Smartwatch Pioneer Pebble Relaunches With Apple Watch Alternative
'I'm not trying to sell this to everybody,' Migicovsky said of the the new devices in an interview. 'It's for the people who don't feel served by Apple Watch, Pixel Watch or Garmin,' he added referring to popular models from Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Garmin Ltd.
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Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
We retired at 35 and 40. To stay happy, we had to learn how to argue about spending.
This as-told-to essay is based on conversations with Katie and Alan Donegan, who retired at the ages of 35 and 40, respectively. The couple is originally from the UK and has been nomadic since 2020. The essay has been edited for length and clarity. Alan: When I was growing up in the nineties, my dad went bankrupt for 5 million pounds and gambled away our family home. The years we spent fighting in court to keep a roof over my family's head taught me that I never wanted to be financially insecure. As an adult, someone bought me a self-development book that eventually led to more resources about personal finance. I was married to Katie by then, and we came across a Tony Robbins book about index funds. Katie: It was the first time we learned about investing and setting an early retirement target. It all sounded really good at first, but then I got weird about it. I started feeling a sense of guilt and thought, "Why do I deserve this?" I spent years reading blogs about financial independence (FI) and in 2015 concluded that I would be a fool not to pursue this. Alan didn't need all that time — he understood it right away. Alan: The years that Katie was not fully on board were quite painful. Life as a couple is terrible when you are rowing in opposite directions. Katie would say she wanted to pursue FI, but then go on a different route and distract us. Even when we got on the same page about FI, things did not automatically fall into place. Some of our biggest disagreements were over purchases. Katie was frugal to a different level, and I occasionally wanted to buy stuff that I thought would improve our lives. There was one incident when I wanted to buy us Fitbits because I thought they would inspire us to walk more and track our heart rates. Katie thought it was an unnecessary purchase, and it led to a huge argument in the middle of a store in Nebraska during a trip to the US. My thinking was that we're worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, and you won't spend 150 bucks on a Fitbit? Katie: Since we retired in 2019, we run a free 10-week course on FI every year and get tons of questions from couples working on FI. Here's how we communicated with each other through our journey to early retirement and how we stay on the same page since quitting our jobs. Don't start with the details Katie: We tell couples not to start thinking about the details and things like tracking their spending or immediately becoming frugal. Instead, start by thinking of the life you want. Rather than going to your partner and saying, "We have to cut back all our spending and downsize our house," you can say, "What vision of life do you want to build toward?" And then think about what you need to do financially to make that happen. Alan: Find common ground and a joint vision — like, would it not be cool to have the time freedom to walk the kids to school or go traveling? 90% of the FI movement is still people running away from what they hate and not imagining what they want to do in retirement. Work on your own happiness Alan: We always say that FI is not a magic pill for solving all your problems. Once you've sorted the money aspect, you have endless time, which can actually expand your problems. This is when you get articles in the papers that say FI didn't work for me. What happened was you had endless time, and you didn't think about what to do with that freedom. The most important thing you can do is work on self-development and confidence on the journey to FI so that when you get there, you're happy, confident, and excited. Working on yourself is also the biggest gift you can give your partner. I want to hang out with a happy, confident Katie, but I can't force her to be happy and confident. Tell each other what you want Katie: We have been nomadic for over five years, which means we spend 24/7 together. We live and travel together, we run our projects together, and we have the same group of friends. Our lives almost completely overlap, which can lead to annoyances from time to time. We're still working on this — we could have a bit more balance and time apart. Alan: The biggest thing is to communicate honestly about what you feel. Katie and a lot of other people have been taught to always keep the peace and avoid saying what they feel. So we keep repeating the same message: You have to say what you want. No one else is a mind reader. If you don't like something, tell me. You have to be open about what you want to do and where you want to go, especially when you have complete time freedom.
