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Polar Verity Sense review: Adding heart rate to your workouts

(Pocket-lint) – Many have accepted that heart rate monitoring is part of their workout routine. With heart rate sensors now common on sports devices, we’ve come a long way from the dark days when such monitors were expensive devices exclusive to the sporting elite.

So with such wide availability of the hardware, is there a demand for something as simple as the Polar’s dedicated heart rate monitor, the Verity Sense?

Design and build

30 x 30 x 9.6mm, 5g
50m water resistance

The Polar Verity Sense is basically just the optical sensor, battery and connectivity hardware you might find in a sports watch, but in a neat button, measuring 30mm in diameter and just under 1cm thick.

The idea is that you can wear the sensor rather than having to wear a watch, or as an alternative to wearing a chest strap – which for many years was the mainstay of heart rate sensors. The Verity Sense is Polar’s second-gen device, improving on the OH1 in many ways.

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The Verity Sense offers 50m water protection, designed for protection against swimming, so it’s more than happy to be sweated into too. That’s what it’s for – it’s a sports device you wear next to the skin, which means you’re going to be sweating into it a lot.

There’s a single button on one side to power on and off, and switch through the three different modes that it supports. On the opposite side is a coloured LED which will visually display the mode you’re in – blue when connected to another device, green when storing its own data, white when in swimming mode.

Wear and comfort

Strap and clip included
Goggle clip for swimmers

The Verity Sense is designed to be worn against the skin, clipping into a holder on an elasticated band which will keep it in place. This can be adjusted to fit, so will suit various sizes, designed to be worn on the fore or upper arm.

Best fitness trackers 2021: Top activity bands to buy today

By Britta O’Boyle
·
2 March 2021
· Updated

Our guide to the top fitness trackers available, helping you count steps, track calories, monitor your heart rate, sleep patterns and more.

Polar advises against wearing on it the wrist like a watch. Given the size of the strap, we think most people would struggle to wear it securely in that position anyway.

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You basically wear it like a band and we found it easy just to slide it up the arm to a position where it was tight enough to stay in position, but not so tight that it’s uncomfortable. Having been cycling, running, and done plyometric exercises wearing the Verity Sense, we’ve found it stayed in place without a problem.

In that sense, it’s comfortable, more convenient and, for many people, more accessible than a chest strap. We only found ourselves adjusting it on a ride going over 2 hours and then you can move it down your arm a little, or tweak the strap a little to make it looser, if your arms have expanded slightly over the course of the activity you’re doing. The slider on the strap is easy to nudge a little to make it slightly looser on the move.

Being low profile also has a distinct advantage: you can fit the Verity Sense under long-sleeve tops easily. Even when wearing it under tight bike kit or compression gear, we didn’t find it a problem. Having fought with chunky sports watches under tight sleeves, it’s a welcome change – although wearing a chest strap under tight gear has never been a problem either.

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It can, however, function just about anywhere that it can stay in contact with the skin – indeed a clip is supplied so you can wear it on your goggle strap when swimming, to get your pulse from your temple. We haven’t had the chance to test this in the pool, because the pools are closed at the time of writing, but we’ve worn it to check that it would get a reading through a layer of hair and it seems to work reliably.

Functions and connections

Three recording modes
Bluetooth and ANT+
Polar Flow app

Supporting Bluetooth and ANT+ means that the Verity Sense is compatible with a wide range of devices. Bluetooth is commonplace, allowing you to connect to your phone, laptop, or smart trainer like the Wahoo Kickr, and a whole lot more.

ANT+ is widely supported in sports devices, allowing connection to Peloton, Garmin Edge bike computers, and more.

Having both available means connections are a breeze, so you can setup whichever devices you want to benefit from Polar’s data. We found that connecting to the Hammerhead Karoo 2 was as straightforward as connecting any other sensor.

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The Verity Sense will also support two simultaneous Bluetooth connections, so you can have it connected to different devices if you want to record and monitor heart rate on two different platforms at the same time.

There’s also the option to disable ANT+ if you never use it via the Polar Flow app – which is another aspect of this device. It’s managed via Polar’s app, so will need to connect to your phone for firmware updates or to download data you choose to save to the internal memory.

There are three modes of use. The first is as a heart rate sensor for another device. As described above, this will let Verity Sense supply live data via Bluetooth or ANT+ to be recorded or displayed elsewhere.

That might be using it with Apple Health or Strava to record a manual activity, with an indoor bike trainer or treadmill, or with bike computers to get a more complete set of data on your rides.

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When used as a sensor, you don’t have to use Polar’s apps at all. The only time you’d need to use Polar’s apps are when using the other functions that it offers.

The second mode is to have the Verity Sense record the data itself. In this mode, as soon as you switch this mode on it will log the heart rate data to its internal storage, up until you turn it off.

It will hold up to 600 hours of data and you’ll have to sync to Polar Flow to extract the data, where you can then examine it. Bear in mind that it will be recording the whole time the device is on (with the green light showing), so that may well include all those breaks, any delay before you start, and so on.

This mode means you don’t need a phone or any other device nearby for that activity – and if you’re doing something where you don’t want to wear a watch, it’s especially useful. We’ve used it for workouts and it’s a useful feature, even if you can’t immediately figure out how you might apply it to your own exercise routine.

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Finally there’s the swimming option. This gives additional support, using the internal sensors to detect turns in the pool. You’ll have to set the length of the pool in Polar Flow, but then you’ll get a readout of pace, distance and your heart rate for your swim.

Performance and battery life

20 hours battery life

What’s perhaps surprising about Polar’s optical heart rate sensor in the Verity Sense is that we’ve found it to behave itself better than some of Polar’s other devices, like the Vantage V, which was a little temperamental when we reviewed it.

That’s a good starting point for the Verity Sense, in that it acquires your heart rate quickly and sticks to it, avoiding some of the warm-up lag that sometimes plagues optical heart rate sensors. But it’s an accurate sensor too.

