Verizon’s Price Lock, a New Rolex, and Withings’ Blood Pressure Tech—Your Gear News of the Week

US carriers typically shake up their cell plans and affords to entice prospects to change and improve. Verizon’s newest huge thought? A three-year price lock. New and current subscribers can lock of their cell or residence web plan pricing for 3 years—and even get a brand new smartphone.

Verizon says this can be computerized for each myPlan and myHome community plans. When you change your myPlan tier, the worth lock resets for an additional three years. For the free telephone provide, you will have to commerce in any Apple, Google, or Samsung telephone in any situation. The provider additionally says residence web routers are included with no additional price in each myHome plan. When you’ve got a qualifying system, you should utilize Verizon’s free satellite texting feature (in an space with no cell service).

The corporate says the promotion affords “predictability, management, simplicity, and worth that’s notably related in immediately’s financial surroundings.” It was introduced a day after President Trump introduced tariffs that can have broad impacts across the tech industry.

Nonetheless, like all provider promotions, there is a catch. Within the effective print, Verizon notes: “Plan perks, taxes, charges, and surcharges are topic to alter.” Whereas your cell phone plan or residence web plan’s base charge won’t change, Verizon may levy charges that might nonetheless elevate your invoice. You additionally have to be on Verizon’s myPlan, which the corporate launched in 2023.

Withings’ Blood Strain Monitor Goes on Sale

Some of the widespread exams on the physician’s workplace is to measure your blood strain to verify for hypertension, but no wearable fitness trackers provide this primary performance. (Most of them may give you an electrocardiogram and verify your blood oxygen ranges.) Earlier this 12 months, Withings started providing Cardio Checkup, an in-app service to ship your cardiac knowledge quarterly to a group of specialists for overview. Now, Withings is releasing its at-home blood strain monitor within the US. The BPM Imaginative and prescient is FDA-cleared and has an academic tutorial to point out you methods to use it. It syncs to the Withings app and has interchangeable cuffs for a variety of grownup customers.

Once I reported on the rise of blood pressure monitoring devices earlier this 12 months, I spoke to some enterprise leaders who famous that quantified selfers and males of their thirties, forties, and fifties had been the demographic most desirous about monitoring their blood strain. A better proportion of males than ladies have hypertension, in any other case referred to as hypertension, however nearly half of all adults in the US have hypertension. Untreated, it might probably drastically improve the danger of coronary heart illness, stroke, or different expensive sicknesses. If a easy $150 at-home system will help lower down the estimated $131 billion in prices to deal with hypertension, signal me up. It is available directly from Withings. —Adrienne So

Rolex and TAG Heuer Duke It Out in This Week’s Watch Launch Battle

This week at Watches & Wonders in Geneva, the watch world gathered to point out off all its new releases for 2025 (properly, all besides Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille, Breitling and the Swatch Group, which incorporates Omega, none of whom wish to play on this specific horological sandpit)—and whereas there have been many inventions on show, the 2 new fashions that sucked up probably the most publicity oxygen had been undoubtedly TAG’s Formulation 1 Solargraph assortment and a model new Rolex, the Land-Dweller.

You’ll be able to learn our unique function all about how TAG revived the long-lasting F1 watch here, however the highlights are as follows: Practically 40 years after the wildly profitable and accessible color-popping line made its debut, it is now returning in solar-powered kind. So, working on nothing aside from mild it might probably tick on for as much as ten months on a full cost. Comprised of sand-blasted metal, DLC-treated metal, or TH-Polylight plastic, the opposite undeniably smart replace is that the case dimension has bumped up from 35 mm to 38 mm, and the worth is from $1,800. Just like the color-strap versions? Transfer quick, as these are limited-edition.

Any utterly brand-new watch from Rolex is “an enormous deal,” so I am certain you possibly can think about the hoo-ha created when the Land-Dweller dropped on Monday. Evoking 1976’s Datejust Oysterquartz, this piece has apparently been 10 years in improvement, powered by the calibre 7135, which is Rolex’s first-ever mechanical high-frequency motion, working at 5 Hz because of an escapement primarily from silicon that delivers vitality through rolling slightly than sliding. At 9.7 mm thick, the watch is available in 36 mm and 40 mm flavors, in addition to in metal with a white gold bezel, Everose gold, and platinum. Costs begin at $13,900. —Jeremy White