Fitbit Versa is a fitness smartwatch that looks sleek and lets you stay healthy and connected to your social networks with alerts from your connected phone.

Versa has similar functions to Fitbit’s flagship Ionic smart fitness watch, except it has no builtin GPS chip. Regardless, it still can be connected to your phone and utilise its GPS for exercise apps while running and cycling.

Versa appears the sweeter of the two and women will like the beautifully rounded edges, whereas the sharp-edged Ionic looks like a man’s watch. But, hey guys, the Versa does come in black too.

In fact Fitbit on May 1 added a Female Health-tracking function to its Fitbit app that helps women monitor their menstrual period along with the usual sleep, activity and weight statistics.

Versa might even be a fashion item with its wristbands available in peach, grey, white and periwinkle. The optional leather bands are sold separately in cognac, lavender, midnight blue and saddle stitch.

Men’s metal links come in black, silver, tapered silver, black mesh and silver mesh.

As a smartwatch, Versa can display notifications of your selected apps on your phone, such as from Line, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Calendar, apart from incoming calls and SMS messages.

You can select which apps to send notifications to Versa. Versa can store up to 30 notifications, after which the oldest are replaced with newer ones.

And when Versa receives calendar events from your phone, it will show the title, location and time of the event in addition to any details you have entered.

When paired to an iPhone, Versa can be used to accept or reject an incoming phone call, but you must converse via the phone.

Android mobile-device users can respond to messages on the go using Versa to create and send up to five custom prepopulated quick replies of 60 characters or less to text messages and messenger apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Versa is lightweight (50 grams) and comfortable for tracking your activities all day and your sleep at night. The wristband can be 140-180mm or 180-220mm.

It uses a touchscreen colour LCD display that’s easy to read even outdoors thanks to 1,000 nits of brightness.

The Versa is water-resistant to 50 metres underwater, so it can be used to track your swimming activities with a provided app.

It uses a rechargeable lithiumpolymer battery that can last four days. It comes with a recharge cable that magnetically snaps to the back for charging.

The Versa has a builtin Wi-Fi adapter that can be linked to your home Wi-Fi router for syncing, using the desktop Fitbit app, or for uploading music files to the watch’s internal storage.

Yes, Versa is like Ionic in that it has enough internal memory to store 300 songs without the use of a phone. It can connect to Bluetooth headphones like the Fitbit Flyer, for motivating your exercise with music.

I tested playing music from Versa to Flyer and the music quality was good in the details and bass level.

To upload music to Versa, you need to create a playlist on iTunes and upload from a desktop or notebook computer that’s linked via the same router that Versa is using. You can also download your favourite Pandora stations or Deezer playlists to listen to during your exercise.

To use Versa, you need an ID registered for free with Fitbit.com. Then you must download and install the Fitbit app on your phone and log in with the ID. You can then use the app to add the Versa to your account, and from now on, it will keep track of your activities and sleep.

You can then use the app to customise your Versa with several more choices of clock faces that can be downloaded from Fitbit. You can also download more apps FitbitOS apps to be used on the watch. For now, the watch runs on FitbitOS 2.0.

The Versa has an optical heartrate monitor that uses PurePulse tracking technology to provide your cardio fitness level.

The information will give you a better understanding of your fitness level and show how you can improve over time with a personalised Cardio Fitness Score. You can see the score via the dashboard of the Fitbit app and the watch displays your current heart rate and your resting heart rate.

The Versa is easy to use with its touch screen and the intuitive user-interface of FitbitOS. It also has three buttons – back button, top button and bottom button.

The back button is used to go back one level in the menus while the two others are app shortcuts.

For example, the top button opens the app located in the top left of the first app screen, while the bottom button opens the app at the bottom left of the first app.

Or you can swipe the touch screen around to browse through screens of apps and tap on the app you want to use.

From the home screen, which displays the clock, you can swipe down to see notifications, swipe up to see your daily tips and stats, and swipe left to scroll through the apps installed on your watch. To open and an app, you simply tap on it.

You can use the Fitbit app to find and install more apps on the watch. Apps are organised in groups of four per screen. Some apps on Versa require your paired phone, such as the running or biking app, because they need the GPS function of your phone.

The apps installed on Versa are Exercise, Music, Alarm, Coach and Relax.

Exercise provides Run, Bike, Swim, Treadmill, Weights, Interval Timer and Workout exercises. To use Run and Bike, you must connect to your phone to use its GPS. All in all, there are over 15 exercises for you to select.

The Versa also has a SmartTrack function that automatically records selected exercises like running, biking, and elliptical and aerobic workouts automatically. By default, Versa will record any exercise you do for at least 15 minutes. You can use the app to adjust the time period.

Fitbit Coach provides guided bodyweight workouts on your wrist to help you stay fit. Three workouts are immediately available on Versa – 10-Minute Abs, 7-Minute Workout and Treasure Chest. You can create a Fitbit Coach account for more workouts, including one that’s personalised.

