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While most TV watchers should be perfectly happy with a regular remote control, there’s a certain nerdy pleasure in bringing a full-sized keyboard and trackpad into the living room. This combo is better for typing out search terms and passwords, of course, but it also helps with browsing the web on the big screen, it makes home-theater PCs considerably more usable, and it lets you use extensive shortcuts with media-center software such as Kodi.

The $70 Logitech K600 keyboard is aimed specifically at these kinds of uses, with thumb-friendly TV navigation buttons, a built-in trackpad, and preset key mappings for various smart TV platforms. But for all its clever couch-friendly ideas, it’s also missing some features that would make living-room use even easier. And no matter how useful it might be, using a keyboard from the couch will always feel a little bit silly.

Choose your layout

One nice thing about the K600 is that it doesn’t require any additional software, even if you’re using it with a Windows PC or Mac. To set up the keyboard, just head to Logitech’s K600 website, select your TV operating system, then hold the Function and number key combo that appears on the screen. A tiny light on the keyboard will let you know that it’s mapped the appropriate shortcut keys. Currently, the K600 works with LG WebOS TVs, Samsung Tizen TVs, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, MacOS, ChromeOS, iOS, and Windows.

Jared Newman / IDG

The keyboard includes a USB dongle for connecting wirelessly to most devices, and while you can also connect the keyboard over Bluetooth, Logitech discourages you from doing so. There are no Bluetooth connection instructions in the box, so I had to hunt around online to discover that you must press and hold any of the three number buttons at the top of the keyboard to begin pairing. You can pair or map up to three devices with the keyboard at once, and then easily switch between them using those number keys.

Beyond the typical QWERTY keyboard layout, the K600 has a row of navigation buttons on the left for common TV functions such as home, back, menu, and search, along with left- and right mouse-click buttons. On the right side, there’s a directional pad with a select button in the center, plus a circular trackpad that supports both tapping and clicking.

Jared Newman / IDG

The circular pad might seem odd at first, but it helps reinforce the idea of gripping the keyboard around the edges with both hands and navigating with your thumbs. In the context of watching television while lounging on the couch, this actually works pretty well.

There’s just one major problem: The K600 doesn’t provide a good way to scroll through web pages or other lengthy vertical menus using just your thumbs. You can use the arrow keys or directional pad, but that’s much slower than a proper scroll wheel, and it doesn’t always work if you’re editing a text field. You can swipe with two fingers on the trackpad to scroll up or down, but this breaks up the thumb-based navigation that Logitech tries so hard to establish.

While I’m nitpicking, it would have been helpful for Logitech to include an infrared emitter. The K600 does have volume keys and a power button along its top function row, but those only work with the built-in functions of whatever device you’re controlling. You can’t control A/V gear this way–at least not unless it’s hooked up to your TV via HDMI-CEC–nor can you turn off just the TV if you’re using the keyboard with a home-theater PC.

There is a distinct lack of affordable tablets on the market, particularly in the 8in form factor. Apple seems to have forgotten about its iPad mini, while Amazon’s line-up is cheap and cheerful but the lack of Google services is disappointing.

With MIUI preinstalled, which is a custom version of Android Oreo, this Mi Pad 4 also comes without Google Play, though it’s easy to install via the Mi App Store. Configuration out of the box isn’t as simple as it would be with a vanilla Android tablet, but persist and you’ll be thankful you did.

Revised for 2018 the Mi Pad from Xiaomi is now in its fourth generation. This latest revision sees the company put faster hardware onboard that now includes the Snapdragon 660 and up to 4GB of RAM. And it’s added microSD support and tweaked the design for enhanced usability and audio playback.

The result is a powerful yet easily portable Android tablet with an abundance of storage for all the games, videos and all the other things you love. Xiaomi compares it to a TV, yet easier to carry, and while that’s taking it a bit too far it is an ideal device for entertainment on the move.

Where to buy Mi Pad 4

Several versions of the Mi Pad 4 exist. Our review sample is the entry-level 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, Wi-Fi-only model, which was supplied to us by but not actually in stock there at the time of writing. You can sign up to be notified when it arrives, or opt for the next model up.

