Smart watches

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Discussion

Kaelic

2,684 posts

200 months

Thursday 1st June 2017
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eyebeebe said:
I think I've posted this before, but anyway...

I've got an Apple Watch that I wear on my right wrist. It's the most plain looking one I could find. I use it for Apple Pay/boarding passes, fitness tracking and notifications. As someone else posted, it's not a single thing that is compelling, but it's the whole package and little things like not missing calls because my phone is on silent.

On my left wrist I wear a JLC Master Geographic with a suit, a Daytona with anything else and nothing for sport.

I get the piss taken a bit for wearing two watches, but it's just banter and quite a few people when they've seen what the Apple Watch does, have commented on how it makes sense. To me the smartwatch is more electronics to make my life (marginally) easier, rather than a watch - I rarely look at it for the time - and my mechanical watches are man jewellery.
I have started to do this at weekends as I missed the weight of my big chunky planet ocean on my wrist. I wear my apple watch all week for work and tracking stuff, gym, dog walking etc... But very rarely use it to tell the time as I am surrounded by computers at work.And at weekends I put on my nice heavy watch on the opposite wrist and use that as my timepiece.

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 1st June 2017
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I've had a Garmin 920XT for about two years and it's been brilliant, I'll be replacing it with a Garmin Fenix 5x next week.

The 920XT may not be the best aesthetically, but functionality is spot on. Week long battery life, smart notifications, ANT+ connectivity, heart rate monitors, speed sensors, cadence sensors, power meters, swimming strokes, bluetooth, wifi, altimeter, stepometer, basic mapping, etc etc.






manracer

1,544 posts

96 months

Saturday 3rd June 2017
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I was dead against all forms of smart watch until i decided it was time to get fit.

I did a bit of reasearch after my partner got herself a fitbit flex, i thought the price was a little steep for what is essentially a motion tracker with no display, just 4 led's.

I discovered the mi band 2. Step count, heart rate, calories burnt, distance covered, sleep tracking,incoming call/text notification and vibration, waterproof, Google fit support, 2 week battery life.
Also if you have an android phone there is an additional app that someone has created so that you can have your text messages/whatsapp messages displayed etc. You can customise any aspect of the device.

Oh and it's £30 or less from Amazon.

It's made by Xiaomi ( Google them, they are a huge outfit with great brand reputation)

I've had mine 6 months now with no issues.

Edited by manracer on Saturday 3rd June 22:28


Edited by manracer on Saturday 3rd June 22:30

Lorne

543 posts

101 months

Sunday 4th June 2017
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Insert Coin said:
I've had a Garmin 920XT for about two years and it's been brilliant, I'll be replacing it with a Garmin Fenix 5x next week.

The 920XT may not be the best aesthetically, but functionality is spot on. Week long battery life, smart notifications, ANT+ connectivity, heart rate monitors, speed sensors, cadence sensors, power meters, swimming strokes, bluetooth, wifi, altimeter, stepometer, basic mapping, etc etc.

This does highlight one of the fundamental problems with a smart watch though, in that you don't see many people changing their Rolex Submariner every 2 years because it needs to be updated.

blueg33

Original Poster:

35,590 posts

223 months

Sunday 4th June 2017
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Lorne said:
This does highlight one of the fundamental problems with a smart watch though, in that you don't see many people changing their Rolex Submariner every 2 years because it needs to be updated.
No they change them as soon as they need an £800 service wink

JimboM3

290 posts

209 months

Sunday 4th June 2017
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I've had a pebble since the first kickstarter and have recently picked up a Gear S3 Frontier. I have now got so used to having the notifications to hand without having to get out the phone that I am not sure I could go without.

I've been quite impressed with the S3 (despite lack of apps and the voice assistant being a bit rubbish), and picked it over an android wear device almost entirely due to the moving bezel as having a physical input for hands free changing music etc is really handy.

I've also been playing around with the Samsung watchface creator as you can design your own watch with custom shortcut buttons. One use case for this is to tie the watch in with a gear Tasker app (TaskS2) and some smart home connections so a button on my watch can trigger a menu of Tasker items and I can for instance turn off all the house lights from the watch when I go to bed. This would in theory let you control almost anything that can be controlled from the internet from the watch.

Somewhat pointlessly (but good for demo's) there is also a BMW connected tie in so I can unlock my car from the watch.

Samsung pay is now in the UK and in theory that could be quite handy as the tech is not just limited to NFC like apple/android pay so can be used on normal magnetic strip terminals so in theory works anywhere that takes a card regardless of if they have signed up for one of the other phone pay systems. Not been able to try this however as none of my banks (Santander/Natwest) support it yet.

J


anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 4th June 2017
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blueg33 said:
Lorne said:
This does highlight one of the fundamental problems with a smart watch though, in that you don't see many people changing their Rolex Submariner every 2 years because it needs to be updated.
No they change them as soon as they need an £800 service wink
Or do what most people I know do, and own a Rolex for 20+ years or so without bothering to service it and still have virtually no problems with it.