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Comparing with a Garmin chest strap and a Garmin Fenix 6, we’re getting averages within a beat of those devices, hitting the same highs, seeing the same recovery drops when pausing at traffic lights or coasting downhill and so on.

What can send things out of sync slightly is the inability to control the activity time. As we said above, when using it to save data internally, it starts once the mode is set, and stops when you turn it off. (A little secret here – it doesn’t actually turn “off” it just stops measuring heart rate, because it will still sync with your phone once all the lights are off.)

The result is that, used as a standalone device, you will probably end up sandwiching your workout with non-exercise activity, which can pull the exercise average down. What’s perhaps more important to consider when used like this are the times spent in different zones – and Polar’s software will show you that sort of breakdown.

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The good performance is backed up by solid battery life too. There’s a lot less demand on this type of device than there is on a watch – but 20 hours of recording is good going. That’s going to cover most people for most activities for a couple of weeks, if not longer.

Charging takes place via USB, by slipping the sensor into the supplied adaptor, so it’s nice and easy.

Verdict

For those who always monitor their activities with a phone – running with it, for example – the Polar Verity Sense is a way to easily add heart rate data to get a lot more information on what your body is doing. That might equally apply to anyone who doesn’t want to wear a watch, or can’t because you’re wearing gloves or something else around your wrists.

There’s immediate appeal for cyclists. With most bike computers supporting additional sensors, adding heart rate without a chest strap – and more affordably – makes the Polar Verity Sense a no brainer. That equally applies for indoor training too, something that’s seen a huge boom.

For many, the Polar Verity Sense is cheap enough to buy as an accessory for those times that you want to use it, even if you have another watch that will offer you heart rate monitoring, just because it is great to have the choice of a dedicated sensor in some situations.

Also consider

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Polar H10

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Polar has a chest strap of its own, offering great performance and comfort. It supports ANT+ and multiple Bluetooth streams as well as standalone tracking mode.

Wahoo

Wahoo Tickr Fit

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Wahoo’s collection also includes a band-type optical heart-rate tracker, offering Bluetooth and ANT+ to easily get heart rate data into other devices.

Writing by Chris Hall.

How to run a battery life report on your Windows laptop

When my editor told me about Window’s built-in battery report, my first thought was: “How have I never heard of this before? Also, that sounds pretty useful!” So I looked at the guide he sent (from Laptop Magazine) and tried it out. It ended up being just as interesting as it sounded, so I figured I’d share, in case you also haven’t come across this handy built-in tool.

Windows has been keeping track of how your laptop’s battery is doing since it was installed. The report, which you can run using just two command prompt commands, will show how many cycles you’ve used on your battery and how it’s been used in the past three days. It will also give you a picture of what Windows estimates your battery life should be versus what it actually is.

So if you’re curious about your battery status or you’ve been noticing that your battery life has been a bit of a drag lately and are wondering if it’s due to neglect or some power virus on your computer sucking back a bunch of juice, this report should let you know.

First, open the Command Prompt tool. To do that, you can search “CMD” from the Start menu, and click on Command Prompt to open it.
The report will be spit out as an HTML file, so we’ll want to make sure it’s easy to find. To do that, type in:

cd %HOMEPATH%/Desktop

This command simply navigates your current directory to your desktop, so when you generate the report, you can find it there.
To generate the report, type:

powercfg /batteryreport

This runs the powerconfig tool and tells it to spit out a battery report, which should now be sitting on your desktop as an HTML file.
Double-click the file to open it up in your browser (or it might ask you which program you want to open the file in, which would be your browser). Now you can see all of that sweet, sweet battery information.

The battery usage graph can tell you how fast your battery drains over time.

This could help you get an idea of how you use your battery or show your recent computer habits.

Seeing the design capacity estimate versus your actual time could tell you whether it’s time to replace your battery.

One caveat: my laptop is used, and as a policy, I completely nuke whatever Windows install is on any laptop I buy, overwriting it with a new one. If you’ve just bought a used laptop and want to know what state the battery is in, you’ll probably want to run this tool before wiping Windows, as it seems the cycle count only reflects what’s happened on the current Windows install. My laptop is a 2018 model, and I’m pretty sure it’s gone through more than 177 cycles since then.

Even if you’re on a newer install, you can get a general sense of the health by looking at the design capacity and then the full charge capacity to see how different they are.

If you’re an Apple user who’s feeling left out, don’t worry: macOS lets you access some battery information, too, though there isn’t as much historical data. To see it, go to the Apple menu in the top left, and click “About This Mac.” Then click the System Report button, and under Hardware, go to Power. There, you can see the cycle count of your battery, its estimated health, and all of your current power settings. To see your battery usage graphs over the past 24 hours or 10 days, go to System Preferences and then Battery.

Apple has fewer graphs built in, but you can see usage statistics in System Preferences > Battery.

Here’s a first look at Mark Cuban’s podcasting platform Fireside

Last month, The Verge broke news of Mark Cuban and Falon Fatemi’s new app Fireside, which promises to deliver a “next-gen podcast platform,” and today, we can provide a better sense of the app’s functionality and interface. It’s currently in beta on iOS with a limited number of testers, most of whom appear to work in venture capital or as podcasters. However, their chats are visible to anyone, even non-users, through a browser, and from this desktop view, as well as screenshots of the app that The Verge has viewed, we can get a sense of what Fireside is trying to achieve.

Broadly, the app is best described as a hybrid between Spotify’s Anchor software and Clubhouse. Although it prioritizes live conversation, like Clubhouse, it tries to make off-the-cuff conversations sound more professional. Intro music welcomes people into a room, for example, which is a nice touch, but it doesn’t exactly translate like it does during an edited podcast. The music, for now, sounds disjointed and out of place.

The broad emphasis, at least based on the conversations happening in the app, appears to be on how Fireside can help podcasters monetize their work through exclusive conversations or, in some cases, recruit them to Fireside for all of their podcasting efforts. The app encourages audience participation more than Clubhouse, in that users can react to conversations without being onstage, and they can type comments or questions.

