New Generation of Wear OS Watches

[The_Chief]

Well folks, the technologically-declined Darling Bride actually STUNNED me by wanting a smartwatch!



She wants to track her activity levels... rather than get a cheap pedometer or some Fit thing, I suggested a smartwatch - but only if it had the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100 processor. And I found her a great one: the 41mm Fossil Sport in Titanium. It has everything she'll want or need and THEN some!

As for me, my Huawei Watch 2 Classic is ticking along (silently) but that clunky Snapdragon 2100 chip is really showing its age. I've locked down MY dream watch... but I need to sell my laptop before I can plunk down that kind of money. Fortunately, I have a very serious buyer looking at it tomorrow: so if the money changes hands, I'll be ordering my new Montblanc Summit 2, in DLC Black, by the end of the weekend! The ol' Chief is going upscale, baby!

As soon as we've taken them for a few laps, I'll be happy to post reviews here. In the meantime, what smartwatch are YOU sporting? And what watch are you watching for?

 

[lunatic59]

I'm a huge fan of Fossil Smartwatches, @The_Chief. You won't be disappointed. That MontBlanc looks awesome. Just don't tell @rootabaga.

 

[codesplice]

If I were in the market for a smartwatch right now, it would definitely be something in the Fossil group. They've been doing a great job lately.

I'm still wearing an LG Watch Sport and patiently waiting to see if this might finally be the year of the Pixel Watch.

 

[The_Chief]

The Darling Bride's new Fossil Sport is gorgeous: no cluttered bezel with a bunch of chronograph junk that we'd never use. Just nice, clean lines. My Huatch Classic 2 has a thick, annoying bezel with the minutes marked in 5-minute increments... presumably for many young pups in the digital age who have no idea how to tell time on an analog clock. And heaven forbid we throw Roman numerals at them! Well, I'm fond of Roman numerals. And manual transmissions.

 

[Unforgiven]

I like the look of the Fossil better, but I prefer the single, offset button of the Huatch. I'm constantly long pressing the button and restarting or initiating Google Now.

 

[lunatic59]

Then this shift knob is right up your alley.

 

[The_Chief]

We need to get this decal to protect our vehicles:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Millennial-Anti-Theft-Device-Vinyl-Decal/192676347486



EDIT: I sold the laptop - got the cash. Within two hours my new Montblanc Summit 2 was purchased, and the money moved from checking to the credit card I used to pay for it. PLUS I got 4% cash back, so that pays for the Artifex stand and then some. I'll deposit the cash into the checking account in the morning and it's like nothing ever happened to it. Look forward to getting the watch!

(BTW - Current best online price is Bloomingdale's)

EDIT 2: And my beloved Huatch 2 Classic is listed on eBay AND Amazon! If you want either link, PM me, as I won't publish it out in the open...

 

[dontpanicbobby]

And whats wrong with a Chinese knockoff? @Mods. As long as you don't put in a simcard you're fine... Right?

 

[codesplice]

And whats wrong with a Chinese knockoff? @Mods. As long as you don't put in a simcard you're fine... Right?

The Chinese knock-offs don't run Wear OS and instead use their own proprietary (and generally poorly-supported) app for connecting to your phone and syncing data to the watch.

Wear OS and Tizen watches work because of the ecosystem of app support they garner. That ecosystem doesn't exist for generic Android "smart" watches. Sure, you can get one for crazy cheap - but it won't do many of the things that justify a smart watch in the first place.

Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

But we are talking about pedometers aren't we? Activities.
What the heck ups with Sleep apps though?

 

[lunatic59]

But we are talking about pedometers aren't we? Activities.
What the heck ups with Sleep apps though?

I've never trusted the accuracy of a watch for activities. Plus, watches are uncomfortable to wear while exercising, at least for me. I don't wear it to bed, so the only thing it measures overnight is the activity level of the charger.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

They are supposed to work without the charger. People can't plugin.
Wait Do you mean i might move enough while sleeping to charge my watch?

 

[The_Chief]

Quick followup: the technologically-declined Darling Bride is finally getting the hang of her Fossil Sport smartwatch. I don't expect that she'll be pulling any fancy maneuvers with it, but she enjoys the ability to count her steps, check the time and get phone notifications right on her wrist.

