CircuitMess’ space-themed watch is extra-appropriate at the moment. The cyberpunk aesthetic merges with the current Artemis mission because buyers can choose to build the wearable themselves. Given how NASA’s astronauts have been repurposed into plumbers, a wearable you have to assemble makes sense. That includes the extra expense.

On Artemis Watch

The NASA Artemis Watch 2.0 will set buyers back R3,300 (€170). For their money, owners get the watch in a large plastic casing with all of the components visible. Wearers can see the accelerometer, gyroscope, display, and Bluetooth module in action (more or less), but it’s the programming functions that might be more entertaining.

According to CircuitMess, you can “[d]esign your own watch faces, create interactive games, or even develop your own applications that run directly on the watch.” Programming instructions are provided, as are assembly instructions. But the basic package arrives with the wearable fully assembled.

For a proper challenge, buyers can look to the company’s R9,200 (€470) Mars Exploration Bundle. That one includes a disassembled Artemis Watch 2.0, plus a do-it-yourself programmable version of the Mars Perseverance Rover. It’s undeniably cooler because the rover includes cameras and other sensors, a solar-powered version of the Mars Ingenuity helicopter, a buildable controller, and the tools you’ll need to assemble everything. That includes the soldering iron.

Then there’s some good news. South African buyers will pay in American dollars, with the price dropping (for the Watch 2.0 alone) to just R2,200. Shipping to the country is free, but you’ll have to sort out taxes and duties with Customs at some point.

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Thus far, those who are blind without prescription glasses have been unable to partake in the creepfest that is Meta’s smart glasses. That’s about to change, with a Bloomberg report claiming that Meta’s next two pairs will place greater emphasis on prescription lenses.

“While the company’s glasses — sold in tandem with EssilorLuxottica SA — have long supported prescription lenses, this will mark the first time the companies are introducing Ray-Bans designed specifically for that cohort, according to people with knowledge of the matter,” Bloomberg wrote.

That’ll result in two new pairs of Meta’s glasses, sold in rounded and rectangular styles, which are expected to be sold only through “traditional prescription eyewear channels.” Those are codenamed ‘RayBan Scriber ‘ and ‘RayBan Blazer’, and were first spotted in US Federal Communications Commission filings by The Verge. As for when we might see Meta’s prescription-focused glasses land, or what sort of features they might offer, that’s still unknown.

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Apple’s Siri could open itself up to even more AI chatbots

We’ve heard a whole lot about Siri’s AI makeover, but we’ve yet to actually see anything tangible from the Fruit Company in that regard. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman believes that will change at Apple’s WWDC in June. Now, though, it seems that Apple will “open up” Siri’s internals to even more rival AI chatbots, using an extension that plugs right into Siri. That’s assuming the third-party chatbot in question allows the merge with Siri.

“That means, for instance, if users have Alphabet Inc.’s Google Gemini or Anthropic PBC’s Claude installed, they’d be able to send queries to those services from within the Siri voice assistant, just like they have been able to with ChatGPT since Apple Intelligence launched in 2024.”

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It’s only a matter of time before… Ocarina of Time

The Switch 2 may finally justify its existence — beyond just 60fps support for two of the best Zelda titles ever made. Prominent leaker NatetheHate reckons Nintendo is readying a remake of 1998’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time — generally regarded as the greatest of Link’s adventures. NatetheHate has cred, too. On top of the many Directs he’s alerted us to in advance, he gave a reliable launch date for the Switch 2 last year.

All that to say, if NatetheHate speaks, he’s rarely wrong. And he said, in his podcast, that an Ocarina of Time remake was coming. Not a remaster, as Nintendo has done before, but a remake. He also teased a 2026 launch, which aligns with Nintendo’s plans to release a Zelda annually. “As to the scope and ambition of the title, I do not know,” he continued, unsure whether it would be a 1:1 remake.

A 1:1 remake might be simpler for Nintendo to pull off. But with the Tears of the Kingdom engine just sitting there — unlikely to be roped in for the next mainline entry — we could see the company putting it to good use here. If that’s the case, that means it’ll be a good while before we see the next mainline Zelda break cover.