Creators on the app say they’ve heard that the app will allow them to host their shows and distribute them through RSS feeds to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players, too, which is more aligned with Anchor than Clubhouse. One creator in a chat says they plan to use Fireside for hosting instead of their usual service.

Looking at the desktop view, users’ profiles include a photo, bio, and follower / following count. You can also view the rooms that user has hosted, as well as the ones they’ve participated in. The app natively records conversations, so you can listen to these past chats from the desktop. The app seemingly assigns an emoji to the archived chats, although it’s unclear how they’re chosen.

After you tap into a chat, you can press play on a conversation. You’ll likely immediately notice hold-like music at the start, which comes from a Fireside bot called waitBOT. The bot says it plays “soothing music for you while you wait for people to join.” You can also see the description of the event as a chyron along the bottom of the screen, as well as info, like how many people listened in and who hosted it.

A “jump” button allows you to skip to highlighted parts of the conversation, which the host chooses. As speakers change throughout the conversation, you’ll see their profile picture and name. Speakers with a gavel are moderators, while speakers with a crown are the hosts. Moderators and hosts can automatically mute people and welcome people to the stage.

Tuning into a live chat from the desktop is a little less thorough than the recorded conversations. You can only view icons and names, as well as the number of people listening. When someone’s microphone is on, their photo is fully opaque, and when they’re muted, it’s transparent.

From the app itself, which The Verge has seen in screenshots, users can “react” to conversations with emoji and sound effects. People can clap, for example, which shows up in the recorded conversations and solves for a problem Clubhouse users have run into: a silent room and no way to gauge how what they’re saying is going over.

Audience members can also choose an emoji and type a comment without jumping into a conversation directly. These comments and emoji will show up over participants’ heads as a thought bubble. Moderators or hosts can then type back or address comments during the chat.

If participants do want to join the live chat, they can request to join the stage by tapping a microphone emoji and submitting a written request.

A view of a live Fireside chat.

For now, this is our best view of Fireside. Fatemi declined to comment for this story, and we don’t have a better sense of when the app might launch publicly. We’ll update this story if we learn more.

Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: Which could be the right portable speaker for you?

(Pocket-lint) – Sonos is expected to announce a new portable speaker on 9 March, which recently leaked as the Sonos Roam.

The speaker will be the second Bluetooth speaker in the company’s portfolio if the rumours are accurate, sitting alongside the Sonos Move, but how will the two compare?

If you’re considering a Sonos speaker and like it to be portable and offer Bluetooth, you’re in the right place. Here is how the Sonos Roam is expected to compare to the Sonos Move.

Price

Move: £399/$399
Roam: $169

First things first, the Sonos Roam and the Sonos Move might be about to share similarities in terms of Bluetooth and portability, but based on the leaks, they won’t be anywhere near each other in terms of price.

The Sonos Move costs £399 in the UK and $399 in the US. The Sonos Roam is said be coming to market in April for $169, which is about £120 when directly converted though could be £169 in reality, so they target quite different budgets.

Design

Move: 240 x 160 x 126mm, 3kg, IP56, integrated handle
Roam: 157.4 x 63.5 x 63.5mm, 0.45kg, waterproof

The Sonos Move and Sonos Roam are very different in terms of design too, based on the rumours. While they appear to share similar characteristics – like the rest of the Sonos portfolio – they are different sizes, different shapes, different weights and they will have different uses too.

The Sonos Move measures 240 x 160 x 126mm (9.44 x 6.29 x 4.96-inches) and weighs 3kg (6.61lb). It’s oval in shape, very rugged and features an integrated handle. It’s also IP56 rated for protection from dust particles and liquid splashes.

The Sonos Roam meanwhile is rumoured to be a triangular prism shape, measure 157.4 x 63.5 x 63.5mm (6.2 x 2.5 x 2.5-inches) and weigh 0.45kgs (1lb), making it significantly smaller and more portable than Move. Based on the leaked images, it doesn’t have any sort of integrated handle as you wouldn’t need it to carry around, but it is rumoured to be fully waterproof so we expect it to be just as tough as Move, if not more so.

The Sonos Move has capacitive touch controls on top, including play/pause, skip, rewind and a microphone button, along with a Wi-Fi to Bluetooth button on the rear and a pairing button. It also has connection points at the bottom to connect to the wireless charging base.

The Sonos Roam is also expected to have capacitive controls on top based on the leaked images, with what we suspect will be the same control options as Move. There also appears to be a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth toggle switch on the side and a USB Type-C port for charging. The Roam doesn’t appear to have any connection points but it does offer small circular feet for when positoned horizontally.

Sonos Move comes in Shadow Black and Lunar White colour options and the Sonos Roam is claimed to be coming in white and black too.

Features

Move: Bluetooth, Sonos features, Auto Trueplay tuning, smart assistants, AirPlay 2
Roam: Bluetooth, Sonos features, Auto Trueplay tuning, smart assistants, AirPlay 2

Though different in design and price, the Sonos Roam is likely to offer many of the same features as Move, and probably a couple of extras, as is typically the case with new devices.

The Sonos Move is a traditional Bluetooth speaker when in Bluetooth mode, but it is a traditional Sonos speaker when in Wi-Fi mode and connected to a Sonos system, which we fully expect the Roam to be too.

When used as a traditional Sonos speaker, Roam will likely offer all the same features other Sonos speakers do, including support for over 100 music services, multi-room audio, Sonos Radio and alarms, like Move.

We’d also expect it to offer Apple AirPlay 2 support and Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa built-in. Leaks haven’t confirmed if the assistants will be on board Roam, as they are on Move, but we’d be surprised if they weren’t. We’d also expect the Move’s Auto TruePlay tuning feature on the Roam, which automatically adjusts the sound output when the speaker is moved.

Other Sonos speakers have TruePlay tuning on board, but you have to perform the tuning manually and then again anytime you move the speaker’s position.