GearBest also stocks the 4GB RAM, 64GB storage Wi-Fi-only model, which should offer slightly better performance than that displayed by our benchmarks published later on in this review. You can pick up that model for £193.75/US$249.99/€217.50.

Though the website address might suggest this is a UK store, stock is dispatched from Hong Kong. If it is stopped by Customs upon entry into the UK you’ll be asked to pay 20% import duty on the value printed on the shipping paperwork, but even accounting for this the Mi Pad 4 offers fantastic value. 

There’s an LTE version of the Mi Pad with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, too. Whereas most tablet manufacturers charge a £100 premium for cellular connectivity, at you’ll pay just £251.87/$324.99/€282.75 for the LTE tablet.

And, if 8in isn’t big enough for you, there’s a Plus version of the Mi Pad 4 with a 10.1in screen. You’ll find that model for £389.81/$502.97/€437.59.

Xiaomi Mi Pad 4: Design and build

The bezel is increasingly a thing of the past in new Android devices, but while Xiaomi has taken steps to reduce it on the Mi Pad 4 it’s still very much there with half an inch top and bottom and 1/5in left and right.

The slimmer body is one of the first things you’ll notice when you lift the Mi Pad 4 from its box. Though the screen is actually a tiny bit larger – 8in versus 7.9in – it’s also taller, now adopting a 16:10 aspect ratio.

The result is 13mm shaved off the width of the Mi Pad 4, which may sound insignificant but in the hand it makes all the difference. It is now possible to comfortably grip the Mi Pad 4 in a single hand without fear of it falling to the floor.

Whereas the Mi Pad 3‘s body was made from a single chunk of metal, which curved up from the back to meet the sheet of glass lying perfectly flat at the front, the Mi Pad 4 looks to have been built in sections with a new groove running the circumference of the chamfered metal frame. A top section concealing the antenna looks more obvious on the gold version of this tablet than on our black review sample in images we’ve seen.

Gone are the twin speaker grilles on the back panel, which now straddle the USB-C port along the bottom edge – a more useful positioning for audio ensuring sound from the dual speakers is fired into the room and not the palm of your hand, tablet case or desk. Sound is surprisingly good – very loud, and with little distortion even at top volume. 

The 3.5mm audio jack remains, but you’ll need to provide your own earphones as none are provided in the box.

Also new is a pin-operated SIM slot on left hand side. On our Wi-Fi-only review sample this is merely a home for a microSD card, which can be up to 256GB in capacity, but on the LTE models there’s also room here to stick in a SIM card.

The Mi Pad 4 is 0.9mm thicker than its predecessor, but even so the primary camera now juts out at the back whereas previously it lay flush. It’s not so prominent that it will cause the tablet to rock when placed on a desk, but it does spoil the overall finish somewhat.

The overall build quality is high, and we much prefer the narrower body both in terms of design and usability. This might be a budget tablet, but that certainly isn’t given away by its design.

Xiaomi Mi Pad 4: Specs and features

Screen

As we mentioned above Xiaomi has fitted a new taller screen on the Mi Pad 4, ever so slightly larger at 8in and adopting a 16:10 aspect ratio.

This is still an IPS panel, which makes for excellent, life-like colours and very good viewing angles. It’s a very good-quality screen, although the resolution has dropped from 1536×2048- to 1920×1200 pixels, resulting in a pixel pitch of just 283ppi compared to the previous 326ppi – the magical number Apple claimed was ‘Retina’ quality, back when it was actually worth copying the iPad mini.

It’s doubtful that the human eye would actually notice the difference in clarity between the two, and the Mi Pad 4 offers sharp images and clear text.

Blacks are pretty good too, with a claimed contrast ratio of 1200:1, while our tests with a Spyder revealed a max brightness of 349cd/m2. That’s not at all bad for a budget tablet, and should make the screen much easier to read in sunlight.

Processor, memory and storage

The Mi Pad 3 was fitted with a MediaTek MT8176 hexa-core processor with PowerVR GX6250 graphics and up to 4GB of RAM, which has here been replaced with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 and, again, up to 4GB of RAM.