Of course, until Nintendo confirms an Ocarina of Time remake, it’s all hearsay. Grab a pinch of salt.

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It’s only getting worse for console gamers

Of course, if you don’t already have a Switch 2, you might miss out on that Ocarina of Time remake. After Sony confirmed major price hikes for its consoles this week, it seems Xbox and Nintendo may follow suit. That’s to be expected, considering the current state of the world.

At least, that’s what Ampere Analysis’ Piers Harding-Rolls thinks, who said as much while speaking to Eurogamer:

“It is likely that Sony had price protections for its components for a set period, and this may well have come to an end,” Harding-Rolls said. “With no sign of prices easing largely due to demand for AI infrastructure, Sony will have made the move to protect its slim hardware margins. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Microsoft and Nintendo followed suit in the not-too-distant future.”

What that hike, if it were to come, would look like, nobody knows. Sony has set a precedent, driving its five-year-old console prices up by 18% in the US. Nintendo and Microsoft now have a blueprint and could take a similar path. Harding-Rolls called it an “awkward time” for Sony and Microsoft with GTA 6 right around the corner.

“Both companies will want to take full advantage of the positive impact of this system seller release,” Harding-Rolls said. “Likewise, it’s awkward for Nintendo as it won’t want to raise the price of the Switch 2 when it is trying to establish the new platform.”

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Unlike the Ollie Watch One, there’s no full rebuild needed. You won’t have to open the casing or stick anything in. And, if you want it gone, it’ll just… come off.

Heir we go again

The Heir (the ‘The’ is part of its name) adds a selection of sensors to a conventional wristwatch, upskilling it into something smarter. Functions added include movement and step tracking, notifications (via haptics, because it’s not changing the face), and gesture control. The latter are executed via taps on the preexisting face, which transmit to the unit before the casing.

The 3mm-thick disc doesn’t use any adhesive to stick to your horological investment. Engineering, specifically “microsuction technology”, is the answer there, keeping it secure until you pop it off yourself. Smart functions are enabled by Ganance’s app, which, happily, doesn’t come with a subscription fee.

Reservations for the device are currently live, and it’ll cost you R2,600 ($150) to keep one aside for yourself. If you don’t happen to own a regular watch, the disc also works as a tracker on its own. Just pop it into the HeirBand (R700), which is sold separately, and you’ve got yourself a functional upgrade for when you finally get around to buying that Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime.

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That’s a good thing. Unlike the Polar Loop, this one’s designed for more conventional users. You know, the kind that likes a screen and buttons. Something interactive. Plus, the Street X has a solid set of features sitting under all that toughened glass.

Street X watch

Polar’s newest is a shade chunky at 13,9mm thick, but there’s quite a lot tucked in the 48-gram wearable. The 1.28in 416 x 416 AMOLED display lives under Gorilla Glass 3, while a bio-plastic makes up the rest of the chassis and bezel. The company’s own Precision Prime Sensor (there’s a ™ in there somewhere) hands skin temperature and heart rate monitoring, but there are a few missing detection options that point toward this being very specifically targeted.

There’s no ECG or blood oxygen tracking, but there is extensive integrated GPS. Combine this with an LED torch, and the Street X is the sort of thing you’d take camping or on a night hike. Heck, it would also make a handy fishing companion. Water resistance to five atmospheres (5ATM) and a mil-spec rating make it a rugged partner while nabbing the big one. Or avoiding Fisheries officers while scrambling over rocks.

Polar’s 385mAh lithium-polymer battery promises between 43 hours (that’s your adventure race right there) and ten days of uptime. It supports a ton of activities, from swimming to hiking, marking the Street X as something for the active times. Passive monitoring, with your butt planted firmly in a couch, is less important.

Plus, it’s immediately available. Polar will sell South African buyers one today, if you mosey on over to the website. The ding to your credit card is just R5,500.

