Victoria Song

Senior Reviewer, Wearable Tech

Victoria SongFeb 1, 2024

Peloton’s pivot to $6,000 treadmills... is paying off?!?

Peloton’s Q2 2024 earnings were mixed — some things flopped, other things seem to be buoying the business. Like relaunching the Tread Plus for $6,000. CEO Barry McCarthy told investors on the earnings call that since it started taking orders in December, there’s actually a demand backlog.

McCarthy also said increased interest led to more sales of its cheaper, entry-level Tread. That, I get. (I reviewed it, it’s great.) But I’m fascinated by the folks who didn’t blink at plopping down $6K for the Plus despite the infamy associated with it. Is that you? Hit me up, let’s chat. I’m legitimately curious!

Victoria SongJan 31, 2024

Oura says it’s chill about Samsung’s Galaxy Ring, but here’s a new stress tracking feature anyway.

The smart ring maker’s Resilience metric rolls out today. It measures how well you handle physiological stress based on your day time stress load — and how well you recover from it.

Oura also had stats to share from its Daytime Stress and Reflections features, which launched in October. Mainly, its users are more stressed on weekends, experience an average of 95.6 minutes of daily stress, and half of all users report about three stressful days a month.

1/2Image: Oura

Fossil is quitting smartwatches

Victoria SongJan 26, 2024

The Pixel 8 Pro is one goofy way to take your temperature

Victoria SongJan 26, 2024

Victoria SongJan 23, 2024

Samsung’s eyeing noninvasive blood glucose monitoring.

In a recent Bloomberg interview, Samsung executive Hon Pak says it’s actively pursuing noninvasive blood glucose monitoring and continuous blood pressure checks. Pak declined to give any concrete timeline but said he hopes to bring it to market in five years.

This is all part of a larger push toward health, as evidenced by the forthcoming Galaxy Ring. (Which Bloomberg says is unlikely to work with iOS.) Just take stories like this with a grain of salt. There’s a good reason why this tech is taking so long, and probably won’t end up in wearables the way we expect.

Samsung Races Apple on No-Prick Glucose, Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices

[Bloomberg]

Victoria SongJan 19, 2024

Huzzah! The Pixel Watch 3 might come in two sizes.

One of the biggest complaints that reviewers — myself included — had with the Pixel Watch 2 was that it only came in one size: 41mm. That’s fine if you’re petite-wristed like me, but it’s not great if you’ve got a larger frame. Well, 9to5 Google cites an unnamed Google source as saying the company is working on two sizes for the next Pixel Watch. That’s about all we know but if true, it’s a step in the right direction. After all, Apple, Samsung, and Garmin all offer their flagships in multiple sizes.

Source: Google working on two Pixel Watch 3 sizes

[9to5Google]

Samsung’s smart ring might signal the start of a new wearable era

Victoria SongJan 19, 2024

In case you were wondering what Vision Pro demos are like...

Apple’s uploaded a full guided tour of the Vision Pro onto YouTube. I had an in-person demo earlier this week, and this video is sort of like a speed-run of many of the things that I saw. (I also got to see the butterfly land on my finger.) Granted, this is an even more controlled setting but you get a sense of the interface and some of the things you can do.

That said, it doesn’t really convey what screens or spatial photos truly look like — nor does it address the physicality of the headset itself.