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- Fitbit debuts $200 Versa 2 smartwatch, Fitbit Premium subscription service - Ars Technica
- Android Trojan Infects Tens of Thousands of Devices in 4 Months - BleepingComputer
- Google to shift Pixel smartphone production from China to Vietnam - Nikkei Asian Review
| Fitbit debuts $200 Versa 2 smartwatch, Fitbit Premium subscription service - Ars Technica Posted: 28 Aug 2019 06:00 AM PDT 
Fitbit's Versa smartwatch was such a big hit that the company created the Versa Lite for athletes who wanted the same look in a more affordable device. Now, Fitbit is revamping the original Versa with the introduction of the Versa 2, the second generation of the all-purpose smartwatch. The Versa 2 will have the same price as the original Versa did—$200—and it will have a Special Edition version that comes with two bands for $230. The Versa 2 doesn't change much about the exterior design of the smartwatch. That's one of the things users reportedly like most about the Versa: it's practical yet chameleonic in its attractiveness. So Fitbit left that aspect of the watch untouched. The company improved the screen, though, by making it slightly larger and introducing an optional, always-on mode. So if you choose to use this mode, you won't have to wait for the screen to turn from black to your clock face whenever you want to check the time. To support such a feature, Fitbit had to increase the Versa 2's battery life. The company claims the new battery, like its predecessor, will still get at least five days of life while tracking activity and sleep. But users will probably not notice a huge jump in days of life between the Versa 2 and the original Versa. The Versa 2 also has a faster processor than the previous model, and all Versa 2 devices have NFC support, allowing users to pay contactlessly using Fitbit Pay. NFC was previously only available on the original Versa Special Edition, and we're glad to see Fitbit bring it to the Versa 2. NFC isn't necessary for everyone even as contactless payments have gotten more popular in recent years, so when the original Versa debuted about two years ago, Fitbit's decision to make it an optional feature made sense. But now Fitbit faces steeper competition from Apple, Garmin, Samsung, and the like, and many of the Versa's direct smartwatch competitors include NFC without forcing customers to pay more for it. Another feature that many smartwatches have is support for voice commands, and now Fitbit has that, too. The Versa 2 comes with Amazon Alexa support, allowing users to ask Alexa for information like the caloric stats for a certain food or where the nearest gym is. While users speak commands and questions to Alexa, the Versa 2 will show text responses on its screen, so your watch won't talk back to you. In most cases, that's a good thing, but some may be disappointed that the integration isn't more like Siri on the Apple Watch, which both speaks answers and shows text answers. In addition to all of that, the Versa 2 will do everything the original Versa did, including track daily activity and sleep, record workouts using SmartTrack, map outdoor workouts using connected GPS, deliver smartphone alerts, run Fitbit OS applications, and more. A new feature also allows users to control Spotify music playback, but the Versa 2 doesn't support onboard music storage. Users who invested in a Fitbit device for the company's solid sleep-tracking features will be excited to hear that Fitbit is finally bringing Sleep Score to all of its heart-rate monitoring devices, too, including the Versa 2. The company was testing this feature in beta for quite some time, but heart-rate monitoring will soon roll out to all users. The feature will give users a single numeric score that represents how well they slept the night before based on heart-rate data, restlessness, time awake, and time spent in sleep stages. The Versa 2 appears to be a solid upgrade to the original Versa, and the fact that it costs $200 is a huge perk. Fitbit could have easily raised the price of the new version, but keeping it at $200 will not only draw in new customers—it could encourage current Versa lovers to upgrade their devices. Fitbit gets serious about subscriptionsBut Fitbit isn't just focusing on new devices. Considering how competitive the wearable market is, the company cannot afford to put all its eggs in the hardware basket. Fitbit's newest idea comes in the form of a new health and fitness subscription plan dubbed Fitbit Premium. This $9.99-per-month service gives users personalized insights, guided health programs and workouts, and other perks that are designed to help them live healthier lives.
