Technologies

I Nearly Replaced My Apple Watch With This Swanky, Luxe Hybrid Watch

A fancy hybrid timepiece, the Withings ScanWatch Horizon is packed with health trackers. But the Apple Watch is better at keeping me detached from my phone.

What’s happening

I normally wear an Apple Watch. But I spent a couple of weeks trying out a hybrid watch called the Withings ScanWatch Horizon.

Why it matters

Smartwatches aren’t cheap. You should know what you’re getting for your money, and whether alternatives might be worth investing in.

A smartwatch is more than a computerized time tracker, and the best versions excel at three tasks. They monitor various health data, look attractive on your wrist and provide peace of mind when you’re away from your phone. But not all smartwatches are the same: Some are better phone alternatives, while others have a more stylish, watch-like appearance. That’s the main distinction between hybrid smartwatches like the Withings ScanWatch Horizon, which I reviewed, and conventional smartwatches (like the Apple Watch).

Traditional smartwatches do a little bit of everything. They’re relatively chic, have plenty of health and activity tracking functionality, and are packed with phone-like features such as NFC for mobile payments and a speaker and microphone for taking calls. The Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, Fitbit Sense and Pixel Watch fall into this category.

But hybrid watches usually combine the qualities of analog timepieces and smartwatches, as the name implies. They tend to look more like regular watches with traditional faces that have physical hands for the hour and minutes instead of digital numbers. Hybrid watches don’t have as many “smart” features, but they typically last longer on a single charge and pack plenty of health-tracking options.

I prefer traditional smartwatches and usually wear an Apple Watch. But spending a couple of weeks with the $500 Withings ScanWatch Horizon reminded me why hybrid smartwatches can be appealing — and also how they fall short compared with general-purpose smartwatches.

Tethered to my phone

I felt more reliant on my phone when switching from the Apple Watch to the ScanWatch Horizon. Withings’ hybrid watch can show notifications (like calls, texts and app alerts), and you can also use the watch to set timers and alarms.

But even these basic tasks are easier to accomplish on traditional watches. Since the ScanWatch Horizon only has a small circular screen that occupies a fraction of the watch’s face, it’s not ideal for reading full notifications. As I wrote in my review, the ScanWatch Horizon’s lack of a touch screen and voice controls also made it less convenient to set times and alarms from my wrist.

If you want a smartwatch that can take some of the burden off your phone when it comes to everyday tasks, the ScanWatch probably isn’t it. Think of the ScanWatch Horizon as a watch first and a smartwatch second. Even though I don’t have my Apple Watch connected to my data plan, it’s still a useful surrogate for my phone. I don’t have to take my phone out of my pocket for tasks like replying to text messages, browsing news headlines while I’m waiting for the elevator or checking out at the cash register at my local Rite Aid.

That’s not the case with the ScanWatch Horizon. I grabbed my phone almost immediately whenever I felt the buzz of a notification. The ScanWatch Horizon feels more like a fashion accessory with built-in health tracking. I loved the way it looked on my wrist, but didn’t find myself using the screen for much other than to check the time or start a workout. Most of my engagement happens within the Withings HealthMate app, which provides a breakdown of bodily metrics and activity.

The ScanWatch Horizon is more limited than the Apple Watch when it comes to mimicking your phone’s functionality, but it has a different advantage. With its stainless-steel casing, rotating laser-engraved bezel and analog watch face, the ScanWatch Horizon is one of the most elegant smartwatches you’ll find.

Amazing battery life

The Apple Watch may have more smarts, but it can’t come close to the ScanWatch Horizon’s battery life. Withings claims the ScanWatch Horizon can last for 30 days on a single charge, far outlasting standard smartwatches. In my experience, the ScanWatch Horizon’s battery depleted to 35% after a little more than a week. I haven’t spent long enough with it to see if it lives up to Withings’ 30-day claim, but that’s impressive nonetheless.

The Apple Watch Series 7, on the other hand, usually lasts for one to two days on a single charge. But that’s also because the Apple Watch has a lot more technology built into it. The OLED color touchscreen alone has a huge impact on the battery compared with the ScanWatch Horizon’s tiny display. Some other wearables like the Garmin Venu 2 Plus that also use OLED displays can last up to nine days. It is possible to get more battery life out of today’s smartwatches without sacrificing a bright color display.

