFA 2026 looks like it could follow a similar pattern. The traditional smartwatch giants are not exactly queueing up to attend, but Xiaomi, Withings, Samsung and the smart-ring brands give us enough to look at.

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Google introduced the feature alongside Health Guardian this week. We now have a better idea of when it will arrive, which devices support it and what users will actually see.

It is coming in September

Google’s wearable comparison pages now list Insulin Resistance Trends as coming next month. That is more specific than the broader fall timeframe given during the original announcement.

The feature will not produce a result straight away. Google says Health Guardian needs around 30 days of wear before delivering its first detailed summary, because it is looking for a longer-term pattern rather than reacting to individual readings.

The screenshots Google has released gives us a good idea of how this works. The Health Guardian summary shows Insulin Resistance Trends marked as “High”, alongside blood pressure and sleep breathing information. Google Health Coach can then explain the trend and suggest possible next steps. You can view daily info, or monthly overviews.

Your watch is not measuring glucose

There is an important distinction to clarify. Pixel Watch does not have a hidden glucose sensor, and neither does Fitbit Air.

Instead, Google analyses signals the wearable already collects, including heart rate, movement and sleep. Its SensorFM model was trained using more than one trillion minutes of wearable data from five million consenting users across more than 20 Fitbit and Pixel Watch models.

Google has also published research looking specifically at insulin resistance prediction from wearable data. Its WEAR-ME study involved 1,165 participants and compared wearable-based predictions against conventional fasting glucose and insulin measurements.

The basic idea is fairly simple. One heart-rate reading tells you very little, but several weeks of heart rate, sleep and activity data may reveal a broader physiological pattern associated with changing insulin sensitivity.

That does not turn the watch into a laboratory test. It means Google is trying to recognise the footprint insulin resistance leaves elsewhere in the body.

Pixel Watch 3 is included

The feature is expected on Pixel Watch 3, Pixel Watch 4, Pixel Watch 5 and Fitbit Air. That makes this more of a software upgrade than a Pixel Watch 5 exclusive.

It is worth keeping in mind when looking at our Pixel Watch 5 vs Pixel Watch 4 comparison. Some of Google’s most interesting new health features are heading to older hardware as well.

Fitbit Air is perhaps the more interesting inclusion. It has a simpler sensor setup than Pixel Watch, yet Google still plans to offer insulin resistance tracking on the screenless device.

There is one catch, however. Insulin Resistance Trends sits behind Google Health Premium, so having a compatible device is not enough on its own.

Think of it as a warning light

Google is not giving users an insulin resistance score or a glucose reading. Health Guardian is looking for sustained changes and can flag a trend when something appears unusual.

That makes the “High” status shown in Google’s screenshot closer to a warning light than a diagnosis. Health Coach can explain what the system has noticed and provide suggestions around things such as activity, sleep and nutrition.

The open question is how well it works in everyday use. Google has published plenty about the research behind the feature, but we still do not know how often the finished consumer version will produce false alerts or miss meaningful changes.

Sources: Google Health Guardian announcement | Google SensorFM research | Google insulin resistance research

The post Google’s insulin resistance tracking arrives in September and here’s how it will work appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

The new features sit under Google’s Health Guardian umbrella, which arrived alongside the Pixel Watch 5. And they are due to arrive this Fall.

Your watch does not need a glucose sensor

Insulin Resistance Trends is probably the one worth flagging up first. No, there is no glucose sensor hidden inside Pixel Watch 5. And Google is not claiming that the watch can suddenly measure blood sugar.

Instead, the system looks across several weeks of existing health data and searches for patterns associated with insulin resistance. That includes signals such as heart rate, HRV, SpO2, movement, sleep and skin temperature, giving Google a wider picture than it could get from one metric alone.

The technology behind that is Google’s SensorFM foundation model, which was trained using more than one trillion minutes of wearable data from five million consenting users across more than 100 countries. It has learned from data collected across more than 20 Fitbit and Pixel Watch models, which gives Google a fairly enormous base to work from.

