Best Samsung Fitness Tracker

• Best overall
• Best with more features
• Best for less

Best overall

Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro

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When looking at Samsung’s range of wearables, for many the Gear Fit2 Pro is its best overall performer. It checks all of the boxes for fitness tracking, with the sensors and software capable of following everything from your daily movements all the way up to running, gym workouts and swimming.

The Fit2 Pro manages to be relatively small compared to full-blown smartwatches, but still has a big enough screen that you can see everything you need to. It can even handle basic “smartwatch” tasks like showing you your notifications and incoming calls to your phone. It also has standalone GPS, storage and Bluetooth for headphones, so you can leave the phone behind if you want to go for a run unencumbered.

Bottom line: The Gear Fit2 Pro does everything you’d need in a fitness band, and also has some basic smartwatch-style features as well.

One more thing: Be sure to look at the size guide and choose whether you want a small or large band to properly fit your wrist.

Why the Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro is the best

For the Gear Fit2 Pro, Samsung took what it learned from its last few rounds of general-purpose smartwatches, added in some knowledge from the first Gear Fit2, and came out with a great overall fitness tracker. The Fit2 Pro is a bit bigger than the barebones trackers out there, but for good reason: it has a great display for showing you all of your fitness-related information, and can even pull in notifications from your phone.

It’s a fitness tracker for almost every kind of person, and has some smartwatch-like features too.

Sure it does the typical daily tracking of steps and floors, but can also be utilized for running (with GPS tracking), gym workouts and now swimming as well. The newly designed strap will stay on your wrist through vigorous workouts unlike the original Fit2, and it can be swapped out for different sizes and styles if you want to change the look.

Beyond the basic on-person tracking, the Gear Fit2 Pro can also sync up with Samsung Health for tracking other parts of your health like food and water intake, as well as heart rate and sleep information. There are also partner apps from big names like Under Armour, MapMyRun and more so you can integrate the Fit2 Pro into your existing routine.

Best with more features

Samsung Gear Sport

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As the name implies, the Gear Sport offers a near-identical feature set to the Gear Fit2 Pro. It can do all of the same daily and active tracking for all of your workouts, but it just does it in a larger smartwatch form factor instead.

That means you get a larger circular display that gives you more information per screen, as well as a great rotating bezel for navigation. You also get full-on smartwatch features like interacting with and replying to notifications, installing apps and managing more local data on the smartwatch itself.

Bottom line: For a full-featured smartwatch that’s still extremely capable for fitness tracking, the Gear Sport is the one to get.

One more thing: This may not be the best choice, size-wise, for intense gym workouts or swimming — even though it can track those activities.

Best for less

Samsung Gear Fit2

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See at Best Buy

Though it lacks the “Pro” moniker, the original Gear Fit2 is still a great fitness tracker — and now that it’s getting older, it’s much cheaper. It has the same overall dimensions and core capabilities as the new Fit2 Pro, but has a weaker strap and lacks the hardcore waterproofing required for swim tracking.

When it comes to getting the basic fitness tracking, run tracking and notification management done, the Gear Fit2 will handle the task the same as the newer Fit2 Pro will. Just be sure to know the exact limitations before choosing to save some money compared to the Fit2 Pro model.

Bottom line: For a great core fitness tracking solution for a bit less money, the standard Fit2 is still a great choice.

One more thing: Consider a different style of band if you plan to use the Fit2 for high intensity workouts where it could come off.

Conclusion

The Gear Fit2 Pro is the best fitness tracker Samsung makes, and in general one of the better fitness tracker options out in the market today.

Best overall

Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro

See at Amazon
See at Best Buy

When looking at Samsung’s range of wearables, for many the Gear Fit2 Pro is its best overall performer. It checks all of the boxes for fitness tracking, with the sensors and software capable of following everything from your daily movements all the way up to running, gym workouts and swimming.

The Fit2 Pro manages to be relatively small compared to full-blown smartwatches, but still has a big enough screen that you can see everything you need to. It can even handle basic “smartwatch” tasks like showing you your notifications and incoming calls to your phone. It also has standalone GPS, storage and Bluetooth for headphones, so you can leave the phone behind if you want to go on a run unencumbered.

