Samsung watches detect dementia, rings measure blood pressure, and batteries charge in 5 minutes! 🚀

Samsung brings dementia detection to your wrist, RingConn Gen 3 vibrates and measures blood pressure, Atlas heads to Hyundai factory in 2028, and the first solid-state battery charges in 5 minutes — the tech revolution is here.

Samsung Galaxy: Dementia Detection on Your Wrist

Wearable technology has advanced significantly in recent years, but brain health has somehow remained on the sidelines. Most fitness trackers focus on sleep, heart rate, and movement, but cognitive abilities? Radio silence. Samsung now wants to change the game and is bringing features to its future Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Ring that can detect early signs of dementia .

How does it work? The devices will monitor changes in speech, movement, and daily activities that may indicate cognitive decline. Samsung gives concrete examples: slowed speech when using Bixby, slower movement, or changes in how you interact with other smart home devices. These are subtle signals that can be caught early, not when the problem is already visible .

Crucially, Samsung doesn’t present this feature as a diagnostic tool. It’s more like an early warning system, something like “maybe it’s worth seeing a doctor.” For users and their families, this could mean noticing changes earlier than if they ignored or explained them away for weeks or months .

The features will first be available in beta on select markets, though Samsung hasn’t specified which countries yet. The launch date is also vague — it’s supposed to be “soon.” However, this is part of Samsung’s broader health strategy, which wants to integrate its AI more into the entire ecosystem and offer more useful health coaching that could potentially reduce the risk of chronic diseases .

Galaxy wearables are no longer just about counting steps and logging sleep. Samsung wants them to become preventive health partners. And if the dementia detection tools are accurate, carefully designed, and responsibly explained, this could be one of the most significant advances in mainstream smartwatch features in a long time .

RingConn Gen 3: Smart Ring with Vibrations and Blood Pressure Trends

Smart rings haven’t evolved much for a long time, so if yours was working, you didn’t have much reason to upgrade. But that’s changing. At CES 2026, RingConn is introducing the third generation, which promises more than just cosmetic improvements over Gen 2 .

RingConn Gen 3 still uses titanium, but this time comes in five colors and three finishes: Brushed Silver, Brushed Rose Gold, Polished Future Silver, Royal Gold, and the new Matte Black. Unlike the limited options of Gen 2, Gen 3 looks more like jewelry you’d actually want to wear. Another quiet but important improvement is sizing — Gen 2 offered nine sizes, which suited most people, but excluded some users. Gen 3 expands the range to 10 sizes, from size 6 to 15 .

The main novelty is smart vibration. Unlike Gen 2, which was entirely phone-dependent, Gen 3 adds a built-in vibration module. Now you can get real-time health alerts directly from the ring without needing your phone. RingConn also teases blood pressure tracking, similar to Circular Ring 2, which will be available in a future update. It’s not medically precise blood pressure measurements — RingConn is clear about that — but trend tracking over time, helping users recognize changes and potential risks early .

Battery life also gets a boost. RingConn says Gen 3 uses an improved battery system designed to last longer with daily wear. Exact numbers aren’t final yet, but it’s positioned as an improvement over Gen 2’s already solid endurance. RingConn Gen 2 is still a strong choice — it set the brand’s standard with its lightweight titanium, reliable sleep and activity tracking, and no monthly fees. But it didn’t offer direct interaction or advanced health features .

Gen 3 addresses these missing features. It doesn’t reinvent the category, but adds useful new capabilities for everyday use. For users looking for a discreet yet powerful wearable device, it’s definitely a step in the right direction .

Boston Dynamics Atlas: Humanoid Robot Heads to Production in 2028

One of the world’s most advanced humanoid robots is finally getting ready for work. Boston Dynamics and its partner Hyundai Motors unveiled the production version of Atlas at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. After more than three decades of developing impressive robotics and years of building Atlas (first mostly hydraulic, now fully electric), this new version will join the robotic dog Spot in production .

Boston Dynamics offered its first public demonstration of Atlas’s capabilities. Until now, the company carefully guarded the prototype and provided only carefully edited videos showing a range of stunning abilities, such as parkour, gymnastics, running, walking, simulated factory work, and even twisting in completely inhuman ways. While the fully electric Atlas prototype was designed as a general-purpose robot, it was still primarily a research product that let Boston Dynamics developers test new capabilities .

The production version of Atlas brings 56 degrees of freedom, self-service battery replacement, significant strength (it can lift up to 50 kilograms), and even weather resistance, which can be valuable in some factory environments. The humanoid Atlas is also equipped with human-like hands with tactile sensors, and the company claims it can be trained for new tasks in less than a day .

Despite all this, Atlas isn’t punching any time cards yet. Together with partner Hyundai, Boston Dynamics has a gradual plan to deploy Atlas first at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Savannah, Georgia. Its initial work will be parts sequencing, but by 2030, Atlas could be working on component assembly. According to the press release, “Atlas will also take on tasks involving repetitive movements, heavy loads, and other complex operations” .

The goal here isn’t to replace human workers, but to create a “safer working environment for factory employees”. Boston Dynamics achieved this milestone partly using Nvidia’s AI infrastructure and models, which accelerate physical robotics training. This partnership has been running since early last year. The company also announced a strategic partnership with Google DeepMind, where they’ll work together on developing Google’s “cutting-edge robotic AI foundation models.” This likely means Atlas’s training and skills will accelerate even more in 2026 .