There is also proper research behind the idea rather than this appearing out of nowhere at the Pixel Watch 5 launch. A Google-led study involving 1,165 people found that wearable data could improve machine-learning models designed to identify insulin resistance, although the research model and the consumer Health Guardian feature are not exactly the same thing.

Now make no mistake. Insulin Resistance Trends will not diagnose diabetes or tell you your glucose level. Think of it more as a warning light that something in your longer-term physiological pattern may have shifted enough to deserve a closer look.

Blood pressure takes a similar route

Blood Pressure Trends follows much the same philosophy. There is no inflatable cuff, and the watch does not suddenly produce a conventional systolic and diastolic reading such as 120/80.

Instead, Google analyses pulse and movement patterns over time and looks for signs that cardiovascular stress appears to be running persistently higher. If it notices a meaningful change, the idea is to encourage you to check your blood pressure properly.

That approach is quite different from the race to produce cuffless blood-pressure numbers that we have seen elsewhere in wearables. Google is asking a simpler question, which is whether the pattern has changed enough that you might want to investigate it.

The underlying research has already involved Pixel Watch hardware as well. One study used seven days of PPG and accelerometer data from Pixel Watch 3 devices and compared the resulting model against 24-hour ambulatory blood-pressure monitoring, so there is quite a bit going on behind what will look like a relatively simple trend inside the app.

Sleep breathing adds another piece

Sleep Breathing Quality brings the same longer-term thinking to overnight data. Google looks at how much of your sleep is spent with what it considers optimal breathing, then uses repeated nights to build a monthly picture rather than putting too much weight on one result.

This is not sleep-apnoea detection, and Google is not presenting it as a diagnostic tool. Once again, the point is to notice changes in your normal pattern that might otherwise disappear among dozens of nightly health metrics.

Health Guardian also includes Breathing Emergency Detection on supported Pixel Watches, although that feature works rather differently. It looks for a persistent and critical drop in oxygen saturation and can contact emergency services if the wearer becomes unresponsive in supported markets.

This goes well beyond Pixel Watch 5

Google says the technology is coming to other Pixel Watch and Fitbit Air devices rather than being locked to Pixel Watch 5. More specifically, Blood Pressure Trends is coming to Pixel Watch 3, Pixel Watch 4 and Pixel Watch 5 this fall, while Insulin Resistance Trends is coming more widely across Pixel Watch and Fitbit devices. Both are app-based features.

That fits particularly well with what Google has been doing with Fitbit Air. The hardware itself is deliberately simple, while more of the interesting work happens inside Google Health where data from several sensors gets combined and interpreted in the background.

We have already seen a version of that philosophy with Fitbit Air’s AFib detection. Health Guardian pushes the idea further because Google is now trying to infer health changes that the wearable does not directly measure at all.

The next health upgrade may be software

For years, adding a new health feature to a wearable usually meant adding another sensor. Google is showing another route, where better models squeeze more information from heart rate, HRV, sleep, SpO2, temperature and movement data that millions of devices are already collecting.

There are obvious limits to that approach, because software cannot magically turn a Pixel Watch into a glucose monitor or a proper blood-pressure cuff. But if the models can reliably identify when something has changed, that information could still be useful even without producing a traditional measurement.

Sources: Google Health, Google Research, Nature, DC Rainmaker

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Google officially unveiled Pixel Watch 5 on August 12, with pre-orders opening immediately and general availability starting August 20. Prices start at $399 for the 41mm Wi-Fi model and $429 for the 45mm version, while the Stephen Curry Special Edition costs $579 and arrives on September 3.

Pixel Watch 5 vs Pixel Watch 4 differences

The physical design barely changes, so this is not a generational update you will spot from across the room. Google has instead concentrated most of its work underneath the glass and inside the software, while carrying across the extensive health, safety and smartwatch feature set already available on Pixel Watch 4.