Both watches go deep on health, but have different strengths

If there’s one area where neither watch compromises, it’s health tracking. The ScanWatch Horizon and Apple Watch Series 7 can both measure all of the hallmark health metrics found on high-end smartwatches. That includes electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) measurements — both watches have Food and Drug Administration clearance for this feature — along with general heart rate data, activity and exercise, sleep and blood oxygen saturation levels. Withings’ blood oxygen feature also has FDA clearance, unlike Apple’s.

Even though they share many similarities when it comes to health tracking, the smartwatches have their own strengths. Withings, for example, has more sleep data to offer. You can see a breakdown of how much time you spent in light or deep sleep, sleeping heart rate and breathing disturbances, similar to the Apple Watch. Beyond that, Withings also issues a sleep score that assesses the quality of your sleep, similar to products from Fitbit, Oura and Amazon.

The Apple Watch shows sleep duration, time spent in bed and sleeping respiratory rate. When WatchOS 9 launches this fall, it will also show sleep stages, which addresses one of the Apple Watch’s major shortcomings compared to other sleep trackers. That information is useful too, but having access to a sleep score helps me understand why I might be feeling tired or energetic in the morning. It also motivates me to hit the sack earlier than usual if my sleep score hasn’t been very high lately.

The Apple Watch’s design gives it an advantage over the Withings ScanWatch Horizon in a few other areas. It’s smaller and lighter, which makes the Apple Watch much more comfortable to wear during workouts and to sleep (although I usually charge my Apple Watch overnight instead). Plus, the Apple Watch has built-in GPS for tracking outdoor runs, while the ScanWatch Horizon must rely on your phone’s GPS. The Apple Watch is also more effective at encouraging me to stay active throughout the day since I can customize the display to show my Activity Rings.

The bottom line

The Withings ScanWatch Horizon inherits some of the biggest advantages of analog watches: a classy design and a battery that doesn’t need to be charged nightly. It’s also a top-notch fitness tracker that doesn’t require a subscription to unlock deeper insights like devices from Fitbit and Oura do.

That said, it hasn’t convinced me to stray from more traditional smartwatches like the Apple Watch. I value the convenience of being able to verbally ask my watch to start a workout, or respond to texts from my wrist, more than having the best-looking watch. I might have appreciated the ScanWatch Horizon’s distinguished design more back in 2013 when smartwatches still looked like this. Now that smartwatches have gotten smaller and lighter and they’re more common, they don’t seem out of place on your wrist at weddings and dinner parties.

The ScanWatch Horizon is ideal for those who want both a classic watch and a fitness tracker in one device. I could see why some might prefer the ScanWatch Horizon’s simplicity, since it means the watch itself is less distracting. But the Apple Watch does a better job of freeing you from your phone, and that matters more to me.

Technologies

Trump Maintains US‑Iran Negotiations Continue Amid Tehran’s Denials of Duplicity

President Trump insists that US‑Iran talks are ongoing despite Tehran’s denial of any negotiation plans, while warning that only a deal or total surrender will allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Conflicting statements from both sides have heightened uncertainty as the conflict enters its sixth month.

On Monday, President Donald Trump asserted that negotiations between the United States and Iran are still taking place, even after Tehran stated it has no intention of engaging in direct talks with Washington.

In a fiery Truth Social post, Trump labeled Iran’s leaders “unbelievably duplicitous,” claiming they are lying about ongoing peace talks “whether Iran wants to admit it or not.” He repeated his assertion that the United States completely controls the Strait of Hormuz, despite maritime traffic through the crucial route lingering at only a small fraction of pre‑conflict levels.

He wrote, “Nothing reaches Iran unless we allow it, and nothing will pass unless a deal—or total surrender—is achieved.”

Earlier that day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters there is no imminent plan for U.S.–Iran negotiations, contradicting Trump’s earlier comment that talks would resume Monday afternoon. Baghaei added that Iran’s only current discussions are with Oman concerning the Strait of Hormuz.

The conflicting statements have heightened uncertainty over the peace‑talk process and the broader conflict, now in its sixth month.

Trump’s assertion about new negotiations came a day after he said on Truth Social that he had agreed to cancel a massive strike against Iran “subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.” He said in the same post that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked him to hold off on that attack because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”

Trump has claimed dozens of times throughout the more‑than‑five‑month‑long war that a deal is at hand. No permanent deal has been signed, and a temporary ceasefire reached in June has fallen apart.

Trump has also repeatedly threatened to launch devastating strikes against Iran before backing off. After the latest example, oil prices on Monday fell and stocks surged.