Bottom line: The Gear Fit2 Pro does everything you’d need in a fitness band, and also has some basic smartwatch-style features as well.

One more thing: Be sure to look at the size guide and choose whether you want a small or large band to properly fit your wrist.

NBC is adapting UK tech support sitcom ‘The IT Crowd’

NBC had a hit adapting the BBC version of The Office and now it’s hoping for the same with UK hit The IT Crowd. The network is set to adapt the Channel 4 sitcom with the original creator, Graham Lineham, who will write and produce, Variety reports. Like the British series, it will revolve around tech workers in the IT department of a giant corporation, but will be a “re-imagining” of the original, not a clone. “Oh, yeah. Working on it. Don’t expect the same kind of show and EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY,” Lineham confirmed on Twitter.

Oh, yeah. Working on it. Don’t expect the same kind of show and EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY https://t.co/vtTUQZyJlB

— Graham ‘jack and biz are nazis I guess?’ Linehan (@Glinner) December 15, 2017

The original ran from 2006 until 2010, with a wrap-up special released on 2013. It starred Chris O’Dowd, Richard Ayoade and Katherine Parkinson as socially inept “standard nerds” stuck in a basement office and ignored by other employees. Their tech support techniques include responding to questions with recordings like “have you tried turning it off and on again?”

Oddly enough, this will be NBC’s third attempt to adapt the show. It made a pilot in 2007 with Joel McHale and Jessica St. Clair, and another in 2014, neither of which when any further. There’s no news yet on who will star in the new adaptation, but they’ll have big shoes to fill. After the original series, O’Dowd and Ayoade went on to star in and direct feature films (Bridesmaids and Submarine, respectively).

Source: Variety

Microsoft patent points to folding dual-screen notebook

New patent filings from Microsoft appear to hint at that foldable notepad we’ve heard rumors of for a while, The Verge reports. Filed earlier this week, the patent contains a number of images depicting a unique hinge and a few that show a foldable, two screen device that appears to work in a number of configurations.

In one image, half of the screen serves as a display while the other half has a virtual keyboard and trackpad. In another image, the device is situated in a tent-like formation with its display showing an alarm clock.

Microsoft also filed a patent in January that featured a hinged device, though these new filings provide quite a bit more detail. And this patent bears more than a little similarity to Microsoft’s old Courier project. The company isn’t the only one pursuing a foldable mobile device, however. There’s ZTE’s interesting but flawed Axon M and Lenovo’s Yoga Book, though that doesn’t have two screens. And Samsung has teased a foldable Galaxy Note device that it says could launch as early as next year.

This patent doesn’t give us any clue as to when or even if such a device will hit the market but it provides an intriguing peek into what could be on the way.

Image: Microsoft

Via: The Verge

Source: WIPO

Facebook’s ‘snooze’ button mutes a friend for 30 days

A sad truth of Facebook: many of us follow people who annoy us pretty frequently. Rather than going through the social pain of un-friending someone, however, Facebook has offered the option to stay friends with someone but mute all of their posts in your News Feed. Today, Facebook is rolling out a similar feature that’s a little less severe — you can “snooze” friends, groups or pages for 30 days by clicking the drop-down menu on a post. It’s a smart addition; Facebook itself says that many people want to stop seeing posts from people, but only for a temporary amount of time. Imagine having a friend whose vacation pictures are giving you serious FOMO, or you just need a break from your crazy uncle’s MAGA rants (you might be better off unfollowing him entirely, but the choice is now up to you).

While Facebook still relentlessly uses its algorithms to show posts in your News Feed, there’s at least a decent amount of customization users can do here. Besides snoozing and unfollowing friends, you can also pick specific pages or friends that’ll show updates at the top of your feed when you visit, or hide a post if you get sick of it popping in your feed. Of course, life would be easier if we all felt more comfortable just unfriending people we got tired of on Facebook, but one step at a time.

Facebook tested out this temporary unfollow option earlier in the year, but today it should be available to all users.

Source: Facebook

Volvo reduces autonomous driving tests to find the right sensors

Volvo is adjusting the timeline on its ambitious Drive Me autonomous program until it can find the right sensors. “The development in sensor performance and processor capabilities is going so much faster than we expected in 2013,” program director Marcus Rothoff recently told Automotive News Europe. “Because advancements are being made at such a rapid pace, we want to make this decision as late as possible.”

