The minimalist Skagen Falster 3 is the latest Wear OS smartwatch from the Danish brand, and we got our hands on it at CES 2020. The Falster 3 hits the same design beats as its predecessor, but this time around, it has the Qualcomm Wear 3100 platform on board, backed by 1GB of RAM for snappy performance.
Other improvements over the Falster 2 include extra storage at 8GB, the addition of a speaker, and some new smart battery modes that enable you to squeeze in a few extra hours between charges. The speaker enables you to talk to Google Assistant, hear notifications and alerts, and take or make calls from your wrist.
The Falster 3 is light and supremely comfortable to wear, particularly the blue silicone mesh strap variant. It sports a 42mm stainless steel case and top ring with a 1.3-inch AMOLED screen that’s sharp and legible at 328 pixels per inch. You can also get the Falster 3 with a brown leather or silver metal mesh band, but most enticing is the special edition black Falster 3 crafted in partnership with the X by Kygo brand.
Founded by the eponymous Norwegian DJ and producer, X by Kygo has also collaborated with Skagen on some wireless earphones and a Wi-Fi smart speaker. The special edition Falster 3 has a distinctive black body and silicone strap; there’s a subtle X design on the strap and a secondary white keeper bearing the X by Kygo logo. You’ll also find an exclusive digital dial.
Manufactured by the Fossil Group, the internals of the Falster 3 are identical to smartwatches like the Diesel On Axial and Fossil Gen 5, but the external design is distinctive offering wearers a taste of understated Scandinavian style. The special X by Kygo edition is the pick of the bunch, and it’s the kind of watch that will blend in with any outfit and look equally home at the office, at the gym, or out at a restaurant.
The Skagen Falster 3 is swim-proof (up to 30 meters), and support for Google Fit makes it a great wearable to track your exercise. There’s also a heart rate sensor and untethered GPS. Throw in NFC for Google Pay and you have as complete a smartwatch as you could want.
The first three versions of the Skagen Falster 3 are available in select markets now, and it will cost you $295 (279 British pounds) if you fancy getting your hands on one. The special X by Kygo edition lands in the spring.
Follow our live blog for more CES news and announcements.
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.