BMI, a research unit of Fitch Solutions, said in a note Monday that a broader diplomatic understanding on reopening the Strait of Hormuz is still achievable this quarter, while raising the probability of its escalation scenario to 35% from 25%, citing mounting military, diplomatic and economic signs of rising U.S.-Iran tensions.

“Diplomatic progress is likely to be punctuated by periodic military flare-ups, while miscalculation by either side could trigger a renewed escalation,” BMI analysts wrote in a note. The firm said the key issue to watch is the future governance of the strait, as the Iran-Oman talks — potentially backed by Gulf states, China and the U.S. — point to efforts to build a post-conflict shipping framework.

Shipping risks persist even as diplomacy appears to be advancing. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said it received a report of an incident 20 nautical miles (23 miles) northeast of Khasab, Oman — at the mouth of the strait — with a tanker’s master reporting an explosion in close proximity to the vessel at about 20:37 UTC Sunday (4:37 pm ET). The vessel and crew were safe and authorities are investigating, UKMTO said, advising ships to transit with caution.

The proposal Trump announced over the weekend calls for the U.S. and Iran to return to negotiations and continue ironing out some of the thorny issues that had derailed diplomatic efforts, according to The Associated Press, citing a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.

The official said the proposal also includes a reopening of the Hormuz Strait and halting attacks across the region, including by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq on the Arab Gulf countries and Jordan.

The U.S., for its part, will end its naval blockade on Iran and allow Tehran to export its oil, the official said, adding that no deal has been reached, although the mediation efforts remained underway.

Trump’s weekend reversal has lowered the temperature after days of escalating attacks across the Gulf. Kuwait said Saturday that Iranian forces launched a wave of drones within its airspace, with its military destroying multiple aircraft after Iran targeted critical infrastructure in the country’s north.

A parallel track with Muscat is also advancing. Iranian diplomats said Tehran was close to reaching a new arrangement with Oman to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a deal critical to preventing the war from escalating further, according to the Financial Times.

Iranian officials said negotiations over future management of the Hormuz Strait with Oman, which sits on the opposite shore of the waterway, are in their final stages. The agreed shipping route would be different from those used before, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Baghaei, adding that the new route was separate from the issue of the strait’s reopening or continued closure.

Technologies

Oil Prices Slide as Trump Halts Planned Iran Strike

Oil prices dropped after Trump cancelled a planned strike on Iran, with WTI down about 5% and Brent near 5% lower. He said the move followed requests from Tehran and regional allies for a pause while a deal shaping the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program is negotiated.

Oil prices fell on Monday after President Donald Trump announced he had cancelled a planned strike on Iran. WTI futures dropped roughly 5% to $80.34 a barrel, while Brent slipped about 4.7% to $83.77 a barrel.

Trump said early Sunday he called off the strike after Iran and several Middle Eastern nations asked him to hold off, noting that the outlines of a deal had been agreed upon. He added that the prospective accord would entail the immediate, full opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, according to his Truth Social post.

The president had been considering another round of strikes as diplomatic hopes waned since the conflict began on February 28. He said the U.S. and Iran would meet for talks on Monday, but Iran denied any scheduled negotiations with Washington, citing PressTV. Iran’s foreign‑ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei clarified that Tehran was only discussing shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz with Oman. In a follow‑up Truth Social message, Trump insisted that, regardless of Iran’s acknowledgment, the United States is indeed discussing a solution to a long‑standing problem created by Iran.

Technologies

Oil Prices Drop as Trump Cancels Planned Attack on Iran

Oil prices fell sharply after President Trump announced the cancellation of a planned strike on Iran, citing a new deal that would open the Hormuz Strait and end Iran’s nuclear threat.

Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after President Donald Trump announced that he had called off a planned strike on Iran.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. benchmark, slipped roughly 5% to close at $80.34 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, declined 4.7% to settle at $83.77 a barrel.

Trump made the announcement early Sunday, saying he had canceled the strike following requests from Tehran and other Middle Eastern countries.

In a Truth Social post, he wrote: “We have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”

The president indicated that the proposed agreement would include the immediate, complete, and total opening of the Hormuz Strait, as well as an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.

Trump had been weighing additional strikes amid diminishing prospects for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict that began on Feb. 28. He stated that the U.S. and Iran would hold negotiations on Monday.

Tehran denied that talks were planned with Washington, according to state news outlet PressTV.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran was only holding talks with Oman regarding the routes ships can use through the Strait of Hormuz.

In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump added that whether “Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused for decades.”