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The quest for a simple smartwatch

binarymoon.co.uk

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Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#101

Post by santiagobasulto »

Xenonym wrote: post #21

The Withings Steel HR seems to fit the bill perfectly - it has a screen for phone notifications, a step tracker and basic fitness function, and I regularly get two weeks and more of battery life out of mine. Only problem might be that you find it’s small circular screen too small - but I think that’s a feature of its minimalist aesthetic, not a bug. https://www.withings.com/us/en/steel-hr

I was reading to pull the trigger on a Withings but then I got so many reports of inaccurate tracking data that I backed out. How's been your experience with it?

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#102

Post by xur17 »

caturopath wrote: post #98
chimprich wrote: post #94

The title should really be the quest for a cheap smartwatch with battery life, which seems to be what the author was looking for. The more expensive Garmin watches have excellent battery life and solar charging. I use a Garmin smartwatch. One of the surprising things about Garmin is that they don't have a proper app store. They have an app where you can load apps into your watch, but it's rather crippled by having no…

I am so satisfied with my Garmin Fenix. It's comically expensive, but it has been a dream compared to the Fitbits I used for years. Garmin has lots of lower-end watches, too, which would have resolved most of my headaches and many still have great battery life compared to the competition. I haven't touched the "smart watch" features, though. Garmin conducts themselves really well, too. They make good stuff and do lit…

Same here. I had a Samsung Android watch for years that I would use for tracking runs, and I was never very happy with it. Slow gps fix, horrible battery life (the thing died on a bike ride when I started with it fully charged), and the touch screen was hard to use while running.

I wear my Garmin all day, and charge it every other week. Physical buttons are a game changer, and the activity tracking software feels like it was made by someone that actually uses it.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#103

Post by danielbln »

caturopath wrote: post #98
chimprich wrote: post #94

The title should really be the quest for a cheap smartwatch with battery life, which seems to be what the author was looking for. The more expensive Garmin watches have excellent battery life and solar charging. I use a Garmin smartwatch. One of the surprising things about Garmin is that they don't have a proper app store. They have an app where you can load apps into your watch, but it's rather crippled by having no…

I am so satisfied with my Garmin Fenix. It's comically expensive, but it has been a dream compared to the Fitbits I used for years. Garmin has lots of lower-end watches, too, which would have resolved most of my headaches and many still have great battery life compared to the competition. I haven't touched the "smart watch" features, though. Garmin conducts themselves really well, too. They make good stuff and do lit…

I've got the Garmin Forerunner 735XT and while the software is a little clunky at times, it's a total work horse. Battery lasts for a week when worn all day and with at least 30 minutes of GPS tracked running activity per day, the display is extremely well to read outside in the sun and the smart features I use are the app notifications and that's it. No complaints, that thing is indestructible and I would buy it again. The prices at times are truly comical though, then again I've got this watch since 2017 and it's still going strong, I'm sure I would have gone through at least a couple of Apple Watches or Android Wear watches in the meantime.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#104

Post by stevezsa8 »

avmich wrote: post #2

The watches were at the time considered an example of reliable manufacturing. It's sad to have this tradition fading away.

I figure watches have been around for a few hundred years, so they were perfected over time.

Smart watches have been around for like 10 years, so maybe in another couple decades we can expect efficiencies in power consumption and power storage. Or atleast something as revolutionary as user replaceable batteries.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#105

Post by b112 »

0xEF wrote: post #74
xnorswap wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I loved my Pebble. The LCD screen meant it was readable in any light and also had fantastic battery life.

I still only use Pebble watches. You can pick them up on eBay for $30 USD, and the Rebble.io community helps keep them alive. I have yet to see another smartwatch do what they did, which is a bit baffling to me. Watchy came close, being fully programmable with an e-ink screen, but the bulk of the housing was atrocious.

which is a bit baffling to me.

I'm guessing pebble watches didn't geolocate you, and report your position, and probably didn't record everything said around you then "anonymize" it, so it was likely deemed useless by VCs, and thus died?

No wonder there's no replacement!

To all VCs, my startup sells geolocated tools, and also orders screws and nails, automatically, by selling special nails, with an rfid tag build in!

(next day? 1B buyout)

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#106

Post by factorialboy »

I feel the new G-Shocks will fill this role quite well. Insane battery life, ruggedness, and now an improved MIP screen and smart features.

I tested out and threw out smart watches. They are not for me. I love the freedom of a €125 dumb rugged square G Shock.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#108

Post by kasey_junk »

factorialboy wrote: post #106

I feel the new G-Shocks will fill this role quite well. Insane battery life, ruggedness, and now an improved MIP screen and smart features. I tested out and threw out smart watches. They are not for me. I love the freedom of a €125 dumb rugged square G Shock.

Which g shocks do phone notifications?

My problem with the g shock line is it’s so expansive and hard to figure out which does what.

The g shock website doesn’t allow you to filter by phone notifications…

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#109

Post by mrweasel »

xavxav wrote: post #53

I really want a good health tracker with all the sensors of the Apple Watch but completely inconspicuous as smartwatches are ugly.

Not sure it that's what you're getting at, but yeah, leave out the watch part. In fact just lose the screen, I don't need or want it.

All I want is a "fitness band" that will track heart rate, sleep patterns, what ever you can stuff in there and just sync it all to HealtKit next time it's in Bluetooth range of my phone. If I go for a run I want the tracking, but not the connectivity and I certainly never want to know the time.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#110

Post by mechhacker »

caturopath wrote: post #98
chimprich wrote: post #94

The title should really be the quest for a cheap smartwatch with battery life, which seems to be what the author was looking for. The more expensive Garmin watches have excellent battery life and solar charging. I use a Garmin smartwatch. One of the surprising things about Garmin is that they don't have a proper app store. They have an app where you can load apps into your watch, but it's rather crippled by having no…

I am so satisfied with my Garmin Fenix. It's comically expensive, but it has been a dream compared to the Fitbits I used for years. Garmin has lots of lower-end watches, too, which would have resolved most of my headaches and many still have great battery life compared to the competition. I haven't touched the "smart watch" features, though. Garmin conducts themselves really well, too. They make good stuff and do lit…

Really happy with my Fenix as well. It's only crashed once when recording where it lost data (3+ hour long GPS session), but other than that I haven't really had serious issues. I will force a reboot occasionally but the user experience is so much better than the Samsung watch I tried.

And battery life...I can put it in low power mode and it just works as a watch until I want to record an activity. And it has power for ~a month that way.

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