Samsung may be developing a new Chromebook for the low-cost segment, and it appears to have the qualities of a convertible notebook. Evidence of this new device’s existence was found in the Chromium Repositories, where it’s referred to by the codename “Bugzzy.”
The mysterious Samsung Chromebook (found by Chrome Unboxed) is seemingly powered by a Jasper Lake processor from Intel and fits the bill for a low-cost device, though the screen resolution appears to be set at 2560 by 1600 pixels.
Samsung Chromebook “Bugzzy” could have a convertible design
More importantly, past Chromium commits point at a “quirk” in the tablet’s design, which supposedly has “a different type of panel from clamshell.” However, further digging in the Chromium Gerrit suggests that this “quirk” could be a dead giveaway for the Bugzzy Chromebook’s form factor.
Similar descriptions have been used by other brands before for devices that have a convertible / 2-in-1 design. In other words, the mysterious Samsung Bugzzy might be a convertible Chromebook with a touchscreen that can double as a Chrome-based tablet.
There’s no evidence as to when Samsung may plan to release the Bugzzy Chromebook. For that matter, there’s no mention of the “Galaxy” brand anywhere, which could indicate that Bugzzy — if it becomes a real product — won’t be a part of the Galaxy Chromebook lineup after all, but perhaps a continuation of Samsung’s Chromebook (sans “Galaxy”) series.
We have great news for those Sony fans who are looking to put their hands on a new Sony Xperia 1 III, as they can now purchase this new device for $1,198 after receiving a $100 discount. This model comes with a 6.5-inch 4K HDR OLED display capable of delivering 120Hz refresh rates. This limited-time offer will be available at Adorama for the next four days, so you have more than enough time to decide whether this is the best device for you or not.
The Sony Xperia 1 III comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, 256GB storage space, and 12GB RAM under the hood. It also includes a killer camera with Zeiss quality lenses, an IP68 rating, and more amazing features.
However, if you don’t want to pay that much for a new Sony smartphone, you can also consider the Sony Xperia 5 II that is receiving the same $100 discount, meaning that you can take one home for $848. This device comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, a 6.1-inch HDR OLED display that is also capable of 120Hz refresh rates.
Sony Xperia 1 III
Sony Xperia 5 II
Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
Samsung fans are also in luck, as the Samsung Galaxy S21 series is still getting crazy savings over at Samsung.com. You can score the vanilla variant for just $250 after an eligible trade-in that will get you up to $550 savings on your purchase. This will get you a new and unlocked device with 128GB storage, 8GB RAM, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor.
If you want more power, you can also opt for the Galaxy S21 Plus or the Galaxy S21 Ultra, as they feature the same processor and starting storage space. You also get the same RAM in the Plus variant, while the Galaxy S21 Ultra starts with 12GB RAM under the hood. Still, you can also use your trade-in savings to purchase the Galaxy S21 Plus for $450 and Galaxy S21 Ultra for $600. But remember that the Galaxy S21 Ultra also features stylus support, a larger display, and a glass back panel.
The watch is WR50 water-resistant and IP6X dust resistant, so you can take it for a swim.
And you get all the handy health features, including heart-rate tracking, a Blood Oxygen monitor, an ECG to help detect heart rhythm issues, and Fall Detection to dial emergency contacts if you’ve tripped over and are unresponsive.
It’s arguably the most powerful health tool you can cheaply have on you.
You can discover dangerous illnesses, be warned of abnormally high heart rates at rest, and monitor your long-term health trends.
It's also got a a Mindfulness app to help you do quick one-minute meditative moments to relieve the stresses of daily life.
Apple says you get an “all day” 18-hour battery life, with 33% faster charging thanks to a new USB-C cable.
We may earn a commission if you make a purchase from the links on this page.
Just like the Galaxy S20 FE, the Galaxy Tab S7 FE is as close as it can be to the top tier without the premium price. That makes it a top priority for customers looking to buy a mid-range Android tablet with premium features.
