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The quest for a simple smartwatch

binarymoon.co.uk

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Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#71

Post by rollcat »

profsummergig wrote: post #18

Was talking to an older lady the other day. Very non-tech. Only uses an iPhone and an Apple watch. No laptop or tablet/iPad. Gets a surprisingly large quantity of things done via her phone. My phone is an Android. She shared 2 things her iPhone can do that I don't think my phone (OnePlus 7 pro) and watch (Amazfit T-Rex 2) combination can do: - she can always find out where she parked her car - her watch buzzes to war…

I feel AW is underrated as an everyday tool, especially when it comes to being mindful about contemporary attention sinks.

You can do almost anything from it that doesn't require a larger screen or a keyboard, and the kinds of activities the larger screen enables tend to mostly just waste your time. Take a typical 2007 "dumb" phone - the watch screen is roughly that size.

It becomes awkward when you need to find something on the web (you can't even access the browser directly, you need to ask Siri and work with a popup), but I was mildly successful following a recipe when cooking. It's plain better than a phone at many other common tasks (following directions, checking the weather, paying for stuff, telling time, etc).

The biggest impact it had is that I no longer feel compelled to reach for my phone in most situations. It's not just that it saves 5-10 seconds here and there: the context switch is brief enough that I can remain focused on whatever I was doing.

(inb4 just turn off notifications, yes I am already very picky about what is allowed to distract me.)

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#72

Post by mft_ »

Kaibeezy wrote: post #67
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.

I’m an analog watch wearer and have been looking for something like that too. Found a dead Kickstarter thing that replaced the buckle on a watch band with a sensor blob, would have been perfect. A simple strap (or ring, I guess) with a minimal electronics package, waterproof, long battery life, that sends data to my phone. Anyone? Is it not a business? Everything goes upmarket. Oh, without a mandatory monthly fee, Ou…

I’ve been waiting for this for years. If it’s possible to stick health tracking features into a ring, it should certainly be possible to fit them into a watch strap.

I’m imagining a standard-looking watch strap with a small display that would sit just below the face of whichever analog watch it was attached to. It could have a thin bridge joining the two sides of the strap together, running underneath the watch - this isn’t a problem when wearing (for example) a NATO-style strap.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#73

Post by INTPenis »

corkybeta wrote: post #30

I'm using a Fossil Hybrid. A nice analog watch with an e-ink display for notifications. https://www.fossil.com/en-gb/products/neutra-gen-6-hybrid-sm...

Same here, been using two Fossil Hybrid smartwatches ever since my Pebble stopped working.

I'm sold on simple smartwatches that only require an e-ink (or whatever it is) screen because they hold a charge for well over a month and still do everything I need from them. Namely show notifications, who's calling, who's messaging, read messages, control music, and some other stuff that is less important.

The app has also improved over the years, even though I'm still pretty sure they sell all my personal data to any bidder. Of course I'd prefer a more self hosted or open approach.

But it's good enough. Currently I'm using a Machine, don't remember the name of the one before it but it was similar, slightly smaller.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#74

Post by 0xEF »

xnorswap wrote: post #61
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #54

I was fairly happy with my fitbit charge 4, but now it's actually useless as a watch most of the time because they pushed a firmware update that reduces the max screen brightness. So now it's impossible to read the screen outside, even on the max settings . God I hate closed down hardware. I don't actually care if the battery life gets shorter because I take the damn thing off every day to shower anyway, and the time…

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.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#75

Post by Andrew_nenakhov »

jbverschoor wrote: post #57
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use any iBeacon/EddyStone BLE device for this, they are very cheap and are widely available. However, there are no neat built-in features in apps shipped with phones that make use of them on Android apps, you always have to use some 3rd party app and the UX there is usually not that great.

That’s not how this feature works and not how this is notified to the user

The third party app remembers the location when it last received pulse from the beacon that is in the car and when you open it, leads the user back to it.