The important thing here is that Pixel Watch 5 does not lose the capabilities of Pixel Watch 4. Features such as ECG, SpO2, cEDA sensing, skin temperature, heart-rate tracking, Daily Readiness, Cardio Load, Loss of Pulse Detection, Satellite SOS, NFC, UWB, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 6 all carry across.

The hardware upgrade is mostly on the inside

The external hardware is almost unchanged. Pixel Watch 5 keeps the same 41mm and 45mm aluminium cases, the same 12.3mm thickness, the same 31g and 36.7g case weights, and the same 3,000-nit Actua 360 AMOLED LTPO displays protected by Gorilla Glass 5.

The processor is more interesting. Google calls the new version Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Accelerated, still paired with a Cortex-M55 coprocessor, and says it delivers a 12% CPU performance increase. Together with the memory changes, Google claims Pixel Watch 5 feels around 20% faster overall.

RAM rises from 2GB to 3GB, which is a 50% increase, while storage doubles from 32GB to 64GB. That extra RAM makes more sense now that Google has explained how much more AI processing it wants the watch to perform locally rather than treating the upgrade as merely a bigger number on the spec sheet.

Battery capacities also edge upwards. The 41mm watch moves from 325mAh to 332mAh and the 45mm from 455mAh to 465mAh, although Google has not used that additional capacity to increase its official endurance figures.

The 41mm model remains rated for up to 30 hours with the always-on display and 48 hours in Battery Saver mode. The 45mm remains at 40 and 72 hours respectively, while charging times are also essentially unchanged from Pixel Watch 4.

GPS is the most interesting Pixel Watch 5 upgrade

This is where the comparison changes significantly from what we knew before launch. Pixel Watch 4 already had dual-frequency GPS, but Pixel Watch 5 adds a substantial post-processing system designed to clean up difficult GPS tracks after the workout has been recorded.

Google combines satellite information with 3D building and terrain models derived from its mapping data. It can therefore work out whether a satellite should actually have been visible from a particular location and identify signals that probably bounced off buildings rather than travelling directly to the watch.

The system also uses a global network of reference stations to compensate for atmospheric conditions. That information is combined with accelerometer, gyroscope and other sensor data when Google processes the completed GPS track.

This is an important distinction because the watch is not simply snapping your route onto a nearby road or footpath. The processing happens after the activity and attempts to reconstruct a more accurate position from the underlying satellite data, environmental models and sensor information.

Google claims twice the route accuracy of previous generations in difficult conditions and says Pixel Watch 5 outperformed both Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Garmin Fenix 8 Pro in its testing. Early independent testing in New York also produced some remarkably clean tracks, particularly among tall buildings where multipath errors normally cause even good sports watches problems, although the system was not perfect everywhere.

Strength training gets much more serious

Google has also given strength training considerably more attention this year. Pixel Watch 5 introduces guided strength workouts with step-by-step instructions, set and rest-period guidance, plus the ability to record weights and repetitions directly from the wrist.

Workouts can be built manually inside the Google Health app, including individual exercises, reps, weight and timing. Google Health Coach can also generate a strength routine around a particular goal, while audio cues and rest timers help move the session along without repeatedly reaching for the phone.

Google Health Coach goes further by combining recovery information such as sleep and HRV with other contextual data to make adaptive training suggestions. Some of the more advanced Health Coach functions require a Google Health Premium subscription, so this should not be confused with the basic workout tracking that comes with the watch.

Sleep tracking gets several upgrades

Sleep tracking also moves forward. Google says its latest sleep-stage algorithm is 15% more accurate than the previous generation, based on validation against clinical reference measurements.

Pixel Watch 5 adds Smart Wake, which looks at heart rate, movement and sleep stage during the 30 minutes before an alarm and tries to wake you during a lighter part of sleep. There is also a dedicated bedtime watch face and new Bedtime Automations that can pause music, podcasts or audiobooks and silence notifications once the watch detects that you have fallen asleep.