Typically, the Galaxy Tab S7 FE costs as low as $530, but depending on the amount of memory selected, you can pay up to $680 for a Wi-Fi only version. Fortunately, Best Buy has just kicked off the New Year’s Savings Event, which offers major discounts on dozens of smartphones and tablets from Apple, Samsung, Motorola and many more.
The Galaxy Tab S7 FE is among the products on sale right now, so if you’re in the market for an Android tablet, you can get one for a lot less. For example, the 64GB model is getting a $100 discount, while the 128GB and 256GB variants are $130 cheaper.
For affordable tablet deals that don’t sacrifice performance, you should check out the discounts that retailers are offering under their Samsung Galaxy Tab deals. The Samsung Galaxy Tab line includes flagship, high-performance tablets, but it also offers cheap options such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite, which Samsung is selling for just $120 after a $40 discount to the 32GB version’s original price of $160.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite is an even cheaper version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7, which is Digital Trends’ choice as the best midrange option among the best Android tablets, as it goes with the MediaTek MT8768N processor instead of the Qualcomm SM6115, and a lower battery capacity of 5,100mAh from the previous 7,040mAh. However, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite retains the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7’s 3GB of RAM and expandable memory of up to 1TB through a microSD card,
For those who are always on the go, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite is the perfect choice because of its slim design and sturdy metal frame, so you can enjoy checking social media and watching streaming content on the tablet’s 8.7-inch screen anywhere you are. Like the best tablets, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite will be able to keep up with your daily activities.
If you don’t own a tablet yet, or if you need a replacement for an older model, you won’t regret going for the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite. Samsung is selling the tablet’s 32GB version at $40 off, which lowers its price to just $120 from its original price of $160. There’s no telling how long the deal will last, so if you don’t want to miss out on this offer for the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite, you don’t have time to waste. Click that Buy Now button as soon as you can.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite is a very cheap tablet, and it’s an even better deal with Samsung’s discount. However, if you want to take a look at other Samsung Galaxy Tab devices for comparison, we’ll help you out. Here are some of the best Samsung Galaxy Tab deals that you can take advantage of right now.
SAMSUNG's Galaxy Tab S7 highlights several key features, including large end-to-end display, redesigned S-pen, optional keyboard with expanded trackpad, and impressive cameras.more
Trust the A7 Lite for a great entertainment experience on the go. Its ultra-wide display is a delight to look at while the USB-C port gives you power when you need it, and quickly.more
Samsung's Galaxy Tab family leads the Android tablet market, and the new Tab S7 line even gives the venerable iPad a serious run for its money, especially at this price.more
If you need a more rough-and-tumble tablet for use in harsh work environments, the 8-inch Galaxy Tab Active2 has a sturdy rubberized housing that helps to protect it from the elements.more
We strive to help our readers find the best deals on quality products and services, and we choose what we cover carefully and independently. The prices, details, and availability of the products and deals in this post may be subject to change at anytime. Be sure to check that they are still in effect before making a purchase.
Digital Trends may earn commission on products purchased through our links, which supports the work we do for our readers.
WhatsApp groups are all set to change forever with a new feature What is it? How is it different from groups? All answers here.
WhatsApp has been quite active about rolloing out new features and updates throughout the year. Now, with the arrival of 2022, reports suggest that WhatsApp is about to roll out a new beta update for iOS users. The update is expected to reveal a new feature that will allow WhatsApp users to create Communities, reported WABetaInfo, which keeps track of all the new features that are being rolled out on the instant messaging platform.
This WhatsApp Communities feature was also spotted on the beta update for Android users a few weeks ago. For those who don't know, WhatsApp has been working on this Communities feature for a while. According to the screenshots and information shared by WABetaInfo, people will be able to create Community chats, just like a current group in WhatsApp, but these will be much larger in every way.
How will Communities be different from WhatsApp groups?