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That’s less confusing than it sounds. The watch was developed with satellite communication in mind, meaning it’ll function in the world’s most out-of-the-way places. Provided there’s satellite coverage, anyway. It’s supposed to keep track of its user and, hopefully, “save the lives of human [sic] in danger.”

O-Boy, that sounds safe

The O-Boy is a smart wearable with a legitimately interesting design, made possible because it’s not supposed to function like your average tracker. There’s a small central display, with most of the notations existing as physical elements. The device features an odd bulging shape, and the whole thing looks extremely rugged. This goes right down to the nylon straps below the casing.

It’s got one major function. The large red button on its side initiates an SOS call, facilitated by satellite. Handy if you’re lugging the O-Boy around K2, trip, and break your leg. The wearable’s design makes it waterproof and even damage-proof. It would, hopefully, come off better than you do when you slip down a crevasse. At least then you can call for rescue.

The thing is, it doesn’t look like Futurewave is actually making this thing. The company is a studio that works with clients to bring product designs to life. The client, in this case, is O-Boy. As far as we can tell, the company has gone out of business, which might be why Futurewave is allowed to use the design as part of its portfolio. So, sadly, stranded mountaineers will have to find another way home. Maybe it’s a good time to bring back the Saint Bernard rescue dog?

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Watch this space

Oppo hasn’t officially mentioned whether the wrist-clinger will see a global launch, but given that its older siblings have come to South Africa, we’re not all that worried. Available in Global Star Orange, Gravity Black, or Infinite Titanium, you’ll need roughly R6,800 to secure one of these (2,800 CNY) when (if?) it comes to market.

The body, specifically, is made up of TC4 titanium alloy — you know, the kind they might use for marine applications or the construction of Boeing 787s. That shouldn’t put you off. With a titanium body, the Watch X3 should be more than a match against rust. That’s the plan, anyway.

Oppo’s spent the year figuring out ways to cram even more sensors into its watch, which now includes a glucose meter. Also added are new ways to measure its owner’s blood pressure and hypertension, joining the ECG, heart rate, and temperature sensors we saw last year.

Sitting above the recycled 1.5in LTPO OLED panel (466 x 466px) from last year is sapphire glass that should repel basic bumps and bruises. Oppo has at least promised a 36% brightness increase over last year’s model, now hitting a maximum of 3,000 nits. That’s not nothing. It’s all led to an overall reduction in size and weight, with Oppo claiming that it’s at least 6.4% thinner and 16% lighter than the X2.

Somehow, that body reduction hasn’t seen the battery shrink. The 646mAh cell is the same as we saw last year, which Oppo reckons will net roughly five days of juice. Our experience saw that stretched to six or seven days with the X2. Here’s hoping that’s still the case by the time the X3 hits shelves.

Source (via)

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Pricing for the new Eco-Drive units isn’t known yet. They’ve yet to launch (into space?), but they’ll probably command serious enough price tags. The cheapest Citizen watch in this range retails for around R7,500, but you can probably expect something closer to the R20,000 mark when the Mandalorian version lands.

Mandatory Mandalorian

Visually, the Mandalorian CA0857-09W Eco-Drive is a serious bit of kit. It’s obviously aimed at fans with a decent chunk of income dedicated to their Lucas-flavoured interests. Several touches, like the Mudhorn and the titular character’s helmet on the subdials, are immediately visible. There are other nods to the Disney/Lucasfilm series around the back of the wristwear.

The Mudhorn icon occupies much of the 43.6 mm stainless steel case’s rear panel, with the legend ‘This is the way’ and the Star Wars logo thrown in for good measure. Plus all of the ‘required as part of the license’ copyright data. Can’t forget that, or Disney’s lawyers will tear off a solid chunk of your torso.

It’s not all about the visuals, as attractive as the brown leather band and gold(ish) bezel are. Inside, Citizen’s B612 Eco-Drive movement means that this one depends on light for power. Using it only in the darkness of space probably won’t be helpful. If you are in the dark, the watch’s luminous hands will at least allow you to tell the time back on Earth.

