New study identifies which wearable has the most accurate heart-rate sensor

A study published in JAMA Cardiology (don't pretend you haven't heard of it) has found the Apple Watch to be the most accurate wrist-based wearable for measuring your heart rate.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, tested how four popular wearables measured the heart rate of '50 healthy adults'. The participants were asked to walk and jog on a treadmill while being simultaneously measured by an electrocardiogram (i.e. a medical device that's incredibly accurate) and the Apple Watch, Fitbit Charge HR, Mio Alpha and Basis Peak.

Incidentally, the Basis Peak was recently recalled after overheating caused burns on some users. It's been a bad few months for overheating. Sadly no mainstream Android Wear smartwatches were included in the study though.

According to Time, the study found that the Apple Watch was the most accurate at around 90 percent, while the others were in the low 80s. Though it would have been interesting to see how Android Wear and Tizen smartwatches held up in the comparison, one insight from the study was quite telling of the broader wrist-mounted wearable landscape.

See also: Best smartwatches56

Dr. Gordon Blackburn, one of the study's authors, said that "at the higher levels of activity, some of the wrist technology was not accurate at all."

Dr. Blackburn said the reason for this was inherent to wrist technologies, stating: "you need to have good contact between the photosensing cells; as a person is exercising more vigorously, there's more bounce, so you may lose some of that contact."

In other words, if you're looking for the most accurate way to measure your heart rate, don't rely on a smartwatch. 

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Deal: Grab a Pebble Time Round for just $134 from Amazon ($65 off)

Pebble has long been a household name in the smartwatch arena even before Google's Android Wear got in on the act, and it's not resting on its laurels. The Pebble team has never stopped at anything when it comes to innovation, which is why Pebble smartwatches continue to offer great value to users. The Pebble Time Round is one of those great wearables, and it's currently going for $134 on Amazon.

Don't miss: Pebble Time Round review17

That would be a discount of $65 over the original price of $199, which is a decent deal for anyone looking for a smartwatch with an elegant design and a whole lot of nifty features. Amazon in particular is offering the silver variant for that price, and it seems only the retail giant is currently selling the Pebble Time Round at that price point. A quick visit to the Pebble website and Best Buy shows the Time Round still bears the previous price tag.

As a reminder, Pebble Time Round sports a circular screen and an always-on e-paper display, though it still falls short of transitioning the apps to the round software. Its battery can juice up the watch for up to two days. The smartwatch features step and sleep tracking software and comes with a great deal of watch faces available for download to anyone who wants to customize the look of their Pebble.

The Pebble Time Round doesn't sport a touchscreen display, nor does it have NFC or GPS. But if you're looking for a less clunky smartwatch that somehow preserves what a watch should look like, head over to Amazon now and grab Pebble Time Round.

Buy Pebble Time Round from Amazon

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Samsung Mobile boss vows to restore consumer trust following Galaxy Note 7 woes

DJ Koh, Samsung Mobile's chief, has today pledged to restore consumer faith in the Samsung brand following the discontinuation of the Galaxy Note 7.

Mr Koh said that he would "at any cost find the exact cause (of the faulty Galaxy Note 7) to restore [the] trust of consumers so that they can use Samsung products without any safety concerns," reports The Korea Herald. Mr Koh also thanked Samsung employees for their support throughout this period, though the estimated billions of dollars that it has cost the company could see him lose his position.  

News that the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 had been spontaneously combusting led to an initial recall of the device before replacement units were dispatched. When reports that the replacements were also catching fire arrived, Samsung took the decision to discontinue the product entirely.

• Returning your Galaxy Note 7? Here are some other great Android phones you should check out
• Guide for returning the Galaxy Note 7 in the USA

Meanwhile, DigiTimes reports that 90% of Taiwanese users returning the Galaxy Note 7 have exchanged it for a Galaxy S7 Edge instead, resulting in retailers running out of stock. Samsung Taiwan is said to be offering an NT$3,000 (~$95) gift certificate for returns of the Note 7 (in addition to the full refund) if users exchange it for another Samsung phone. Samsung offers something similar in the USA.

If you're a Galaxy Note 7 who's yet to return the device, follow our guide at the links above for some tips.

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Is Xiaomi experimenting with flexible displays too?

Foldable smartphones always seem to be just out of reach. We know that Lenovo is working on one, having shown off a design concept ahead of IFA 2016, and a few Samsung patents and prototypes have popped up over the years. Now it's Xiaomi's turn to tease us with its version of the concept.

This Xiaomi concept display (phone?) appeared recently on Baidu in two separate renders, although there's no way to tell if it's actually legit or not.  Apparently, the display can be bent backwards and forwards, as well as to the left and right. Of course, the picture doesn't show off where the electronics would be attached to such a phone.

With so many companies appearing to be hard at work on flexible displays and products, it's somewhat surprising that we haven't seen any commercial products hit the market yet.

One of the major problems for any flexible smartphone is that bendable displays are currently very costly to manufacture compared with flat and even slightly curved displays. There's also the issue of life-span and breakages from repeated bending. The other problem is that other essential components, such as batteries and electronics, can't be manufactured to be as flexible as these displays.

Innovation and development in flexible displays and electronics is ongoing though. Plastic OLED is the key to making bendable, flexible displays a reality, and both LG and Samsung are investing heavily into development and, perhaps most importantly, manufacturing.

