This week in wearable tech: Apple's latest smartwatches are compared, Montblanc's smartwatch discussed and how Fitbit may be helping solve a murder.
The Week in Wearables is a news digest, out each week, focused on some of the things that have happened in the world of tech you can wear on your wrist, perch on your head, stick in your ear, sling around your waist, tuck into the small of your back or, well, you get the idea.
Apple Watch Series 4 and Series 3 compared in forensic detail
I mean, I hope that's what you'll think. I've been using the Series 4 since just after it was announced, and comparing it to the Series 3 that's still available in the hope that those unsure which to choose will have a bit of clarity.
Design: Smart and Smarter
Since its very first appearance, the Apple Watch has had a classy, elegant look to it. Frankly, every Apple Watch has looked the same, until this year. Now, though the new Watch is clearly an evolution of the old, the new model is very different. It differs in size, screen shape, materials and Digital Crown. Let's start with the overall sizes…
Dimensions
The new case is bigger than the old, measured according to the height.
- Apple Watch Series 3 38mm GPS + Cellular: 38.6 x 33.3 x 11.4mm, 28.7g (aluminum). GPS only: same dimensions, 26.7g (aluminum)
- Apple Watch Series 4 40mm GPS + Cellular: 39.8 x 34.4 x 10.7mm, 30.1g (aluminum), 39.8g (stainless steel). GPS only: same dimensions, 32.3g (aluminum)
- Apple Watch Series 3 42mm GPS + Cellular: 42.5 x 36.4 x 11.4mm, 34.9g (aluminum). GPS only: same dimensions, 30.1g (aluminum)
- Apple Watch Series 4 44mm GPS + Cellular: 44 x 37.8 x 10.7mm, 36.7g (aluminum), 47.9g (stainless steel). GPS only: same dimensions, 36.7g (aluminum).
That's a slightly noticeable different size when you look at old and new side by side, but when you put the Watch on, it's the thickness from front to back where you can feel the difference: in both cases the Watch has slimmed down by 0.7mm.
The new Watches are unsurprisingly a little heavier, and stainless steel is heavier than aluminum. Series 3 is only available in aluminum case and in Series 4, models with GPS but not cellular are also available in aluminum only.
If you want the lightest Watch, you'll choose the GPS-only 38mm model but, frankly, the weight differences are scarcely noticeable when the Watch is on your wrist and there are more important considerations when choosing, I'd say.
Read more, if you'd like (there's quite a lot more), here at Forbes.
Fitbit Data leads to arrest in murder case
Fortune reported how a Fitbit was able to help in a recent case, implicating a suspect and turning the case from suspected suicide to suspected murder.
When 67-year-old Karen Navarra was found dead, stabbed in the head and neck, in her San Jose home on Sept. 13, it was clear to investigators that whoever killed her staged the scene to look like a suicide.
Her stepfather, Anthony Aiello, told police he had visited Navarra on Sept. 8, bringing her pizza and biscotti and staying for about 15 minutes. But security footage showed the 90-year-old man’s car was still in the driveway when her heart rate spiked, slowed, then stopped, which police determined with data from the Fitbit Alta HR activity tracker that Navarra was wearing when she died.
Aiello, who is married to Navarra’s 92-year-old mother, was arrested last week on murder charges and booked into the Santa Clara County Jail, the New York Times reports. He’ll appear in court in San Jose today.
More from Grace Dobush at Fortune, here.
Fitbit Charge 3 Availability Confirmed
And if you've been waiting for the Fitbit Charge 3, you'll be glad to know it's imminent.
The Charge 3 goes on sale next week, October 7 though pre-orders are now live. It'll cost $149.95, unless you want the NFC-equipped special edition, in which case you'll need an extra $20 for the $169.95 price. For readers in the UK, the price is £129.99 and pre-orders have begun there, too.
For many Fitbit users, this is exciting news. Here's what's new.
The new Charge 3 looks completely different from the Charge 2, not least because the new screen is high-resolution and touch-sensitive. The Charge 2 had a screen which seemed to respond to your every touch but was cunningly using the accelerometer to create this effect - technically it was tap-responsive rather than actually a touchscreen.
Anyone who ever used the pressure-sensitive touchscreens which preceded the capacitive screen on the iPhone will know that a proper touchscreen is what you want.
And now, the latest Charge has one. It's not a color screen or anything like that, but it has an improved look to it, with grayscale instead of just white LEDs on a pitch black background, which looks smoother and is more detailed.
More details of what's new, here at Forbes.
Montblanc Summit 2 luxury smartwatch
The brilliant Jeremy White at Wired reported on a new luxury smartwatch from Montblanc which in the UK will retail at prices of £845 ($1,099) and up.
Just over a year after the launch of the first Montblanc smartwatch, the company has announced its next version of the wearable, the Summit 2.
The watch, with a starting price of £845, has a new smaller 42 millimetre case, making it considerably smaller than the 46mm original. The Summit 2 runs on Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset and will be available from October 15.
Montblanc will once again come up against similar luxury offerings from TAG Heuer, Louis Vuitton and Apple's Hermes iterations of its own Watch. But, as with the original, the company has stuck with a more traditional styling. A smaller case also means a smaller display, with the 1.2-inch, 390 x 390 pixel, full circle AMOLED display covered in curved sapphire glass.
Despite coming slightly late to the wearable party, Montblanc's Summit 2 will be the first luxury smartwatch to include Qualcomm's new Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset, with improved battery life supposedly lasting for a week in time-only mode. The prolonged battery life is in part due to Qualcomm using an ultra-low power co-processor, the QCC1110, in the chipset. It was designed from scratch specifically for smartwatches. The Summit 2 also runs on Google's Wear OS, meaning it is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones.
Read more from White at Wired.
Fantastical updated
If you like the Fantastical app on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, you may be glad to know of the new features, as reported by the consistently-worth-reading Zac Hall, over at 9to5Mac.
Have a new Apple Watch Series 4? Fantastical is now optimized for the new 40mm and 44mm display sizes so you can see more appointments and reminders on-screen. Fantastical also now has complications for the new Infograph and Infograph Modular watch faces.
Infograph Modular complications include both the new large center option and the new circle options. These can show data like the day and date, upcoming and current appointments, and progress through your day.
Infograph complications include top center options that can show text around the dial, other circle complications within the dial, and new corner complications. Each of these can also show progress through your day with a clever indicator.
Speaking of the Infograph Watch face on Series 4, you may like the next item. And as for Fantastical, read more at 9to5Mac, here.
And finally…
Also at 9to5Mac is a useful explainer on the Infograph Apple Watch face. Now, personally, I love the Infograph when it's stuffed to the gills with useful information. But if you're not like me, then, a) that's all right, we can still get along and b) you may find what Zac Hall has to say of interest…
Infograph can show up to eight complications, but that doesn’t mean it must — even if the default version is fully loaded. For me, stripping Infograph down to just the clock is a great starting place.
This requires a lot of Digital Crown scrolling on the Apple Watch to set each complication slot to empty and may be faster on the Watch app for iPhone. The end result is a simple and attractive clock without all of the noise of complications recommended for you.
Check out more of what Hall says, over at 9to5Mac.
If you enjoyed this story, you might also like these:
Fitbit Charge 3 Global Availability Confirmed: Here's All You Need To Know
Compare And Contrast: Apple Watch Series 4 Vs. Apple Watch Series 3
AirPods 2 Teased By Apple And Coming Soon? Here's All You Need To Know
Apple iPhone XS Max (And iPhone XS) Definitive Review: Really, Do You Need It?
Apple Watch Series 4 Definitive Review: Your Questions Answered