Audio and hardware

Move: Two class-D amplifiers, mid-woofer, tweeter, far-field mics, 11 hours battery, Wi-Fi 4, Bluetooth
Roam: 10 hours battery, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth

Audio specifications haven’t leaked for the Sonos Roam yet, but based on its size, it won’t deliver the same audio capabilities as the Sonos Move.

The Move has two class-D amplifiers, one mid-woofer integrated into the cabinet and one down-firing tweeter and it delivers excellent sound. It also has a far-field microphone array and a chime to let you know Sonos Move has heard you and is working on a response.

As mentioned, the Move has a wireless charging base but it offers an 11-hour battery life when not on its base. The Sonos Roam has a USB Type-C port for charging based on the leaks, but it is also said to have an optional wireless charging base that can be bought separately.

The Roam’s battery life is said to be 10 hours. We’d expect the Roam to also have a chime and far-field microphone array. Sonos Move supports Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth. Sonos Roam is claimed to support Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth so it should offer better Wi-Fi capabilites if true.

Conclusion

The Sonos Roam looks like it will be a smaller, lighter, more portable Sonos Bluetooth speaker than the Sonos Move. We expect it will offer everything Move does in terms of features, along with some extra ones, and we expect it to be as smart too, but in a more compact format.

We wouldn’t expect the same audio capabilities from Roam as Move delivers given it looks like it will be half the price and size, but as it’s a Sonos speaker, we still expect Roam to deliver on the sound front.

For now, it looks like Sonos Roam will be an excellent addition to any Sonos system, as well as a great starting place for those new to Sonos. It also looks like it will be a lot more portable than Move so perfect for travelling and chucking in a bag.

Meanwhile Move delivers big on sound, but it is big on price too, making it more of an investment. It’s great for those who want an additional Sonos speaker to fill a decent-sized room with sound, but one they can also bring into the garden or the pool. It seemingly isn’t however, the better option out of these two for popping in a bag and bringing to the park as it’s just a little too big.

You can read all about the rumours surrounding the Sonos Roam in our separate feature, but we will update this as soon as the official details are in.

Writing by Britta O’Boyle.

Apple Watch still leads global smartwatch sales

According to the latest Counterpoint Research report on smartwatch shipments in the October – December 2020 period, Apple is still the undisputed leader in the segment. The market saw a 1.5% increase in total shipments compared to the same period in 2019 with Apple alone accounting for 40% of the overall pie. Samsung came in at second place with a 10% market share followed by Huawei with 8%. Fitbit (7%) and BBK group (6%) rounded off the top-five smartwatch brands.

The new report specifies that the Apple Watch Series 6 and Watch SE combined for 12.9 million sales in the last quarter of 2020. Samsung saw a strong performance from its Galaxy Watch3 while Huawei (and Honor) saw the strongest per year growth out of any brand.

Global Smartwatch Vendor Shipments (Millions of Units)
CY ’19
CY ’20
Growth (YoY %)
Apple
28.4
33.9
19%
Huawei
8.7
11.1
26%
Samsung
9.1
9.1
-1%
BBK
7.2
6.6
-9%
Fitbit
6.2
5.9
-4%
Total
59.6
66.6
11.7%
Last month, Apple crossed the 100 million mark for its Apple Watch shipments. According to Counterpoint, the global smartwatch market is seeing a rise in average selling price (ASP) from brands like Apple, Samsung and Huawei. This trend is expected to continue in 2021.

Source

Report: Apple to bring 10.9-inch OLED iPad Pro, OLED Macbook Pro next year

Apple is looking to bring an OLED iPad Pro to market next year. Per a Digitimes report, Apple will use a 10.9-inch OLED panel for its 2022 iPad Pro. The report says that Apple is also planning a 12.9-inch OLED iPad Pro and even an OLED 16-inch MacBook Pro to follow later on in 2022.

The report is a bit questionable, especially given the numerous sources pointing to Apple’s 2021 lineup of iPad Pro’s and MacBook Pro’s adopting the new mini-LED display technology.

The earliest we could see a mini-LED iPad is this month. The new redesigned Apple Silicon-powered MacBook Pro 14 and Pro 16 are also expected to bring mini-LED displays in 2021.

This isn’t the first time we’re hearing of an OLED iPad. A Korean report previously said an OLED iPad is coming in the second half of 2021.

Digitimes’ report claims that Apple is experimenting with mini-LED, micro-LED and OLED technologies for its iPad and MacBook lineup.

Mini-LED and micro-LED are technologies that bring huge improvements to LCDs, both in terms of color quality and brightness. Micro-LED especially is expected to challenge OLED for best display technology, claiming much higher brightness, equally deep blacks, while not suffering from burn-in. But micro-LED is still in its relative infancy. Mini-LED is already being used in TVs in 2021 and is expected to make its appearance on multiple tablets and laptops this year.

Source

Apple clarifies Siri feature that asks users to pick a music app

Earlier this month, we reported about a new feature that was discovered in a Beta version of iOS 14.5 that seemingly allowed users to set a third-party music or podcasting app as the default for Siri voice commands. It wasn’t clear how it worked, and it didn’t always ask the user which app they wished to open the audio with. There also was no menu that let you manually select an app to do this with.

To clarify the function and its purpose, Apple reached out to TechCrunch to explain what this feature was and that its purpose was not to set a default audio app for Siri. Apple confirmed that there is no specific setting in iOS where users can set a default music service like they can with email or browsing apps.

TechCrunch” height=”631″ src=”https://rondea.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/echo/gsmarena_001.jpg” width=”315″>
TechCrunch” height=”631″ src=”https://rondea.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/echo/gsmarena_003.jpg” width=”315″>

Via TechCrunch

Apple explains that this prompt to select a music app is for Siri to learn which apps you use to listen to which kind of content. Maybe you like to use YouTube Music for tunes, but you might like to use Google Podcasts for listening to weekly shows. The same may go for genres of music – perhaps you listen to tech house mixes on YouTube, but you listen to Beyonce on Apple Music.