Community is like a roof for various other WhatsApp groups or individuals to communicate for a single issue, but there can be multiple sub-groups within a community. That means it will be able to include a larger number of members. According to the information by WABetaInfo, the admin will be able to choose and link up to 10 groups in a community.
The community will have a name and description just like the WhatsApp group. Also, only the admin will be able to add someone directly to the community, or someone can be joined using the Community invite link leaks suggested. Though, the major difference till now seems is that the admin of the community will have more control, who will be able to broadcast messages on the community. Besides this, the community icon will appear in the square layout to distinguish it from the other groups.
When will WhatsApp Communities be released?
The 'Community' feature is under development for the WhatsApp beta version of Android as well as iOS. When we can expect the feature is completely uncertain right now, as there is no official information from the meta-owned instant messaging application. But the next beta update is expected to bring the Community feature. Till then, we just have to wait for more updates.
It's tough running your own app store. Microsoft decided to go with Amazon's when Windows 11 picked up support for Android apps rather than run its own, and even Samsung's been hedging its bets, running its own app store for its Galaxy devices alongside the Play Store for years. But, based on what we've dug up today, it could be doing a better job at it. Several Showbox movie piracy app clones that Samsung is distributing to customers on its Galaxy Store may be able to infect customer's devices with malware.
Android Police's Max Weinbach first noted the issue last night, spotting a few Showbox-based apps distributed on the Galaxy Store, some of which trigger Google's Play Protect warning when installed. And so far as we can tell, that warning isn't for nothing. An analysis of one of the Showbox apks at Virustotal shows over a dozen low-grade alerts from security vendors ranging from "riskware" to adware. Some of the apps also request more permissions than you'd expect, including access to contacts, call logs, and the telephone.
We reached out to Android security analyst linuxct for more detailed information regarding these vulnerabilities. A subsequent investigation revealed that ad tech in the app is capapble of doing dynamic code execution — in short, while the app itself as it's distributed may not directly contain malware, it can download and execure other code, which could include malware. Linuxct added that there are very few legitimate use cases for this functionality, and it could be weaponized easily. "So at any moment it may become a trojan/malware, hence it's unsafe and thus why so many vendors flagged it in VT/Play Protect." Similar issues were documented in at least two Showbox apps on the Galaxy Store, though it may also affect others.
Samsung isn't just distributing apps that could potentially expose customers to malware, though. These apps are all clones of another well-known app called Showbox, with a reputation of enabling piracy and providing access to copyrighted content, including movies and TV shows.
The app descriptions claim they do not host pirated content and do not enable piracy. We haven't tested each of the offending applications individually, given the nature of the warnings attached to their installation, and can't directly confirm whether the apps currently provide access to pirated content. However, the name has that reputation, and other "experts" who prefer to remain anonymous assure me that the app at one point enabled piracy. Self-hosted sources of the Showbox app make similar claims, advertising the app as a "movie database" application with an integrated VPN — wink wink.
The Showbox subreddit notes that Showbox is "down," has been for nearly two years, and that third-party websites and apps purporting to be related are "fakes." Google, we should note, doesn't host any of the apps in question on the Play Store.
Samsung's Galaxy Store doesn't track install counts, but the apps in question cumulatively have hundreds of reviews, including several that make a note of malware warnings at the time of install. We have reached out to Samsung to ask if it's aware its Galaxy Store might be distributing malware or if it's aware of Showbox's reputation for enabling piracy, but the company did not immediately respond to our inquiries — understandable, given the recent holiday — and we'll update this story if we get a response. We've also reached out to the developers of some of the apps in question, but at least one of the contact emails listed bounced back.
In the meantime, you might want to stick with getting apps from safer sources like the Play Store — though It's had its ownmalwareissues, too.
Ostensibly a senior editor, in reality just some verbose dude who digs on tech, loves Android, and hates anticompetitive practices. His only regret is that he didn't buy a Nokia N9 in 2012. Email tips or corrections to ryne at androidpolice dot com.