The Snapdragon chip is an octa-core model built on the 14nm process and is significantly faster, integrating a powerful Kryo CPU, Hexagon 680 DSP and Adreno 512 graphics. Even using the 3GB RAM Mi Pad 4 sampled here the Xiaomi displayed a significant increase in performance over its predecessor – you can compare the results of the two tablets in the chart below.

Although this is a mid-range chip, the Mi Pad’s benchmark results aren’t far off those of last year’s flagship phones. And in real-world use we found no issues with lag when opening apps and navigating menus.

Storage is very good if you opt for the 64GB Mi Pad 4, especially now that you can add a microSD card up to 256GB in capacity.

Connectivity

This version of the Mi Pad 4 does not support a cellular connection, though there is an LTE model available. Do note that this model does not support FDD-LTE Band 20 (800MHz), which means you won’t be able to add a SIM from O2 or any other operators that piggyback its network (such as Sky Mobile and GiffGaff).

There’s also no support for NFC, as you might expect on a budget tablet, but we’re more surprised by the lack of GPS. It is possible to use apps such as Google Maps, but it uses Wi-Fi scanning to pinpoint your location.

Aside from this you’ll find Bluetooth 5.0 and dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

Cameras

It’s not often you’ll pick up a tablet to use it as a camera, but if you wanted to you could with a 13Mp camera on the rear. The Camera app is much more basic than that which you’d find on Xiaomi’s phones, which isn’t really a surprise. You do get HDR and a variety of filters, but not much else.

Round the front where you’re more likely to take advantage of the camera for video chat is a 5Mp selfie camera. Again, the app is basic, but functional. You can also use this to unlock the tablet using face recognition.

Battery life

Inside this Mi Pad 4 is a 6,000mAh battery, which is down from the 6,600mAh cell inside the Mi Pad 3. According to Xiaomi battery life remains the same, with up to 12 hours video playback possible. 

We used the Geekbench 4 battery test and recorded 8 hours 14 mins. It’s not a standout score in this test, with those that promise all-day life scoring closer to 11 hours, but it’s still higher than both the now ageing iPad mini 4 and more recent iPad 9.7in. 

As before you should be able to get about 8 hours life from the Xiaomi, but your exact mileage really depends on what you’re tasking it with and at what volume.

Software and apps

Software is a bone of contention with the Mi Pad 4. It runs MIUI 9, and there’s nothing wrong with that – it’s just not what users are familiar with in the UK. And we’re not just talking about the fact it removes the app tray and lays out all your shortcuts on the home screen.

MIUI has a bunch of its own apps for things like music, video and weather, and there’s an App Store where you can source more but it’s all in Chinese.

Fortunately Google Play is also available via the Mi App Store, so you can add all the Google services with which you’re familiar, as well as an English keyboard, it’s just that it doesn’t come this way out of the box. It’s easy for me to say this is a simple process, but I’ve done it so many times I could do so with my eyes closed – it’s possible having to do this would be offputting to someone not familiar with MIUI.

Apparently the International version ships with Google Play preinstalled, but we’re testing the Chinese version and have not seen a Global ROM version of the Mi Pad 4 for sale.

MIUI typically has a load of extras you won’t find in standard Android, such as dual apps and second screen, though our review sample doesn’t appear to have those particular features. We did find Quick Ball, which places onscreen shortcuts to common actions, and a full-screen display mode which removes the onscreen navigational buttons and requires you to navigate the menus using gestures. 

Mi AI is also on this device – Xiao AI is Xiaomi’s own voice assistant, but it’s not optimised for English language. You can install the Google Assistant once you’ve configured Google Play, of course.

Xiaomi Mi Pad 4: Verdict

The Mi Pad 4 is a great budget tablet, with an attractive 8in design and some competitive hardware onboard. It ticks most of our boxes, though we fear some users may find the unfamiliar MIUI operating system and lack of Google Play out of the box confusing. 

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A touch-sensitive robotic finger that can be attached to smartphones has been developed by a researcher in France.