This will let Siri understand the user’s preferences based on how you listen to content. This would also help Siri to become more useful in selecting the right app for the right situation. According to TechCrunch, this processing is all performed on-device.

Not allowing the user to select a ‘default’ music app is a smart move to improve the experience on iOS – and without having to specify the app every time you ask Siri. The average user doesn’t want to dig through menus for something to just work, so letting Siri do the legwork is very on-brand for Apple.

Source

Montblanc Summit Lite review: Subtle and stylish

(Pocket-lint) – Think ‘Montblanc’ and in your mind’s eye you could be picturing any number of things: wallets, pens, jewellery, watches, bags, belts, or even notebooks. The one thing that they all have in common (apart from often being made from black leather) is that they’re luxury items and aren’t cheap. A Meisterstück gold-coated Classique ballpoint pen could set you back hundreds.

So when Montblanc launches a Wear OS smartwatch it’s best to go in with the expectation that it won’t be cheap. But actually, if you compare this second-gen watch – here the Summit Lite – to other Montblanc watches, it’s relatively cost efficient. That means there’s still definitely some appeal here for anyone wanting a luxury smartwatch but who doesn’t wish to spend more than a grand.

Design

Colours: Grey or black
43mm aluminium case
Straps: Fabric or rubber
Anti-scratch crystal glass
Water resistant to 50m (5ATM)
Rotating crown and 3 push buttons

Montblanc’s first smartwatch, the Summit, was pretty but underwhelming. From a design perspective there was a missed opportunity – it had a stylish looking crown, but it didn’t rotate and it was the only button on the side; and we found the whole device too big.

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The company improved things considerably with the Summit 2, which launched in 2019, and now there’s the new Summit Lite model – hence that slightly more affordable price point.

The Summit Lite has three buttons on its side. Each of them feels sumptuous when pressed, giving a lovely ‘click’ and feeling just like a proper watch with proper buttons should. But the best thing about these buttons is that the middle one has a proper rotating crown.

Rotating it is smooth and effortless without it feeling too loose. Doing so enables you interact with elements on the screen. For instance, you can use it to scroll up and down lists or messages, or – when on the watch face – bring up notifications or the quick settings tiles.

Our only complaint about the rotating crown – as pretty and shiny as it is – is the surface is just a little too smooth and shiny. That means you need a little firm pressure to make sure you finger gets enough traction to turn it. A slightly toothier edge would have made this a little easier.

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What’s great about traditional fashion and design companies getting involved in the smartwatch market is that they deliver decent case designs. For its full-fat Summit watches, Montblanc uses stainless steel for the case material. With the Lite model it’s aluminium.

The 43mm case isn’t too big and sits comfortably on the wrist. The contrast between the glossy bezel and buttons with their softer anodised finish on the case is eye-catching. It has that glint of dress watch that looks great just subtly poking out from under your blazer or cardigan sleeve.

There are some subtle angles on the lugs that make the edges softer in appearance, while they curve downwards towards the strap to create a skinny side-on profile. It’s nice and lightweight too thanks to that shift from steel to aluminium.

It’s not just about being pretty though. The casing feels like it’s well put together, while the screen is capped off with crystal glass to help avoid scratches from when you inevitably brush it against all manner of hard surfaces in your daily activity.

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Our unit shipped with a thick black rubber strap which had something of a ‘sticky’ feel when we first put it on, but that sensation has since tamed. Other fabric strap options are available too. However, the case will fit any 22mm strap and the quick-release catches mean it’s super simple to swap for one you really want.

Turn the Summit Lite upside down and you’ll see its well-considered underside. Right in the centre is the optical heart-rate sensor – built within a subtle protrusion that’s surrounded by a metal ring – and accompanied by a four-pin connector for the charging base.

It looks and feels more purposeful than a lot of other Wear OS undersides and, happily, it snaps onto its magnetic charging cradle with ease. It holds the watch in position well and – thanks to having a rounded cutout for the rotating crown – only fits the watch one way, so there’s no chance you’ll ever find yourself placing the watch in the wrong way.

If there’s any criticism it’s that the cradle itself is relatively lightweight plastic and so – because of the strong connection – if you try and remove the watch one-handed you’ll more than likely take the cradle with you. You need to hold both in order to separate them.

Pocket-lint

On the plus side, the underside is coated in an almost-sticky rubber-like material that helps it not to slide around all over the place.

Display and software

1.2-inch circular AMOLED display
- 390 x 390 resolution
Wear OS software

For the most part, the software situation with the Montblanc Summit Lite is the same as pretty much every other Google Wear OS watch. The main interfaces and preinstalled apps are the same, but it comes with Montblanc’s own watch faces.

Pocket-lint

Press the middle button and it launches your apps list, and the top and bottom buttons can be customised to launch any number of functions or apps. By default, however, they launch two elements of Montblanc’s own activity tracker screens. And this is where the Summit Lite is slightly different to some of the other Wear OS devices.

The activity app can be used to manually track any workout, but will also track your movement, heart-rate and stress levels throughout the day, and your sleep quality at night. Combining that information it can also measure how well rested you are and give you an Energy Level reading. It’s similar in theory to Garmin’s Body Battery feature.

Go running and it’ll work out your VO2 Max (that’s blood oxygen saturation) and judge your fitness level. It’ll even give you the time frame you need to rest for in order to recover for you next workout session. Interestingly, there’s also a Cardio Coach function which tells you what you should aim for in terms of heart rate intensity and duration for your next activity.

There are some pretty glaring holes in this workout software though. Firstly, there’s no mobile companion app. That means all that useful data and detail just stays on the watch. Secondly, if you go on a run or bike ride, there’s no map to look at afterwards to see if it tracked your route properly.

The solution to these issues is to use third-party apps – like Strava for running/cycling – or just use the Google Fit app that’s built-in as standard to all Wear OS watches.

Pocket-lint

For those who want those features it makes more sense to completely bypass Montblanc’s offering. It’s a shame really, because otherwise that data and information on the watch could be really useful. It’d just be nice to get access to it from a phone.

