News

Samsung Galaxy Watch4 series bridges health, wellness, and technology

Raising the bar on smartwatch experience

Published

August 11, 2021

MJ Jucutan

Behold, Samsung decks out the new Galaxy Watch4 series!

The new lineup introduces the Galaxy Watch4 and Watch4 Classic featuring the new WearOS by Samsung and Google. It’s also powered by OneUI and equipped with better hardware to redesign the smartwatch experience.

More importantly, the Galaxy Watch4 series delivers a suite of wellness features to achieve that fit and healthy lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of.

Bridging health and technology

Samsung’s smartwatch lineup has just raised the bar for wearables. The Galaxy Watch4 series is equipped with a groundbreaking BioActive Sensor that helps users monitor their blood pressure, heart rate, and measure their blood oxygen level.

For a more holistic peek at your health, Samsung introduces a Body Composition analysis tool for the first time. You can check your skeletal muscle, fat mass, body fat, BMI, body water, etc.

It also comes with advanced sleep management to help you understand your sleeping patterns through Sleep Score, therefore, getting the rightful rest that you need. The sound of your snores is also detected through your smartphone, while the smartwatch tracks your blood oxygen level even if you’re asleep.

For those who are trying to add more exercise to their daily routines, the Galaxy Watch4 series serves guided workouts and plenty of features to aid you in your fitness journey.

Keeping it simple and easy

Samsung aims to make the smartwatch experience convenient and efficient for all kinds of users. With the new OneUI Watch, the Galaxy Watch4 series recognizes the most important settings on your phone and syncs it instantly. For instance, having Do Not Disturb on your phone will reflect the same setting on your watch. It also automatically downloads any apps on your phone that are compatible with the smartwatch.

There are new gestures too that work seamlessly when using Galaxy devices. You can toggle audio between your phone and watch, receive and reject calls, and dismiss notifications and alarms using just your wrist.

Good news to Bixby fans, if there are any. Bixby can be used to control your mobile experience. And if you’re watching the Galaxy Watch4 Classic, you can use the rotating bezel as well.

Supported by Google

Having the new WearOS, the fruit of collaboration between Samsung and Google, the Galaxy Watch4 series brings an expansive ecosystem to your wrist — from popular Google apps and Samsung’s very own Samsung Pay, SmartThings, and Bixby, to leading third-party apps such as Spotify, Strava, adidas Running, and Calm.

Better hardware performance

Samsung seriously upgraded the Galaxy Watch4 series with its first-ever 5nm processor, higher-resolution display, and expanded 16GB of memory for your favorite apps, music, and photos — secured by Samsung’s Knox security platform.

It’s also equipped with an eSim technology so you can leave your phone behind. And even when you’re away, the smartwatches now come with longer battery life, lasting up to 40 hours. It also charges quickly, providing up to 10 hours of battery life even if you charge for only 30 minutes.

Pricing and availability in the US

The Galaxy Watch4 series will be available for pre-order starting August 11 and will be available in retail stores on August 27.

For those who prefer the modern and minimalist watch, the Galaxy Watch4 will come in two sizes (40mm and 44mm), and four colors: Black, Silver, Pink Gold (4omm only), and Green (44mm only). It will retail for US$ 250 for Bluetooth versions and US$ 300 for LTE models.

The Galaxy Watch4 Classic, on the other hand, starts at US$ 350 for Bluetooth versions and US$ 400 for LTE models. It will be available in 42mm and 46mm variants in Black and Silver.

Pricing and availability in the Philippines

In the Philippines, the Galaxy Watch4 series will be available for pre-order starting August 19 until September 21. The Galaxy Watch4 will be available in two sizes (40mm and 44mm) with Black and Silver leading the color options. The Pink Gold (40mm) and Green (44mm) will be exclusive to Samsung’s Online Store.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Watch4 Classic will be available in 42mm and 46mm variants in Black and Silver. Pricing are as follows:

Galaxy Watch4 Classic 46mm (Black, Silver)

Bluetooth — PhP 19,990

Galaxy Watch4 Classic 42mm (Black, Silver)

Bluetooth — PhP 17,990

Galaxy Watch4 44mm (Black, Silver, Sophisticated Green)

Bluetooth — PhP 14,990

Galaxy Watch4 40mm (Black, Silver, Pink Gold)

Bluetooth — PhP 12,990

Pricing and availability in Singapore

In Singapore, will be available for pre-order starting August 11, 2021. Those who pre-order will be able to claim the device on September 2, 2021. Pricing are as follows:

Galaxy Watch4 Classic 46mm (Black, Silver)

Bluetooth — SG$ 598
LTE — SG$ 748

Galaxy Watch4 Classic 42mm (Black, Silver)

Bluetooth — SG$ 548
LTE — SG$ 698

Galaxy Watch4 44mm (Black, Silver, Green)

Bluetooth — SG$ 448
LTE — SG$ 548

Galaxy Watch4 40mm (Black, Silver, Gold)

Bluetooth — SG$ 398
LTE — SG$ 498

Gaming

Nintendo’s latest toy is Super Mario Wonder’s Talking Flower

It tells the time and jokes around randomly throughout the day.

