MoT's WDF

Would this be the best area to discuss smart watches?

I still use my gen 1 Moto360 pretty much on a daily basis.
Wear it M-F at work and then switch to my other collection pieces during the weekend, a night out, or if I'm off work.



Been holding off on replacing the Moto until there seems to be a wider adoption of the Snapdragon 3100 chip. Right now, doesn't seem to be in too many models as of yet.

Anyone else also into smart watches?

I've had a couple. 1st generation Moto360 (twice) like you, a Samsung Galaxy Gear S3 Classic and most recently an Amazfit Bip.

Even though the Bip doesn't have all the fancy bells and whistles, it still does what I want; fitness/sleep tracking, heart rate, notifications, etc. The battery life on it has been phenomenal as well, I can go just under two months on a charge. That right there, battery life, is what's keeping me from getting something else, even though I want to.

I had an early apple watch and a samsung Gear S2 and S3. I played with them for awhile, but have retruned to traditional watches. For me the smartwatch did not simplify my life or offer great convenience over using my smartphone. I do occassionally wear my Chronos, which attaches to the back of any watch and provides notification functionality and ability to control music, etc via bluetooth:

https://wearchronos.com

Its pretty cool to be able to wear a vintage piece and control my phone from it. But for me, even this is just one more device to have to charge every day and more of a novelty.

Edit: It looks like the company that made this has gone out of business and the app is no longer available. Shame really, as the device worked quite well. Now I own a tiny hockey puck. Lesson is that longevity may not be guaranteed with any Kickstarter / microbrand.

I really tried to get into them, I didn't want to spend over $200 on one so I went with the Huawei Classic 2. For what it was it was good. NFC, good display and plenty of other features but after I had it a few weeks I decided that it just wasn't for me. I missed my analog pieces too much and get more joy out of those instead. Plus, I carry a personal phone and a work phone 24/7, adding another device to "ding" or "buzz" was too much for me to deal with. If I ever go that route again, it will be an apple watch due to some of the newer HR functions/ekg stuff. I find that very intriguing and impressive; but it would go on my opposite wrist and I would still wear a watch, Schwarzkopf style.

@watch_your_wristwatch

This doesn’t help the OP as I don’t have a smart watch. As someone who always has an iPhone with him yes I’ve been tempted.

And then I see 1st-2nd Apple Watch generations flooding Facebook Marketplace (along with random fakes and older Android models) and one never-ending carousel of product upgrades is enough for me currently.

That being said, it’s even easier to get into an expensive cycle of normal watch swaps, so ignore all that.

Maybe a 1st gen Watch for about $100, just to play with “as a watch” would makes as much sense as any random $100 regular watch?

I appreciate that outside of Apple, lots of companies are trying lots of form factors, but most of them will probably fail as the better options shake out. What irks me (besides Smartwatches in general being an existential threat to something I actually like) is that we're seeing a wide variety of smart-ish watches that require a low power Bluetooth connection to your phone but otherwise look more or less like non-smart watches.

I work in areas where bluetooth, WiFi and cellular connectivity cannot go.

I've already been bitten a few times with stuff like Casio watches where I get interested in something only to find out that it synchs time not with atomic radio or GPS, but against your phone with BT. That's game over if I can't wear it when I'm working.

We need to get to a point where Schwarzkopfing becomes socially acceptable, though, for people who do want to use one.

--

My wife is heavily invested into the Apple Ecosystem. I am not and refuse to be for lots of reasons. I will say that although I won't ever buy one, I bought my wife a Series 4 AW for Christmas to replace her Series 1... that I also bought for her a few years ago. The Series 1 in particular is pretty slow for most computing tasks and they're really only useful for checking messages and other very simple tasks. That's why they're so cheap-- the tech has been superseded now. The series 3 and 4 are miles ahead in compute and graphical performance. The series 1 (and to a lesser extent 2) may honestly not give you a fair test, even if you're willing to adapt to its use. For under $100 it's maybe worth playing with, but if you end up being interested but not impressed, go see a current model.

^ This is good advice. The series 1 from my experience is really uncompelling. Battery life sucked, like most apple products over time software is now too much for the hardware to process efficiently. For a true test you should try the current model.

Right. The series 1 was OK speed wise when new, but people who have been updating the software haven't noticed it getting slower and slower over time.

The 3 and 4 can run the current watch OS fine.

OvrSteer wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:27 am Right. The series 1 was OK speed wise when new, but people who have been updating the software haven't noticed it getting slower and slower over time.

The 3 and 4 can run the current watch OS fine.

It's a combination of older hardware and Apple intentionally writing the software to behave differently on older devices to make thier owners believe they are obsolete and should upgrade.

Man my 2824-2 sure is feeling sluggish ever since the powermatic 80s came out (cue eye roll...)

Just saw news that Google is buying some wearables tech and staffing from Fossil. Could a Pixel Watch be in the works?

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2 ... os-android

TheJohnP wrote: ↑Thu Jan 17, 2019 7:07 pm Just saw news that Google is buying some wearables tech and staffing from Fossil. Could a Pixel Watch be in the works?

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2 ... os-android

I sure hope so. My Pixel 3 XL needs a companion.

TheJohnP wrote: ↑Thu Jan 17, 2019 7:07 pm Just saw news that Google is buying some wearables tech and staffing from Fossil. Could a Pixel Watch be in the works?

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2 ... os-android

What is unclear here is whether or not they'll use the full smartwatch fossils (which I assume are just another Google Wear device) at all, or if it's just the smart-ish watch with a conventional dial and hands-- kind of like Withings.

Again it's academic since I can't use one, and Google has been known for royally fumbling acquisitions in the past (*cough* Motorola mobile *cough*)

After a Samsung Galaxy Neo, a Pebble Time and a Samsung Fit2 now I have a Huawei Watch 2 THAT IS STILL IN THE BOX sealed...can't bring myself to even look at it.
Good thing I got it for free with the phone, as I came to realize that smart watches are not as smart and not as fun to wear as they are touted.

Ipse wrote: ↑Sat Jan 26, 2019 10:55 am After a Samsung Galaxy Neo, a Pebble Time and a Samsung Fit2 now I have a Huawei Watch 2 THAT IS STILL IN THE BOX sealed...can't bring myself to even look at it.
Good thing I got it for free with the phone, as I came to realize that smart watches are not as smart and not as fun to wear as they are touted.

How much do you want for it?