Otherwise accuracy seems on point. Comparing the Summit Lite’s data to that captured on the Garmin Vivoactive 4 reveals that the average heart-rate was within one or two beats-per-minute away from matching. There was a slight difference in distance measured and, as a result, pace – but not enough that it made any serious difference to the tracked activity. It was about 10-20 metres out on a 25 minute 4km run, which is a pretty standard discrepancy between watches.

All of this software and detail is shown on a fully round AMOLED panel. It’s a 1.2-inch screen, and boasts 390 pixels both vertically and horizontally, making pretty much on par with the latest hardware from the likes of Fossil.

Hardware and battery performance

Snapdragon Wear 3100 platform
1GB RAM + 8GB storage

Tech aficionados will complain that a watch in 2021 doesn’t feature the newest Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor. Nonetheless, there’s not a huge amount wrong with the way the Montblanc Summit Lite performs.

The Wear 3100 processor here ensures that the interface and animations are mostly smooth and responsive. There are elements that still feel a little laggy and slow, however, which is usually when extra data is required – like when browsing the Google Play Store on the wrist to download apps. There’s a little bit of a wait launching most apps, too. You’ll maybe need to wait three seconds for Google’s Keep Notes to launch, for example.

Pocket-lint

As far as connectivity and modern tech goes, the Summit Lite has pretty much everything you’d want from a smartwatch. There’s NFC (near field communication) to enable Google Pay for contactless payments. There’s Wi-Fi for direct downloading apps on to the watch. And there’s GPS for location tracking.

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Battery life is pretty standard for a Wear OS watch too: you’ll get roughly two days between charges. We managed to get through two work days even with the always-on display switched on – because the watch faces run a lower brightness and lower refresh rate than the main watch face.

Verdict

The Montblanc Summit Lite’s side buttons have been purposefully redesigned with a proper rotating crown for enhanced interaction, paired with a great all-round display, plus all the features you’d expect from a Wear OS watch.

Despite being a ‘Lite’ model it’s still expensive, though, so you’re very much still paying for the Montblanc brand name. Furthermore Montblanc’s otherwise useful activity tracking doesn’t have a companion phone app to download and view your data in much detail. So it’s more decoration than designed for those super serious about tracking fitness.

Overall, things have improved dramatically since the first Montblanc Summit watch. The Summit Lite is really well designed, with its subtle, stylish and almost minimalist look, while also featuring practical material choices and the durability you’d expect from any modern smartwatch.

Also consider

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Tag Heuer Connected 2020

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Compare the prices and the Montblanc starts to look like good value for money. The Tag is about double the price, but it’s still the luxury smartwatch champ that has a lot going for it.

Read our review

Pocket-lint

Fossil Gen 5 Garrett HR

squirrel_widget_307331

On the complete opposite end of the scale, but with a similar approach to style, Fossil’s Garrett is one of the nicest looking and more affordable options from the popular fashion brand.

Read our review

Writing by Cam Bunton. Editing by Mike Lowe.

Tim Wu, the ‘father of net neutrality,’ is joining the Biden administration

Tim Wu — the Columbia law professor who coined the term “net neutrality” — is joining the Biden administration, where he’ll be working on technology and competition policy at the National Economic Council.

Happy to say I’m joining the Biden White House to work on Technology and Competition Policy at the National Economic Council. Putting this twitter feed on hold for now — so long!

— Tim Wu (@superwuster) March 5, 2021

Wu is a prominent voice online, as one of the most well-known advocates for a free and open internet. He’s spent years arguing for the concept of net neutrality — the idea that the internet should be free of throttling or control from the government or companies that provide it.

He’s also been a prominent voice in recent years on the subject of antitrust regulation against big tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon, arguing that these companies have gotten too large and lack competition.

His 2018 book, The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age, argues for a return to 20th-century antitrust breakups in the style of Teddy Roosevelt. “I think everyone’s steering way away from the monopolies, and I think it’s hurting innovation in the tech sector,” said Wu in a Vergecast interview at the time.

The choice of Wu is a significant one, signaling that the Biden administration is looking to more aggressively try to curb the ever-growing power of big technology companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. In a statement posted to Twitter, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) applauded the choice: “I look forward to working with Tim to modernize antitrust regulation, strength our economy, and protect workers and consumers.”

Montblanc Summit Lite review: Subtle and stylish

Design

Colours: Grey or black
43mm aluminium case
Straps: Fabric or rubber
Anti-scratch crystal glass
Water resistant to 50m (5ATM)
Rotating crown and 3 push buttons

Pocket-lint

The company improved things considerably with the Summit 2, which launched in 2019, and now there’s the new Summit Lite model – hence that slightly more affordable price point.

Pocket-lint

On the plus side, the underside is coated in an almost-sticky rubber-like material that helps it not to slide around all over the place.

Display and software

1.2-inch circular AMOLED display
- 390 x 390 resolution
Wear OS software

Pocket-lint

The solution to these issues is to use third-party apps – like Strava for running/cycling – or just use the Google Fit app that’s built-in as standard to all Wear OS watches.

Pocket-lint

Hardware and battery performance

Snapdragon Wear 3100 platform
1GB RAM + 8GB storage

Pocket-lint

Apple watchOS 7: All the key new Apple Watch features explored

By Maggie Tillman
·
5 March 2021

Verdict

Also consider

Pocket-lint

Tag Heuer Connected 2020

squirrel_widget_231495

Compare the prices and the Montblanc starts to look like good value for money. The Tag is about double the price, but it’s still the luxury smartwatch champ that has a lot going for it.

Read our review

Pocket-lint

Fossil Gen 5 Garrett HR

squirrel_widget_307331

On the complete opposite end of the scale, but with a similar approach to style, Fossil’s Garrett is one of the nicest looking and more affordable options from the popular fashion brand.

Read our review

Writing by Cam Bunton. Editing by Mike Lowe.

