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Does anybody have any experience using this with our device? Pros, cons, quirks, any feedback helpful.
http://www.expansys-usa.com/sony-smartwatch-228482/
elypsar said:
Does anybody have any experience using this with our device? Pros, cons, quirks, any feedback helpful.
http://www.expansys-usa.com/sony-smartwatch-228482/
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Click to collapse
I got the Smartwatch a couple of weeks ago to go with my sony xperia S.
Pros:
Excellent Screen
4 day battery with mid-heavy use
Powerful Vibrate alert
Excellent strap and easy to clip the device onto the strap. Even easier to connect the charging cable!
your phone updates the smartwatch firmware OTA which is excellent.
Screen is clear
Swiping and one touch is very accurate.
Looks much better and more premium than the 1st generation liveview
Lots of widgets add ons
Album Art on music player!!
No disconnects at all in the two weeks i have had the device (1st gen liveview was awful for this!)
Cons:
Multitouch is a bit of a faff, you press 2 fingers to go back a screen, i find this difficult as the screen is small and my fingers are big, takes a couple of goes for me to get this action right even now.
Has a bit of an impact on your phone battery, youll need to charge your phone every day.
Really enjoying the device, its my primary watch now. (have the Motoactv for excercise)
I just go it today. I think it looks cool but the piratical application will only be seen with time.
Have you found a way remove constant desktop indicator?
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA
Wow crazy what they are making now a days, even smart stereo decks for cars
Mine works fine with my Epic 4g Touch. But can anyone tell me how to change the screen brightness and such? According to the Smartwatch App, its supposed to be built in but I can't find it.
Pro's slick and looks cool
Cons: many users ave had the issue of the watch freezing, rebooting, when clicking apps. I have had the issue of trying to control the music on my phone and the songs keep skipping to the next song like if I pressed the button only way to stop it is by opening taskmanager and killing the music app. The messaging app has made my cellphone keyboard not respond to letter presses. This is soooo buggy its ridiculous. Still debating on sending it back.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android
Check this out. Seems pretty awesome. Only problem is won't get it till September.
Sent from my Galaxy S2
ravizzle said:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android
Check this out. Seems pretty awesome. Only problem is won't get it till September.
Sent from my Galaxy S2
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That watch looks sweet. Its releasing in September?
Azralag said:
That watch looks sweet. Its releasing in September?
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Yea. U can fund its original production until may 18. After that it goes into production and is expected to ship in September. Well retail for $150-200, but if you fund it now u can get it for 115-125 depending on color you want.
Sent from my Galaxy S2
it's weird.. the kickstarter campaign is for a black and white version but they sell a OLED color one for less - whether or not it works for this phone is a different story - any brave souls out there want to try it out?
I kick-started it and i think it is a win-win.
On the one hand i could have a sweet watch with great connect-ability to my phone and functionality with all sorts of apps.
On the other hand even if i never really do to much with the apps I have a nice e-ink watch with changeable display styles and information.
Plus, due to the high funding, they are making it water resistant enough to go swimming.
dirtymindedx said:
Pro's slick and looks cool
Cons: many users ave had the issue of the watch freezing, rebooting, when clicking apps. I have had the issue of trying to control the music on my phone and the songs keep skipping to the next song like if I pressed the button only way to stop it is by opening taskmanager and killing the music app. The messaging app has made my cellphone keyboard not respond to letter presses. This is soooo buggy its ridiculous. Still debating on sending it back.
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I had the same problem with the music controls. Opening the Smartwatch app and going to the settings of the music controls allowed me to change the default player which fixed the skips.
Kruejl said:
Mine works fine with my Epic 4g Touch. But can anyone tell me how to change the screen brightness and such? According to the Smartwatch App, its supposed to be built in but I can't find it.
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Looking for the same... Found it yet?
I have the Sony Smart Watch and I love it. Only downside I've had is occasional disconnect which I think is a problem with my phone's Bluetooth since it happens on my headset as well. I'm running my phone completely stock so that probably has something to do with it.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
I got Sony Smartwatch MN2 yesterday. Nice watch.
Pros:
- smart, thats why it's called smartwatch.
- bla bla bla...
Cons:
- not like Liveview MN800, u should pay for almost nice plugin/app for this watch.
- the email plugin/app (except Gmail) doesnt support non-Sony gadget. (even it's Sony Erricson)
- battery drain, with highly use, its only hold +-16 hours, then i need recharge this watch!
- the metal, black rubber and white plastic is bad design i guess. When u hold MN2 in your hand, it's looks like a kid/teenage toys.
removed.
Couple of questions:
1) Does it have a low light setting or at least a setting to invert the black/grey hues?
