The department of

Wearables

Wearables track sleep stages, heart rate variability, and resting heart rate on your wrist or finger; here are reviews, accuracy notes, and field tests.

Pieces 6
Photorealistic overhead still-life on a dark walnut bedside table at night: five different smartwatches…
Sleep August 2026 · 6 min

Smartwatch Deals and the 2pm Rule: Five Watches, One Evening Coffee, Six Weeks of Data

Every September the wearables go on the front page, and a certain kind of buyer — me, for about six years — starts justifying the upgrade with sleep. The pitch writes itself.

By Samuel Briggs · Read →
Photorealistic overhead close-up of a rumpled white linen bed at 3 a.m., shot from…
Sleep August 2026 · 5 min

Apple Watch Deals Before the Series 12: I Wore Three Generations to Bed for 41 Nights

The sleep-tracking upgrade you're waiting for already shipped, and it shipped in 2022. Everything after that has been faster charging, a brighter screen at 3 a.m., and a slightly nicer thing to have…

By Marcus Webb · Read →
A macro photograph of three sports watches laid in a precise row on a…
Wearables August 2026 · 10 min

The Smartwatch Comparison Nobody Runs: One Number, Three Sports Watches, and 31 Nights of Being Wrong About My Own Sleep

Every smartwatch comparison I read before buying ended in a spec table, and every spec table put sleep staging in it like it was a settled measurement — same column, same confidence, as water…

By Sophie Alderton · Read →
Macro photograph of a small four-dollar mechanical tally counter resting on weathered grey sidewalk…
Wearables August 2026 · 11 min

I Hand-Counted 1,004 Steps to Stress-Test Sleep Tracking Technology

The tally counter cost four dollars and does exactly one thing. I carried it in my left hand around a measured loop of my block, clicking once per heel strike — left and right, no doubling, no…

By Judith Hawthorn · Read →
A close-up photorealistic still life on a scuffed wooden bench: a small chrome mechanical…
Sleep August 2026 · 11 min

What 41 Days of Hand-Counted Steps Taught Me About AI Fitness Technology

For six weeks I carried a mechanical tally counter in my left pocket and clicked it once per footfall on eleven measured routes. The point was never to count steps.

By Diane Norwood · Read →
A photorealistic overhead still-life photograph of a rumpled white linen bed at 2 a.m…
Wearables August 2026 · 6 min

Your Wearable Device Ecosystem Is a Streaming Service: 30 Nights, 3 Devices, One Coffee Cutoff

I spent thirty nights trying to prove that the most expensive part of my wearable device ecosystem was also the least useful part. It is. The sensors are quietly good.

By Emily Drayton · Read →