Apple’s new Find My feature could let you know if you’re the one being tracked

Apple’s Find My app might get a new safety feature to help prevent someone from using the kinds of devices tracked in the app to stalk you instead. “Item Safety Alerts”, spotted in the iOS 14.5 beta, will notify you if an unknown device being tracked on Find My is “moving with you” so you can remove it or disable it, 9to5Mac reports.

The feature seems designed to counteract a scenario where a Find My-compatible device is hidden in a pocket or bag and then used to track someone’s movements. The Item Safety Alerts setting was found in early versions of iOS 14.3, according to AppleInsider, but was removed until its reappearance in iOS 14.5. The setting is enabled by default in the beta and Apple seems to want it to stay on. If you turn off the setting off, the system will warn you that unknown devices can see your location without you being notified, Apple blogger Benjamin Mayo shared on Twitter.

Something I hadn’t considered before: new beta includes a Item Safety setting in Find My. This is how Apple is trying to prevent ‘stalking’ with AirTags. If someone secretly hides a tag in your possessions, your phone will notice and warn you about it. pic.twitter.com/NVJyAZlthw

— Benjamin Mayo (@bzamayo) March 4, 2021

Addressing the risk of stalking in Find My is newly important because of Apple’s plans to open up the app to third-party accessories. Hiding an iPhone, iPad, or MacBook in someone’s bag to track them is difficult, but a small keychain-sized device like Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTag or Tile’s upcoming ultra wideband (UWB) tracker could be a lot easier. Apple’s rumored AirTags could also be a candidate for misuse, and reintroducing this feature into iOS might mean they’re on their way to release.

Find My settings screen with ‘Item Safety Alerts’ turned on.

Image: 9to5Mac

While it’s not necessarily as powerful as a GPS beacon with a cellular radio, Apple’s Find My network may have more reach than you’d think. If an Apple device comes near one of these supported trackers, it can update its location, even if the tracker doesn’t have its own connection to the internet. Tile’s “Community Find” feature works similarly. AirTags could theoretically expand the reach and precision even more, with an added UWB signal in the tag that can make items easier to find behind walls and in other rooms.

There are at least a few examples where gadgets like this have been abused: In 2018, a woman in Texas noticed her ex-partner kept showing up at restaurants, other people’s houses, and even an out-of-town trip, without a clear way of knowing where she was, ABC 13 reported. She’d later learn her ex had stashed a Tile tracker in the front console of her car, and was using it to find her. A Texas beauty queen shared a similar stalking story in 2016.

Porsche’s Taycan Cross Turismo is a wagon-y follow-up to its first EV

Porsche has finally unveiled the wagon-y sibling of the Taycan EV. Originally teased in concept form in 2018 and due out this summer, the Taycan Cross Turismo is a more utility-minded version of Porsche’s first EV with a hatch rear, more interior space, greater ground clearance, and off-road-oriented options.

The new crossover EV starts at $90,900, plus delivery fees. Much like the regular Taycan sedan, there are four different versions with increasing price and performance: the Taycan 4 Cross Turismo, the Taycan 4S Cross Turismo, the Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo, and the Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo.

Unlike the regular Taycan, all four versions of the Cross Turismo come fitted with Porsche’s larger 93.4kWh battery pack and a dual-motor, all-wheel drive setup. Each trim of the Cross Turismo is about a tenth of a second slower from 0 to 60 miles per hour than its sedan counterpart due to the extra size and weight, though the base model is 0.3 seconds quicker than the regular Taycan 4S. The more you pay, the more powerful the motors, with the top-tier Turbo S Cross Turismo reaching a peak 750 horsepower in launch control mode.

The Cross Turismo also offers 0.39 inches (10 mm) of extra headroom in the front seat and 3.62 inches (92mm) more in the rear seat than the Taycan sedans. There’s more space throughout, really, thanks to the hatch and the fact that the Cross Turismo is about a half-inch longer and an inch taller than the sedan. That results in a few extra cubic feet of storage in the Cross Turismo, too, though the front trunk remains the same size.

The Cross Turismo isn’t really going to be an off-roader like the forthcoming Rivian pickup truck or the Hummer EV, though Porsche clearly wants to make buyers feel like they could handle some rough terrain if push comes to shove.

All four versions of the Cross Turismo come with adaptive air suspension, which can be used to quickly raise the vehicle’s clearance by 0.39 inches (10 mm) and stiffen up the ride when in “Gravel Mode.” Switching to this mode also ramps up the traction and stability control and the torque management to make it easier to drive on “loose surfaces” like mud, sand, and — of course — gravel. Beyond that, buyers can opt for an “off-road design package” that adds some black trim around the Cross Turismo and defaults to the Gravel Mode ride height. Roof rails and a bike rack (which would hold Porsche’s pricey new e-bikes quite nicely) are options as well.

With these wan off-road aspirations, it’s not surprising that Taycan Cross Turismo buyers won’t have to sacrifice typical Porsche amenities or features like wireless Apple CarPlay, or the same kinds of upgrades found on the Taycan sedan (adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, heads-up display, 14-way adjustable massage seats, Bose and Burmester audio systems, etc.).

This was essentially the core promise when the Cross Turismo debuted: a slightly bigger, more SUV-ish version of what was then called the Mission E. And while some people may be disappointed that the final production Cross Turismo doesn’t look as ready to rally as the concept did, it should certainly help Porsche sell more EVs until its legitimately popular SUVs make the switch to electric power, too.

Jeep’s 2022 Wagoneer will have Amazon Fire TV built in

Amazon’s Fire TV entertainment platform is going to hit the road in Jeep’s 2022 Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer SUVs, which will be the first to feature built-in Fire TV support.

The upcoming Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer are set to be formally revealed on March 11th, but Jeep’s parent company, Stellantis, has given a preview by announcing the new Amazon integration today.

Amazon’s software will be accessible from both the main display and rear seat screens. (Jeep says a privacy filter will prevent the driver from watching Prime Video content while driving, although they’ll be able to watch when the cars are parked.)

