Lifestyle

I used the Amazfit T-Rex 3 for my first ultra trail marathon

Endurance tested, mountains conquered

Published

January 7, 2025

MJ Jucutan

I’ve always been an outdoor junkie. Picture this: skinny little me, standing on my ‘mother mountain,’ as strong winds turned me into a literal paper doll swaying at its peak.

That moment lit a fire in me, realizing there’s something about the trail that gets me. From then on, mountains became my love language.

Over the years, I’ve trekked, hiked, and run through the Philippines’ breathtaking landscapes: volcanoes, ridges, mountain ranges — you name it. But 2024? Oh honey, that year had me doing the unthinkable.

First, I joined a major hike on a last-minute invite — like, a 30-minute heads-up kind of last minute — to conquer six mountains in a day. (We did it under 14 hours.)

We didn’t just hike; we ran the ridges like maniacs, ending up with only 350ml of water left for the final 10K. (Hydration? Who is she?)

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But wait, there’s more. I capped off the year with my first ultra-trail marathon at the Cordillera Mountain Ultra. It was a brutal 45KM race through the Cordillera Mountain Range that gave me grit, drama, and some questionable life choices.

I brought along the Amazfit T-Rex 3, and let me tell you, this rugged smartwatch stayed strapped to my wrist like a loyal bestie who wasn’t about to let me quit.

Skeptic to believer

Okay, confession time. When I first got the Amazfit T-Rex 3, I had major trust issues. I mean, I’m a Garmin loyalist through and through, and this was my A-race. I wasn’t just running; I was creating content, people.

My beau needed to see my Strava upload hit 26+ miles, preferably with a side of “Look at me; I’m conquering mountains!”

But here’s the plot twist: I’ve known Amazfit for years through my gig as a lifestyle journalist.

We’ve reviewed them, featured them in GadgetMatch lists, and even had our former writer rave about their models. Yet, I’d never actually tried one myself.

I’ve always been curious about it, especially seeing Spartan athletes crush races with their trusty Amazfit smartwatches.

Even my friend and three-time podium finisher, Spen Manlangit, swore by his experience training with the device, especially for his races won in Malaysia and Indonesia.

So, in a leap of faith, I strapped on the T-Rex 3 and hoped for the best.

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Looking tough, looking good

Let’s be honest: outdoor smartwatches often sacrifice style for durability. Not this one, though. The Amazfit T-Rex strikes the balance between being ruggedness and refinement.

Its stainless-steel bezel screams tough, yet the liquid silicone strap wrapped comfortably around my wrist without that icky, itchy feeling.

Also, its 1.5-inch AMOLED display was a chef’s kiss. Its 2,000 nits of peak brightness lit up the trail when we arrived at Itogon past midnight.

Forget my headlamp and the watch’s built-in flashlight, its display was my guiding light.

Making it to the first cutoff

Fast forward to race day: I was wearing the Amazfit T-Rex 3 on my right wrist and my trusted Garmin epix Pro (Gen 2) on my left. Yes, double-wristing it like a fitness tech psycho.

When you’re running 45KM in the mountains, you want backups for your backups.

By 3:30 a.m., adrenaline had replaced the smartwatch’s noticeable heft, and I was off — descending from Itogon, Benguet to make my way towards Mt. Ugo.

The first 10 kilometers felt like a dream. My legs were fresh even when the air was cold, and the T-Rex 3 was busy logging my every step.

The first intermediate cutoff for the Cordillera Mountain Ultra loomed at KM15, with a strict five-hour limit.

By KM13, I had already stumbled — literally — after a bad misstep on a steep downhill.

The strain on my knee was starting to catch up as I ascended to Mt. Ugo, and by KM14, I hit the runner’s wall.

Maintaining an impressive 7:00 min/km pace on the punishing terrain left me no time to refuel properly.

My pace tanked, and my knees screamed in protest. Three grueling hours of running the trails had taken their toll. The realization that I still had 32 kilometers to go hit me like a truck.

Yet somehow, I reached the first cutoff in four hours, taking a moment to refuel and reassess after the fall that had strained my knees.

Meeting my first angel

Buoyed by being ahead of schedule, I set off for the grueling 7KM ascent toward the West Summit of Mount Ugo via Tinongdan.