Published

January 23, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Late in 2024, Nintendo announced the Alarmo, the quirkiest alarm clock we would’ve grabbed immediately if alarm clocks were still a big thing. Today, the company has announced its next clock-like toy: the Talking Flower from Super Mario Wonder.

To me, the Talking Flower was a welcome addition to the franchise’s burgeoning cast of characters. The occasionally appearing character delivered timely quips that broke the monotony of the level’s music or provided meaningful tips.

However, there is a good number of players who find the flower irritating and mute the character altogether. If you’re part of this group, then Nintendo’s latest clock isn’t for you.

The new Talking Flower doesn’t have its own clock display. It only has a speaker, but it can announce the hour “mostly accurately,” according to Nintendo.

It’s an odd product. The brand wants the flower to be glitchy. Besides being “mostly accurate” with the time, it can also randomly blurt out alerts in one of its handful of available languages, outside of what the user set.

Further, it can comment on the weather and play music. It can also say “words of encouragement and silly quips” randomly throughout the day. The Talking Flower certainly has the spirit of the character it’s modeled after.

As for input buttons, it only has a single button. One press makes it say something outside of its scheduled prompts. Holding the button for two seconds silences the thing.

The Talking Flower will ship out on March 12. It will sell for US$ 34.99.

Gaming

You can now race as teams in Mario Kart World’s Knockout Tour

The free update is rolling out now.

Published

January 23, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Mario Kart World needs little to no improvements. The latest entry in the legendary racing franchise introduced players to the open-world format. Taking advantage of that new format, the game also has a unique new mode called the Knockout Tour. Today, Mario Kart World is getting a surprising-but-welcome update which adds a team option to the survival mode.

In stark contrast to Mario Kart’s usual gameplay, Knockout Tour introduces a battle royale element to the game. The mode strings together a series of races seamlessly leading from on to the next via the open-world format. Players are eliminated for placing at or near the bottom after every leg, eventually leading to a three-way race to finish first.

Prior to today’s announcement, players race for themselves. But now, via a free update, players can now compete in two teams of twelve, three teams of eight, or four teams of six. They must still survive individually, but points are now collated based on teams.

The number of points derives from finishing position. Finishing in P1, for example, will bag the player a total of 50 points for that leg. Meanwhile, eliminated players get only a single point. At the end of the entire tour, everyone’s points are tallied up, and the win is awarded to the team with the most points.

The new mode can be raced locally or online. If the pool lacks players to round out the teams, the game will provide AI opponents.

The update is rolling out now and is for free.

Gaming

Forza Horizon 6 launches on May 19

The title features the series’ largest map ever and 550 available cars.

Published

January 23, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Following Mario Kart World’s switch to an open-world format, the gauntlet has been thrown for casual racing sims to keep up with Nintendo’s racing series. The Forza Horizon series, which hovers closer to arcade-like gameplay over technical racing titles, is next in line to build this year’s racing game via the upcoming Forza Horizon 6.

The new racing title was announced back in September during the Tokyo Game Show. Apropos to where it was announced, Forza Horizon 6 will finally take its fans to Japan. At the time, the announcement teaser shared nothing about gameplay, but there might not be a lot of surprises anyway.

Today, we finally found out whether Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios have something up their sleeves for this iteration. In a new showcase, the studio confirmed that the title will have its largest map to date with different biomes and seasonality. Normally, a larger map sounds groan-inducing, especially with so many bloated open worlds these days, but a car-based open-world game sounds like heaven.

For gameplay, players will start off as a visitor to the iconic Horizon Festival, which will take over Japan. By racing others with starter cars, they can earn access to faster cars, other parts of the map, and trickier races.

Right from the start, players will have access to 550 cars. They can install liveries on the windows now. As always, there are garages now, but there’s also a massive buildable area called The Estate. For the first time, players can put up buildings for their customizable area.

There’s so much to be excited for this time around. Forza Horizon 6 will launch for Xbox Series X|S and PC on May 19. The PlayStation 5 version will also launch later this year.