Fire TV for Auto is designed to work alongside Uconnect 5, with added support for Amazon’s Alexa Auto technology for things like smart home controls. There’s also a custom Fire TV remote with an integrated Alexa microphone and a Uconnect button to easily access things like in-car temperature controls or maps. Users will also be able to download compatible content for longer trips where they’re not able or willing to use data to stream their favorite shows and movies.

The addition of Fire TV is the latest in a trend of carmakers being increasingly on board with including software from major tech companies. This includes the expansion of Android Auto and Apple’s CarPlay to deeper integrations like the Polestar 2, which runs Android Automotive natively.

Fire TV for Auto will be available in fall 2021 in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Apple clarifies that iOS 14.5 won’t let you permanently choose a new default music service

iOS 14.5 is in beta right now, and the first beta appeared to have a long-awaited feature: it seemed you would be able to set Spotify and other music services as the default for Siri requests. But Apple has clarified with TechCrunch that the feature doesn’t actually work that way. Instead, selecting a music service for Siri requests is apparently intended to improve Siri’s smarts so that it can better know your audio-listening preferences.

In our testing of the first iOS 14.5 beta, when you would ask Siri to play a song, it would show a list of music services to play a song from. After you made your choice, Siri song requests would then play from the service you selected without requiring you to pick again. But you’re not actually picking a default service, TechCrunch reports.

“The feature is an attempt to help Siri to learn the listening apps you want to use for different types of audio content — not just music,” according to TechCrunch. “Perhaps you want to use Spotify to listen to music, but prefer to keep up with your podcasts in Apple Podcasts or some other third-party podcasts app. And you may want to listen to audiobooks in yet another app.” Apple’s assistant may even ask your preference again in future.

Apple also noted to TechCrunch that there’s no setting in iOS where you can set your music service default, unlike the options available for setting a default email service or browser. (We also observed this when we tested the feature with the first beta of iOS 14.5.) However, you can still ask that a song play from a specific service as part of your Siri request.

Apple still seems to be tweaking the feature, as it was dropped from the second beta before being reintroduced this week with the third. And because it is still in beta, there’s always the chance the feature could change ahead of the final release, though we’ve asked Apple if it can confirm that it will appear in the public version of iOS 14.5.

The days of knowing how big a movie is are seemingly over in a streaming-first era

Last week, Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry debuted on Apple TV Plus. The documentary became the “biggest hit title for young adult audiences that Apple has had so far across its slate of films and TV series,” according to Deadline, drawing a “record-breaking 33 percent new viewers to the service.”

Sounds impressive, right? It would if Apple provided any kind of context for declarations like “biggest hit” and “record-breaking” subscriber adds. Instead, we’re left wondering:

How many subscribers does Apple TV Plus have currently?
How many people actually watched Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry?
How many of those new subscribers are on free Apple TV Plus trial plans?
How do those viewership numbers and subscriber additions compare to every other title?

Without any of this context, 10 million people could have watched Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry or 10,000 people. I was one of them! But there’s a stark difference between those two figures. In a pre-streaming world, if the documentary was released in theaters or debuted on a network like MTV, there would be actual statistics. Weekly box office reports and Nielsen breakdowns exist to provide public insight into how well a movie or TV show is performing.

It’s not just Apple either — with a stronger push to streaming, there’s no reason for companies to divulge numbers. As more original series and films premiere on streaming services, and as more films get taken out of theaters early to move onto a streaming service, the idea of what’s considered an official hit becomes much more difficult to track. Here are just some examples for the past few months:

Hulu’s Happiest Season was the “most-watched film across all acquired and Hulu Original films” over its opening weekend.
Just a few weeks prior to Happiest Season, Hulu’s Run set the record for the “most-watched film ever on Hulu during its opening weekend.”
HBO Max’s The Little Things “quickly shot up to number one” in its opening weekend, according to WarnerMedia executive Andy Forssell.

As of right now, there’s no reason for the companies to release numbers. It’s a pick ‘em on will strategy. A movie or TV show does astoundingly well, and that’s a good reason for a company like Disney or Netflix to send out a blast. (Video game publishers use a similar numbers-boasting strategy.) Netflix will note that 99 million household accounts watched at least two minutes of Extraction within the first four weeks of its release. It sounds really good! It’s also, unfortunately, the most upfront a streaming service is about viewership. But how many people finished watching Extraction compared to how many people might have thrown it on and decided after five minutes to just watch The Witcher again or do something else entirely?

None of this matters to the streaming companies. Netflix has more than 203 million subscribers and is growing. Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO Max, and Peacock are also growing, based on quarterly earnings. Apple has never announced how many subscribers Apple TV Plus has, but third-party analyst firms have repeatedly pointed out that a significant portion of its subscriber base is using free trial periods.

The box office doesn’t dictate quality, but it does track global cultural phenomenons. As Todd Boyd, a professor of popular culture at the University of Southern California told NPR, “they’re like some huge event that for many people is an option for them to say that ‘I participated in something that a lot of other people also participated in,’ and this allows them to be defined as part of a group.” In the case of Avengers: Endgame, people rallied to try to make it the most successful film of all time, tracking daily box office numbers.

Last year, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told analysts the company is making the equivalent of billion-dollar movies. The billion-dollar movie — a new Star Wars, Fast and Furious, Marvel, or DC title — speaks to the power of a cultural phenomenon, of a true pop culture moment. It’s a sign of something celebrated and experienced with millions of other people around the world — people who went to a movie and likely sat through the entire thing. As Bilge Ebiri wrote at Vulture, having public data about people who watched an entire movie on Netflix or Hulu or HBO Max “tells us not just whether a movie or show made it to the right people, but also whether those people stuck with it or not — maybe even, gasp, enjoyed it.”

With the future of theaters so uncertain, this will only become a bigger problem being brought over to streaming platforms. Even less data will be made available about what swaths of people are watching. As a result, more viewing experiences will feel increasingly isolating. People like partaking in popular culture, in watching the hit that everyone else is watching — but figuring out what’s a hit and what isn’t is getting much harder to determine.