The MobiLimb finger can crawl across the desk, waggle for attention when messages arrive and be used as an interface to control apps and games.

It can also stroke its owner on the hand, which developer Marc Teyssier said could create more personal connections.

He told the BBC people generally found the finger creepy or weird because it was so unusual, but hoped it would be “accepted” in time.

Video journalist: Chris Fox

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Nowhere do I see technology’s relentless progress more these days than in wireless mice. When I was in college, not all that long ago, I had a wireless mouse for traveling. It cost me $30, and it barely worked. As if its error-prone laser sensor wasn’t bad enough, it was always losing connection temporarily—and at the worst moments, of course.

It soured me on the whole idea, and for years I defaulted to carrying a wired mouse with me on trips. Usually that meant something by SteelSeries or Corsair, because whatever those companies lack in elegance they make up for in durability.

But for the past six months or so I’ve packed a pair of Logitech’s wireless mice on my trips, and honestly I feel like either one is a valuable investment for the travel-prone.

This review is part of our roundup of best gaming mice. Go there for details on competing products and how we tested them.

On the road again

Logitech has released two similar models in the last year, the G305 ($60 on Amazon) and the G603 ($70 on Amazon). Besides the slight price difference, the two are distinguishable by features and shape.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

The G603 came first and it’s a familiar shape for Logitech, adopting the neutral right-handed scoop of the G703 (and G403 before it). The main difference is that the G603 runs off two AA batteries, and thus weighs quite a bit more than its rechargeable siblings.

It’s a slick mouse though. The buttons and battery compartment are a single molded piece of plastic, held on magnetically. Lift the back edge and this facade pops right out, revealing a slot for the USB dongle as well.

Despite that unorthodox design, the G603’s buttons still feel satisfyingly clicky. Will it hold up long-term? Hard to say. There are definitely more points of failure than, say, the more traditional G703’s buttons. That said, I’ve used the G603 for hours and hours, for both casual web browsing and games (from Destiny 2 to Not Tonight), and had no issues, never a mushy click or an accidental double-click.

Outlook has been helping users make sense of their inboxes and schedules since the 1990s, and is now the model of a modern email and calendar tool, available across the desktop, mobile, and web.

Competition from Apple Mail on the Mac and Gmail in G Suite (and just about everywhere else) remains strong, though. So does Outlook still have what it takes to be the top tool for managing personal and company information?

It’s available as part of an Office 365 subscription, or – if you don’t mind missing out on regular updates – as a standalone Office 2019 purchase.

Microsoft Outlook for Office 365: interface

There are only so many ways you can display emails, and Outlook lets you use most of them – from the Gmail-style conversation view, to the recently added Focused inbox (designed to catch only the most important emails), you’ve got full control over how your messages get collated.

Like the other applications in Office 365, Outlook makes use of a ribbon menu to bring the most relevant features and functions right to the fore when you need them. It’s probably a little more cluttered than it needs to be – see the web and mobile apps for evidence of that – but the ribbon can always be hidden if needed.

In fact you can show or hide just about any part of the interface with a couple of clicks, so it’s easy enough to change if it’s not to your liking. There’s some nice use of subtle color for flagging and categorizing emails, and if you do get stuck then the ‘Tell me what you want to do…’ option on the menu bar is actually useful rather than gimmicky.

The Outlook interface is clean and intuitive enough then, but – more so than with Word, Excel and PowerPoint – there is still a sense that it’s being held back by all the legacy features it’s forced to include. Look at the simplicity of Gmail on the web, for example, and the Outlook interface begins to look positively bloated by comparison.

The calendar part of the UI, accessible with one click from your inbox, manages to combine a sense of minimalism with some nice little flourishes – like the miniature weather forecasts that appear above the calendar. Microsoft has done a better job of keeping everything accessible here, perhaps because there are fewer features to worry about.

Microsoft Outlook for Office 365: features

With a heritage spanning more than 20 years, it’s no surprise that Outlook comes with just about every feature you could want from an email program: filters, flags, smart searches, due dates, out-of-office replies, scheduled sending and much more besides.

