What are your thoughts on the smart watch category today?

The Lurker

The Lurker

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I ask myself if I should get a smart watch at least once every 4 months or so. I have been avoiding them because of how un-watch-like they have always appeared. Now I found the Asus zen watch 3 and I wont lie, I like what I am seeing. But the question remains, do I need a smart watch on the daily or is it going to be relegated to a drawer fairly quickly?

I keep hearing Android Wear 2.0 but have no clue what that brings to the table. Do I need notifications on my phone? Not really. The phone is in my pocket. I dont particularly care for tracking how much I walk or how I sleep. I doubt i'll need it to answer a text.

So what do those that have one, had one or dont have one think about the smart watch category today?
 
I bought a Samsung Gear 2 about 3 years ago.

It was cool for a bit but I didn't find it to be a must have thing. I have now gone back to my trusty Citizen Eco Drive watch. I think it looks nicer. It's nice to be able to read my watch easily in a bright sunny day too...

Also, I can't use my Gear 2 on my Google Pixel, because Samsung abandoned the software for the watch and never bothered releasing it for non-samsung devices.

The support situation is a bit better for Android wear leggings, so that is less of an issue.

This all makes me come to the conclusion that these Smart watches just aren't with the cost unless you really have something you want to use them for.
 
I love my Pebble Time for lasting 5-7 days on a charge. I can also go to spas, saunas, and the beach (salt water) with that watch. I snorkeled with it twice too; it got a 10 ATM rating.

But Fitbit fucked us over... the least Fitbit could do is give me a kiss and tell me I look pretty before Fitbit fucked me! Rape!

Right now I'm waiting for the next Apple Watch because I backed this Pebble Time 2 charging dock with the Pebble Time 2 only to get Pebble Time 2 cancelled by Fitbit. Luckily that company is willing to convert my money into an Apple Watch dock instead, which should have a higher resale value.

If you wear a fitness band, might as well wear a watch basically.
 
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As much as I'm into gadgets, they still seem like little more than a novelty to me. All of them come with too many comprises too; either too big/bulky or lacks some significant feature(s) for the price.

If I had to buy one now though, it would probably be the newer Samsung Gear S3 because of Samsung pay, or the original Huawei watch since it's getting Wear 2. But I don't care much for the Tizen OS and still think a smart watch should last at least a few days on a charge so I don't have to worry about charging it every night.
 
It will forever be a niche market. I have had a smartwatch now for over 2 years. Unfortunately Sony is a pile of a bastards so they won't be upgrading my SmartWatch 3 to Wear 2.0. So right now I'm borrowing a friends LG Watch Urbane so that I can get a look at Wear 2.0 when it is released.

I want a look at Wear 2.0 because I need to see if it's going to be worth the money to buy a new smartwatch. While I love my smartwatch it just isn't revolutionary. It's a convenience. It's a luxury that many don't want or need. If my watch breaks I would miss it, but it wouldn't be life altering. So overall you have to look at a smartwatch and say will I use that in my every day life? Will I make use of it enough to justify the cost?

What's starting to turn me off to smartwatches though is they are just another device like a smartphone where after 2 years they are EOL'd and support stops meaning no more software updates or security patches. Hard to justify dropping $250-300 every other year on a new watch that won't ever really be a game changer and won't ever really do anything that previous ones couldn't do.
 
So basically all the same concerns I have been mulling over.

How about this idea. A connected smart watch for work? I can probably have my cell department order me an Samsung S3 and I can use it with a bluetooth headset for calls and it will remind me of meetings when im in the office. If I need to check my email away from my desk then I can just use my cell.

Then again, I carry my cell with me anyway.
 
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The Lurker said:
So basically all the same concerns I have been mulling over.

How about this idea. A connected smart watch for work? I can probably have my cell department order me an Samsung S3 and I can use it with a bluetooth headset for calls and it will remind me of meetings when im in the office. If I need to check my email away from my desk then I can just use my cell.

Then again, I carry my cell with me anyway.
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I hate the thought of getting a watch with LTE for two reasons. FIrst all the added antennas make the watch fucking HUGE. Second, unless I'm Michael Knight talking to K.I.T.T. I'm not going to talk to my wrist for any length of time. ;) I'm not sure if you can connect a BT headset to it though. You'd have to look into that.

