Sunday 19 October 2014

Behold the Smartwatch [Backlog]

A few days ago about a year ago (now, at least) I decdied for my 30th to get a smartwatch. After looking around through a lot of reviews of the existing ones, and the two newest one at the time (the first gen, Galazy Gear and the Sony SM2) seemed like a decent improvement and worthy of some money.

But which one! In the end, it came down to a camera decision (which won't surprise many people, although the actual choice might). Easier in the year I'd bought a Galaxy S4 and as a result pondered Samsung's smart watch as the obvious choice (It was also brand new and marketed basically everywhere anyone with eyes could see).

There was one thing that bugged me more than anything about it. The silicon strap was completely non replaceable due tot he camera mounted into it. On the one hand, great, i've got a camera on my wrist. On the other hand, i've never fond myself in a situation where i've needed a camera that fast and actually been able to load the app. Unless this is running the camera 100% of the time, it never will be either, and that'd make it more annoying to use it as a watch.

On that sole deal breaker, I opted for the Sony as despite also coming with a silicone strap, it has a completely standard fastening to the face and can be easily replaced. Instead of finding it new for ~£150, i found one, opened but basically unused on ebay for about £80, much more palatable. 


A few days later, just before my actual 30th it arrived, looked all fresh and neat. I could have just as easily chosen the SM1 for the same reason and saved more money, but by all accounts, the improvements in battery and usability were pretty vast. The screen was larger and much less garishly silver than the original one as well, with a familiar android layout.


Being incredibly dull, I opted for the analogue display, and the first day I used it was pretty happy with the battery life. I got the best part of 2 days use from it without having to charge it. During this it was tethered to my phone and getting updates from Facebook and twitter half hourly. I reduced the time after this, but it was decent enough for the test.


The apps available at the time were pretty good, there's a decent looking maps-app which piggy backs off the GPS from your phone. It's not perfect but I didn't really expect anything from it, so I was pleasantly surprised it worked as well as it did. Facebook and twitter work in as much as they display messages when they arrive. News posts I found annoying, but the messages were actually fairly useful to be able to glance at and read.

...

[One year on]
It's been just under 12 months since I got the watch and I can't say I wore it every day, nor did I charge it either so that slipped and stopped me wearing it at times. The biggest thing that stopped me wearing it more was the strap. I did get a metal clasp strap for it from ebay and it was cheap. As it happens, it was something I should have looked harder for, but as the straps I found were either the cheapest of cheap (£20) or incredibly expensive (£150+) with nothing in between I was somewhat stuck.

The clasp failed one day and the watch slid gracefully to the floor taking two small marks I'm yet to clean up. The face was fine, the outer case took all the impact and everything still works perfectly. After a good deal of poking and prodding and the clasp gradually getting tot he point where it will pop within about 10 minutes of wearing it, I've had to retire it for the time being until I can fix it properly. This should be easy, it just needs to be done right and not rushed.

The best I had from the battery was about 6 days without it tethered to the phone, so no bluetooth draining the battery, nor messages, just basically being a watch. Which as that's really it's primary function, isn't too bad at all.

I'm still pleased with it, were I to buy another one, i'd probably consider the Moto 360, for no other reason than the Goldeneye theme for it.

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