More recently, Microsoft has tried to add more artificial intelligence to Outlook, with the automatic sorting of emails into and out of the Focused inbox for example, as we’ve already mentioned. There’s also the MyAnalytics data analysis add-in that can spot patterns before you do – a schedule getting too full with meetings, advising against sending after-hours emails, and automatically picking out to-do tasks from email threads.

Another update added to Outlook in the last few months is automatic payments, right from the inbox, with partners including Stripe and Braintree on board. We also like the ability to find related emails – from the same sender or pertaining to the same conversation – very handy as well.

On the calendar side, you’ve got everything from custom views to automatic meeting scheduling (for when all the attendees are free) to play around with. Actually, one of the key reasons for buying Outlook is because of the tight email and calendar integration. If you need your schedule to be at one with your inbox, creating meetings from emails and so on, this is something Outlook does really well.

Outlook remains a feature-packed powerhouse of an app for managing email, no matter how many messages you get or how many accounts you need to manage. The question is whether there are actually too many features here – and whether the majority of users aren’t just better off with Windows 10 Mail or Outlook on the web instead…

Microsoft Outlook for Office 365: mobile and web

There’s no doubt Outlook remains packed with features for the discerning emailer – but is that a curse as well as a blessing? Fire up Outlook on the web and it immediately feels crisp, simple and fresh compared with the rather bloated desktop edition, even though it’s keeping most of the key features in place.

Thanks to a recent lick of paint, it’s now much easier on the eye, and much more of a genuine competitor to the mighty Gmail on the web. The calendar component still feels rather basic and sluggish, and options like search and sorting could still use some significant improvement, but Outlook Online is not to be sniffed at.

Likewise with the Outlook apps for Android and iOS. Microsoft has made a concerted effort to improve the quality of its apps for the mobile operating systems made by Google and Apple, and it shows. These are two of the most intuitive and appealing email apps you can get on these platforms, with swipe actions and search tools designed to help you get through your emails as quickly as possible.

The apps include the calendar component as well, for checking up on your schedule on the go – and again they make the desktop version look rather dated and cluttered in comparison. One feature that does work well is the ability to view Microsoft Office files (attached to your emails) right inside the Outlook apps.

The polish of Outlook on Android and iOS does owe something to the mobile apps from Apple and Google themselves – but even if Microsoft wasn’t first to nail email on a smartphone, it’s done a respectable job of dragging its long-standing desktop client into a form that feels intuitive and useful on a smaller screen.

Microsoft Outlook for Office 365: pricing and verdict

To get Outlook as part of Office 365 Business, you need to fork out £7.90 per user per month (plus VAT) if you’re paying annually (or $8.25 in the US), or £9.50 per user per month (plus VAT) if you’re paying monthly (or $10 in the US). A 30-day free trial is available if you want to give it a go before committing, or you can opt for the one-off Office 2019 purchase.

On the one hand it’s hard to fault Outlook – it remains packed with features, reasonably intuitive to use, and undoubtedly the most powerful email solution for desktops and laptops. Microsoft is now regularly adding AI-inspired touches that promise to be genuinely useful in dealing with the deluge of emails that continue to pour in for most of us.

On the other hand it feels like Outlook has been overtaken somewhat by faster, slicker tools from Apple and Google – and indeed by Microsoft’s own Outlook clients for the web and mobile (and by the stripped-down Mail app for Windows 10). For most of us, email doesn’t have to be as complicated as Outlook makes it.

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The Fitbit Charge 3 is the updated version of the Charge 2, Fitbit’s most popular activity tracker to date. The Charge range has a slim design and core fitness features that appeal to many for the price and rich list of health-insight functions.

The Charge 3 takes what was good about 2016’s Charge 2 and makes it better by refining the fit, features and accessories to appeal to an audience that may not want to spend £200 or over on one of Fitbit’s smartwatches, the Versa and Ionic.

This is the tracker range that makes up 50 percent of Fitbit’s sales, and is the UK’s best-selling fitness tracker.

With a bigger, better screen in a lighter, waterproof form – but still winning on all the benefits that made the Charge 2 a bestseller – the Charge 3 looks like a formidable upgrade without spoiling what those 35 million loyal users love about the tracker.