Disclosure: I actually happen to kno exactly how this feature works, as I added support for iBeacons in apps for iOS and Android in one of our projects. Not for the functionality described above, but for waking the app once a user walks to a proximity of a beacon. My office beacon is laying at a distance of less than 1meter from me right now.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#76

Post by input_sh »

darreninthenet wrote: post #56
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

They look really nice... can you have something other than your heart rate displaying on that little screen by default..?

There's about a dozen of screens you can toggle between (time, date, next alarm, number of steps, distance and so on). Short press of the only button toggles between them, long press does some action (example: cancel next alarm).

However I don't have anything on that screen by default to extend battery life closer to a month.

Two more features I highly appreciate:

- I don't think I could go back to an alarm on my phone. Smart wakeup really works wonderfully.

- Even when battery's at 0%, basic functionality (telling time, counting steps) still works for like a week or two.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#77

Post by darreninthenet »

input_sh wrote: post #76
darreninthenet wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They look really nice... can you have something other than your heart rate displaying on that little screen by default..?

There's about a dozen of screens you can toggle between (time, date, next alarm, number of steps, distance and so on). Short press of the only button toggles between them, long press does some action (example: cancel next alarm). However I don't have anything on that screen by default to extend battery life closer to a month. Two more features I highly appreciate: - I don't think I could go back to an alarm on my pho…

Sorry last question - does it do sleep tracking?

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#78

Post by yurishimo »

lopis wrote: post #51
profsummergig wrote: post #18

Was talking to an older lady the other day. Very non-tech. Only uses an iPhone and an Apple watch. No laptop or tablet/iPad. Gets a surprisingly large quantity of things done via her phone. My phone is an Android. She shared 2 things her iPhone can do that I don't think my phone (OnePlus 7 pro) and watch (Amazfit T-Rex 2) combination can do: - she can always find out where she parked her car - her watch buzzes to war…

Google (Maps?) has done the car parking location for 10+ years. But like many things Google, Google software is not well integrated with itself, and discoverability is bad. It's perfectly possible that this feature has been removed and re-added several times during the last decade, as is the fate of many Google projects.

It still works but only in certain circumstances. You need to navigate to a destination that is far enough away and visited less frequently as to be categorized as a visit. Maps will not save your parking location in front of your office, for example.

If I leave an airtag in my car, I will always know where it is because my phone is constantly looking for the BT signal.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#79

Post by mft_ »

I have a Fitbit Inspire 3 which, while looking more like a bracelet than a watch, offers all of the functionality the author was searching for. (I bought it primarily for sleep tracking, for which it offers AFAIK the best feature set outside of dedicated expensive sleep-tracking equipment.)

However, I’d not really recommend it, and probably wouldn’t buy it again, given the choice:

- very slow and buggy sync, which often takes a minute or longer to sync a day’s activity when sitting next to the phone running the Fitbit app in the foreground, and/or often fails. (This is the sort of crap that makes me appreciate e.g. AirPods just working)

- poor ability (and worse, to my memory, than very early Fitbits) to accurately determine the start and end of sleeping. Given sleep tracking is one of its standout features, this is very disappointing.

- probably, overly-sensitive sleeping tracking suggesting I wake multiple times in a (good) night, which other data would suggest isn’t the case.

- the ‘raise wrist to turn screen on’ feature almost never works. Not the end of the world because I’m used to double-tapping it instead, but another example of bad coding/QA.

- weird inaccuracies/oversights in exercise tracking. For example, it will correctly figure out that the recent two-hour block of raised heart rate was a bike ride, but will simultaneously credit me with 15000 steps during that time, presumably due to the vibrations from riding the bike, but not putting 2+2 together.

Re: The quest for a simple smartwatch

#80

Post by dustincoates »

darreninthenet wrote: post #77
input_sh wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's about a dozen of screens you can toggle between (time, date, next alarm, number of steps, distance and so on). Short press of the only button toggles between them, long press does some action (example: cancel next alarm). However I don't have anything on that screen by default to extend battery life closer to a month. Two more features I highly appreciate: - I don't think I could go back to an alarm on my pho…

Sorry last question - does it do sleep tracking?

I have one, and I can confirm it does.
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