2) At $130 it's something of a luxury price for novelty functions. Do you think it's ready for Prime Time (so to speak)?
3) I noticed you have Torque installed on your phone. Just an awesome app!
Really good review.... but I wish the watch interface looked more modern, for $130 i wish the screen on the watch was a touch screen style & the icons on the watch, im not feeling.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
apallohadas said:
Couple of questions:
1) Does it have a low light setting or at least a setting to invert the black/grey hues?
2) At $130 it's something of a luxury price for novelty functions. Do you think it's ready for Prime Time (so to speak)?
3) I noticed you have Torque installed on your phone. Just an awesome app!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't exactly call it novelty. There are many times, throughout the day, when I simply cannot pick up/pull out my phone but still need to see who/what, etc... That's priceless, in my opinion.
Which leads me to add to your questions for the OP:
I didn't see any mention of caller ID. Is that possible, with this watch? If so, how far down the pipe is it to be unlocked?
KingP1n said:
Really good review.... but I wish the watch interface looked more modern, for $130 i wish the screen on the watch was a touch screen style & the icons on the watch, im not feeling.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
This is actually what I was surprised about as well. I was hoping for a much nicer screen. Once they come out with a model that can support applications like strava and mapmyrun I will probably be all about one of these.
Awesome review!
Str0ntium said:
I wouldn't exactly call it novelty. There are many times, throughout the day, when I simply cannot pick up/pull out my phone but still need to see who/what, etc... That's priceless, in my opinion.
Which leads me to add to your questions for the OP:
I didn't see any mention of caller ID. Is that possible, with this watch? If so, how far down the pipe is it to be unlocked?
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We'll have to disagree there sir. With some further customization I can see this becoming more useful but not priceless by far.
And as another poster just mentioned, it really could look a bit better. The Casio-calculator-ish readout is probably scaled down to give it that impressive battery life. I'd totally drool if it looked a bit more like the Nike+ GPS watch.
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apallohadas said:
We'll have to disagree there sir. With some further customization I can see this becoming more useful but not priceless by far.
And as another poster just mentioned, it really could look a bit better. The Casio-calculator-ish readout is probably scaled down to give it that impressive battery life. I'd totally drool if it looked a bit more like the Nike+ GPS watch.
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One man's priceless is another man's trash. I think that goes without saying. As for looks, yep it's butt-ugly. I think we can agree, there. The Pebble looks very nice, if not a little too feminine for my taste. Unfortunately, unless someone pre-ordered last year or is willing to buy a pre-order for $200+ off ebay that one is not going to be widely available any time soon. The Sony looks decent and I think I've read can be used with your own watch band. At ~$100, I think that beats the pants out of this one based on functionality, alone. But, again, what I consider useful you don't. Different strokes.
OK, let me jump back into discussion
Handling phone calls - like a champ! You get caller ID and also an option to hangup or answer the call. You also have a config option to answer the phone and turn speakerphone on. All the phone calling history along with email history and other notifications are stored and can be viewed.
Regarding the look. MetaWatch was started by Fossil guys, so I will give them a benefit of a doubt they know a thing or two about watch ergonomics. If Strata style is too sporty, FRAME style is your typical wrist band style with a replacement band.
I only have Strata, so can't tell you how FRAME looks next to it, but I think its slimmer/trimmer in general.
With different clock faces, I'm sure more stuff will be coming soon since I saw "Analog" option in NE Manager. Regarding graphics, the original MetaWatch manager has better icons and fonts (still digital clock), but not all the functionality is unlocked yet.
With reference to Pebble and Sony smartwatches, I can only judge Sony by a limited experience of playing with discontinued MN800 (LiveView model) - the battery life wasn't that great, and because of OLED display the screen is on for a few seconds before it times out. So it was displaying info only as it being pushed to the watch or when you push the button to view the clock, etc. Without a doubt, having a color screen is an awesome experience, but it comes at a price of battery life and aging of OLED if you keep it on all the time. Plus, OLED is hardly visible in direct sunlight. I do want to get my hands on their latest SmartWatch to see how it works in comparison to LiveView and MetaWatch. With Pebble, I'm hoping to get a review sample one of these days as well. In my opinion it will be similar to MetaWatch in functionality and display graphics. I'm also reading a lot of comments that hardware is ready by software is still work in progress.