Temperatures dropped to a biting 5°C as I climbed. The sun offered little comfort against the icy winds.

The Amazfit T-Rex 3, however, stayed unbothered, feeding me live altitude updates and heart rate readings as I pressed through the relentless climb.

At KM18, the strain in my kneecap intensified. Still, I pressed on, telling myself I’d rest properly at the summit.

That was when I met Mike Mendoza, a fellow trail runner who seemed to be my guardian angel. Seeing my struggles, he waited for me, constantly checking so that I didn’t veer off the trail, which was a bad habit of mine. I guess I’ve always taken “the road less traveled” too seriously.

After two and a half hours of continuous climbing, we finally reached the KM21 marker at the summit. He was fine, but I was breathless and in pain.

The moment that might’ve ended it all

As we began the descent from the summit, I asked Mike to go ahead without me.

My knees were screaming with every step. The steep, rocky terrain demanded precision, but my legs were unsteady, sliding on loose soil and gravel.

Adding to the challenge was the brutal transition from freezing temperatures at the summit to blistering heat on the open trail.

The ridges offered a breathtaking view of the Cordillera Mountain Range, but the relentless descents left me dehydrated and vulnerable. My pace slowed to a cautious crawl to protect my knees.

Meanwhile, the Amazfit T-Rex 3 soldiered on, its battery barely dented even after hours of constant GPS tracking.

Its promised 42-hour battery life in GPS Accurate Mode felt like my one reliable companion.

Then came KM23 — the moment that almost ended it all. A herd of cows (yes, cows) decided that the single-track trail was their runway, and charged at me. In a panic, I veered off the path, slipped, and found myself clinging to my pole near a cliff’s edge.

My trekking pole saved me, while my knees bore my weight. For a moment, I wondered if a dramatic mountain death might actually be better than becoming a cow kebab. Somehow, I survived.

And if you’re asking, no. The T-Rex 3 didn’t record the tumble. But honestly? It’s probably for the best. It securely strapped to my wrist, even as I stumbled through one of the most terrifying moments of my life.

With no cellular reception and no working SOS signal, I was on my own.

I whistled for help for what felt like an eternity until four runners from the summit came to my aid.

Words (and hearts) of gold

April Mae, one of the trail runners who came to my aid, taped my injury. They helped me navigate past the herd of cows (who were still out for blood).

As we approach the second summit at KM3o, I told April that I was ready for a DNF (Did Not Finish). But April encouraged me to keep going, reminding me how much I had already conquered — what was the point of quitting?

Together with Mickey, we summited Mt. Ugo once more to hit the next cutoff at KM30. We reached it with an hour to spare, despite my knee screaming with every step.

Descending Mt. Ugo was pure agony. The pain was so severe that tears streamed down my face as I hobbled through the trail. April and Mickey left to rush to the medics so they can prepare everything I might need. (They were like my angels, I swear.)

Alone again, I relied on the T-Rex 3’s heart rate updates to ground me. “As long as I’m breathing well, I’ll be fine,” I told myself.

By the time I reached the medics at KM 31, both of my knees were in shambles that they had to urge me to stop and call it quits. I refused, remembering April’s words.

Literally gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this

From KM31 to KM40, I fought through the pain, tears streaming down my face as the mountains punished me with relentless descents.

The T-Rex 3, meanwhile, remained my rock: tracking my heart rate, my altitude, and, most importantly, my will to keep going.

At KM43, I met a veteran trail runner who was cruising at his own pace. He saw my struggle and shared words that stayed with me: “You’ve already won. Finishing this is just the cherry on top.”

At 13 hours and 42 minutes, with a total elevation gain of 3,500 meters, I crossed the finish line.

Emotions overwhelmed me as my fellow runners greeted me with hugs and cheers. Their pride in me shattered whatever composure I had left, and I let the tears flow freely knowing I’d earned them.

No, I didn’t land a podium finish. I didn’t even have a medal to bite and wear. But I won something far greater: the knowledge that I am relentless, that I can face unimaginable pain and still rise, and that the trail running community is one of the most supportive I’ve ever known.

And more importantly, I had proven to myself that no amount of pain or bad luck could stop me from finishing what I started.