Donut Lab: First Production Solid-State Battery Offers 5-Minute Charging

It’s finally happening. The first commercially available, production-ready all-solid-state battery is here and promises a revolution in the world of electric vehicles — from cars and motorcycles to large trucks and construction equipment. At least that’s what Donut Lab, the startup that made the battery, claims .

The company known for its sci-fi electric motor in a wheel that powers Verge electric motorcycles says that breakthrough liquid-free cells and modules are available now with gigawatt-hour-level production capacity for companies worldwide. Verge Motorcycles announced that its updated two-wheeler TS Pro will become the first production electric vehicle powered by a solid-state battery when it reaches customers in the first quarter of this year .

What makes this battery exceptional? Actually, everything. It’s lighter, more energy-dense, safer, charges faster, is more durable, and — most importantly — promises greater range than conventional lithium-ion batteries with liquid-based electrolytes. According to Donut Lab, its production-ready solid-state battery has an energy density of 400 watt-hours per kilogram and can be fully charged in just five minutes for up to 100,000 cycles without needing to limit charging to 80% .

For comparison, some of the best traditional Li-ion batteries available today have energy densities around 250–300 Wh/kg and last up to 5,000 full cycles, with maximum state of charge needing to be limited to 80%. Extreme temperatures have little to no effect on Donut’s solid-state battery — the startup claims its product retained over 99% capacity at temperatures from -30°C to +100°C .

In terms of safety, the startup claims the battery won’t ignite when damaged and that it can be manufactured virtually anywhere in the world because it doesn’t use rare materials. Donut Lab didn’t specify what materials are needed to produce solid-state cells, but said they’re “100% green, made from materials found everywhere,” making it immune to geopolitical issues. The startup also claims its solid-state cells are cheaper to produce than comparable lithium-ion batteries .

In the real world, we have the Verge TS Pro motorcycle as a reference for what solid-state batteries can offer. The previous model was available with a conventional lithium-ion battery that allowed 217 miles of city range, while charging time was advertised as less than 35 minutes. The new model powered by Donut’s solid-state battery is also capable of 217 miles in standard version, but the Large Battery option, which fits in the same cradle, can increase range to 370 miles. But charging time has been dramatically reduced to less than 10 minutes, with Verge saying it deliberately designed the new bike to charge longer so riders could enjoy coffee while waiting .

Smart Rings: New Era of Health and Fitness Ecosystem

The smart ring market has gained remarkable momentum in recent years, and 2025 is shaping up to be its strongest yet. Omdia estimates that shipments in 2023 exceeded 850,000 units, in 2024 more than doubled to 1.8 million, and in the first half of 2025 reached 1.6 million. Full-year volume is projected just over 4 million units, highlighting the rapid rise of the category within the broader wearable ecosystem .

Oura remains the dominant market leader with a 74% share in the first half of 2025, followed by Ultrahuman (9%), Samsung (9%), and RingConn (5%), with the remainder divided among Circular, Noise, boAt, Zepp, and others. Smart rings are among the fastest-growing wearable segments, driven by consumer demand for simpler, comprehensive health solutions and vendor ambitions to diversify .

It’s a new, exciting category that many tech and wellness enthusiasts have jumped on. At the same time, more and more users are seeking centralized experiences through their smartphones: fewer screens, fewer apps, and fewer distractions, while still getting continuous health tracking, sleep monitoring, and actionable insights. Omdia’s 2024 study found that nearly half of European consumers feel they spend too much time on screens, especially younger users concerned about digital fatigue .

A 2025 study showed that 43% of respondents didn’t own a wearable band and 51% of this group didn’t plan to buy one. Discomfort from wearing watches all day or overnight along with frequent charging needs deter many from adopting wrist devices. Smart rings offer a discreet, comfortable alternative, opening opportunities to engage these untapped users and expand the wearable ecosystem .

Smart rings excel at tracking sleep, stress, recovery, and women’s health. Their better skin contact and proximity to blood vessels enable more accurate measurements, such as skin temperature, while longer wear time provides a more comprehensive health picture compared to wrist devices. Advanced AI interprets subtle physiological changes, identifies early signs of stress, fatigue, or illness, and offers personalized coaching and reliable menstruation and fertility predictions .

Instead of competing with existing wearables, rings complement them. Rings typically focus on continuous wellness and sleep tracking, while watches monitor activity and fitness. Together they provide a more comprehensive health picture, increasing the value of the vendor’s ecosystem. Leading players are exploring multi-device models, such as Apple Watch and AirPods, Samsung Galaxy Watch and Ring, or Ultrahuman’s expanding health monitoring technology, which aims to create a holistic health and fitness ecosystem .

Sources

https://www.t3.com/tech/smartwatches/samsung-is-bringing-dementia-detection-tools-to-future-galaxy-wearables

https://www.androidauthority.com/ringconn-gen-3-debut-ces-2026-3629423/

https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/boston-dynamics-atlas-humanoid-robot-is-now-a-product-and-heading-to-factories-in-2028

https://www.inkl.com/news/the-first-production-all-solid-state-battery-is-here-and-it-promises-5-minute-charging

https://omdia.tech.informa.com/blogs/2025/nov/empowering-the-health-and-fitness-ecosystem-with-smart-rings