You gotta keep in mind, Sony and Nike stuff looks good, but it never took off even at discounted prices. Now, here we have MetaWatch and Pebble, two kickstarter projects that generated a lot of buzz and followers. MetaWatch was ahead with their release and has a very strong base of hackers/users who took matter in their own hands. Pebble probably going to follow the same route since I believe their source is open. I can't judge Pebble, but from use of MetaWatch I found it to do exactly what I would expect from a smart watch - to be remote extension of my phone so I don't have to take my phone out to see who is calling, or start playing music on my bt speaker, to read info about incoming emails where I can see who it's from and the subject line of the email, to see my calendar and all the scheduled talks and to be able to scroll through days and months of content, to see text messages, to get a notification for all these events, and counts for anything I missed, to get a current weather and weather forecast for the next three days, and more.
This is just my personal opinion because I like to have everything on one screen, just like as you can see I have it on my phone with all the widgets and how I set up MetaWatch with everything on one screen. Does it look like a fashionable watch? Not really. It looks like a geek gadget My friends at work were telling me I got "**** Tracy" watch. Can you change it? Sure, if you dress it up using FRAME and more minimalistic layout. But don't expect it to look like OLED display because its a different display technology.
This was my first true smart watch experience, and I hope to have more in the near future for comparison. But based on what I have tested and wearing right now - I'm very impressed!!!
I tried a Metawatch for about a week. Returned it. Overpriced piece of junk. Have been using a Sony with a Fossil band for a few months and am pretty satisfied.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium
jlczl said:
I tried a Metawatch for about a week. Returned it. Overpriced piece of junk. Have been using a Sony with a Fossil band for a few months and am pretty satisfied.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium
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Care to share your experience with MetaWatch and why you found it to be "piece of junk"? Did you have it configured the same way as I did, was it not enough or didn't meet your expectations or did you just give up because you were using MetaWatch original manager? I can see how someone will get frustrated because it's still limited out of the box if you only download original Manager. But going with Noah or Community Edition manager and Executive Assistant+ along with K-9/TouchDown - that covers a huge ground. True, the visual is nowhere near Sony's OLED and ton of apps you can get with it. My only experience with Sony was using MN800 LiveView. I assume you are using MN2SW, right? Does it stay up or display turns off after 10-15seconds, and only comes up whenever you have notification? How is a battery life? How about text message, email (POP/IMAP/Exchange) linking?
For benefit of this thread and considering your experience with both smart watches, I would really appreciate if you can summarize it in more words than "piece of junk" and "pretty satisfied"
What software and hardware version are you running? I have the frame and music control does not work neither does answering calls. I get only 6.5hrs of battery life. Very poor. I'm running ne community and augmented watch app.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium
---------- Post added at 03:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:45 PM ----------
Jlczl most likely thinks it's a piece of junk because there is another thread on metwatch in which he has given a description of his experiences. I for one felt the same way during that time of discussion. As for now I sit on the fence. It's not bad but not great either.
In comparison to the pebble, the metawatch is very slow on the development side.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium
vectron said:
For benefit of this thread and considering your experience with both smart watches, I would really appreciate if you can summarize it in more words than "piece of junk" and "pretty satisfied"
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OK. I'm using the Sony SmartWatch MN2. I don't remember much about the Metawatch but suffice it to say once I got the Sony I realized how behind the MetaWatch was. I was using the Noah Edition and it still didn't have near the functionality of the Sony.
With the Sony my Gmail and text messages appear on my watch in their entirety (not just the sender name or title), I remotely control my Spotify music, I can see my camera on the watch face and even control the shutter to take a pic, I can turn on audio recording from my watch, I get my Google Now notifications on my watch as well as the obvious answer and/or reject calls from it. All of this in color, with a touch screen, on my own watch band and for almost half the price. I can choose from a variety of watch faces depending on what looks better and on how much I want my battery to last. To get a week between charges I use a watch face that only appears when I double tap the screen or push the side button. If I use the "always on" watch face it'll only last about 2 days before it needs a charge.
The MetaWatch has a build and screen that leaves a lot to be desired. It really does remind me of a cheap Casio. Additionally, I was never able to get consistent operation for music on it. The buttons sometimes took forever to respond so I never new when a button press had really registered or not. On top of that it just quit taking a charge all of a sudden and never turned back on. The high price, limited and alpha software, and Jr High school appearance was too much so I ended up returning it. On the upside they were very gracious about the return and didn't give me a hard time about it at all.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium
Thank you guys for your feedback on both MW and Sony MN2SW. Hopefully one of these days I will get a chance to review Sony and Pebble watches.
Regarding Sony smart watch, can you preview POP/IMAP accounts in addition to GMail? How about Exchange account? That would be the most important features for me personally.