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A trusty companion

The Amazfit T-Rex 3 didn’t just survive this ultra-trail marathon with me. It thrived. Its GPS, heart rate monitoring, and rugged build handled every challenge the trail threw at us. And after 13+ hours, the battery still had plenty of juice left. (Still on half battery, like, for real?)

It recorded the most important race yet in my life, while my Garmin’s activity was corrupted. Thankfully, I had the Amazfit T-Rex 3.

At that moment, it wasn’t just a piece of gear; it was a partner in adventure. It was a witness to every tear, fall, and moment of triumph.

So if you’re still looking for a smartwatch that’s built to endure — just like you — then look no more. The Amazfit T-Rex 3 is ready for you and the trails.

Features

GadgetSnaps: Westminster Abbey

A thousand years of history, unfolded with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra

Published

August 4, 2026

MJ Jucutan

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Westminster Abbey isn’t just another stop on the London tourist trail.

It’s the stage for coronations, royal weddings, and burials that span nearly a thousand years, all still playing out under the same vaulted ceilings that have been standing since before most countries had names.

Once you get past the crowds and the audio guides, a quieter version of the abbey starts to show itself: worn stone steps, poets resting a few feet from kings, light that shifts across the nave like it’s in on the performance too.

While losing track of time in Poets’ Corner (yes, me, playing amateur historian for an afternoon), I unfolded the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and decided the abbey deserved more than a quick tourist snap.

All photos captured using the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra.

Features

The Death of BMI: Why the world’s most popular health metric is lying to you

Muscle mass, body fat percentage, and visceral fat tell you more about your health than BMI ever could, and your watch can finally measure them.

Published

August 3, 2026

MJ Jucutan

Step on a scale at a doctor’s office and your health usually gets summed up in one number. Weight divided by height squared. That’s your BMI, and it’s been the default health metric for almost 200 years.

It was never built for that job. BMI was invented in the 1830s as a statistical shortcut for studying populations, not for telling an individual person anything meaningful about their body. It can’t tell the difference between a muscular athlete and someone who’s out of shape but happens to weigh the same. It ignores bone density, body water, and where fat actually sits in the body, which matters more than most people realize.

The metrics that actually matter are the ones BMI was never designed to catch: how much of your body is muscle, how much is fat, and where that fat is sitting.

The muscle question BMI can’t answer

Skeletal muscle is the body’s metabolic engine. It’s what keeps your resting metabolic rate up, what protects your joints, and what determines how well you move as you get older. Losing it quietly, without knowing, is one of the bigger blind spots in how people track their own health.

Fat isn’t one thing either. Subcutaneous fat, the kind just under the skin, carries far less risk than visceral fat, which wraps around internal organs and is directly linked to cardiovascular problems. A person can lose weight and still be carrying dangerous levels of visceral fat. BMI has no way of showing that.

This is also why short-term weight drops can be misleading. A lot of what shows up on the scale in the first week or two of any diet is water loss, not real change in body composition. The number moves, but it doesn’t mean much yet.

Why this is showing up in headlines right now?

Part of why this conversation is happening now, rather than five years ago, comes down to the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound.

GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1, is a natural gut hormone that signals fullness to the brain. These medications mimic it, slowing digestion and dulling appetite, which lets people eat significantly less and lose weight fast.

That speed is exactly what exposed the problem. Rapid weight loss burns fat and muscle together, not just fat. Lose 20 pounds on a GLP-1 drug, and both the scale and a BMI calculator will call it a clean win.

If a meaningful chunk of that was skeletal muscle, metabolic rate drops, joint support weakens, and the risk of physical frailty goes up, none of which shows up in that one number.

Dr. Hon Pak, Head of Digital Health Globally at Samsung Electronics, has pointed out that with GLP-1 therapies in the picture, raw weight lost can’t be the metric that defines success anymore. The focus has to shift to what kind of weight is being lost.

Kevin Duffy, CEO of iFit, has made a similar point: BMI stuck around because it’s easy to calculate from just height and weight, not because it’s the right thing to track. Muscle mass and body fat percentage matter far more, they’ve just historically been hard to measure outside a lab.

What your watch can measure now

Getting real numbers on muscle mass and visceral fat used to mean an expensive clinical scan. That’s the part that’s changed.