Google is also introducing Sleep Breathing Quality, which looks at changes in blood oxygen during sleep and builds longer-term breathing trends. It is a wellness feature rather than a sleep-apnoea diagnosis, and Google explicitly says it does not provide a real-time clinical reading.

Health Guardian adds another safety layer

Health Guardian is Google’s umbrella name for a collection of health features, and the headline addition on Pixel Watch 5 is Breathing Emergency Detection. It uses data including PPG, the accelerometer and barometer to look for severe and persistent falls in oxygen saturation.

If the watch detects such an event and the wearer is unresponsive, it can automatically contact emergency services and transmit the person’s location. Google plans to introduce the feature first in Europe, and it has not received FDA clearance in the United States.

Google is also adding monthly Blood Pressure Trends, Insulin Resistance Trends and Sleep Breathing Quality summaries. These use sensor data and machine-learning models to look for longer-term patterns rather than directly measuring blood pressure, insulin or glucose, and the first detailed reports require around a month of data.

Not all of these features should be treated as Pixel Watch 5 exclusives. Google says some of the monthly Health Guardian summaries will roll out across more of its wearable portfolio, while separate information indicates Blood Pressure Trends will reach Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Watch 4 as well.

Loss of Pulse Detection is another feature Google is highlighting alongside Pixel Watch 5, but it is not new. Pixel Watch 4 already supports Loss of Pulse Detection and Satellite SOS, so neither belongs in the Watch 5-only column.

Gemini becomes more proactive

Gemini was already available on Pixel Watch 4, but Pixel Watch 5 has been designed around a more proactive version of it. At a Glance can automatically surface context-sensitive information such as boarding passes and remaining public transport stops without requiring the user to open another app.

Raise to Talk has also been reworked. Core actions can now execute locally with much lower latency and can work without an internet connection, while Gemini Intelligence Proactive Suggestions can turn information from services such as Calendar into suggested actions on the wrist.

Google has paired these suggestions with its one-handed gesture system. A double pinch can select, confirm or send some suggested actions, reducing the need to interact with the touchscreen.

There are cosmetic AI additions too. Pixel Watch 5 gets generative watch faces, two new conventional faces called Weave and Chronograph, and 11 new glanceable complication styles.

Same watch shape, different colours and bands

Google has kept the familiar Pixel Watch shape rather than redesigning the hardware again. The domed display, crown, side button, proprietary band attachment and side charging system all remain, which makes the Watch 5 look extremely similar to its predecessor.

The colour combinations are new. The 41mm model comes in Matte Black with Obsidian, Polished Silver with Fog, Satin Pyrite with Olive and Champagne Gold with Canyon, while the 45mm loses the Canyon option and comes in the other three combinations.

The supplied Active Band is now a second-generation version made from HNBR rather than the fluoroelastomer used for Pixel Watch 4. HNBR generally copes well with heat, sweat, oils and ageing, although the bigger question will be whether buyers actually notice much difference in comfort.

Google is also selling a 45mm LTE Stephen Curry Special Edition for $579. It pairs the Satin Pyrite case with a Rye Performance Loop band made from recycled polyester yarn, including a water-resistant coating and a raised inner pattern intended to improve airflow.

Is Pixel Watch 5 worth upgrading from Pixel Watch 4?

The answer is less obvious than it appeared from the leaks. If you only care about the physical watch, Pixel Watch 5 remains a modest update because the case, display, sensor package, battery-life claims, charging system and much of the connectivity hardware are essentially unchanged.

The GPS work changes the equation for runners, cyclists and anyone who regularly trains around tall buildings or difficult terrain. If Google’s post-processing continues to perform as well as the early testing suggests, that is a genuinely useful upgrade rather than another annual spec bump.

The extra RAM and storage also give Watch 5 more breathing room for Wear OS and increasingly ambitious Gemini features. Strength training has finally received the sort of structured workout support that Google has been missing, while Smart Wake, better sleep staging and the new bedtime tools broaden the health side considerably.