Regarding my MW Strata watch, its running SW/FW 1.35 and HW Rev F which supposed to be the latest. I have read about issues with pre 1.35 SW version and problems with battery and other functionality. v1.35 is solid and running like a champ. No issues with music control. Make sure you have in Watch Apps setting to enable Media Control Method as "Emulate headset buttons", and I also have "Inverse Media Player Buttons" since I care more about next/prev track skip rather than volume up/down control. What I like is how I can press Play from a that audio control and it starts playing on my phone, and it also displays the song name/artist (but only after the first track skip when it read the audio info). With a default audio player you have to start Play from the phone, and then can control it from the watch. No issues with a phone, but I did notice when I'm in a car and paired up with my head unit in there, I can receive calls without a problem, but sometime can't dial out. Hopefully they will be able to fix it soon.
Regarding response of the control and switching between pages on the phone, I do agree. CE and NE is painfully slow and sometime there is at least 1s-2s delay. It's simply because those custom Manager are not optimized for the latest firmware/software. When you use the latest official MW Manager - any control or switching between pages is lighting fast. That is why I put a lot of hope and will give MW guys a benefit of a doubt they will get the official MW Manager on par with NE Manager. If you combine features of NE Manager with a speed and graphics of a new MW Manager and add some custom analog and digital watch faces - it will take MW smartwatch to the next level.
Btw, thanks for the pointer about Augmented Watch app. I will test it out and let you know how it works for me (contacted them already, fantastic support and fast response from Adrian). Also, I wonder if your poor battery life has to do with a fact that you are not running v1.35? With everything I'm running right now (NE Manager, EA+ widgets, etc.) I had it charged up about 8 hours ago, and my watch battery is only 1% down. I had hardly any emails during this time, so not my "vibrations" or use of backlight. It was mostly idling during that 8 hours where I just check to see if I got any new emails by checking EA+ counter and Notification history. But still, that's impressive. Not pretty-face like Sony, but impressive in terms of geek-face functionality
apallohadas said:
Couple of questions:
1) Does it have a low light setting or at least a setting to invert the black/grey hues?
2) At $130 it's something of a luxury price for novelty functions. Do you think it's ready for Prime Time (so to speak)?
3) I noticed you have Torque installed on your phone. Just an awesome app!
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Click to collapse
Sorry bro, missed you post.
1) In a Quick Setup picture I posted, the middle setting on the left inverts the color. Also, NE Manager has an option to Invert LCD "where appropriate", and I assume it's tied up with a light sensor.
2) I think as technology will become more mainstream, the price will go down. Right now $130 is actually discounted from their usual $180 price. In my opinion Sony's MN2SW recent discount/price drop to $99 (I'm sure in lieu of slow sales and/or announcement of new smartwatch in the upcoming Asia EXPO) is more reasonable for this technology. Prime Time ready? I think software content is the main driving force and probably the reason why Apple, Samsung, and Google hasn't announced anything yet. Hardware is the easiest part in this case. The only way to be prime time ready is to have a strong app/widget and solid software/firmware content. That explains success of MetaWatch and Pebble open source release, and also recent announcement by Sony to open their code source for some devices. For sure, its Geek Time ready
3) Yep, have OBDII bt dongle and Torque premium. Unfortunately, never get a chance to use it in the car because I run Google maps Nav all the time. Both of our Nexus 7 tablet in use by wife and kids (those have bt connection), and my other cheap tablet doesn't have bt. But in general that app is SICK!!! Btw, MN800 thingy from Sony (I got it for $20 of ebay - nice teaser of Sony's smart watches) has a free Torque app/widget which connects to your phone and can give you a remote view of one of the gauges. I might just end up using it that way
As a side note, having these bt smart watches puts some toll on your battery. Considering that I had to install K-9 and TouchDown in order to access unread mail count and constant BT connection - that can cost you an extra 10%-15% of battery a day. More advantage to use ZeroLemon 9300; just wish those guys would release a rugged case soon!!!!
vectron said:
As a side note, having these bt smart watches puts some toll on your battery. Considering that I had to install K-9 and TouchDown in order to access unread mail count and constant BT connection - that can cost you an extra 10%-15% of battery a day. More advantage to use ZeroLemon 9300; just wish those guys would release a rugged case soon!!!!
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Good point. I started using a Motorola Roadster 2 bluetooth speaker in my patrol car. Just 100% awesome, but it does take it's toll a bit on battery as you mentioned. Perhaps 10% on a heavy day of calls and getting in/out of the car waking up the bt connection, etc.
Time for me to take a look at that Sony watch now!
I think this watch has a lot of promise as soon as development kicks in more and more same as pebble one. As far as the sony Mn2 looks good but with the motoactv ypu can do the same as the sony and more by rooting the device where all the info is here in xda. One thing I like about the metawatch and pebble is the water resistant part were y o u can swim with it or take showers with it and still control your music player or so from the water. Time will add more and more of this smartwatches and better features.
sent from my t-mo note 2
Thanks vectron. Yes I am running s/w version 1.35.