The two companies both recently completed R&D into the use of Atomic Layer Deposition to encapsulate OLEDs, which requires a thinner film than the current PECVD technology, allowing for increased flexibility. Samsung Display is spending more than $3 billion on a new OLED production line before 2017, and LG has committed to investing $1.75 billion in flexible OLED production.

See also: The only thing stopping flexible displays from taking over is that no one is making them23

While flexible smartphones sounds wonderfully futuristic, we're more likely to see flexible OLED be used in products with curved displays, at least in the short term. This could mean more smartphones like the Galaxy S7 edge, but there are also potential use cases in the wearable and virtual reality markets too.

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Deal: Save $100 on the Jaybird X2 Bluetooth headphones, now just $79.99

 

Target and Best Buy have knocked $100 off the price of the Jaybird X2 headphones bringing the Bluetooth sports headset down from $179.99 to just $79.99.

The premium wireless earbuds are available in a variety of colors and feature an inline mic for calling and volume controls. Android Authority's sister site Sound Guys described them as 'some of the very best sport in-ears available in their price range'. The X2s have been my running headphones for about a year now and I tend to agree. Check out the Sound Guys video review below.

The Jaybird X2s also come with three pairs of silicon buds and three pairs of memory foam buds, as well as three pairs of different wing sizes to keep them comfortably in your ears – just make sure you try out a few combinations to get the right fit for you.

• Sound Guys: best Bluetooth headphones 2016

Find the Best Buy and Target deals at the respective links.

What do you think of this offer? Is there a better headphone deal out there right now? Let us know in the comments.

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Samsung offers Note 7 owners $100 off another Galaxy, CPSC announces second recall

Following Samsung's announcement that it has halted Galaxy Note 7 production, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has just stamped its official seal on the second recall. The CSPC advises that old and replacement Note 7 owners in the US should immediately switch off their phones and return them to Samsung.

In a press release, the CPSC mentioned that the reason for the second recall is because "the lithium-ion battery in the Galaxy Note7 smartphones can overheat and catch fire, posing serious fire and burn hazard to consumers." The report says for handset owners to contact their wireless carrier, place of purchase, call Samsung toll-free at 844-36506197, or go to samsung.com to arrange a return.

The commission also notes that it has received 23 new reports of fires since the September 15 recall announcement, bringing the total up to 96 in the US. Although Samsung has already issued its own recall statement, the CSPC announcement is important as it is illegal to sell recalled products, so the Note 7 is now officially off store shelves across the US.

"Customers' safety remains a top priority and we ask consumers with an original or replacement Galaxy Note7 to power down and take advantage of the remedies available," – Tim Baxter, president and chief operating officer, Samsung Electronics America

As the same time, Samsung has made its own announcement to US consumers about the recall. Galaxy Note 7 owners are entitled to a refund or can exchange their device for another Samsung smartphone. For the inconvenience, Samsung is offering consumers up to $100 worth of bill credit for those who switch to another Galaxy handset. There's also $25 of credit available to customers who opt for a refund or switch to a phone from another manufacturer. The US Note 7 Refund and Exchange Program goes live at 3:00pm ET today, October 13th.

Returning your Galaxy Note 7? Here are some other great Android phones you should check out96

Although $100 worth of credit for a new Galaxy handset might sound like a reasonable deal, you can get better bang for your buck if you're willing to shop around. Customers can definitely pick up new Galaxy S7, S7 edge, or Note 5 for cheaper than $100 off the ~$870 retail price commanded by the Note 7 at launch. For example, the S7 is available for $672 from BestBuy and Verizon, $639.99 at T-Mobile, and just $559.99 from B&H Photo, if you know which model and carrier bands you require.

Would you opt for another Samsung Galaxy smartphone at this point, or are there better Note 7 alternatives from other manufacturers to pick from instead?

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Airtel unveils a refreshed MyAirtel app that curates popular apps and services

Steve Jurvetson

MyAirtel is the 'selfcare' app of India's largest carrier, Airtel, that allows customers to manage their accounts, billing plans, subscriptions, and pay bills.

With the latest update, the company has transformed the MyAirtel app into a digital gateway that offers access to other Airtel apps and services, as well as to a curated list of third-party services as part of a new 'Airtel Apps' section. This includes Ditto TV, Hike Messenger, and Juggernaut as well as Wynk Music and Wynk Movies. With Ditto TV, users can watch over 100 live TV channels and TV shows without any subscription charges for Airtel users. Also, via Airtel Apps, you can enjoy 5 free books on Juggernaut

As part of the refresh, Airtel has also introduced two new apps – Airtel Cloud and Airtel Dialers. Airtel Cloud offers 2GB of free cloud storage to back up all your important data. Interestingly, with the app, there's no data upload charges for the scheduled overnight backups. The offer is only for prepaid customers at the moment, but will be soon available for postpaid customers as well. With the Airtel Dialer app, you can get real time balance information, manage call details, as well as get 50 minutes of free Airtel-to-Airtel calling benefits.

With the new MyAirtel app, Airtel now offers a unified interface to their entire suite apps as well as few other popular third-party apps, with more coming in the near future.

Download from the Google Play Store

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