In addition to the sensors that enable Level 4 autonomy (the car can drive itself, but a steering wheel and pedals are still present), the Swedish automaker is having issues with the wiring. Rothoff said that laying copper has been “a really huge” challenge that was unanticipated at the project’s outset in 2013.

This means the original estimate of 100 self-driving test vehicles has been adjusted to having 100 people in the pilot program by 2021. At the moment, there are a pair of Swedish families using Level 2 XC90s outfitted with cameras and gear inside to see how real families interact with the vehicles in controlled test situations.

Volvo feels it needs to do more than show up with autonomous tech; it has to figure out what will make people pony up a $10,000 premium for the feature. “The autonomous car must be the safest car on the road,” according to Rothoff. “But you don’t just pay for it being the safest. You need to know it had a value. The research is helping us extract what this value is.”

Other companies have gone about that phase differently. Either with simulated tests in a virtual environment a la Waymo or gathering telemetry from Level 2 production vehicles like Cadillac and Tesla. We’ll have to wait and see if Volvo’s deliberate approach pays off.

Via: The Verge

Source: Automotive News Europe

Free Shipping Day 2017: Hundreds of Online Retailers Offering Free U.S. Shipping and Guaranteed Christmas Delivery

In the United States and a select few other countries today is Free Shipping Day, a shopping holiday in which most participating retailers offer free shipping with no minimum purchase required. Although lesser-known than previous shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Free Shipping Day is a great opportunity for last-minute shoppers to get orders in ahead of Christmas, because most retailers joining in on the shopping holiday also guarantee delivery by December 24th.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Over 900 retailers are participating in the event, so chances are there is a store you might be interested in that you can place an order for free shipping today. Some websites require a code and also go beyond free shipping to offer you discounts and other promotions.

Below we’ve listed a few places joining in on the event:

• Target – Free shipping on all orders
• Best Buy – Free shipping on all orders
• OtterBox – Free 2-day shipping on all orders
• LifeProof – Free shipping on all LifeProof Protective Cases and accesories, 10 percent off purchase (Code: LPFS17)
• Speck – Free 2-day shipping on all orders, $15 gift card with purchase of $30 or more
• Office Depot/OfficeMax – Free shipping on all orders
• Bose – Free expedited shipping on all orders
• Belkin – Free ground shipping on all orders
• Sonos – Free shipping sitewide (Code: FRE2NDYSHP17)
• Case-Mate – Free sitewide shipping, $10 off order (Code: SHIP10)
• Brydge – Free shipping on all orders
• Macy’s – Free shipping on all orders
• JCPenney – Free shipping on all orders (Code: SHIP3)

Although this is a one-day-only shopping event, some stores are stretching their free shipping and guaranteed Christmas delivery policies further into this weekend and early next week, so make sure to read the promotion and delivery promises at each website you visit for more information.

There are also numerous stores taking part in the event that require a minimum purchase to be made for free shipping to be activated. These include Amazon ($25 or more), Walmart ($35 or more), Verizon ($49 or more), GameStop ($50 or more), and others that FreeShippingDay.com has listed on its website (which is loading slowly today, likely due to high traffic).

As a note for Apple.com, the company is offering free next-day delivery on in-stock items ordered by 3 p.m. local time on December 22, so you still have one week from today to get your Apple orders in for Christmas.

Visit our Deals Roundup for more sales and promotional offers that might help you out during your holiday shopping.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals
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Huawei and Xiaomi Aiming to Rival iPhone in United States With AT&T and Verizon Sales Partnerships

Chinese smartphone makers Huawei and Xiaomi are reportedly in discussions with carriers AT&T and Verizon, who may begin selling each company’s flagship Android smartphones in the United States as early as next year.

The negotiations are still in progress, and it’s possible no final agreements will materialize, according to Bloomberg News.

The news echoes an earlier report from The Information that claimed AT&T has tentatively agreed to sell at least one Huawei smartphone, which was believed to be a high-end model resembling the company’s flagship Mate 10 handset.