Pixel Watch 4 owners still have a good reason to wait before spending $399 or more, particularly because some of the new software features will not remain exclusive to Watch 5. But the finished Pixel Watch 5 is clearly more interesting than the leaked specification sheet made it look, and the new GPS system is the feature that most changes the comparison.

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Boop is the latest example. The free iPhone app connects directly to compatible WHOOP 5.0 and WHOOP MG bands, processes selected measurements locally and sends information to Apple Health without requiring a WHOOP account.

It is not the first project of its kind. NOOP and OpenStrap also work with WHOOP bands, Cracked Oura provides a local dashboard for exported Oura information, and Gadgetbridge supports watches from Garmin, Amazfit, Xiaomi, Huawei and other brands.

The pitch is simple. You bought the hardware, so why should it become useless when a subscription ends or you stop using the official app?

Garmin is a good example of the gap

Garmin users already have plenty of ways to take their data elsewhere. GarminDB downloads and organises information from Garmin Connect, GoldenCheetah analyses imported FIT files, and Gadgetbridge can replace Garmin Connect as the companion app for some watches.

These tools can store workouts, produce charts and help users explore their own data. What they cannot reproduce is the complete Firstbeat system behind Body Battery, Training Readiness, Training Effect, Recovery Time and Garmin’s other physiological metrics.

Garmin Connect Essentials shows how tightly these features connect. Sleep Score, Body Battery, Training Readiness and HRV Status all draw on different measurements, personal baselines and previous days of data.

Even something such as Garmin Acute Load goes beyond adding up workout minutes. Garmin estimates EPOC for each activity and then weights recent training to work out how much load the user is carrying.

The number on the screen comes last

Third party apps and developers cannot replicate the multi-million dollar research these brands have put in on developing the algorithms. Sure, reading heart rate over Bluetooth is easy. But optical data contains movement noise, missed beats and false peaks, so software must clean the signal before it can calculate anything useful.

HRV adds another problem because the app needs reliable intervals between individual heartbeats. Sleep is harder again, since a wrist wearable must guess whether someone is awake, in light sleep, in deep sleep or in REM without directly measuring brain activity.

This is where smaller projects hit their limits. NOOP openly says its WHOOP metrics are approximations, while OpenStrap warns users not to expect the same results as the official WHOOP app.

Cracked Oura works slightly differently because it imports information that Oura has already processed. It can provide a better dashboard or extra analysis, but it is not rebuilding Oura’s sleep and readiness algorithms from raw ring signals.

The established brands have years of data to work with. Oura developed its newer sleep algorithm using more than 1,200 nights recorded alongside sleep-lab equipment, while Google used more than 3,000 human-scored nights when developing its latest Fitbit and Pixel Watch sleep system.

Of course, that does not mean the big brands always get it right. It’s an ongoing process.

Open alternatives are still useful

Apps such as Athlytic and Bevel show that a smaller developer can create useful analysis from data stored in Apple Health. The Amazfit Helio Strap’s HRV export allows these apps to calculate their own recovery scores using measurements collected by Zepp Health hardware.

Open-source projects also offer privacy and transparency that the major platforms often lack. Users can inspect the formulas, keep their information locally and continue using hardware after official support disappears.

But access to the data is not the same as recreating the product. These apps may replace the dashboard and read basic sensor data. The harder job is replacing the research and algorithms behind it the analysis.

The post Why replacing the WHOOP or Garmin app is harder than it looks appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

Back in May, I asked whether Google and Fitbit Air had just made the case for an Apple Watch Air. The idea was a lightweight Apple health tracker that could sit quietly on the wrist, collect data and leave the apps, notifications and other smartwatch features to the Apple Watch.

Three months later, it appears Apple has been thinking about something along those lines.

Apple has been experimenting beyond the Watch

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s industrial design team has spent roughly the past year exploring a wider rethink of its wearable lineup. That work has included devices with different display technologies and sizes, cheaper products below the Apple Watch SE and more expensive models above the Ultra and Hermès range.

