• Amazfit has unveiled the T-Rex Dual Solar smartwatch
• It offers solar charging on an AMOLED watch — a feat not even Garmin has managed
• As well as charging from the front, the innovative back plate allows the wearer to invert the watch for maximum light absorption

In a world in which most smartwatches now have the same features and similar specs, it's always nice to see something innovative. The Amazfit T-Rex line is a range of rugged adventure-focused smartwatches that are generally — like almost all of Amazfit's products — great value alternatives to more expensive wearables such as the best Garmin watches.

Despite focusing on solar charging, as seen on some top-tier Garmin watches such as the Fenix 9 Pro, the T-Rex Dual Solar brings innovation all of its own. Amazfit's newest smartwatch not only provides battery-lengthening solar charging from the front, but also a secondary, more efficient solar charging plate on the back of the watch. With enough sunlight, this back plate can reportedly revive a completely flat battery. That means if you're out of power, you could invert the watch and wear it inside-out, or leave it on a rock with the back plate facing the sun, to bring it back to life.

Amazfit says that "for those who adventure at the edge of the map, solar offers something more: a way to bring a completely depleted watch back to life using sunlight when traditional power isn’t available, helping users regain access to essential functions like maps and route information."

However, the most interesting bit is that Amazfit has finally cracked what Garmin has not been able to, as yet: bring solar charging to an AMOLED watch. The Amazfit Dual Solar, as its name suggests, charges from both sides, even though it's got a bright AMOLED screen, as long as you're in conditions of 50,000 lux or more for three hours or more. Without exception, Solar charging Garmin watches uses lower-power memory-in-pixel displays in conjunction with Garmin's Power Glass solar charging tech.

Sara Webster Wylie, VP of Global Marketing at Amazfit, says: “With T-Rex Dual Solar, we didn’t want users to have to choose between the bright, premium display they want every day and the battery endurance they need outdoors. Bringing AMOLED and solar together for the first time lets us deliver both.”

Other specs & pricing

In normal conditions, the watch packs up to 25 days of battery life, extended up to 35 days in optimal solar conditions, and 41 hours of use in 'accurate GPS mode'. A flashlight with red and white modes is built into the titanium casing, while its sapphire crystal screen is capable of up to 3,000 nits of brightness.

With full color preloaded maps (including ski maps), intelligent route planning with turn-by-turn directions and Apple Watch Ultra-style waypoints, and LiveShare (Amazfit's equivalent of Garmin's LiveTrack location-sharing feature), it's certainly a powerhouse of a watch.

Unusually for Amazfit, it's also very expensive, priced at $649.99 in the US. Other regions' pricing is TBC, but that's around £500 / AU$900. Having seen what Amazfit can do with budget devices such as its five-star Amazfit Active 3 Premium, I'm excited to get my hands on a high-end model.

Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 12 earlier this month, and it's now officially available to order. While we normally have to wait for holiday sales like Prime Day and Black Friday to score a discount on new Apple devices, Amazon has surprised us with a first-time price cut.

• Shop more daily deals at Amazon

The retailer has the GPS-only Apple Watch Series 12 on sale for $389.99 (was $399) thanks to a rare $10 discount on the Olive Sport Band. That's the best and only deal we've seen on the smartwatch that doesn't require a trade-in.

The Apple Watch Series 12 is touted as the 'ultimate device for a healthy life' thanks to new features like Apple's advanced health sensors, which Apple claims are the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable. You also get a new Health Sensing System, powered by the S11 chip, which offers a suite of health and fitness features, including a new readiness score. The Series 12 also includes advanced workout and sleep tracking and offers up to 24 hours of battery life and up to 10 hours during an outdoor workout, a 25% improvement over the previous model.

Save on the all-new Apple Watch Series 12

Keep in mind this is a limited-time offer, and the discount applies only to the Apple Watch 12 with the dark bronze aluminum case and olive sport band. While a $10 price cut might not seem like much, this is an impressive deal for a newly released Apple Watch and the best price you can find.

The Apple Watch Series 12 is officially available, and Best Buy offers an excellent trade-in deal that lets you get the smartwatch for as little as $199.

The feature-packed Apple Watch 12 is $399 for the 42mm GPS-only model, but if you have an older smartwatch to trade in, Best Buy can shave up to $200 off the retail price. Discounts on new Apple devices are extremely rare, and this is the best deal we've spotted.

The Apple Watch Series 12 features new Apple silicon and advanced health sensors, which Apple claims are the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable. Apple's newest Health Sensing System, along with its S11 chip, offers a suite of health and fitness features including a new readiness score. The Series 12 also includes advanced workout and sleep tracking and offers up to 24 hours of battery life and up to 10 hours during an outdoor workout, a 25% improvement over the previous model.

Get the new Apple Watch 12 for as little as $199

To find out how much you can save, you'll click on 'Check your trade-in value' on the Apple Watch 12 product page. You'll then answer questions about your trade-in device, and Best Buy will show you the value. The retailer will email you shipping instructions for your trade-in device, and once it's received, Best Buy will refund the amount to your original payment method.

Keep in mind this is a limited-time offer and an excellent deal if you have an older smartwatch and want to upgrade to Apple's latest and greatest.

As the weather cools, outdoor activities like running, biking, and hiking will resume, and a Garmin smartwatch can be the perfect companion. Garmin watches are packed with premium features, and with that comes an expensive price tag, but that's where Amazon is here to help.

• Shop more deals at Amazon

The retailer has a huge fall sale on Garmin's top-rated watches, with up to $250 off and prices starting at just $181. You can find a wide range of models on sale with features like GPS tracking, a large AMOLED display, fitness analytics, long battery life, and an ultra-durable design.

You'll find the 12 best Garmin watch deals at Amazon below, all of which have recieved impressive discounts and are on sale for a limited-time. Amazon's Garmin discounts let you score a helpful, insightful companion for your fall outdoor activities and save money at the same time.

The best Garmin smartwatch deals at Amazon

While all eyes this week were on the launch of the Apple Watch Series 12, there are plenty of other wearables out there receiving tempting discounts that might turn your head. As we slowly march towards peak deals season, culminating in Black Friday, we're likely to see discounts on watches from Samsung, Garmin, Huawei and more.

Today it's Huawei's turn, with the excellent Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro. Right now, you can get the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro discounted from £249.99 to just £199 at Amazon, in its black color. Orange and white options are available, but the discounts aren't quite as good. Check out the deal in full below:

Today's best Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro deal

Why get this deal?

I personally tested this watch, running around the streets of Paris and comparing its stats to a top-tier Garmin Fenix 8 Pro on the other wrist, which costs around £1,000 (or did at the time). The Fenix 8 Pro is the best Garmin had to offer (or was, until the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro arrived), with its Elevate V5 premium heart rate sensor. Comparing the two watches, their respective average heart rate measurements differed by just 1bpm.

I can confirm that it's an accurate watch; the titanium casing looks and feels great to wear, and it's ideal for runners in particular due to a rich feature set. It's got virtual pacers with snappy animations to keep your runs on time, which is perfect for training through your winter arc, ready to hit some races in Spring.

I gave the watch 4.5 stars out of 5 in my Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro review. It's a great value package, and it's now cheaper than ever, making it easy to recommend.

It's also easily mistaken for an Apple Watch at first glance, so if you're after a Series 12 but don't want to pay launch prices, this is an ideal buy over the Apple Watch SE 3. The only sticking point is that it doesn't work with third-party apps like Spotify and WhatsApp as well as other smartwatches do, and you have to sideload apps via Huawei's AppGallery.