Closer inspection shows that one of the dials sports Grogu’s ears. Since fans of the show may want to retain this one as a display piece, the whole setup comes in a similarly Mandalorian-themed presentation canister, with the helmet and Mudhorn prominent. The box the canister arrives in is a little more retail-friendly than brushed, etched metal.

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The PIN Pulse isn’t set to be cheap, unless you snag one of the few remaining basic packages via the company’s Kickstarter. The basic smart ring is half price via the page, setting buyers back around R4,200 ($250). Expect pricing to double once the Pulse hits retail spaces.

Finger on the PIN Pulse

A range of features powered by advanced sensors (and the magic of AI) is promised to backers. Whether that’ll help the PIN Pulse to deliver “non-invasive metabolic wellness insights and glucose trends” remains to be seen. A new PPG (photoplethysmogram) sensor apparently delivers this, plus the usual wearable health insights.

The ring itself looks the part, if a shade bulkier than we’d like from our hand-based wearables. That could be the models the company has chosen, but it does look larger than is common. But if it can indeed track all of your wristband’s regular roster, plus breathing variation, woman-specific data, blood pressure, and glucose risk profiles, it probably needs the internal space.

A titanium build and three-gram weight are promised for the smart ring. A seven-day battery, too, but we’ll believe that when we see it. It’ll also handle pool duties, with a waterproof rating of five atmospheres (5ATM). If all of this holds up, it could well threaten your armband for tracking dominance. If not for the whole ‘I have to wear it on a finger’ aspect, anyway.

The company’s Kickstarter campaign started a few days ago, seeking $10,000. The nominal sum suggests that it was going to market either way. The $71,000 in backing (R1,2 million, at the time of writing) makes this even more likely. There are still 38 days to go to lob your cash into the ring, but the cheaper bundles and packages are almost gone. Best hurry. Just… be mindful of your blood pressure. The ring hasn’t been couriered over yet.

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Lenovo’s Legion Go is just one of the many handheld gamers out there attempting to cut down Nintendo’s rival handheld at the knees. It hasn’t quite got that far, but it’s certainly carved out a niche for itself in a cutthroat market. Now, it’s pushing the idea even further with the Legion Go Fold Concept, which doubles as a laptop.

The word ‘concept’ is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Lenovo managed to put all the components together in the right order to develop a working prototype of the PC/gaming console hybrid, which it will officially show off to those lucky enough to attend MWC in Barcelona today. Assuming it can garner enough interest, the Legion Go Fold could drop the ‘concept’ and move into production sooner rather than later. Maybe that’s wishful thinking.

The foldable POLED display powering the device can go from 7.7in in standard Handheld Mode to 11.6in in Horizon Full Screen Mode. The first will make the device seem like any other handheld with the two wireless controllers attached, while the latter unfolds the display to make for a slightly larger gaming screen. Somewhere in the middle lies the Split-Screen Mode, allowing one half for gaming and the other for… something else.

Finally, Expanded Desktop Mode takes that unfolded display and hooks it up to the included wireless keyboard (don’t worry, it has a sizeable trackpad) that’ll help your console cosplay as a proper workhorse. You don’t even need a dedicated mouse. Lenovo’s TrueStrike controllers double as a mouse whenever you’re in a bind. Inside sits an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V and a 48Wh battery, which we hope isn’t going to end up in the final product.

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RayNeo’s Air 4 Pro does come in black

MWC 2026 brought RayNeo along for the ride, which in turn has brought along its new Air 4 Pro AR glasses, supposedly delivering the usual upgrades to audio and visual in a more lightweight package than last time ’round. That might be enough to convince RayNeo’s current fans — but AR newbies might need another push.

Enter the RayNeo Air 4 Pro Batman Edition, which adds a Batman theme to the glasses for a couple more bucks. But we’ll get to that in a minute. The glasses themselves support HDR10 — the first AR glasses to do so — and will reach a maximum of 1,200 nits while doubling the dynamic range of the company’s previous specs. Bang & Olufsen tuned the four speakers and custom sound tubes blasting directly into the ear canals.

