The theme of the day at Galaxy Unpacked was partnerships. The company’s Note 10 and Note 10 Plus smartphones have several integrations with Microsoft’s Windows, and in a similar vein, Samsung has announced a partnership with Under Armour for its latest Galaxy Watch Active 2 smartwatch.
It’s a fitting partnership for those interested in being fit, as the Galaxy Watch Active 2 Under Armour Edition can integrate directly with Under Armour’s run-tracking footwear line, HOVR.
Under Armour has delved into the wearable market before, as many have, and came out on the other side with its HOVR running sneakers. These sneakers provide insight and real-time coaching based on form, cadence, and pacing via a smartphone app, meant to give runners better results and lessen the risk of injury. The HOVR line is bringing these insights, along with its MapMyRun-based guided workouts and run analysis to the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 Under Armour Edition, making it the first non-phone device to connect with the HOVR shoe.
You can also view more detailed information about your run and coaching tips on your phone after a completed run, but the Watch Active 2 Under Armour Edition, Galaxy Watch Active 2, and Galaxy Watch Active will display these stats and coaching cues in real-time on your watch face. Complementing the experience is verbal coaching and haptic prompts to keep you engaged throughout your run.
As the Galaxy Watch Active 2 connects with Samsung Health and a set of Bluetooth headphones, it can already give you real-time coaching for runs, but cannot instruct you on form or cadence. Those insights are now enabled through the HOVR integration.
The Under Armour Edition specifically comes with an exclusive watch face displaying an animated glowing eclipse design that changes based on the time of day, and provides a one-tap launch into MapMyRun’s app. You’ll also get a free six-month subscription to MapMyRun’s premium service, for guided workouts, as well as even deeper real-time and post-run analysis.
The Galaxy Watch Active 2 Under Armour Edition comes in a 40mm and 44mm model and the rest of the features are the exact same as the standard Galaxy Watch Active 2. It is now available from Samsung, Under Armor, and Best Buy. The 40mm version will cost you $310, while the larger 44mm model starts at $330.
The OnePlus Buds Clip are a new pair of open-ear earbuds built around a simple convenience. They join Sony’s LinkBuds Clip in the growing ear-cuff category, but either OnePlus bud can go on either ear.
Sensors recognize how the earbuds are being worn and route the audio channels accordingly. There’s no label to check before putting them on, and the feature also works when only one bud is used.
We buy fitness bands and activity trackers to keep tabs on our exercise, but it is easy to forget to start tracking or switch modes when moving between different activities. For Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, that could soon become a lot less annoying, as Google is rolling out a major upgrade to automatic activity tracking that can recognize more than 100 types of exercise, up from just 10 before.
Google first showed off the improved tracking earlier this month alongside the Fitbit Edge. It is now coming to Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, and Google claims the added context behind the system makes workout detection nearly twice as accurate while cutting missed activities by more than half. Fitbit Edge will support it too.