The Relax app is very useful and it can help you ease tension. It provides guided breathing sessions. It will guide you to sense your breathing and use a circle that expands and shrinks in intervals. You breathe in when the circle expands and out when it shrinks. You do this for about two minutes and Versa will report whether your breathing alignment to the guide is low, medium or good, as well as your heart rate.

During the test, I used the Run function on a short 4.7km walk. The watch has no “walk” exercise and I have a spine injury and cannot run. Versa had no problem connecting to my phone and using its GPS to correctly display the map of my neighbourhood. The app reported my distance, pace and elapsed time of my walk.

Fitbit Versa is available at B2S, Life, King Power, Powerbuy, VMart and Lazada. The device is also available for sale on Fitbit.com and at major online retailers for Bt8,490 in black with a black aluminium case, grey with a silver aluminium case, or peach with a rose-gold aluminium case.

Accessories range from Bt1,090 to Bt3,290.

The Fitbit Versa Special Edition costs Bt9,490 in a lavender woven band with rose-gold aluminium case or charcoal woven band with graphite aluminium case, both with an extra black classic band.

KEY SPECS

– Display: touch screen LCD

– Case dimensions: 36×29.23x21mm

– Sensors: 3axis accelerometer, 3axis gyroscope, Optical heart rate monitor, Altimeter, Ambient light sensor, Vibration motor, SpO2 sensor

– Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi antenna (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0

– Memory: Saves 7 days of detailed motion data – minute by minute, saves daily totals for past 30 days, stores heartrate data at 1-second intervals during exercise tracking and at 5-second intervals all other times

– Water resistance: 50 metres underwater

– Battery: Lithiumpolymer, two-hour charging

Costing only Bt2,590, Wiko’s Jerry3 smartphone features an 18:9 widescreen and 5.45-inch display with IPS technology in a compact size. It runs on the latest Android 8 (Go Edition) and comes with 5MP rear and front cameras. You have a QuadCore 1.3GHz, CortexA7, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

Master of the dark

A great 4K UHD projector for home entertaining, the ViewSonic PX7474K boasts a high brightness of 3500 ANSI Lumens, the latest XPR technology. It projects 8.3 megapixels of true 4K UHD resolution for maximum big-screen detail. It can handle HDR enhanced content, producing images with more information in the darker and brighter areas. It’s in stores for Bt59,900.

Iron Man to the rescue

Acer’s Swift 3 notebook – the Marvel Studios “Avengers: Infinity War” Iron Man Edition – features a sturdy aluminium top cover decorated with Iron Man’s glowing Arc Reactor. Inside is an eighth-generation Intel Core i58250U processor, NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphic adapter, 256GB of SSD, 8GB of memory and 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO wireless technology. Outside is a vivid 14-inch Full HD IPS antiglare display. Expect to pay Bt29,990.

Go higher definition

The Sony UBPX700 4K Ultra HD Bluray Player is great for HDR (High Dynamic Range) TV and the resulting improved picture detail. The player can also upscale normal-quality movies to 4K and will play most high-definition video and audio formats from several popular streaming services. It’s on shelves for Bt10,990.

Hear only the tunes

Shure’s SE112 Wireless in-ear headphones have comfortable sleeves that block up to 37dB of ambient noise for extended distraction-free listening. You get vivid sound with deep bass and battery life of up to eight hours. The going rate is Bt4,990.

“Chumphon is the gateway to the South, but it’s only a small city that most travellers pass through on their way to Phuket, Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao,” says Veera Thongphichit. He and others are aiming to change that and keep the travellers around a little longer.

Veera is Chumphon’s provincial permanent secretary, and with Tikomporn Suttiudomrut and Somchai Semmanee, directors of the provincial Tourism and Sports offices in Surat Thani and Chumphon, respectively, he recently launched a Bt4-million campaign to promote the area.

Folks who whiz past Chumphon are “missing out on a great opportunity to explore many interesting historical, cultural and natural attractions”, Veera told participants in a 50-car caravan touring his province and neighbouring Surat Thani.

The same caravan heads next to two other Gulf provinces, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Phatthalung.

Among the draws in Chumphon are a monument to Prince Chumphon, father of the Royal Navy, Wat Phra That Sawi, Hat Sai Ree, coffee, durian and mangosteen plantations, and the finger bananas that are renowned throughout the country.

Wat Phra That Sawi is regarded as one of the most sacred sites in the four provinces on the tour, Tikomporn pointed out. Others include Wat Phra Borom That Chaiya in Surat Thani, Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Wat Khien Bang Kaew in Phatthalung.

The first stop for the caravan was Chumphon’s Nong Yai Area Development Project, initiated by His Majesty King Bhumibol as one of the kaem ling (monkey cheek) water-retention areas he envisioned spreading across the land to help in times of flood and drought. And floods there were in Chumphon after Typhoon Gay struck in November 1989.

