Both the Pebble Watch and Apple Watch are due some fierce competition as a new modular brand, UNA, is gaining some serous backing and excitement.
The UNA Watch is the creation of a Scottish company that wants to give everyone modular control of smartwatch upgrades and repairs.
In the wake of more smartwatch companies demanding subscriptions, and closing their doors to third-party developers, UNA wants to offer options.
The UNA Watch itself has been kickstarted as “the world’s first” repairable and upgradable GPS sports watch. And with over £200,000 (US$255,000) raised in just two days, there’s clearly an appetite for it.
The features on this watch are impressive with – deep breath – dual-GPS, a 10-day battery life, altimeter, accelerometer, plus continuous heart rate, blood oxygen, steps and floors climbed all measured. It also offers heart rate zone training, pace, laps and even downloadable GPX routes to follow.
It also uses USB-C charging, so most phone chargers can top you up when needed. It should go for 20 hours in constant GPS mode, says UNA.
But what’s really being pushed here is longevity. The company says that due to fragile screens and quickly outdated hardware, “most GPS sports watches end up in landfill after only a few years.”
UNA says its watch can help fix that as upgrades and replacement parts can easily be installed using one simple tool.
The software is also being sold as modular as it can let you control what you want to see and play with. Plus it will play nice with other platforms like Strava, so you can easily integrate this new wearable.
Crucially, UNA is working with the community to make changes, meaning people should have some say over what they want in upgrades – both software and hardware. At a time when that is becoming less and less accessible with the big-name brands, UNA has timed its entry perfectly.
The UNA Watch is due for release in August. You can back at time of publishing with $275 and that gets you a watch at discount from the usual $350 price.
Luke has over two decades of experience covering tech, science and health. Among many others, Luke writes about health tech…
Apple is finally fixing the alarm situation on its smartwatches
Apple is prepping the release of a thoughtful new feature that will bring some peace of mind to smartwatch users. The upcoming watchOS 11.4 update will give users an option to activate the alarm sound even when the Apple Watch is put on silent mode.
The change was first spotted in the update notes for watchOS 11.4 RC (Release Candidate) built, which means the stable update is right around the corner. “An option to allow Sleep Wake Up alarm to break through Silent Mode,” says the release document.
In its current shape, the Silent Mode only provides vibration-based haptic feedback for all kinds of alerts, including alarm rings. After all, the whole idea behind it is to keep audible distractions at bay.
https://x.com/aaronp613/status/1904223745662669099
There are, however, scenarios when a sound cue could come in handy. For example, if you’re charging your watch near your bed while silent mode is enabled, you would ideally want it to play the wake-up alarm.
An alarm should beep. Period.
A healthy few people aren’t comfortable with sleeping with a watch on their wrist, because it’s an uncomfortable experience to begin with. Moreover, a strong alarm vibration on the wrist isn’t always the most pleasant way to wake up each morning.
I fall into the latter category. From time to time, however, I keep my Apple Watch close to my headrest so that I can hear the alarm beep the next morning. So far, that has meant keeping the watch in general mode, but watchOS 11.4 will finally allow some much-needed flexibility.
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Apple Watch SE 3’s future appears uncertain with a looming price hike
Apple last updated its affordable “SE” series smartwatch back in 2022. Priced at $250, the smartwatch offered a decent mix of wellness capabilities, clean design, and long battery life. But in time that has elapsed since, rivals like Samsung, OnePlus, and Mobvoi have offered fantastic value-centric models of their own.
Apple, on the other hand, hasn’t said a word on the next Watch SE trim. It seems the third-generation Apple Watch SE might take a while to arrive, and the delay may not be strategic. As per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the affordable model might be in “serious jeopardy” due to hardware-related snags.
“The design team doesn’t like the look, and the operations team is finding it difficult to make the casing materially cheaper than the current aluminum chassis,” says the report. The outlet recently reported that Apple was experimenting with other materials in order to bring the manufacturing costs down.
A big shift
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Apple Watch might get a camera upgrade in the near future
Apple hasn’t delivered any major hardware-focused health breakthroughs on its recent smartwatches. The current-gen Series 10 smartwatch is mostly a slimmed-down avatar of its predecessor, and it appears that next-gen facilities like blood pressure monitoring continue to run into hurdles.
But Apple could add a different kind of sensor to its smartwatch, one that we are all too familiar with. According to Bloomberg, the company is planning to add a camera to the Apple Watch — both the mainline as well as the top-end Ultra model.
“The current idea is to put the camera inside the display of the Series version, like the front-facing lens on the iPhone. The Ultra will take a different approach, with the camera lens sitting on the side of the watch near the crown and button,” says the report.
Interestingly, Meta explored the idea years ago, but eventually killed the project. It isn’t clear how soon we are going to see these camera-equipped Apple Watch models hit the market. Moreover, there is no word on what exactly these cameras will accomplish. However, a quick look at Apple’s AI and health stack gives us a clear idea.
It could be a wellness boon
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