We went hands-on with the Charge 3 prior to its release. Does it have what it takes to be the best Fitbit? Here are our first impressions.

Fitbit Charge 3: Price, release date and availability

The Fitbit Charge 3 will be .

The base price for the Charge 3 is £129.99. You can pick from Graphite with Black silicone band or Rose Gold with Grey-Blue silicone band. This is actually £10 less than the retail price of the current Charge 2, although you can find that version cheaper online – see our Best Fitbit Deals for more savings.

A Special Edition Charge 3 adds NFC for mobile payments (Fitbit Pay) and costs £149.99. These come in Graphite with White band or Pink with woven band, and will ship even later than the regular versions.

Fitbit Pay isn’t widely compatible with banks in the UK right now, but is better in the US. If you’re not bothered by contactless payments via your wrist, the extra £20 just buys you an extra band, as the Special Editions also ship with a spare Black strap.

Perforated silicon Sports bands will be available as accessories for £24.99 each.

Fitbit Charge 3: Design and build

Fitbit was very keen to point out the aesthetic upgrade the Charge 3 has over older trackers, and it’s certainly more curved in places. It’s 20 percent lighter than the Charge 2 (which is hardly a beast), and we could tell the difference when holding both. The Charge 3 is made from aluminium rather 

It sits on the wrist more snuggly to help improve heart-rate accuracy, but the heart-rate sensor isn’t as flush to the unit like it is on the Versa and Ionic.

This is because Fitbit is cramming a lot of sensors into a much smaller product. It’s even referring to the tracker itself as the “pebble”, perhaps a reference to the company it acquired to help it push on to smartwatch market dominance.

The pebble is now made of aluminium rather than steel and is very lightweight. A notable change is an inductive rather than physical button on the left edge, marked only by an indentation. We found this button didn’t register a press every time, but we were working with pre-production units.

The vertical display is now 40 percent larger and fully touchscreen rather than only being able to react to taps. This allows you to scroll up, down and side to side through more detailed menus on a screen that can now display greyscale. Fitbit said this was to improve animations and daylight visibility.

The basic strap of the Charge 3 has a polygonal pattern, first seen on the Special Edition of the Charge 2.

Fitbit continues its slightly irritating trend of changing the strap and charger design with each new tracker, although here it’s the best strap release mechanism we’ve tested for a while – much less fiddly than the Versa and older Charge 2 are.

But this means none of your old Charge 2 straps are compatible with the Charge 3, and Fitbit is releasing Silicone perforated, Woven Heathered and Horween leather bands as accessories from launch – the latter at £59.99 and nearly half the cost of the tracker itself.

While only the keen-eyed will notice the new design of the Charge 3 on first glance, the tracker has saved the better upgrades for the inside.

Fitbit Charge 3: Features and specifications

Battery life: Fitbit claims the Charge 3 can run for up to seven days on a single charge. This is an important detail as it’s a product you are going to want to wear round the clock in order to get the best metrics out of it.

With this in mind, it’s the first Charge to be fully waterproof up to 50m, meaning showers and swimming are no issue and the tracker can record laps and distance in the pool, plus the duration of your swim.

Also, a Charge first is Auto Stop & Start, so your runs and activity are paused if you stop to take a breather halfway through, or get stopped at the lights. This is only during exercise though – you still have to manually start and stop a workout. It also features Auto Exercise Recognition.

Fitbit’s SpO2 sensor is included too, something the company claims in future updates will help track medical conditions like sleep apnoea and breathing difficulties. Software for more advanced sleep tracking is also promised before the end of 2018.

The Charge 3 is connected-GPS only, meaning you’ll still have to take your phone on that run if you want to record your route. The reason for leaving it out here is the physical limitations of a smaller tracker, and to keep the price down. The only Fitbit with built-in GPS remains the Ionic.

The Charge 3’s larger display is the best upgrade from the Charge 2. It is fully touchscreen and means you can interact quicker and easier with the OS. The greyscale tones make it less garish and subtler, which is welcome.