The service absorbs and adds to Fitbit Coach, the company's previous service that provided guided health plans and workouts to subscribers. Fitbit Premium will include Fitbit Coach's previous guided plans and workouts, allowing members to take part in health plans that are designed to help them lose weight or improve their sleep schedules, as well as follow audio- and video-based workout routines wherever and whenever they want. Fitbit Premium users will also get personalized insights and health tips based on the activity and sleep they capture with their Fitbit devices. Currently, all Fitbit users see info cards in the Fitbit mobile app that have generalized health advice that the app serves up based on collected data. But Fitbit claims that this feature for Premium users will go deeper and provide even more personalized insights. We didn't get too many examples of this when briefed, but we hope that these insights go further than just spitting out calculated numbers such as how much you moved this week versus last week or how your resting heart rate changed from day to day. Fitbit Premium will also include wellness reports that users can share with their doctors, new content from partners including Headspace and Yoga Studio, and health coaching that connects them to an actual health coach for an additional fee (that feature is forthcoming). There's clearly a lot more to Fitbit Premium than the personalized health insights and advice, and that feature could make or break this subscription service. Fitbit is entering yet another space (the health-service subscription market) where competition is fierce, but the company has a treasure-trove of data for each user that most of its competitors lack. Fitbit just has to put that intel to good use. I'm anxious to try out Fitbit Premium to see just how much deeper these personalized insights go toward helping an individual user increase their overall health. Starting today on Fitbit's website, the Fitbit Versa 2 is available for $199, while the Special Edition (which includes an extra band) is available for $229. Both devices will be more widely available in stores and online starting September 15. Fitbit Premium will start rolling out in September for $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year in 17 countries, with plans to expand into more markets in 2020. Listing image by Fitbit |
| Android Trojan Infects Tens of Thousands of Devices in 4 Months - BleepingComputer Posted: 27 Aug 2019 03:49 PM PDT [unable to retrieve full-text content]
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| Google to shift Pixel smartphone production from China to Vietnam - Nikkei Asian Review Posted: 28 Aug 2019 01:35 AM PDT  TAIPEI-- Google is moving aggressively to shift production of its Pixel smartphone from China to Vietnam as it seeks to build a low-cost supply chain in Southeast Asia that will serve as a springboard for its growing hardware ambitions. Working with a partner, Google started work this summer to convert an old Nokia factory in the northern Vietnamese province of Bac Ninh to handle production of Pixel phones, two people familiar with the company's plans said. This is the same province where Samsung developed its smartphone supply chain a decade ago, so Google will have access to an experienced workforce. The push to develop a Vietnamese production base reflects the twin pressures of higher Chinese labor costs and the spiraling tariffs resulting from the trade war between Washington and Beijing. The U.S. internet giant intends to eventually move production of most of its American-bound hardware outside of China, including Pixel phones and its popular smart speaker, Google Home, according to the sources. The Vietnam production lines will be a key part of Google's drive for growth in the smartphone market. Google aims to ship some 8 million to 10 million smartphones this year, double from a year ago, sources told the Nikkei Asian Review. While Google's Pixel smartphone brand is still a minor player in the industry -- not even ranking in the global top 10, according to tech research firm Counterpoint -- it is growing rapidly. The mid-priced Pixel, launched in April, helped Google become the fifth largest mobile brand in the U.S. for the second quarter of 2019, grabbing market share despite a wider industry slump. Google's aggressive hardware campaign is expected to heap pressure on second-tier mobile makers such as LG Electronics and Sony, which are struggling as the industry faces its third consecutive year of decline. By diversifying its production into Vietnam, Google hopes to ensure sustainable production of the Pixel range, a showcase for its Android operating system. Installed in 80% of the world's smartphones, Android is facing a challenge from Chinese rival Huawei Technologies, the world's second largest handset maker, which in August unveiled its own mobile platform, Harmony OS. In 2018, Google shipped some 4.7 million smartphones, which only accounted for 0.3% of global market share, research company IDC said. However it has already shipped 4.1 million units in the first half, according to IDC, thanks to the Pixel 3A, priced at $399. Nearly 70% of Google's smartphone sales in 2018 were in the U.S., its biggest market, followed by the U.K. and Japan, according to IDC. For smart speakers, the U.S. accounted for some 64% of shipments. Under current plans, Google will shift some production of the Pixel 3A phone from China to Vietnam before the end of this year, the people said. For its smart speakers, some production is likely to be moved to Thailand, sources said. But the company's new product development and initial production for its hardware lineup will still be in China, they said. "Google are likely to keep some activities inside China. The U.S. company knows that if it is going to be serious about making hardware, it could never give up the massive Chinese market," one of the sources said. "However, they also understand that, due to rising costs and the macro-environment, they need to have production outside China for the long term in order to support their hardware manufacturing." Google is the latest to seek safety by diversifying its production as the trade war intensifies. HP and Dell have relocated their server production away from China to dodge Washington's punitive tariffs, while also shifting some notebook production to Taiwan and other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines. Apple also has started to evaluate how it might diversify its supply chain, though it remains heavily reliant on China with more than 90% of its hardware manufactured in the country. Google began dabbling in the smartphone market as early as 2008, when it collaborated with Taiwan's HTC to run the first-ever Android operating system on a mobile device under the Taiwanese company's brand. By 2017, Google had significantly accelerated its hardware business, hiring 2,000 handset engineers from the financially embattled HTC. It has also been scooping up hardware engineers and supply chain specialists from Apple. But the relatively small scale of the Pixel handset production makes it easier for Google to contemplate shifting out of China at this stage, said Mia Huang, a smartphone analyst at the Taipei-based TrendForce. "Any potential capacity shifting for [Google] would be easier than Apple." Google, like other internet technology companies, sees hardware as a means of locking users into its ecosystem of software products. Amazon of the U.S. and China's Alibaba Group Holding are also using voice-activated smart speakers to drive customers to their e-commerce services. ByteDance, the parent of TikTok, the world's most popular short-video sharing platform by downloads, recently introduced its first smartphone to expand its influence outside software. "For Google's smartphone business, it's still less about selling hardware but is really to demonstrate how powerful its mobile system and software could be," said Joey Yen, an analyst at IDC. "The main goal of Google's hardware business is to help the expansion of its core software, data, and advertisement business and to grow its ecosystem." Nevertheless, Google's smartphone sales could benefit if Huawei eventually lost access to Android as a result of Washington's crackdown on the Chinese company, Yen said. Outside China, "it still challenging for Huawei's new Harmony OS to grow into a mature and complete ecosystem soon," she said. "A new OS requires so many developers' accumulated efforts for a long time. So some Android phone makers such as Samsung and Google could benefit from that ban in the near term." Google did not respond to requests for comment for this story. |
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