Comprehensive sleep, recovery and health tracking without a smartwatch appeals,
but cost and fit won’t suit everyone
Smart rings are having a bit of a moment with the Oura seen adorning the fingers
of celebrities and elite sportspeople alike. It promises the health-tracking
features of a smartwatch squeezed into a much smaller, less techie device
focused on sleep, recovery and resilience. But can it deliver for regular
people, too?
Now several years into its third iteration, the Oura Gen 3 is the most popular
smart ring on the market, available in a range of attractive colours, metals and
sizes. It looks and feels like an attractive piece of jewellery, and is priced
accordingly, costing from £299 (€329/$299) and requiring a £6-a-month
subscription on top. Keeping up with celebrity crazes has never been cheap.
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Tag - Gadgets
New running headphones combine bone conduction and open-air speakers for more
rounded sound
So-called bone conduction headphones are a runner’s best friend, allowing you to
be fully aware of the outside world while you listen to your motivational tunes.
But the technology simply can’t generate decent bass – a problem that the
open-ear headphone firm Shokz thinks it has solved with its latest OpenRun Pro
2.
The follow-up to the popular OpenRun Pro and OpenSwim lines, the OpenRun Pro 2
cost £169 (€199/$175/A$299) and resemble most competitors, with bone conduction
pods held in place in front of the ear by two loops and a band that runs behind
your head.
Water resistance: IP55 (spray resistant)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3 (SBC)
Battery life: 12h
Dimensions: 30.9 x 21.7 x 24.3mm
Weight: 30.3g
Drivers: Air and bone conduction
Charging: USB-C
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… but impressive, boundary-pushing device is priced so far out of reach for most
that it isn’t yet the next big thing
On a sweltering summer’s day in London, I sat working in the middle of a
snow-covered Yosemite national park surrounded by an array of floating apps and
browser windows. Later I stared across a windswept Oregon beach reliving a
holiday from years ago, and spent an evening sitting in a speeder on Tatooine
watching Rogue One in 3D, before retiring for the night with some guided
meditation.
These are the sorts of immersive experiences that Apple’s latest, most expensive
gadget offers by blending the real and virtual world, all controlled by your
eyes and hands. The Vision Pro may resemble virtual reality headsets such as
Meta’s Quest series but it is attempting to be so much more.
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New Pixel phones, foldable, watch and earbuds feature Gemini Live for
free-flowing conversations with AI bot
Google is launching four phones, one of them foldable, two smartwatches and a
set of earbuds packing its latest AI tech including the new advanced Gemini Live
conversational experience, as the Android maker tries to outdo Apple and
Samsung.
The array of new Pixel products, announced at an event in California, mark the
latest evolution of Google’s own-brand Android devices as it attempts to prove
its integrated AI and devices work better than rivals.
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The most obvious function is for watching 3D movies or TV shows, but it may wind
up being most useful at work
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The Vision Pro has landed in Australia five months after the US launch,
retailing at $5,999. At that price, it’s perhaps no surprise that Apple staff
present it on a wooden platter like we’re in a five-star restaurant.
Next, the staff at Apple’s Chadstone store in Melbourne fit the device to your
head, match your glasses prescription and get it up and running.
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Asus machine is best yet at being a laptop on the go and a dual-screen
productivity beast at the desk
Portable computers with multiple touchscreens have long been a feature of sci-fi
films. But while several manufacturers in the real world have tried to make
dual-screen laptops, none of them have really worked out.
Typically this is because they have tried to do too much with too many
compromises. Now Asus thinks it has cracked it with a new dual-screen machine
that also has a full-size detachable physical keyboard.
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Cut-price Bluetooth Beats are small, comfortable and last a long time, with
great Android and iPhone support
Apple’s latest Beats-branded earbuds offer the sound, fit and Android-loving
features of its popular Studio Buds but in a smaller, much cheaper and
longer-lasting package.
The Solo Buds follow in the footsteps of last year’s Buds+, offering full
integration with Apple’s various devices and Google’s Android, making the best
of both platforms.
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, SBC, AAC
Battery life: 18 hours
Water resistance: none
Drivers: 8.2mm
Earbud weight: 5.7g each
Earbud dimensions: 16.7 x 18.5 x 18.9mm
Case weight: 22g
Case dimensions: 34.7 x 66.1 x 23.7mm
Charging: USB-C
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Company’s long-awaited headphones deliver top sound, long battery life, supreme
comfort and killer home-cinema feature
The wifi hi-fi maker Sonos has finally released its much-anticipated first set
of headphones, the Ace, which combine the best elements from Bose, Apple and
other high-end rivals with supreme comfort, sleek styling and a killer party
trick for owners of the company’s soundbars.
The hi-tech noise-cancelling headphones cost an eye-watering £449
(€499/$449/A$699) and rub shoulders at the top of the market with a range of
extremely accomplished competitors such as the Bose QuietComfort Ultra,
Sennheiser’s Momentum 4 and Apple’s AirPods Max.
Weight: 312g
Dimensions: 191 x 160 x 85mm
Drivers: 40mm
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.4 with multipoint, wifi, USB-C audio and charging
Bluetooth codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive with Lossless
Battery life: 30+ hours with ANC over Bluetooth
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Smart display is the control centre for Alexa-connected devices anyone in the
home can use
Amazon’s latest Alexa device feels like the missing piece in making a home fully
smart and acts as a hub for controlling lights, doors, cameras, timers and
heating.
The Echo Hub arrives ready to be the touchscreen controller for your smart home,
and is a cut-price option for a device that usually has to be either
professionally installed, costing thousands, or a DIY job that requires more
than a little expertise.
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Funky transparent design backed by good sound and noise cancelling make these
budget buds winners
The tech firm Nothing’s latest set of cut-price Bluetooth earbuds offer great
sound and noise cancelling for an even more competitive price, while continuing
to stand out from the crowd through cool design.
The London-based firm has launched the budget Ear (a), which keep almost
everything that was great about previous Nothing earbuds and cost £99 (€99/$99).
That is £30 less than its previous offering and the new £129 (€149/$149) Ear,
which offer a few more customisations for sound and other features.
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