Samsung has built Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis sensors into the Galaxy Watch, sending a low-level microcurrent through the body to estimate skeletal muscle mass, body fat percentage, body water, and basal metabolic rate, all from your wrist.

For anyone losing weight, whether through a GLP-1 medication or a more traditional route, that gives real visibility into whether the weight coming off is fat or muscle.

It’s the kind of feedback that lets someone actually adjust, adding resistance training or upping protein intake, instead of finding out the hard way months later.

Samsung pairs this with Samsung Food, which uses AI to look at what’s actually in someone’s kitchen and suggest protein-forward meals that support muscle retention.

Karthik Poriya, Head of Product at Samsung Food, has noted that people tend to fixate on small day-to-day food decisions when what actually moves the needle is the trend over weeks and months. AI is what makes it possible to zoom out and see that trend instead of getting lost in it.

Combine body composition data with sleep tracking, activity monitoring, and a broader Energy Score, and the whole framework shifts. It’s no longer about getting lighter.

It’s about getting stronger, protecting muscle, and extending healthspan rather than chasing a number that was never built to measure any of that in the first place.

Features

Your wearable could warn you about illness before you feel a thing

The next big AI breakthrough isn’t a chatbot. It’s your heartbeat.

Published

August 3, 2026

MJ Jucutan

Most of the conversation around artificial intelligence right now revolves around chatbots. Tools that write your emails, summarize long PDFs, or spit out blocks of code in seconds. That is the AI most people interact with daily.

Behind the scenes in health research labs, however, a profound shift is taking place that has nothing to do with words.

Scientists are training AI models to read raw human biology instead: optical heart rate signals, ECG readings, movement patterns, and sleep data. The goal is teaching AI to understand what is happening inside your body long before you ever feel sick.

During Samsung’s panel discussion on the future of Connected Health at the Pan Pacific London, Otavio Penatti, Samsung’s Head of Health AI R&D, captured this vision simply: “Your body speaks, Samsung Health translates.”

So what makes this different from your average fitness app?

Most health apps you already use run on basic rules. Your heart rate crosses a certain number while you’re resting, so the app sends an alert. That’s about as sophisticated as it gets.

These new models work on a different level entirely. Researchers feed them massive amounts of raw biometric data without labeling any of it first.

No doctor has to sit there and tag every second of heart rate or movement data by hand. The AI figures out the patterns on its own, essentially learning the basic language of how a human body functions.

Once a model has been trained on millions of hours of this kind of data, it can then be fine-tuned for a long list of specific medical uses.

And it’s not just watching for one odd spike in your heart rate. It’s cross-referencing your heart rate variability, skin temperature, movement, and sleep patterns all at once to build a detailed picture of what’s normal for you specifically.

One night of sleep data, over 130 diseases

Here’s where it gets interesting. Researchers at Stanford built a foundation model trained specifically on sleep data, using both raw polysomnography (the kind of detailed sleep study done in a lab) and data from wearables.

When they compared just 24 hours of sleep data against years of longitudinal health records, the model was able to flag onset risk for more than 130 different diseases. From one night of sleep.

Dr. Hon Pak, who leads Digital Health globally at Samsung, described where this is headed: “We are collecting data right now in which we have clear signals of things to come. We just don’t know what it is right now. But through the work that we’re doing, we’ll be able to share these insights early and in the right, meaningful way.”

The missing link: your wearable talking to your medical chart

Right now, your Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch has no idea what your last blood test looked like. Your wearable data and your actual medical records live in two completely separate worlds.

That’s the real opportunity here. If continuous biosignal data from your wearable gets linked with your actual health records, prescription history, and lab results, AI could start catching subtle shifts in your body that even your doctor might miss during a routine checkup.

Not because your doctor isn’t paying attention, but because a once-a-year appointment simply can’t compete with data collected every single day.

Instead of catching a heart attack or a metabolic crisis after it’s already happened, the idea is to catch the early warning signs years before that. It’s a shift from reacting to illness to catching it early enough that it might never become a crisis at all.

It’s worth noting that most of this is still in research stages. How it eventually shows up in the health apps on your phone will depend a lot on how these companies handle the data, and how accurate these predictions actually turn out to be in practice.

But the direction is clear enough: the next major leap in AI might not be about how well it writes. It might be about how well it listens to you.