OnePlus 10 Pro was confirmed to arrive in January 2022, and the phone is already up for reservations, which is just a feature to notify users when the product arrives. A listing on JD.com said the pre-order is scheduled for January 4, and we think this is also the launch date in China.
Smartphone companies usually put their phones up for pre-order when the device is launched, but OnePlus is not a typical maker, since it is as popular overseas as it is at home. We would not be surprised to see a simple teaser on January 4 with some of the key features of the phone, like a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and another Hasselblad partnership.
Historically, OnePlus launched its H1 flagships between March and May. We think something similar might happen with the 10 series as well - the OnePlus 10 and OnePlus 10 Pro will arrive in China in January, but the global launch will be scheduled for Spring 2022. There’s still a week until January, so we’ll keep our eyes open for teasers giving us more details on the matter.
It's hard to think of a better gift to find in your Christmas stocking than a DJI drone. These flying cameras are simple to fly, but can also quite literally take your photography and videography to new heights.
Whether you've unwrapped the new DJI Mavic 3, or a smaller model like the DJI Air 2S, DJI Mini 2 or DJI Mavic Air 2, we have nine essential tips to help you get you up and flying, as well as mastering that stabilized camera.
Recent advances in technology have made it incredibly easy, and indeed safe, to fly drones. But don’t let this lure you into the expectation that you can simply unbox your new drone, charge up the batteries and shoot awe-inspiring photos and videos on your maiden flight – there’s still lots to learn.
So, if you’ve been good this year and Santa has brought you a shiny new DJI drone for Christmas, here’s our guide to getting into the air and shooting stunning photos and videos in no time.
1. Get registered
While your new drone is charging, the very first thing you need to do is register your drone. This process will vary depending on your region and local laws, but for the US and UK you'll need to visit the FAA or CAA websites respectively.
As an example, we're going to run through the CAA's process in the UK. You'll need to register as an operator and take a multiple-choice test to receive a flyer ID number that will need to be displayed on your drone.
For all drones, even those weighing less than 250g such as the DJI Mini 2, you now must be registered as an operator.
(Image credit: Apple / CAA)
If you have a camera drone weighing under 250g you don’t have to take the multiple-choice test to obtain a flyer ID, but the CAA recommends that you do so because it gives you an overview of the laws surrounding drone flights and will ultimately help you to stay safe and legal.
If your drone weighs 250g and above, you must register as an operator, take and pass the test and display your flyer ID clearly on your drone. To learn more about drone laws and where you can fly safely and legally check out our UK drone laws article. Or to find out the exact laws in your region, check with your local civil aviation agency.
2. Activate your drone
Now it's time to get your drone connected to its partner app. For DJI drones, there are two main apps, and the one you need depends on which model you have.
If you have a Mavic 2 model, the original Mavic Air, the Spark, a Phantom 4 model and one of its professional models, you'll need the DJI Go 4 app (for iOS or Android). Got the DJI Mavic 3, Air 2S, Mavic Air 2, Mavic Mini or Mini 2? You'll need the newer DJI Fly app (for iOS or Android) instead.
Once you’ve installed the app on your phone or tablet, you’ll most likely need to create an account. This gives you the ability to access flight data that’s backed up to the cloud.
(Image credit: Future)
With DJI drones, you’re also given a 48-hour window to sign-up to DJI Refresh. This is an insurance policy that covers you against accidental damage for up to two replacement units in a year for a small additional charge for accidents.
The two DJI apps are mainly used for adjusting drone and camera settings, as well as providing a live view from the camera. But they also handily provide the ability to access training resources, flight records, the Find My Drone feature, the DJI store, firmware updates, plus an image viewer when connected to the drone and a video editor. Without them, you can’t successfully shoot stills or video.
3. Attach the props and calibrate the compass
You might think that there’s little that can go wrong with attaching propellors, but you'd be wrong. Because two of them rotate clockwise and two rotate counterclockwise, the propellors must be attached to the correct motor.
