Skip to main content

The chrome-plated Diskus makes it simpler to charge your Apple Watch on the go

Let’s discuss the Diskus. It’s a small, disc-shaped charger for your Apple Watch, but that’s not the only thing it does or the problem it solves. Apple provides a snake-like cable and charger with the Apple Watch, which is long and annoying. Meanwhile, accessory manufacturers concentrate on stylish but bulky travel kits that combine a dock and charger. What if you just want to slip a charger for the Watch into your bag?

That’s what is so great about the Diskus — it’s portable. It’s a simple charging disc for your Apple Watch, without any of the garnish or the ridiculously long cable attached to the Apple version. Instead, its tiny frame is wrapped in a chrome body, and equipped with a Micro USB port, so you can plug in the cord of your choice.

Recommended Videos

We’ve been checking out a prototype. It’s supplied with a short, braided Micro USB cable in case you don’t have one, that looks tough enough to withstand some harsh treatment. The charger itself is so small and light, you could easily fit it in your pocket and not know it’s there. The chrome finish looks great, and the magnetized charging plate grips our Apple Watch nicely. We did have to make sure the cable was pushed in all the way on the disc, though, as it needs a solid click before the Watch starts to charge.

Diskus_0635edit
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This isn’t some half-hearted, quickly devised product, either. It’s an Apple approved, Made For iPhone charger, so it meets the standards set out by the company when it comes to accessories. Why use a Micro USB charger instead of a Lightning connector? It seems Apple wouldn’t approve that aspect, but it’s not a massive problem. Most of us will have a Micro USB cable anyway, and the Diskus comes with one. Additionally, many external battery packs only need the opposite end of a USB cable to be plugged in. This makes the Diskus great for carrying around day-to-day.

The final version will come with a cute little pouch to keep everything together. We’ve been stuck with a dead Apple Watch and no charger on several occasions because we underestimated usage and didn’t want to carry the Apple charger around. As such, the Diskus is exactly what we’ve been waiting for. It will make life with the Apple Watch much more manageable.

The Diskus is the work of ThanoTech, the company responsible for the seamless K11 bumper case for the iPhone, that has been on sale since the completion of a successful Kickstarter campaign. ThanoTech has returned to Kickstarter for the Diskus, where if you’re quick, you can get it for $28. Once the early bird deals have sold out, the Diskus will cost $32 on the crowd funding site. Deliveries are expected to take place in October, and seeing as we’ve already had our hands on a prototype, provided the campaign is successful that date seems likely to be met.

Andy Boxall
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
Apple is going to make it easier to read App Store reviews
A photo of an Apple screen and a close-up of the App Store icon with three notifications on it.

Apple Intelligence promises to bring a lot of features to the Apple ecosystem, but one of the most exciting of those is text summarization. According to 9to5Mac, Apple plans to bring this same feature to the App Store. You'll be able to see a rundown of the most common complaints and praise for an app before you download it.

There isn't a lot of news about this feature yet, so we're a bit light on the specific details. If we had to make a guess, the system will work similarly to Amazon's product page summaries. The AI-generated review summaries found on most product pages likely follow the same format that Apple's reviews will. It also looks as though Apple will generate the summaries on its own rather than using on-device processing.

Read more
Blood oxygen tracking isn’t coming back to the Apple Watch anytime soon
Apple Watch Ultra taking a measurement for blood oxygen levels.

One of the major selling points of Apple Watches in recent years has been the ability to test users’ blood oxygen levels. Unfortunately, ongoing litigation has prevented this feature from being included in Apple Watches sold in the U.S. since January. Now, it seems unlikely that this situation will change soon.

On Friday, a Delaware jury found that health-monitoring technology company Masimo infringed on some of Apple’s earlier smartwatch patents. As a result, Apple received an award of only $250. However, the same jury ruled that Masimo's current watches did not infringe on the patents that Apple accused it of copying. Consequently, an injunction remains in effect in the U.S. that prevents the company from offering blood oxygen tracking on new watches sold in the country.

Read more
Future Apple Watches could tell you if you’re at risk for diabetes
Someone wearing an original Apple Watch Ultra showing the weather app.

An apple a day might keep the doctor away, but an Apple device on your wrist could replace them altogether. Well, sort of. The Apple Watch is already chock-full of health-focused applications, but according to a recent report from Mark Gurman, an app for testing blood sugar levels is in development.

Apple has always been good at keeping a lid on its projects, but that approach has reached the next level with this app. Multiple layers of non-disclosure agreements and vetting were required before anyone could participate in the employee-only trial, so details regarding the progress of this app are limited. However, it's another step toward needle-free measurements of your blood sugar levels.

Read more