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The quest for a simple smartwatch

binarymoon.co.uk

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Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#201

Post by slobiwan »

DrNosferatu wrote: post #192

On paper, the "MyKronoz ZeTime"[a] seems great - even perfect, at least for my needs. However, some reviews here and there claim it does not do (satisfactorily) what it says on the tin. - Anyone with direct experience? There was also a ZeTime 2 announced by MyKronoz in 2019[b], but failure to launch is worrying... [a] - https://www.mykronoz.com/eu/en/zetime.html [b] - https://cdn-magento.mykronoz.com/media/wysiwyg/Pr…

I have a ZeTime that I used on and off for a couple of years. Now it's just sitting on a shelf. It was fine for my purposes at the time, but ended up inheriting an Apple Watch that's a lot more polished. I don't see ever going back to the ZeTime.

If you are interested, I'll let you have it for the cost of postage.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#202

Post by Jim_Raynor »

amelius wrote: post #186
wartijn_ wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it one of the only statement pieces a guy can were though? I know plenty of guys with bracelets, chains, rings, earrings and/or tattoos. You can express statements with your clothing too, if you want. And than there are people who don't care about statement pieces and just want to wear whatever is most practical. And people who want to express themselves by wearing a smartwatch.

> I know plenty of guys with bracelets, chains, rings, earrings and/or tattoos These are mostly considered to be low-status symbols. For men, in fact it is often recommended not to wear necklaces to a job interview, and hide any tattoos.

Maybe he already got a job? So lets leave mechanical watches to unemployment?

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#203

Post by RhodesianHunter »

art0rz wrote: post #25
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've owned a Steel HR for many years and I can highly recommend them. I wanted a basic smart watch with a classic analog look that isn't too flashy but offers notifications, basic fitness tracking with a battery that I don't have to think about very often (we have enough stuff to keep charged in our daily lives). The Steel HR fits the bill perfectly. I've gotten many compliments about it too, and people are surprised…

I similarly love my Withings ScanWatch. I charge it maybe every three weeks at my desk, and it monitors my sleep and hearth rhythms which is important to me for genetic reasons. Otherwise it's just a good old fashioned watch!

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#204

Post by hammock »

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…

>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.

Just get one without a screen. Iirc there are a bunch of G SHOCK digital watches that can show phone notifications. You can even get solar for a never ending battery life

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#205

Post by RhodesianHunter »

bad_alloc wrote: post #196
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

How privacy-friendly is that watch? It looks great on paper.

Its features are minimalist, so it really doesn't have access to anything other than your text messages and whatever health data it collects, which you can control in a fine-grained way.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#209

Post by supportengineer »

Nextgrid wrote: post #198
b112 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!…

I hope your tools have a little screen and buzzer to display ads and notify the user in case they haven't "engaged" with it enough.

You haven't ordered today, order now and keep your streak!

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#210

Post by tlavoie »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #132
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…

For me GPS is a must-have. I want the tracking of my walks/rides. Looking at the Garmin specs, the two-week battery life is sans-GPS. With GPS enabled the battery life is the same as the Apple Watch.

With Garmin watches, the GPS tracking is enabled when you start an activity. So you're not using it all day, it's for the hour or two that you're out doing something. My old Fenix 3HR is good for close to a week with a daily walk tracked. My Descent G1 Solar (based on the [edit] Instinct 2 I think) is more like a couple of weeks with activities tracked.

There are quite a few settings that you can tweak as well, depending on the model of watch. My Descent has most things turned on during the day, but switches most off automatically using a power-save mode configured to match the "sleep" time on my phone. I think if it's set to minimum power usage, it's closer to a couple months. (Estimated battery time is typically shown in the watch face.)

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