The great thing with most DJI drones is that you can only attach propellors to the correct motor, and this is signified on DJI drones with a grey ring or no marking. Most drones feature toolless propellors, while a handful require a tool to secure and remove propellors.
(Image credit: Future)
Another thing you'll need to do the first time you use your drone, plus every time you fly in a new location, is calibrate the compass. In most situations, you’ll be prompted to do this, but if not 'Calibrate Compass' can be found in the main menu of the app.
The app will guide you through the calibration process; it simply involves rotating the drone held horizontally and then vertically when the app alerts you to do so. If calibration fails for any reason you can perform the process again – the most common is magnetic interference from being too close to metal.
4. Start with Beginner Mode
Once you've found a safe and legal place to fly, you'll want to make your first flights in Beginner Mode.
This is like a set of digital stabilizers for drone learners and limits the maximum flight distance and altitude of your drone to 30m, so the drone won’t be able to fly beyond these vertical and horizontal limits.
This is ideal for practicing take-offs and landings, as well as simply getting used to the control sticks on the controller. You won’t need to use this mode for long at all; 20-30 minutes or a full charge of a single battery will be enough to familiarize yourself with the flight basics.
(Image credit: Future)
Once you’re ready to fly further away to try more interesting and complex maneuvers, you should turn off Beginner Mode and switch on the Distance Limit. This should be used by all drone pilots because you can set the maximum legal limits of a maximum 120m altitude and a max 500m distance, so you can’t accidentally exceed the legal limits.
To begin with, set the maximum altitude to 80m and the distance to 100m and get used to flying at these distances before increasing the limits to the maximum. Remember that when in flight, you must be always able to see your drone with the naked eye.
5. Practice these manual maneuvers
Most DJI drones come with several automated flight patterns to allow you to capture professional-looking video footage with minimal flying experience. While these generally work well, their pre-programmed nature means that they have a generic look that sticks out like a sore thumb.
Flying manually with full control over the drone is by far the best way to capture unique, smooth and ultimately much more professional-looking video footage. And the best way to train yourself to take better control of your drone and fly it like a pro is to practice just three basic maneuvers.
(Image credit: Future)
The first, called 'top hat', is where you imagine the shape of a top hat with the drone facing away from you and then fly right to form the left base, up to create the left side, right again to create the top, down to create the right side, and then right again to create the right base. This can be reversed and also tackled with the drone facing to the left or right.
Another maneuver to practice is the 45-degree incline. As the name suggests, this is where you fly the drone forwards and upwards at a steady 45-degree incline, and then downwards at a 45-degree decline. This is trickier than it sounds to achieve with smooth flight, and will help you to get used to using both control sticks at the same time.
The third maneuver builds on the use of the two control sticks at the same time and is called the 'orbit'. This is where you fly in a smooth circle above and around an object, and requires you to yaw left/right with a little throttle using the left control stick, while simultaneously using the right control stick to roll left/right with some forward pitch.
Again, this is not as easy as it sounds, but by practicing this and the other two maneuver, your flying skills and confidence will quickly grow.
6. Set up the camera view
Before shooting any stills or video, it’s worth taking a little time to set up the camera settings for both stills and videos, which we’ll cover in the next two steps. But another equally important task is to set up the camera view.
By default, you’ll be able to see camera settings such as ISO, shutter speed and aperture (if your drone features an adjustable aperture). There’s also a shutter button and a menu button to access further camera controls.
(Image credit: Future)
Out of the box, you could use the default view and shoot stills and video, but there are a handful of on-screen guides and warnings that can make it quicker and easier to shoot.
In the camera menu, you can set the histogram to show so that you can assess exposure. Another handy tool is an overexposure warning, which uses zebra lines to show when highlights have blown. And a couple of other useful aids are the grid option for showing the rule-of-thirds grid on-screen to assist with composition, plus focus peaking to show what’s in focus.