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 9th June 2017
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Lorne said:
This does highlight one of the fundamental problems with a smart watch though, in that you don't see many people changing their Rolex Submariner every 2 years because it needs to be updated.

That's an odd reply, a smart watch isn't meant to be a Rolex replacement and not even remotely in the same price band.

I wear my Garmin at work, on my mountain bike and at the gym. My conventional watch gets used for special occasions.

Back on topic, the new Garmin 5x is superb, very impressed so far.




The GMan

2,508 posts

254 months

Monday 12th June 2017
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Lorne said:
This does highlight one of the fundamental problems with a smart watch though, in that you don't see many people changing their Rolex Submariner every 2 years because it needs to be updated.
I change my mobile phone every 2 years and will treat my smart watch like that too. I wear my Tag Modular for work and my mechanical watches come out at the weekend so I don't see them as "competitors".

Quickmoose

4,482 posts

122 months

Monday 12th June 2017
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I tried and struggle with them.
Bought a Pebble Steel when they came out. The novelty of getting a subtle buzz and checking the watch to see who's messaged me was really short lived...and I think that's because of my age/generation.(45)
Wearing a relatively cheap/unattractive smart watch through the working week and then the 'fancy pants' proper watch at weekends or special events made no sense to me.
I've spent far too much on a little collection of actual watches to not wear them.
I find it better to not worry about who has messaged me, not to worry about the latest headline and not to worry if I've only slept 7.46 hrs instead of 7.85, or if I'm 312 steps short of my daily target...They're just another way to end up tied to a device that has you wandering around looking at a screen rather than the world you're in imo...the anxiety of leaving home without your smart bits and bobs is something I'm actively cultivating, far more healthy than getting your fitness pie chart to be green instead of amber.

The youf of today though, not so sure they see the value or benefit of a time piece that just tells the time.... unless its a brand that clearly announces their wealth/status....and I'm sure the wearable discreet screen will continue at a pace and introduce some cool stuff.... but for me, the end result is just that...cool stuff, soon to be replaced by cooler stuff...and so on...and on.
I prefer something that starts off rather nice and then hopefully gets nicer with age and more meaningful...

HTP99

22,445 posts

139 months

Monday 12th June 2017
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I have a Samsung Gear S3 Frontier, it took me a while to convince myself that I "needed" one and I very nearly didn't go for it but I'm glad I did.

It replaced my Fitbit, however as a fitness tracker I do think the Fitbit is better.

The S3 is a bit of a lump of a watch, however fortunately I do have large wrists so it doesn't look stupidly big, it pairs very well with my S7 Edge and I get a good 3 days use between charges. It is well built and very solid feeling, one of my reservations was how durable it would be, but so far it has proven to be very durable, there are a few marks on it where it has taken a knock but you only notice them if you are looking for it.

I'm just waiting now for Natwest to come on board with Samsung Pay, so I can look a right tt paying for stuff with my watch.

Edited by HTP99 on Monday 12th June 12:26

mikeiow

5,288 posts

129 months

Thursday 23rd November 2017
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Well, I backed Zetime because it sounded like it was a smart watch with a decent battery life.
It arrived this week: I charged it up fully Tuesday before lunch....here I am some 40 hours on and it looks like it is about 1/6th down (not near my phone to check).

I haven't mastered it entirely yet, but what I have found I'm happy with. Aside from the fact that my old fatbit gave the most generous step count, then my iPhone health, then zetime!
Nice app: used that to set alarms etc.

Actually when the watch is in "hands only" mode (most of the time unless you press a button or get a call/message etc), it looks quite sophisticated: I went for the titanium finish.
Not sure I am willing to test out the waterproof claims.....guess I ought to before the warranty goes.....
I'll try to remember to check back in sometime after owning it a while, but initial feedback is "nice", especially for the kickstarter price smile

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 23rd November 2017
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Seeing as this thread got topped I'll just add that my Fenix 5X is going strong, fantastic do it all device and a worthy replacement for my 920XT.

10-14 days between charges, less if you use it for sports activities that require GPS. Most of the bugs have been ironed out now, I use it for gym sessions, mountain bike riding, the odd walk and it's smart enough to wear it out.


C0ffin D0dger

3,440 posts

144 months

Thursday 23rd November 2017
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Advert for these came up on my Facebook feed the other day along with a "Black Friday" 20% off code: https://eu.mobvoi.com/pages/ticwatchse

Seems quite good for the dosh i.e. Android Wear, GPS, HR monitor etc. but I'd not heard of them before.

I'd quite like something like this one day though probably not this Christmas (skint!) as it would be ideal for running so I could leave the phone at home. I know it won't make calls but any watch with that built in is quite a bit more expensive.

ajprice

27,322 posts

195 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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If anyone still has a Pebble, the app store, forums and services are getting killed off (really this time) by Fitbit in June. If you've got the serial number they will offer $50 off a Fitbit Iconic. https://gizmodo.com/fitbit-is-killing-off-pebble-i...

Otherwise, there's a community OS called Rebble http://rebble.io