And finally: Samsung Gear A could be about to drop

The news murmurs, blips and titbits from an exciting week in wearable tech
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Open those bleary eyes, put the papers down and catch up with And finally, your one-stop shop for this week's wearable tech rumours.

We've had a quiet few weeks, a few fitness tech wins aside, but now with IFA on the horizon it's time to look to what we can expect from the likes of Samsung which has been rather quiet on the smartwatch front so far in 2015.

Samsung Gear A might be at Unpacked

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Or it might not. We've heard rumblings suggesting that Samsung's Unpacked event will reveal both smartphones and its round Gear A Tizen smartwatch as well as rumours that point to a later IFA announcement. We'll be at the event in London on 13 August, next Thursday, to see what's what.

Check out our guide to the upcoming Samsung smartwatch and also take a look at our rumour round-up for its Android Wear rival, the Moto 360 2, also expected at IFA in early September if not before.

As a bonus, here's what the Gear A almost certainly won't look like. It's an Edge smartwatch concept from Maform design studio that shows what a Samsung smartwatch would look like if it took a leaf out of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge's design book.

Less than 5% of Brits own smartwatches

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An Ofcom report just landed on how we communicate and connect in 2015. One unsurprising nugget was that just 5% of British people own a smartwatch. The 2015 Communications Market Report said that it estimates just 750,000 smartwatches have been sold in the UK so far, suggesting Blighty isn't contributing too much to those Apple Watch sales.

London could become the wearable tech hub of the world but we've reported in the past on why Britain is behind in the smartwatch times compared to countries like the US. Is it just too cool for wearable tech?

HoloLens dev release is 'in the next year'

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Microsoft's HoloLens headset won't be coming to consumers anytime soon but it will be shipping to developers within the next year, according to Satya Nadella, who spoke to the BBC. Nadella referred to HoloLens as a five year journey and also hinted at potential improvements to the hardware, such as expanding that field of view.

Want to know whether it's AR or VR that will rule in the future? Have a read of our comparison of the two technologies. We've also been trying out next-gen VR controllers, the British Museum's Bronze Age VR demo and having another go on HTC's Vive with its Dota 2 inspired Secret Shop experience.

Only half of Fitbit's users are active

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Out of 19 million Fitbit users, only 9.5 million are active. That's the latest from Fitbit's Q2 earnings report and includes anyone paying for Fitbit Premium or logging at least 100 steps a day.

With all those trackers sold, 4.5 million last quarter, it's interesting to see how many people are sticking with the tracker. James Park, Fitbit's CEO implied that the wearable's retention rate compares favourably to gym subscriptions and ongoing use of home gym machines.


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Sophie was Wareable's associate editor. She joined the team from Stuff magazine where she was an in-house reviewer. For three and a half years, she tested every smartphone, tablet, and robot vacuum that mattered. 

A fan of thoughtful design, innovative apps, and that Spike Jonze film, she is currently wondering how many fitness tracker reviews it will take to get her fit. Current bet: 19.

Sophie has also written for a host of sites, including Metro, the Evening Standard, the Times, the Telegraph, Little White Lies, the Press Association and the Debrief.

She now works for Wired.


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