A partnership with AT&T and/or Verizon would be a major win for Huawei, already the world’s third largest smartphone maker by market share behind Samsung and Apple, which dominate the smartphone market in the United States.

Huawei is the most popular smartphone maker in China, and it has aggressively pushed into Europe and Canada, but it has considerably less brand awareness in the United States since no major carriers sell its smartphones in the country. American customers currently have to resort to retailers such as Best Buy, Walmart, or Amazon to purchase a Huawei smartphone.

If it wants to achieve its lofty goal of becoming the largest smartphone maker in the entire world by 2021, Huawei will almost certainly have to secure these types of agreements with AT&T, Verizon, and other carriers.

Huawei remained in third place with an estimated 39.1 million smartphone shipments worldwide last quarter, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, while Apple reported sales of 46.7 million iPhones over that period.

In the United States, Huawei held just a 0.2 percent share of the smartphone market as of June 2017, according to Counterpoint Research.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi said it aims to roll out smartphones in the United States within two years. Xiaomi is also considering opening retail stores in the country to increase its brand presence, according to the report.

Tags: bloomberg.com, Huawei, Xiaomi
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Xbox Party Chat Coming Soon to iOS and Android Apps

Microsoft this week announced that the beta for its main Xbox iOS app will soon allow testers to enable party chat and speak with friends who are in a party on Xbox One, with a wide launch expected to follow. Those interested can sign up for the Xbox app beta, run through Apple’s TestFlight program, on Microsoft’s website. The party chat mode is already available on the Android beta of the Xbox app, as spotted on Reddit (via Engadget).

Xbox party chat beta is now available in the Xbox beta app for Android (available in app store) and iOS (sign up for the iOS beta here https://t.co/4jXxF2CQs2)

— Larry Hryb (@majornelson) December 14, 2017

Details on the party chat feature are scarce, but it appears that it will work similarly to Nintendo’s Switch Online mobile app, although likely won’t be as game-specific. Nintendo’s app was created due to the fact that the Switch console itself lacks a voice chat feature, so players in online games like Splatoon 2 are required to use the Switch Online app if they want to talk with friends. As of today, Splatoon 2 is still the only game supported in the app, despite numerous other online games being available for Switch, like Mario Kart 8.

For the Xbox app, players will be able to chat with their friends who are playing on Xbox — or on the mobile app themselves — even when not at home near their console. Otherwise, the app allows users to view their friend list, send messages, post updates and game clips, purchase games on the store, and more. The Xbox app is available to download for free on the iOS App Store [Direct Link].

Tags: Microsoft, Xbox
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Creepy platformer ‘Inside’ leaps from console to iOS

Inside was my favorite game from 2016. It’s a short, atmospheric adventure by Playdead — the same studio behind the mesmerizing, monochromatic Limbo — with a truly thought-provoking ending. Even now, I think about the game’s final moments and what some of the build-up meant. If you haven’t played it before and own an iPhone or iPad, there’s no better chance to jump in — the game is out on iOS today. It’s free to start but requires a $6.99 fee to reach the end credits. Trust me, it’s well worth the asking price; few puzzle-platformers are this hauntingly beautiful.

Source: Inside (iOS)

The UK is getting a combined physical and digital games chart

A combined physical and digital games chart is finally coming to the UK. At the moment, the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) supplies GfK with exclusive data on boxed game sales. GfK’s charts are considered the gold standard because of its relationship with the ERA, which counts GAME, Amazon and the nation’s top supermarkets among its members. Now, the ERA has announced that its exclusivity deal with GfK will end in January 2019. Around the same time, it will start working with the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) and data services provider B2Boost on charts that include both physical and digital sales.

According to Gamesindustry.biz, ISFE and B2Boost are already trialling a download chart for the UK. It’s not clear, however, just how many of the major console and marketplace providers are on board — a reflective multi-platform chart, for instance, would require representation from Nintendo (eShop), Sony (PSN), Microsoft (Xbox Store) and Valve (Steam). There are also publisher-specific portals to consider, such as EA’s Origin and the Blizzard Shop. Anything close to what NPD offers in the US would, however, be a dramatic improvement for the UK and offer a more accurate picture of industry trends. Fingers crossed it all comes together nicely.

Source: ERA, Gamesindustry.biz