The custom Vision 4000 chip that makes the glasses go ‘brrrr’ supports real-time 2D-to-3D on the massive 201in screen that can be simulated inside. It’s compatible with any device that supports display output, which is great for anyone walking around with anything other than a Switch 2 in their backpack (you might need a dongle for that one). The Batman Edition isn’t just about looking cool; it adds an industrial-designed light shield to block even more ambient light than the regular pair.

The RayNeo Air 4 Pro will start at $300 (∼R4,800), though the Batman Edition adds another $20 to that. There’s no telling if RayNeo’s plans will ever extend to South Africa, but history tells us you’ll need to make use of a grey importer to get one of these badboys.

Humanity won’t touch down on the Moon in 2027, after all

NASA’s Artemis II mission is (nearly) a go, which will see a crew visit Earth’s lunar satellite, but not touch down. That’ll be reserved for the crew of Artemis III, which was, until recently, scheduled to lift off sometime in 2027. That’s no longer the case, according to the space agency, confirming it needs more prep time than it thought.

The Artemis III mission will still go ahead in 2027 as planned, but its objectives aren’t what they were before. The mission “will be designed to test out systems and operational capabilities in low Earth orbit to prepare for an Artemis IV landing in 2028,” NASA wrote in an update on its website.

“This new mission will endeavor to include a rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin, in-space tests of the docked vehicles, integrated checkout of life support, communications, and propulsion systems, as well as tests of the new Extravehicular Activity (xEVA) suits.”

There’s a new God of War game in the works that doesn’t star the God of War

Ever wondered why Cory Barlog skipped directing God of War Ragnarök after directing the stellar God of War (2018) just a few years earlier? If the rumours from NateTheHate are true, it was to throw himself at another project — set within the wider God of War universe that stars Kratos’ dead wife, Faye, in a prequel. No, really.

News of the title first leaked via a Santa Monica Studios employee posting on their LinkedIn profile (via ResetEra), stating that they had helped “shape narrative vision and creative direction at Sony Santa Monica Studio for a new franchise within the God of War universe, developing characters, storylines, and original lore that expanded the acclaimed IP.”

It didn’t take long for NateTheHate to back it up in a post on X, claiming that Faye will be the lead of the game. “Gameplay is said to differ from the Norse God of War games with more of a focus on action.” If the Norse era didn’t focus on action, then we’re not sure what did. Later, Shpeshal_Nick corroborated the news, claiming that the action would be “closer in style to Devil May Cry than the newer God of War games. Sort of.”

Since Barlog skipped working on Ragnarök, the game should be rather far along by now. Assuming no delays befall production, NateTheHate reckons the game is on track for a reveal sometime this year, with a release planned for the first half of 2027. Let’s see if it pays off.

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Even if the info disappears online before you read this, we’ve still been rummaging around. Everything official on the company’s newest fitness bands has been collected below. You know, just in case.

Band 11, you’re up next

It’s not like this is the first time Huawei’s new Band iteration has shown up online. We already knew most of what the 11 Pro would feature thanks to an earlier leak. But given that the latest info comes via a Huawei website, we can consider the following official.

Both models of Huawei’s hardware will feature a 1.62in 482 x 286 AMOLED screen. They will feature fourteen days of battery, a standard feature for the company’s wearable tech. Both track more than 100 sports, and both are waterproof up to five atmospheres (5ATM). But there are some differences to justify the ‘Pro’ title.

The Huawei Band 11 Pro includes onboard GPS — it’ll still need your phone for connectivity — and it uses an aluminium casing instead of the stock 11’s polymer housing. Previous data suggests that the standard 11 uses a smaller battery. Since it lacks GPS, it’ll still make Huawei’s two-week battery target.

An on-sale date for the company’s bands is also known, but only for the Philippines. It’ll go on sale there on 2 March, a few days after its expected 26 February reveal. Pricing for the Band 11 works out to about R670, while the Pro goes for R1,250. These costs are converted from the source country’s peso pricing. South Africa might get close, but it won’t be an exact match.

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