The development project also includes a habitat for several species of birds, a farm demonstration area, homestay cabins and the Phato Watershed Conservation and Management Centre.

A long wooden bridge is being built across a lake to connect with No 9 Island, where guests will be able to try planting mangrove shoots and making nipa palm sugar. There are also areas for snorkelling and rafting.

At the Swallow’s Nest Learning Centre, Tee Baan Nok, we got to see how various products are made from bird nests. At Baan Thamsing Coffee Community Enterprise, we saw beans make their way from the initial hulling to ageing in a sunny greenhouse.

All southern coffee is Robusta, but there’s a remarkable difference in the flavour of Thamsing and Khao Tha Lu, two brands from the South that Bangkok aficionados know well.

“They taste different because they’re processed differently,” a Baan Thamsing official explained. “All 14 provinces in the South cultivate the same Robusta coffee beans. The difference comes in the processing, especially the roasting.

“Robusta beans naturally have a bitter taste, so the processing has to overcome that. We use the same production processes that are used for Arabica beans. And we earned an award from the Food and Drug Administration for top-quality halal products.”

Day 2 of the tour rolled up to historic Wat Phra That Sawi, which is one of three temples in the South housing revered Buddha relics. It has a golden pagoda shaped like a bell – and a remarkable legend.

According to local lore, King Sri Thammasokarat, after whom the nearby province is named, was marching his army past this location in 1260 (even monarchs, even then, were “just passing through”) and saw a flock of crows around a mound of bricks. One of the birds was white.

The king interpreted this as a sign and ordered his soldiers to dig up the mound. Beneath it they found an urn containing relics of the Lord Buddha. The king, overwhelmed by the discovery, had a chedi erected on the spot to enshrine the relics.

After lunch we were off to Surat Thani to see Wat Phra Boromathat Chaiya Worawihan, surely one of the most beautiful temples in the South. At its centre is a stupa reconstructed in the Srivijaya style. The National Museum nearby has several important artefacts from the original structure, including wonderful Buddha statues.

Wat Suan Mohkha Phalaram, not far away, is the famous forest monastery founded in 1932 by Phra Buddhadasa, perhaps Thailand’s most revered Buddhism scholar. Monks were listening to a sermon in a plaza of paving stones and there’s an interesting “spiritual theatre” populated by religious statues.

Tikomporn told us that Surat Thani was “the most important province on the southern Gulf of Thailand”, ranking sixth among all the provinces of Thailand in terms of tourist visits.

“Fifteen million tourists visit the four provinces every year, generating Bt100 billion in revenue,” he said. “Surat Thani’s tourist magnets are Koh Samui, Koh Pangan and Koh Tao, which tourists, particularly from Germany, Sweden and China, find fascinating. The number of visitors keeps increasing and there are now four charter flights arriving every week, as well as all the commercial flights.”

But there’s much more to the province than the resort islands, Tikomporn said.

“We want to draw the tourists’ attention to the attractions here on the mainland in addition to the islands, where the density of visitors is so great already. We’re developing more mainland tourist attractions that should be open next year or by 2020. For now, there are the Cheow Lan or Ratchaprapha dam and Khao Sok National Park, which draw a lot of tourists.

“And Surat Thani is famous for its ngoh rongrien rambutan and durian, especially Ban Na San district, where we encourage visitors to tour the plantations. Surat Thani will also be promoted as an herbal hub, because we grow turmeric, which is processed into several healthy products that will interest Chinese tourists especially.

“In fact, we’re planning a ‘health tour’ with visits to spas and Tha Chang Hospital, where turmeric is used, at Phanom district, where it’s grown. We’re creating several different kinds of tours that can be related to each other.”

Our journey ends with a paddle-boat ride along a canal to the Pracharat Floating Market in Bang Bai Mai district. It’s a lovely outing, proceeding through a natural tunnel of bending nipa palms, and the market vendors offer samples of such traditional treats as khanom jang, khanom tom yang, khanom kho, khoei jee and niew aub.

The southern provinces’ grand plans will get major boosts from the construction of a double-track railway crossing the isthmus from the Gulf to the Andaman Sea and the expansion of Surat Thani’s airport.

In addition, the Surat Thani ferry pier that’s always busy with travellers is being moved from Donsak district to the provincial capital itself, just 20 minutes from the airport.

Stylenanda began as a fashion business and has since become a company spearheaded by its makeup brand 3CE, which today represents more than 70 per cent of the business. With a turnover of 127 million euros in 2017 and nearly 400 employees, the company operates in Korea and Japan, and has expanded into overseas markets including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand

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We strongly believe that this transaction will be a landmark breakthrough for Nanda. With L’Oreal’s solid support and global platform, we will be able to expand Stylenanda’s footprint internationally and become a world-renowned brand,” said So Hee Kim, the company’s founder and chief executive.

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