7. Essential photography settings
To shoot stills, you’ll need the standard camera mode to be active and this is signified by a DSLR icon. Shooting itself is self-explanatory, but it’s the settings that will make the main difference. The camera view is similar to that of a compact camera or a smartphone camera, so you should generally feel at home.
(Image credit: Future)
The first thing you need to consider is file format – will you shoot in JPEG or raw format? Once this is set you’ll need to dial in ISO, which is the sensitivity of the sensor to light. Since drones have small sensors, it’s best to try to keep it between ISO 100 and 400 to avoid high ISO noise.
If you’re shooting with a Mavic 3, DJI Phantom 4 or Mavic 2 drone, you can also shoot in aperture priority, shutter priority or manual because there are separate shutter and aperture controls.
(Image credit: Future)
But if you're shooting with a smaller drone, such as the Mavic Air 2 or Mini 2, you'll have a fixed f/2.8 aperture, which means you’ll only need to change the shutter speed to adjust exposure.
Single-shot is the main mode you’ll want to use and, as the name suggests, this will take one shot when the shutter button is pressed.
8. Bracket your exposures for more detail
One of the problems when shooting photos with a drone is maintaining detail throughout the entire scene.
This is simply because the difference in the exposure between the sky and ground is so large. Expose for the ground and the sky is bleached out and pure white; expose for the sky and the ground will severely underexpose and look too dark. This is less of an issue when shooting with the sun behind the drone, but you can’t always guarantee that this will be the case.
(Image credit: Future)
The simple way to overcome the problem of capturing detail in high contrast situations is to shoot HDR. Most drones have an HDR mode, but this is best left alone because while it makes light work of creating HDR images, this mode generally only produces JPEGs that are processed in-camera, so you have no control over the way they look. It’s also safe to say that they never look as good as manually processed HDR images made up of 3-5 bracketed exposures in Lightroom.
(Image credit: Future)
The best way to shoot 3-5 bracketed exposures is to shoot with the camera set to capture images in raw format, with the shooting mode set to AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing). This mode will shoot three or five bracketed exposures, with the middle exposure being the one you set the camera to, while the surrounding exposures will be under and overexposed in one-stop increments.
This means that in most situations, opting for five bracketed exposures is best. Once shot and downloaded these images can be blended in Lightroom, Photomatix, Sylum Aurora HDR or other phto processing software.
9. Video settings and 'the 180 rule'
Video settings are a little more complex, but don’t let that put you off – once everything is set up, you may not need to change them again for some time. To shoot video you’ll need the video camera mode to be active, which is signified by a video camera icon.
Settings outside of the standard exposure controls that you’ll need to set include video size, which is often best set at the highest setting of 4K. If you’re an expert video shooter, shoot with the color mode set to DLog-M or similar so you can color grade your footage – this is like shooting video in a raw format.
For casual users, shoot in Standard mode so the footage you shoot is ready to use straight away without the need for additional processing. Shooting this way is similar in some respects to shooting stills in JPEG mode, rather than raw format.
(Image credit: Future)
For video, it’s best to shoot with all camera settings in manual so there are no changes to depth-of-field, shutter speed, ISO or white balance in during filming. It’s also best to conform to the '180 rule' – in a nutshell, this states that the shutter speed of the camera should be roughly twice the frame rate of the footage being recorded.
So, if you’re shooting at 30fps, shutter speed should be around 1/60 sec so that movement is captured looking natural. It’s more common for shutter speed to be too fast in daylight, so ND filters (see image above) allow you to shoot at slower shutter speeds by reducing the amount of light entering the lens.
The Oura Ring isn’t the only smart ring on the block anymore. For CES 2022, health tech company Movano is announcing the Movano Ring, a wearable that aims to help people affordably monitor chronic illnesses and better understand their data.