More interestingly, Apple has apparently considered wrist-worn devices without displays.

A round Apple Watch has also been explored, although that idea is reportedly unlikely to go anywhere. The screenless concept deserves more attention because it lines up with what is happening across the rest of the wearable market.

This is no longer just Whoop doing its own thing.

Garmin has now launched CIRQA, its first screen-free smart band. It costs $199.99, offers up to 10 days of battery life and puts Garmin’s familiar health and recovery metrics into something designed for continuous wear without requiring a full sports watch on the wrist.

Garmin did not simply copy Whoop’s subscription model either. The core CIRQA experience works without a required subscription.

Google has gone after a different part of the market with Fitbit Air. At $99, it makes screenless tracking considerably more accessible, while Whoop continues to target users who want deeper training and recovery analysis.

Then there are products such as Amazfit Helio Strap and Polar Loop. As we covered in our recent comparison of the best screenless fitness bands, there is now enough choice for these products to be treated as their own wearable category.

Apple has an obvious reason to join in

Apple has a problem that Garmin users will recognise. The Apple Watch can collect a lot of useful health data, but you have to wear a fully fledged watch to get it.

That sounds obvious, but it creates a gap. Someone who wants to wear a mechanical watch cannot quietly collect Apple health data from the other wrist without also wearing what looks like another watch. Sleep tracking also means keeping a relatively substantial smartwatch on overnight.

A lightweight Apple band could solve both problems.

It could also work alongside the Apple Watch rather than replacing it. Garmin has specifically positioned CIRQA as something that can complement its existing watches, allowing users to move between devices while keeping their health data inside Garmin Connect. Fitbit Air can similarly work alongside Pixel Watch.

Apple could arguably make that type of setup even cleaner. Wear the Apple Watch when you want maps, workouts, calls and apps. Switch to the screenless band for sleep, passive health tracking or when you simply want to wear something else.

The software may be an important part

There is another reason Apple’s interest makes sense now. Gurman says Eddy Cue, who oversees Apple’s health efforts, uses both Whoop and Oura products. Apple is also looking at making future wearables more closely tied to AI as its health and Siri software develops.

A screenless product would fit that approach nicely. Without a display, the hardware becomes much less important as an interface. Its job is to collect clean data. The intelligence moves to the iPhone, where Apple could interpret sleep, exercise, recovery and longer-term health trends without requiring the user to stare at another dashboard on their wrist.

That is broadly where this category is heading already. The screenless band is increasingly becoming a sensor rather than a tiny computer.

None of this means an Apple fitness band is about to launch. Apple experiments with plenty of hardware concepts that never leave the design studio, and the company reportedly has not decided how far it wants to take this wider wearable rethink. But the idea doesn’t seem so far fetched now.

The post Apple might be next with a screenless fitness band appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

OW266 changes the earlier picture

The new listing describes OW266 simply as an “Outdoor Watch” from Suunto. It sits in the Low Power Radio Equipment category and is listed as having multiple radio interfaces, with EDPLUS PTE. LTD. named as the supplier.

That last detail is interesting because OW265 previously appeared at IMDA through the same supplier. An earlier report attempted to identify OW261 and OW265 as the Suunto Race 3 and Race 3 S, respectively, but we now know that pairing cannot be correct.

As we reported in our Suunto Run 2 FCC discovery, OW261 is actually the Suunto Run 2. There is very little ambiguity about that one because Suunto’s FCC documentation includes finished retail packaging carrying the Run 2 name. The filing also confirms dual-frequency GPS and adds 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi support.

That leaves OW265 without an identity. Now OW266 has appeared right next to it in Suunto’s numbering scheme, with both watches going through IMDA via EDPLUS.

The obvious working theory is that these are the two Race models.

The Race 3 pair is already hiding in plain sight

We already know Suunto is preparing two watches called Race 3 and Race 3 S. In our earlier Race 3 leak, we found references to both devices in material from Suunto’s own website that had been indexed by Google.