For e-mail I find the watch to be an awesome asset depending on the e-mail app. Things like GMail and Google Inbox work beautifully via the watch and should only get better with Wear 2.0. I used Touchdown HD for corporate email via ActiveSync originally and it was AWESOME. Touchdown has terrific Wear integration I could open and read emails. Delete them or archive them. Forward them and the like. I wouldn't be surprised to see being able to respond come to Touchdown with Wear 2.0 if it's not already there.

However, when my company moved to VMware's Airwatch MDM system everything went to shit. Airwatch is 100% useless on my watch. I know when I get an e-mail and that's it. I have to pull out my phone, put in my PIN, open the mail and they do what I need to do. Airwatch is just a really shitty MDM. No Wear support. No fingerprint support. Even the Inbox app itself is ass. It's so basic and useless compared to any modern e-mail client.
 
Thanks for the feedback, it sounds like I am going to pass on this and just stick to regular watches for a little longer.
 
I've only used the Pebbles - backed 2 of their last kickstarters but like Chang3d got boned when Fitbit boughtout Pebble. Though to their credit, I got some money back from the kickstarter which I likely wouldn't have if Fitbit had just ghosted rather than being bought out. Again, the only reason I went with Pebble was because the battery lasts freaking forever. I set it only to notify me for very specific events or accounts so other than powering the display, the actual use was on the lighter side, but even when I bought it new and it notified me about everything (email ding! socials ding! Basically all the time) it still lasted a few days.

Once my pebbles kick the bucket (or the service connecting them goes dark), I'm going back to one of my regular watches. I do have to say - as a fan of the regular Tag Heuers, I am very tempted to pull the trigger on the ... Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45

If only the battery life of the current watches was more than a day or two ...
 
LG Urbane user, rate product 4/5.

Sometimes watch disconnects and I miss notifications. Then there is the usual bugs of any tech device. For instance, "google play services" has stopped error message.

I like the smartwatch concept because it allows a person to look at watch instead of constantly taking smartphone out of pocket. Also, good for biking with gps since directions show up on watchface. In my line of work I use the music controls from the watch with the smartphone connected to a stereo about 50 feet away. But this is probably not typical usage.
 
Another LG urbane user and love mine. Notifications on watch music control and as many different watch faces as you can dream up. I can go from Rolex, to Tag to Casio. A different look for every day. Sure its got its glitches but love mine. Only time I switch back to my regular is if i know I'm gonna get wait ie pool or ocean so i go back to my water proof.
 
I ended up going with a fitness tracker and I'm pretty happy with that. I have a Fitbit Charge 2, and it gives me all the data I want.
I sort of figured out that every single smart watch is a toy. I don't mean that they don't have functions that are useful, but that they wouldn't really help me do anything that I wasn't already doing. Just with "more/faster access" on my wrist.

The Fitbit gives me all my workout tracking, sleep tracking, and heart rate tracking. I've sort of found I don't need much else. It also does do a tiny amount of notifications (almost non-existant, I wouldn't get this device for that). It tells me the time. It lets me select what I'm doing from the device. I don't need much more than that.
I just sort of realized I don't need watch specific apps or a lot of this other stuff. Would I still like to get an Apple Watch at some point in the future? Sure, but that can wait a good long while.
I expect an iteration every year on the Apple Watch and they cost a small fortune. It's hard for me to want to upgrade that every year when I could almost upgrade my phone for the same price with that amount ($650 for a series 2 with a stainless steel bracelet/sapphire screen).
So for me personally, this falls into the absolute luxury category. If at some point I'm flush with cash and there isn't anything more important for me to be buying (which I also expect to be a good long while as quite frankly I have a lot of other priorities for my money), then I'll consider getting one.
 
My mom got a free Gear Fit2 with her new S7, but I'm actually the one who's been using it for the time being. It's pitched as more of a fitness tracker compared to the Gear S line, but it's smartwatchy enough for me to count it here.

It feels nice on my wrist and works great for Bluetooth smart unlocking, notifications and call preview/answering, but it's not something I consider essential. I'd probably like it more if it served as a media remote for my smartphone, complete with track info and playback controls, instead of trying to be its own music player with only 4 GB of storage and no headphone jack (I don't use Bluetooth headphones).

I wouldn't mind going back to my old G-Shock watch if I had to; even if it's technically less functional, it's insanely more durable (200M water resistance, to boot!), has a solar cell around the watch face for recharging (not that I even need to recharge it every 2 to 3 days like the Gear Fit2), syncs to the atomic clock every night, and tells time at a glance without me having to flip it toward my wrist (though that gesture can be used to turn on the backlight). In other words, it's a watch that does its job.
 
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