You’ll still need to use the inductive button to go back in menus, but you can now tap icons like on any other touchscreen where before pressing and holding a physical button was less user-friendly. The screen is built with Gorilla Glass 3 too, a decent level of scratch and shatter protection for such a small screen.

Fitbit Charge 3: Software and apps

The software on the Charge 3 is like a mini port from the Versa and Ionic – indeed Fitbit is calling this its “smartest tracker”, with even the promise of basic apps being added soon.

You can swipe down to view your unread notifications, of which there are many more (Caller ID, texts, Calendar, WhatsApp, etc). Charge 2 could only display calls, texts and calendar but now there is full support for all phone notifications. If paired with an Android phone you will also have access to Quick Replies when it is released.

You can even see your Fitbit Leaderboard right there on your wrist.

The Fitbit Charge 3 adds greater detail to your sleep analysis, with the full Sleep Stages information rather than the old 2’s more basic sleep stats. Fitbit is working on something it is calling Sleep Score to add further insight into what is now considered a key health metric.

A neat new feature is setting Goals. Rather than going on a run for an hour, say, before you start an exercise you can now select time, calories or distance as a metric to achieve – sometimes it’s more rewarding to chase something other than that hour mark.

Female health tracking was introduced to Fitbits with the Versa, and is compatible here too. When Fitbit updates the feature later in the year it will be able to track ovulation, and you’ll be able to view this directly on the dashboard of the Charge 3.

Alarms, timers and a simple weather app that links back to your phone are here too, and while Fitbit promises third-party apps soon, we won’t be getting our hopes up for anything earth-shattering given the limitations of the display – but apps aren’t what the Charge 3 is for.

Fitbit uses insights it has gained through collecting (anonymised) data from its 25.4 million users, and shares this with you at relevant times. For example, you can benchmark your sleep data against people of a similar age and fitness level.

if the trackers detects that your heart rate has been higher over the past seven days it will (if you want it to) suggest some relaxtion. It might also look at the correlation between sleep loss and weight gain.

Fitbit Charge 3: mobile app

One of the major benefits of choosing Fitbit is the mobile app where you can go to see more detail about your health and fitness, plus all the historical fitness stats you’ve achieved.

The app also offers Adventure Races (where you can, for example, run/walk the length of the New York Marathon over the course of a few days, or race through Yosemite), and Challenges to have with friends.

Here you can compete against your Fitbit-wearing Friends in the Steps Leaderboard, and you can also join other groups and communities, and get Fitbit Coach guidance and set exercises.

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As part of EU Code Week, Apple will be hosting over 2,000 free coding sessions in its stores throughout Europe. 

Apple has long been a big proponent of getting people, especially kids, into coding, and its participation in EU Code Week, which runs from October 6 – 21, offers a fantastic opportunity for people who are interested in learning more about coding.

The coding sessions are free and open to all, and Apple will be hosting at least one session every day in every Apple store throughout Europe.

According to Apple, the sessions “are designed to inspire and help people of all ages and skill levels learn to code with hands-on interactive experiences.” 

The sessions will include How To: Get Started with Coding, Teacher Tuesdays: App Design & Coding Basics and Kids Hour: Sphero Maze Challenge.

Passion for coding

Apple offers coding sessions throughout the year, with easy-to-follow lessons on using Swift, Apple’s own programming language, which is becoming increasingly popular.

EU Code Week (which is actually much longer than a week) is an initiative aimed at getting people from all walks of life throughout Europe to better understand coding and encourage them to try their hand at it.

In 2017, 1.2 million people from over 50 countries participated in EU Code Week, and it’s expected that this year’s events will draw an even bigger crowd.

For Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, it seems that the collaboration between Apple and EU Code Week is a natural fit. “Apple has long believed coding is the language of the future,” he explains, “and we’ve created a range of tools to make it fun and accessible for everyone. We’re thrilled to offer thousands of sessions in Apple stores for EU Code Week, and can’t wait to share our love for coding with young people and educators across Europe.”

If you fancy attending one of the free coding sessions, you can find out when and where they are happening at the Today at Apple website or the EU Code Week events page.

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