The Movano Ring will measure all the basic metrics, including heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), sleep, respiration, temperature, blood oxygen levels, steps, and calories burned. However, instead of a raw data dump, Movano says it’ll distill how your metrics relate to each other “take a more proactive approach to mitigating the risks of chronic disease.” For example, the Movano app might tell you how your exercise habits impact your sleeping patterns or HRV over time.
This isn’t surprising — more wearable makers are shifting away from steps and calories in favor of simplified scores and insights. The Oura Ring, Whoop, and Fitbit all use scores to contextualize sleep and recovery data but mostly focus on telling you whether to push yourself or take it easy on a given day. They’re also accompanied by graphs and lengthy descriptions that can, at times, be overwhelming. Movano says it wants its insights to be more actionable. So far, the app screenshots that Movano showed The Verge don’t show anything groundbreaking, but the way the data is presented is more digestible than many trackers out there.
There are a few other things that help the Movano Ring stand out. For starters, the device itself isn’t hideous and is impressively slim. The emphasis on a sleeker design was a deliberate choice, says Movano CEO Dr. John Mastrototaro, as the device was specifically designed for women of all ages. That’s notable in two ways. First, wearable tech has historically favored traditionally masculine styles and sizes. Smart rings like the Oura Ring and the now-defunct Motiv Ring have also tended to be on the chunkier side. That’s mainly because it’s hard to miniaturize sensors with current technology, but a side-effect is that they’re less suitable for petite hands. A truly slim and sleek smart ring would be a first. Second, only a handful of wearables companies take a women-first approach. Some have tried addressing the issue, but there’s still a huge gender gap in medical data. (Fun fact: it wasn’t until 1993 that Congress mandated women and minorities be included in clinical trials.)
But the big thing is that while most wearable companies sidestep questions about FDA approval, Movano is frank about its medical ambitions. According to Mastrototaro, while the first Movano Ring won’t have FDA clearances, the goal is to eventually get Class II designation and add medical features like non-invasive glucose monitoring and cuffless blood pressure in a “step-by-step” manner over time. To do that, the company is conducting clinical trials for its radio frequency-enabled tech and algorithms, as well as accuracy studies to gain FDA clearance for heart rate, SpO2, and respiratory rate monitoring. Non-invasive glucose monitoring and cuffless blood pressure are holy grails for wearable tech — and big names, including Apple and Fitbit, have been rumored to be working on these features for smartwatches. Bringing them to a smart ring would be an impressive achievement.
That said, consumer wearables promising medical features often end up in regulatory limbo. The Withings ScanWatch made its debut at CES in January 2020, but it wasn’t until November 2021 that it obtained the FDA clearance necessary to hit the US market. Its Move ECG smartwatch was announced even earlier but still has yet to receive clearance. Omron’s HeartGuide blood pressure smartwatch also took several years to clear. It often means companies end up choosing between making consumer wellness devices that lack medical credibility or niche medical devices that are inaccessible to the average person. However, Mastrototaro says Movano’s got a secret trump card: decades of regulatory experience.
“We’re taking the regulatory side of things very seriously,” Mastrototaro told The Verge. He also pointed to his long history in developing medical devices, including the first continuous glucose monitor, as well as that of his staff. That experience, Mastrototaro says, gives Movano an edge in navigating the FDA’s notoriously opaque clearance process.
The Movano Ring won’t be available until the second half of 2022, and even then, it’ll be a beta version. We also don’t have any concrete details for pricing, though Mastrototaro says the company aims for it to be “one of the most affordable” on the market.
“We’re aiming for both a medical and consumer focus — the intersection of these two fields as opposed to one or the other. We want to have the look, feel, and affordability of a consumer device with the accuracy and reliability of a medical device,” says Mastrototaro. What Mastrototaro is describing is the holy grail of wearable tech. We’ll have to see if the Movano Ring ends up being another CES pipedream, but it’s certainly one of the more ambitious takes on smart rings that we’ve seen in a long time.
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