So, I got myself a smartwatch
Jan. 6th, 2014 03:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewduckerMy biggest present this Christmas was pretty small - just 47g with wristband attached. And it's made me reverse a ten-year habit.
My Pebble Smartwatch isn't essential. It's not life-changing. There's (almost) nothing I can do with it that I couldn't do before.
And yet it has fitted smoothly into my life, made certain things a lot easier, and removed a source of nagging distraction which used to sit constantly at the back of my mind.
Its basic functionality is simple: It tells me the time. Or the time and the date. Or the time, the date, the weather, and my next appointment (I haven't actually got around to setting that one up yet). That's pretty neat, but I stopped wearing a watch that told me the time when I first started carrying a phone all the time.
The cool thing it does is connect to my phone (over Bluetooth) and tell me when notifications arrive. There's a very slight buzz (which I could disable), and then the screen shows me the first hundred-odd characters of whatever just arrived - be it an email, text, tweet, FB notification, or whatever else I set my phone up to pass over.
There are two reasons this is a pretty neat idea:
1) I no longer find myself checking my phone every three* minutes to see if someone has emailed me with something important. If someone has sent me something then my wrist will buzz.
2) The battery on my phone lasts longer. Battery is largely sucked down by the screen being on (and interacted with, I think). By reading things on my wrist I play with it less, and the battery seems to last between 30% and 50% longer each day.**
I've also found that I like having the time on my wrist, and not having to get my phone out of my pocket. Which wouldn't be enough to put up with the sensation of having a thing strapped to my wrist all by itself*** - but is a nice bonus along with (1) and (2).
Is it worth $150?
Probably not for that many people. If the idea of your notifications being more easily available to you is one that makes you happy, then yes. If you want to try out a new tech toy, then yes. Next year's version will undoubtedly be better - but this is the first smartwatch I've seen that was actually worth having at all. By keeping things simple (no touch-screen, no camera) they've made it trivial to use and light in weight and battery usage****.
Recommended: For the kind of people that like this kind of thing.
*This number varies, depending on whether I'm expecting something stressful to arrive in my inbox.
**The battery on the watch lasts 3-5 days, because it's a simple LCD with a backlight that comes on only briefly, and only when necessary.
***I really don't like "sensations" most of the time. I can deliberately delight in nice sensations, but most of the time I find them distracting, slightly uncomfortable, and I never fully adjust to them. Which is why I fidget a lot - I'm always trying to get comfortable, and never quite there.
****The Galaxy Gear weighs 50% more, and runs out of battery twice as fast.
My Pebble Smartwatch isn't essential. It's not life-changing. There's (almost) nothing I can do with it that I couldn't do before.
And yet it has fitted smoothly into my life, made certain things a lot easier, and removed a source of nagging distraction which used to sit constantly at the back of my mind.
Its basic functionality is simple: It tells me the time. Or the time and the date. Or the time, the date, the weather, and my next appointment (I haven't actually got around to setting that one up yet). That's pretty neat, but I stopped wearing a watch that told me the time when I first started carrying a phone all the time.
The cool thing it does is connect to my phone (over Bluetooth) and tell me when notifications arrive. There's a very slight buzz (which I could disable), and then the screen shows me the first hundred-odd characters of whatever just arrived - be it an email, text, tweet, FB notification, or whatever else I set my phone up to pass over.
There are two reasons this is a pretty neat idea:
1) I no longer find myself checking my phone every three* minutes to see if someone has emailed me with something important. If someone has sent me something then my wrist will buzz.
2) The battery on my phone lasts longer. Battery is largely sucked down by the screen being on (and interacted with, I think). By reading things on my wrist I play with it less, and the battery seems to last between 30% and 50% longer each day.**
I've also found that I like having the time on my wrist, and not having to get my phone out of my pocket. Which wouldn't be enough to put up with the sensation of having a thing strapped to my wrist all by itself*** - but is a nice bonus along with (1) and (2).
Is it worth $150?
Probably not for that many people. If the idea of your notifications being more easily available to you is one that makes you happy, then yes. If you want to try out a new tech toy, then yes. Next year's version will undoubtedly be better - but this is the first smartwatch I've seen that was actually worth having at all. By keeping things simple (no touch-screen, no camera) they've made it trivial to use and light in weight and battery usage****.
Recommended: For the kind of people that like this kind of thing.
*This number varies, depending on whether I'm expecting something stressful to arrive in my inbox.
**The battery on the watch lasts 3-5 days, because it's a simple LCD with a backlight that comes on only briefly, and only when necessary.
***I really don't like "sensations" most of the time. I can deliberately delight in nice sensations, but most of the time I find them distracting, slightly uncomfortable, and I never fully adjust to them. Which is why I fidget a lot - I'm always trying to get comfortable, and never quite there.
****The Galaxy Gear weighs 50% more, and runs out of battery twice as fast.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-06 04:41 pm (UTC)Not prepared to get pebble while I'm waiting.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-06 04:47 pm (UTC)I don't think I want a smartwatch now as I actively turn off notifications on everything - I check email etc when I have time, not when other people want me to have time.
I'll be interested to see what's available in another year or two. Something that can also do a pedometer function reliably would be a win; heart rate monitor too would make it a must-buy once it hit my can-buy price.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-06 04:54 pm (UTC)http://www.kreyos.com
It certainly does one or two things you're looking for.
$169 so also competitive against Pebble.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-07 10:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-07 04:30 pm (UTC)I'm playing The Walk Game but it's not very reliable at actually counting my steps and activity and will randomly decide I'm "inactive" for minutes at a time during a long walk or run. (Yes, I have submitted a bug report.) This suggests that phone-based pedometers aren't good enough yet.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-06 05:07 pm (UTC)Just in case the idea appeals to you too: for about 15 years now I've been wearing a watch on my belt rather than my wrist. I sewed a custom strap which attaches round my belt using velcro, and has a loop hanging off it that goes round the bar used to attach the strap to the watch. (In fact I've sewed two such straps – the first one started to fall apart a year and a half ago, which I thought was good going for the first object I ever sewed in any way whatsoever.)
I find it a really convenient way to wear a watch. It avoids the annoying sensation you describe; it keeps my wrists free of constriction that might exacerbate RSI; it keeps my arms free to plunge into washing-up water without having to either take my watch off first or trust its water resistance; and it makes it very difficult indeed to forget to take my watch anywhere with me unless I also forget my trousers! Its only downside that I've noticed is that it makes it more of a faff (but still not impossible) to check the time while wearing a long coat.
I don't know if the method is compatible with the Pebble, though. And it would probably make the buzzing notification less obvious, I suppose.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-12 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-07 01:49 am (UTC)Sorta stopped wearing it for awhile when I came back but when I got the job at the school that required the phone be off I needed it, so much so when it gave up on me I bought a new cheap one off Amazon.
Now amazon emails me offers tot heir watch section every few weeks because obviously if I've bought a watch with a ten year guarantee I want another one withing a few months.
It's got so that if I'm not wearing the watch I can feel its absence and don't like not having it on (except when I go to bed when weirdly I can then feel it). I'd be tempted by a smartwatch at some point if/when I end up travelling or being out of the house a lot. Currently, that's not an issue.