Web User - UK (2019-12-11)

Need to Know

FIRST LOOK

10 11-26December 2019

HonorMagicWatch 2

http://www.hihonor.com/uk

Beyond Apple Watchand Fitbit,the

wearab le markethas been thin on

products of late,sowe’re pleased to

seeHuawei-owned Honor step up

withanupdatedversion of its

excellent, ultra-thin MagicWatch.

TheHonorMagicWatch 2offers

both a42mmand 46mm version–

each featuring an always-onAMOLED

displayof1.2in or 1.39in,dependingon

themodel. Coloursremainsharp, even

outdoors, and it claimsto letyou add

your ownphotosasabackground,

although we couldn’tactually find a

waytodothissothe function maybe

plannedfor afuturepatch.

In everysense,thisfeels like a

watchthat’slearntfromthe mistak es

of previous wearables. Theonlyarea

differen texercises,

includingthe abilityto

logfitness records, so

youcan look backat

pastworkouts .The

built-in heart-rate

monitor offers thenifty

trick of buzzingan

alert when your

heart-ratefluctuat es

beyond normal le vels.

There’salso asleep tracker

that identifies sixcommon

sleepingdisordersand

provides remediestoi mprove your

bedtimehabits.

TheMagic Watch2looksthe

business –especiall ywhen equipped

withthe replaceable leather strap

–but it’s primarily designed to keep

youfit andhealthy. It’s releas ed on 12

December,pricedat£150and £160.

Whathappened?
The3.5millionLondoners whorelyon
Uber to getaroundmay notrealise it,
butthe cut-pricetaxicompany’s
position in thecityhas long been a
precar ious one. Uber originally lost its
licencebackin2017and,since then,it
hasonlybeenable to stay on thestreets
thanksto twoextensions.The most
rece nt ranout on 25 November,after
Transportfor London(TFL)declared
that Uber had notdoneenough to
improve standardsand thereforeits
licencewould notberenewed.
TFLismainly concernedabout
passengersafety, having foundthat
unauthorisedand unlicensed drivers
continuedtoworkfor Uber by illici tly
usingother drivers’ accounts.There
mayhave been as manyof14,000of
thesefraudulent tripssince late 2018.
And it gets worse: some of the
frau dulent driverswerepeople whohad
previously had theirlicencesrevoked for
misconduct.

Howwill it affectyou?
This isn’t theend of th eroad forUber–
if you’re aLondonerwho usestheapp,
youmay alreadyhave received aphone
notification lettingyou knowthatthe
serviceiss till in operation.
Unsurp risingly, thecompany has
decidedtoappealthe decisio n–a
proc ess that cantakeseveral months,

Uber loseslicencetooperate in London

during which Uber will continue to

operatethrou ghoutthe capital.

Butisitsafe?That’sreally down to

indi vidual discretion–while theissues

highlight ed by TFLare worrying,they

onlyaffectasmall minority of the

services overall rides. And, of course,

thereisalwaysthe chancethata

traditionalblack cabcould be driven by

an unlicensed driver.It’sfair to saythat

Uber is likely to be safe mostof th etime

butyou needto be awareofthe

potentialproblems.

If youuse theservice outsideLondon,

this doesn’t affe ct you. Andify ou’re

moreinterested in ta stytreatsthan

cheapjourneys, there’snoneedtoworry

–Uber Eats is regulatedseparatelyand

isn’taffectedbythisdecision.

What dowethink?

Nobodyshould getinacarwith an

uninsured driver,and it’s Uber’s

responsibility to makesurethisdoesn’t

happenontheir platform.Thatbeing

said,wealso believethatmore

consumer choi ce is agood thing,and

theservice offeredbyUber’smany

legitimate driversisunpar allelled.

Although thelicence should be revoked

if theservice isn’t safe,wehopethat

Uber will makethe required

improvements so customers can

continue to enjoythe service.

that needsworkist he

needto download MP3s

viathe MagicWatch 2

app–an antiquated

proc ess in this age of

streamingmedia.

Size isn’tthe only

differen ce between the

twomodels. Oneofthe

cor eproblemswith most

wearab les is that ,likeyour

phone, they needto be

chargedeverynight ,but

Honor’s 42mm model deliversan

impressiveweek-long batterylife, while

thelargerversionclaim stodouble that.

The0.9mm-thick timepiece runson

Huawei’sproprietary operating system

and includes4GBofstorage,Bluetooth

calling andimpressivelyloud speakers.

Thereare 15 differen tfitness modesto

help youtrack,monitorand manage

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