Imagine you have an unlimited budget and have to pick your ultimate daily trio:
Phone
Smartwatch / Activity tracker
Earbuds
No explanations or justifications needed - just drop your 3 items below.
Hey everyone,
I’m looking for a solid daily health tracker and I’ve narrowed it down to the Apple Watch Series 11 and the Whoop Band 5.0 (plus one screenless alternative I'm eyeing). (Before anyone asks why Series 11 instead of the new Series 12: Apple dropped the silver finish this year, which is a dealbreaker for me, so S11 it is).
Quick note before people suggest it: I ruled out the Fitbit Charge line (like the Charge 5/6) because I really dislike the current Google Fitbit app redesign, so that's off the table.
To give some context: I am not a hardcore athlete or a gym person at all—my main physical activity is mostly just going for long walks. I actually don't care about traditional smartwatch features like notifications, apps, or replying to texts. My main goal is just having a reliable heart rate monitor and something that will gently motivate me to build healthier daily habits.
Here is my dilemma:
- Apple Watch Series 11: Incredible heart rate accuracy and it's a proven device. However, since I don’t care about the "smart" features, having a buzzing screen on my wrist feels unnecessary. More importantly, the daily charging is a huge drawback when I really just want a passive health monitor with good battery life.
- Whoop 5.0: I absolutely love the screenless design and the multi-day battery life—not having to charge it every single day is exactly what I'm looking for. A lot of people bring up the ongoing subscription as a negative, but honestly, that’s not a major factor for me. I tend to switch up my tech devices fairly often anyway, and the cost of a Whoop subscription for a year is roughly the same as the depreciation hit I'd take from buying a new Apple Watch and selling it a year later.
- Amazfit Helio Strap: I've also been considering this as a subscription-free, screenless band alternative. However, Whoop is far more popular, has a massive community, and feels much more mature in terms of ecosystem and platform support, which makes me lean toward Whoop if I go the screenless route.
Since cost isn't the deciding factor here, I'd love to hear from people who have been in a similar boat:
-As someone who just wants basic health tracking and motivation (rather than optimizing heavy workouts), does the Whoop app provide good, actionable insights for a casual user?
- If you don't use the smart features, is dealing with the Apple Watch's daily battery life as annoying as it seems?
- Has anyone compared the Amazfit Helio Strap to the Whoop for purely passive daily tracking, or does Whoop's established platform easily justify choosing it instead?
- Did any of these devices actually succeed in motivating you to be generally healthier?
Appreciate any advice!
I’m currently using Android/Google ecosystem and I’m considering giving iOS a proper try, but I don’t want to spend a fortune just to find out that it’s not for me.
What iPhone would you recommend as a good “test device” in 2026? Ideally something that still gives me a good experience with iOS, but is cheap enough that I won’t lose too much money if I decide to sell it again after a few weeks/months.
Camera is important to me, but I mainly want to see what it’s actually like to use iOS and the Apple ecosystem day to day.
Would you go for an older Pro model, a regular iPhone?
What would you buy in my situation?
I received my Pixel 11 Pro few days ago. Unfortunately, I wasn't happy with the phone and decided to return it.
The problem started when the return label generated by Google was rejected by DHL (Incorrect description on the waybill). DHL returned the parcel back to me instead of delivering it to Google.
Since Friday, I've been contacting Google Support every single day trying to get a new return label.
And every single day I'm being told basically the same thing: "You'll definitely receive the new label within 24 hours."
At this point, I've spent five days chasing Google just to get a return label for a return that Google itself arranged in the first place. I don't understand how something this simple can be so difficult to resolve.
Has anyone here had a similar experience with Google Store, especially in the UK?
I'd really appreciate any advice on how to get this escalated or actually resolved. I'm getting seriously fed up with contacting support every day and being given the same promises that aren't followed through.
I've been a loyal Google user for almost 10 years, but honestly, after seeing this level of incompetence and lack of customer support, I'm seriously questioning whether I'll ever buy another Google device again.
Hi everyone,
I’m looking for a projector in the £300–£400 range for a 72-inch screen in a fully darkened room. My use case is very simple - I’ll only be using it in the evenings for around 2-3 hours in the evening ot watch YouTube, Twitch and Kick streams.
I don’t want to spend a fortune, but at the same time I’d rather avoid buying complete junk that will disappoint me after a few weeks.
I’m based in the UK, so ideally I’m looking for recommendations available on the British market.
Right now I’m considering:
The XGIMI seems to get the most positive feedback overall, especially for picture quality and ease of use in dark rooms, but I’ve also read mixed opinions about keystone correction and brightness.
Does anyone here have experience with any of these models, or maybe another recommendation around this budget?
Thanks! 🙂