[Starkers]

Has anyone got one? If so, what phone do you pair it with?

What are the advantages for you? Any disadvantages?

I have been thinking about buying a watch for a while, as it would be easier to look at my wrist than having to take my phone out of my pocket, unflip the cover and press the button, just to find out the time.

Then I realised that if I can control music / the volume on my phone, from a watch, that would be easier too.

 

[Starkers]

Ugh, stupid swear filter, wouldn't allow the original title of Smart*atches and couldn't edit it but have now worked out how to (go advanced).

 

[TheGrimJeeper]

[email protected]?
Mate has a pebble and seems happy with it.

I had an original Sony LiveView but it was too
limited in what it could do and you had to charge
it every day.6

 

[100th_Idiot]

I bought a pebble off ebay and liked it. Long battery life at around 1 week. Apple is barely 1 day and most android wear are around 2 days. Found it most useful at work to glance at incoming emails to see if it was something I needed to deal with immediately.

I now also have a more dedicated sports watch. Polar M400. Very good for sports activities but less capable for smart functions.

 

[MalcQV]

I had a Alcatel Smart watch bought for me at Christmas. Pair it with my iPhone 5s. Seems to work fine.
It measures how many steps yada yada, phone ringing, where's my phone. Just basic stuff but seems good. Quite smart to look at because some of them just look big and silly.

Alcatel OneTouch Watch review - CNET

 

[156Chris]

I had an LG G Watch R, it developed a screen fault after a couple of months and I didn't bother to replace it ... says it all. As far as I'm concerned they are just a gadget for gadgets sake...

 

[bazza]

I have a Pebble Steel paired with an iPhone 6.

By far the most important thing it does is vibrate when I get a call or message. Everything else is to some extent a gimmick, but that is something which makes a genuine difference to the utility of my phone, since I often fail to notice the phone itself vibrating in my pocket.

Aside from that, being able to read texts and emails on it is also useful. And then it'll tell you the weather, count your steps, control your music, and many other things which are just nice to haves.

That one important thing it does though - I don't think I could happily go back to not having that benefit.

 

[FredDibnah]

I am (metaphorically) with Bazza.

I converted to iPhone6 a couple of months ago and decided to go the whole hog and got an Apple Watch to go with it. Not as poncey-sheep as you think as the iPhone6 is a works unit, but the Apple Watch I purchased myself to some extent to see what all the fuss was about, but also wanted to see how some of our works apps operate on the Watch*.

The buzzing/trembling that occurs when you get a message or a call is actually pretty useful if your phone is on silent in your pocket. I get a different buzz/wobble/tremble depending on if its a WhatsApp, a phone call, a BBM or a text. A quick glance can show who the incoming item is from and if its worth getting the phone out and checking the detail.

The only thing that won't link is the works email that comes to the iPhone via the Good email service. Although they do have an Apple Watch extension for Good, our enterprise edition of Good isn't the latest version that supports the Apple Watch extension so it won't update on the watch.

I appreciate the technology behind the fact that the watch face display comes on when you raise your wrist, although I'm not sure why its important for it to be off when I'm not looking at it.

The gimmiky stuff like step counters I can live without. Using the screen for any sort of input is useless. Far too small. I can't even accurately see or hit the 0-9 digits to unlock the watch so I have it set to unlock when the phone unlocks and can therefore skip unlocking it via the watch face. You don't need to unlock it in order to see message headers so that's fine.

I have a stand next to the bed that has a charger for the phone and a charging harness for the watch and I leave both on charge overnight and they remain 50% charged by the end of a normal day so no issues there. If I didn't charge overnight they wouldn't make a second day.

When a call comes in I *can* answer it with the Watch and the speaker is ok, if a little tinny, to hold a conversation on. I'm told that the quality of voice at the other end is indistinguishable from the phone so that's impressive. It probably has a good range for the mic, but you can't help but hold the phone up to your mouth when you speak so for that reason I don't tend to use it as I look a bit of kn08 doing that.

The Apple Watch ain't remotely waterproof though, so if I'm beaching it or pooling it (which I am most days.... yawn) then I wear my trusty Omega instead.

*works apps are rubbish by the way....

 

[bazza]

Is an Apple watch not waterproof?

That stops the vague possibility of me upgrading to one then. I'm so used to wearing a waterproof one, there's no way I'd remember to take it off in the shower.

 

[100th_Idiot]

Fred.

The screen goes off to save battery as it is not Apples strong point. Most Android Wear watches the screen stays on and the battery lasts longer. Not as long as pebble though.

 

[TheGrimJeeper]

What 100th said. The screen-off is to try and mitigate the power drain on a relatively small battery.

 

[GhostyDog]

I am (metaphorically) with Bazza.

I converted to iPhone6 a couple of months ago and decided to go the whole hog and got an Apple Watch to go with it. Not as poncey-sheep as you think as the iPhone6 is a works unit, but the Apple Watch I purchased myself to some extent to see what all the fuss was about, but also wanted to see how some of our works apps operate on the Watch*.

The buzzing/trembling that occurs when you get a message or a call is actually pretty useful if your phone is on silent in your pocket. I get a different buzz/wobble/tremble depending on if its a WhatsApp, a phone call, a BBM or a text. A quick glance can show who the incoming item is from and if its worth getting the phone out and checking the detail.

The only thing that won't link is the works email that comes to the iPhone via the Good email service. Although they do have an Apple Watch extension for Good, our enterprise edition of Good isn't the latest version that supports the Apple Watch extension so it won't update on the watch.

I appreciate the technology behind the fact that the watch face display comes on when you raise your wrist, although I'm not sure why its important for it to be off when I'm not looking at it.

The gimmiky stuff like step counters I can live without. Using the screen for any sort of input is useless. Far too small. I can't even accurately see or hit the 0-9 digits to unlock the watch so I have it set to unlock when the phone unlocks and can therefore skip unlocking it via the watch face. You don't need to unlock it in order to see message headers so that's fine.

I have a stand next to the bed that has a charger for the phone and a charging harness for the watch and I leave both on charge overnight and they remain 50% charged by the end of a normal day so no issues there. If I didn't charge overnight they wouldn't make a second day.

When a call comes in I *can* answer it with the Watch and the speaker is ok, if a little tinny, to hold a conversation on. I'm told that the quality of voice at the other end is indistinguishable from the phone so that's impressive. It probably has a good range for the mic, but you can't help but hold the phone up to your mouth when you speak so for that reason I don't tend to use it as I look a bit of kn08 doing that.

The Apple Watch ain't remotely waterproof though, so if I'm beaching it or pooling it (which I am most days.... yawn) then I wear my trusty Omega instead.

*works apps are rubbish by the way....

Wear it back to front on your wrist so you can answer calls and hold your hand naturally as if you were holding your phone, that way you can hear better and you have the added bonus of people thinking your the coolest mofo ever with an invisible phone, that or you are an escapee from the loony bin

 

[FredDibnah]

Is an Apple watch not waterproof?

It's hilariously described by Apple as "Water Resistant" but not "Water Proof"....

What's the difference you may ask?

Well "Water Resistant" means you cannot wear it to swim, bathe or shower.

You can, however, wear it in the rain, sweat while wearing it and wash your hands while wearing it.

So in other words, don't get it wet.

 

[stuart1714]

Is an Apple watch not waterproof?

That stops the vague possibility of me upgrading to one then. I'm so used to wearing a waterproof one, there's no way I'd remember to take it off in the shower.

I've turned all the fitness stuff off on mine but the battery life is nowhere near the same as a Pebble. As its not waterproof, I use this as an opportunity to put a bit of charge in it.