That leak describes the Race 3 S as a lightweight trail watch with a 1.32-inch AMOLED display, dual-band GPS and sapphire crystal. Suunto’s indexed text says it will be “available first”, while the larger Race 3 is described as coming later in 2026 with a 1.5-inch AMOLED display and longer battery life.

So Suunto has two known but unreleased Race watches, and we now have two unidentified outdoor watches carrying the closely related OW265 and OW266 model numbers. That is not proof they are the same two products, but the pieces fit much better than they did when OW261 was still unidentified.

Sequential model numbers are another clue, although they should not be overinterpreted. Companies do not always assign regulatory numbers neatly by product family, but two closely related watches being developed around the same time could easily end up with adjacent codes.

We still can’t say which is which

There is not enough in the IMDA records to assign OW265 and OW266 individually. OW266 could be Race 3, or it could be Race 3 S. The same uncertainty applies to OW265.

Also, we have not found equivalent public FCC documentation for OW265 or OW266 that gives away dimensions, labels or retail packaging. That is what would likely settle things. Suunto’s Run 2 filing showed how quickly an anonymous OW number can turn into a named product once the right certification documents surface.

For now, OW265 and OW266 should stay labelled as unidentified Suunto outdoor watches. But with Race 3 and Race 3 S already confirmed by Suunto’s accidentally indexed material, the possibility that we are looking at their regulatory model numbers has just become a lot harder to ignore.

This article originally appeared on Gadgets & Wearables, the first media outlet to report the story.

The post New Suunto OW266 certification may reveal the missing Race 3 model appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

The new model has surfaced in leaked Google marketing material obtained by MyMobiles, just days before the expected Pixel Watch 5 launch. It follows Google’s Stephen Curry edition of the Fitbit Air from earlier this year.

The special edition is mostly about the band

Despite the name, this does not appear to be a significantly different Pixel Watch 5.

The leak shows the Polished Silver 45mm LTE model paired with a woven band finished in muted brown and stone colours, with bright orange detailing along the edges. A small label carries the Stephen Curry name and the “#LockIn” branding used on his Fitbit Air edition.

Google’s leaked marketing copy describes the band as designed with Curry and intended for demanding workouts. It also receives a water-repellent coating, although there is an interesting qualification buried in the small print.

The coating is not permanent. Google says normal wear, environmental exposure and regular use can gradually reduce or completely remove its water resistance. That is worth knowing when the band itself is essentially the main reason to buy this version.

There does not appear to be any Curry-specific hardware inside the watch. The case, sensors and underlying specifications look identical to the regular 45mm LTE Pixel Watch 5.

We recently went through the Pixel Watch 5 vs Pixel Watch 4 differences, including the expected move to 3GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, slightly larger batteries and Wear OS 7. Those changes should carry across to the Curry edition as well.

Google is building on the Fitbit Air partnership

The design will look familiar if you have followed Google’s other wearable launches this year.

The Fitbit Air launched in May with its own Stephen Curry Special Edition. That version also uses brown and orange detailing, along with Curry branding and the #LockIn message.

This latest leak suggests that collaboration is moving beyond Fitbit. Google named Curry its Performance Advisor in 2025 as part of a longer-term partnership covering Google Health, Pixel and Google Cloud. He and his team have also contributed feedback to Google’s health coaching work.

The pricing makes the positioning fairly clear. MyMobiles reports a European price of €579.99 for the Curry edition, compared with an expected €549 for the regular 45mm LTE Pixel Watch 5. That puts a €30.99 premium on the special edition package.

A US price has not leaked yet. For context, the standard 45mm LTE Pixel Watch 5 is currently expected to cost $529. Availability could also be limited. The leaked material says the Stephen Curry version will only be offered while supplies last and may not reach every country.

Google is expected to officially introduce Pixel Watch 5 at its Made by Google event on August 12, with retail availability reportedly following on August 20. Until then, the Curry edition remains unofficial.

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