CNET
13 hours ago
- CNET
I Tried This $40 Smartwatch: It Was Meh, but Not a Complete Waste of Time
I wasn't expecting much when I first strapped the WITHit Giga Smartwatch onto my wrist, and at least it delivered on that. This $40 smartwatch does the basics: shows notifications, counts your steps, tracks your heart rate (sort of) and lets you take calls from your wrist. But the execution of all these features is where it all starts to fall apart, and I found myself getting exactly what I paid for. After spending a week testing it, I came away with this: If you just want a basic smartwatch that works with both Android and iPhone, tells the time, tracks your steps and surfaces notifications, this will get the job done, just don't expect accuracy. But if you can stretch your budget even a little, something like the $75 Amazfit Bip 6 offers more accurate tracking, a more refined design and more reliable performance. The $40 WITHit Giga looks like an Apple Watch Ultra knock-off. Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET Design and UI: big, bulky, and basic The WITHit Giga is about as no-frills as smartwatches come. It looks like an Apple Watch Ultra impersonator: metallic frame around a rectangular screen, rounded edges and even Apple Watch-like icons inside. But that's where the similarities end. If your wrist is on the smaller side like mine (I have a 6-inch wrist), brace yourself because this is going to look huge. The Giga's 48.5mm case is overpowering, and there's no smaller size option. On my wrist, it felt bulky and out of place, and the thick, textured silicone bands definitely didn't help matters. The 2.04-inch AMOLED display is decent with a 386x448 resolution, but the screen brightness isn't adaptive. You'll need to manually adjust it, which means it's almost too bright at night and borderline unreadable in direct sunlight unless you increase the brightness manually. This watch runs its own proprietary system, syncs to the WITHit app and works with both Android and iOS. You'll get notifications, basic fitness tracking, an always-on display (which in my testing drained the battery fast) and a speaker/mic combo for answering calls. The UI is straightforward but lacks polish. Swiping right opens your favorites and the side button lets you quickly launch a workout. Animations feel slow and longer text scrolls in awkwardly to fit the screen. The non-adaptive screen on the WITHit Giga is nearly unreadable outdoors unless you manually crank it to full brightness. Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET Battery life: Not bad but there's a catch Battery life is one of the few things that holds up well here. I got about three days of use with the raise-to-wake option, and roughly a day and a half with the always on display enabled. That's not bad for the price, and it's actually better than even some flagship smartwatches. But the manual comes with a big red flag: "Avoid fast chargers" and don't overcharge. That's not something you want to see in 2025, especially because at this point in my smartwatch charger collection I don't know which one is fast, and which one is not, and the vague warning makes me think it's going to explode if I make the wrong choice. Charging from an empty battery to full takes about two hours with the included magnetic charger. But once I left it charging overnight and I approached it with terror the next morning thinking I'd broken the "don't overcharge" rule. Luckily, I came out unscathed. Health and fitness tracking: lower your expectations Workout tracking and wellness is where the cracks really show. Yes, the Giga technically tracks heart rate, blood oxygen (SpO2), sleep, stress and menstrual cycles. But the accuracy is questionable at best. During workouts, heart rate measurements were consistently off when compared to a chest strap and even other wrist-based trackers. The post workout HR average was close enough, but the metrics during the workout were noticeably off. For example, as I was sitting on my Pilates reformer (completely sedentary) starting a workout on the watch, the screen already read "100bpm", while the chest strap and Apple Watch had me at 65 bpm. This made me skeptical of even the resting heart rate readings. Sleep tracking only works between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., meaning night shift workers or anyone with an irregular schedule (like this late-night writer) is out of luck. Sleep stats are also confusing; instead of clear sleep stages or hours of sleep, you get odd comparisons like "fewer than 26% of people in your age group go to sleep this late." Not exactly sure what I should do with this information. Menstrual tracking is purely manual, based on averages, with no biological marker detection like temperature tracking. You can't even log a period directly from the watch and have to do it from the app. Other smartwatch features Calls: As long as your phone is within range, you can answer and make phone calls from the watch with its speaker and mic, but clarity is an issue. Texting: You can see texts from messaging apps, but you can't reply or even send a prewritten response (when paired to an iPhone). Voice Assistant: Technically available, but is basically just a shortcut to activate your own phone's assistant. You tap, and Siri or Google Assistant opens on your phone, not the watch. Not helpful. Quick settings: Save your recently used apps in quick settings, which actually made flipping between features like workouts and music controls more convenient — this is a win. Should you buy it? The WITHit Giga does the bare minimum you'd expect from a smartwatch, but at the expense of accuracy and attention to detail. For $40, it's a functional notification mirror with step tracking, call support and a splash of health features (if you're looking for a general overview at best). But if you can stretch your budget, something like the $80 Amazfit Bip 6 offers far better value, accurate health tracking, cleaner UI and better battery life. Bottom line: If you keep your expectations low, and you're just dipping your toes in the smartwatch waters for the first time, this might suffice. Otherwise, it's worth paying more for something that feels less like a toy and more like a tool.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Score the Garmin Vivoactive 5 for less than ever and level up your fitness tracking
With the weather heating up, it's the perfect time to take your workouts outside, whether that means hitting the pavement or exploring a trail. And if you're looking to keep tabs on your stats while you're at it, a reliable fitness smartwatch can make all the difference. Enter the Garmin Vivoactive 5, now going for just $190 (down from $300). That's a rare 37% off and the lowest it's ever been. The deal covers the black model, but if you're into a pop of color, the Orchid version is also sitting pretty at $190.99. Why the Garmin Vivoactive 5 is worth your money The Garmin Vivoactive 5 is a standout fitness wearable that gives big-name smartwatches like the Galaxy Watch a run for their money. While it leans more toward fitness tracker than full-on smartwatch, it's packed with built-in activity profiles for everything from hiking and weightlifting to golf, kayaking, paddle-boarding, and rock climbing. Furthermore, the built-in GPS has your distance and pace covered, so you can leave your phone behind and still stay on track. It's loaded with over 30 built-in sports apps for everything from running and cycling to HIIT and more, making it an excellent choice for athletes. There's even a wheelchair mode that tracks pushes instead of steps, which is a thoughtful touch. On top of that, sleep tracking and the Body Battery feature give you smart recovery tips, so you know when to power through and when to take it easy. The Garmin Vivoactive 5 steps up its sleep tracking with built-in coaching to help you get better rest. When we tested it, what really stood out was how light and comfy it felt on the wrist, not to mention the sharp AMOLED screen and a battery that keeps going for up to 11 days. Design-wise, the Garmin Vivoactive 5 sports a bright, roomy AMOLED touchscreen that's easy on the eyes. Garmin also doubled the storage from 4GB to 8GB, handy for apps and offline music. And when it comes to GPS, it's more accurate than before, now tapping into Beidou and QZSS satellite systems for better tracking wherever you go.