I am in love with my Montblanc Summit 2 smartwatch. The build quality is second to none (and well it should be); the sensors are accurate, and the scroll wheel is uncanny… the screen movement is exceptionally responsive to the movements of that wheel! I can easily access my stopwatch and Google Pay (which I have successfully used twice so far) with the two programmable buttons. Yes, it's expensive. But it's also perfectly balanced and weighted on the wrist - and I can wear it in the pool, which is a big plus over the Huawei Watch 2.

There are a lot of complaints, though, about sluggishness on the new smartwatches. I attribute this to the Wear OS firmware not yet being optimized for the Qualcomm 3100 processor. I have great faith that by the end of summer, Google will tweak Wear OS to work perfectly with this new chip.

I ordered Artifex 3D-printed custom watch stands for both of us. If you have a smartwatch and a little charging puck, you owe it to yourself and your watch to get one.

 

[lunatic59]

For anyone who wants to order one it's https://www.artifexdesign3d.com

 

[The_Chief]

For anyone who wants to order one it's https://www.artifexdesign3d.com

Also available on that shopping website named after a river in Brazil!
10% off with Promo code 3Dprint10

 

[lunatic59]

Or, if you do order direct, 10% off with promo code 10offnow (that's how I did it).

 

[scandalspk]

I love the look of the Fossil.

 

[lunatic59]

I love the look of the Fossil.

That's why I've owned two of them and my next smartwatch will most likely also be a Fossil. (unless they go and do something stupid, which they have done before.)

 

[The_Chief]

The Darling Bride is having an issue with her Fossil Sport, and I contacted Fossil about it:

My Darling Bride just got her Fossil Sport watch. We set it up with Google Fit to track her steps and other activities. I know that Google Fit is limited to the input it receives from the various sensors available... but when she wakes up in the morning and puts her watch on, she should not have several steps and hundreds of calories already registered! While the watch is great, she's so disappointed with the accuracy of the fitness sensors that she's ready to return it. I wanted to contact you before that happens to see if there is anything that can be done to improve the accuracy - firmware update or device exchange. Please advise, as she likes the watch for the variety of features. But the reason she even got it was to track her activities, and it is failing her at that. Thank you!

And Fossil's reply...

Thank you for reaching out to us.
We are sorry to hear you are having problems with your smartwatch. In this case we can suggest to delete the Wear OS app from phone then install it back, make sure to use the latest version of it. Make sure your watch's software is up to date. In general this has been a known issue with the latest update to the Google fit app, we recommend you to get in contact with Google to see if they have any suggestions about this issue. Please let us know if there is something else we can assist you with.

So, I uninstalled Wear OS and Google Fit from her watch (both prompted an update, not a reinstall, as they're system apps) and restarted the watch. We'll see if it's any more accurate... but I'm not holding my breath. I personally believe this is a limitation of Wear OS, which hasn't yet been optimized for the Qualcomm 3100 processor.

 

[lunatic59]

I'm not sure about the steps, but the calories are real since you burn them while sleeping. I think the counter resets for the day at midnight.

 

[psionandy]

still nothing at the cheaper end of the market....
.. i've gone back to wearing a dumb watch

 

[lunatic59]

Define "cheaper end of the market".

Here were looking at ~$200.00 U.S. for decent wear devices. I've got an old Fossil Q Founder that I could let you have cheap.

 

[codesplice]

There's also the new Ticwatch E2 that sells for $160:
https://www.mobvoi.com/us/products/ticwatche2

 

[psionandy]

Define "cheaper end of the market".

Here were looking at ~$200.00 U.S. for decent wear devices. I've got an old Fossil Q Founder that I could let you have cheap.

The void that Pebble left.......
Amazefit are the closest thing there right now....

Titanium is nice.. but i'm happy to have plastic...
Chain-link strap? er.. i don't need that...

willing to lose some high end features.. for a better battery life too

 

[codesplice]

The void that Pebble left.......

IIRC (and according to my Kickstarter history) the Pebble launched at $125 in 2012 - the equivalent of ~$140 today. That's only $20 off from the list price of the much-more-capable Ticwatch E2.