When I purchased my watch everyone on eBay was selling hardware version G. I purchased mine from the official site and received hardware E.
Apparently people on the support page / metawatch forums are getting 3 days of battery use i.e running 14 hrs a day @ an average of 5 messages per hour with h/w G.
From my research, h/w E's are the ones with issues. I have both the black and white frame metawatch and both are suffering from poor battery life.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium
What Rom are you using on your Note and how do you have it set it up?.
---------- Post added at 03:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:12 PM ----------
For that price the watch is very limited.
I got the Motorola Motoactv when it was on sale for $150, it came with the wrist strap, belt clip, and heart rate monitor. It's full color touch screen, and runs android. I get 2-3 days out of the battery.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
coquipr said:
I think this watch has a lot of promise as soon as development kicks in more and more same as pebble one. As far as the sony Mn2 looks good but with the motoactv ypu can do the same as the sony and more by rooting the device where all the info is here in xda. One thing I like about the metawatch and pebble is the water resistant part were y o u can swim with it or take showers with it and still control your music player or so from the water. Time will add more and more of this smartwatches and better features.
sent from my t-mo note 2
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Click to collapse
Yes, I think full water protection is an awesome feature. But the ability to view display in direct sunlight and under any indoor/outdoor condition - that is priceless. Plus you can set it up to turn the backlight on whenever you receive a message so even in the dark you can view your notifications. Haven't heard much about motoactv as a smartwatch since it always referred to as exercise watch, but I just looked up and see references how to enhance it's functionality with a rooted phone and augmented smartwatch app to get all the notifications and to be able to use it with any other phone beside Motorola.
Btw, my Note 2 is not rooted. Because of my work's Exchange security policy, I'm not allowed to root. So everything is stock and works as is.
And yes I do agree, with time we are going to see more and more new smartwatches. As a matter of fact, MetaWatch guys mentioned they are working on a lot of new updates, including new "sexy" hardware. I will definitely give them a benefit of a doubt. They were first out of the door, kept their kickstarter promise, and have a head start for next gen learning from experience of the current gen.
removed.
Good review! Thank you
Sent from my GT-I9295 using Tapatalk
Great review and love the pics. Thanks for the bump and glad you liked the ROM.
Good review, but wehre can i download the companion app? Followed the four guys ond G+, but found no link.
dragon-tmd said:
Good review, but wehre can i download the companion app? Followed the four guys ond G+, but found no link.
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It's still being tested.
i wish we can replace the strap...but unfortunately cannot
Before anyone asks, yes, it can run ingress. But due to the display size, it's not usable.
(although, having ingress installed means I get notifications, which is a bonus)
I want this watch bad. Will be my next smart watch for sure
Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk
mjb said:
Before anyone asks, yes, it can run ingress. But due to the display size, it's not usable.
(although, having ingress installed means I get notifications, which is a bonus)
Click to expand...
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How does Ingress deal with multiple devices?
Pretty nice review, now I'm waiting for my November Developer Edition 1GB/8GB very anxiously. How was the flashing process? Did yours come rooted or non-rooted? :laugh:
dust ?
From the pictures, a lot of dust seems to be stuck on the watch?
bouaroudj said:
From the pictures, a lot of dust seems to be stuck on the watch?
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Yes I too was wondering about the same thing. I did not believe it to be dust but simply the unpolished look of the watch. I am hoping it is dust and I am wrong because from the pictures the watch does not look like a polished quality finish
Srwilliams said:
Yes I too was wondering about the same thing. I did not believe it to be dust but simply the unpolished look of the watch. I am hoping it is dust and I am wrong because from the pictures the watch does not look like a polished quality finish
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The watch has glass screen - fingerprints will be noticeable, metal case - that one is solid, and cheap silicone/rubber wristband - sort of a dust magnet, no way around it since it's not replaceable. The value of TS is not in a rubber wristband, but in the watch itself
vectron said:
The watch has glass screen - fingerprints will be noticeable, metal case - that one is solid, and cheap silicone/rubber wristband - sort of a dust magnet, no way around it since it's not replaceable. The value of TS is not in a rubber wristband, but in the watch itself
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Vectron:
I can understand and appreciate your response.
By the way I want to go out my way to express to you my sincere appreciation of you making sure you addressed the speakerphone matter that I had raised in earlier posts. You are the first and only one who has addressed the issue and let us know that the speakerphone is plenty loud enough for calls, something I decried about the Samsung Galaxy Gear.
By the way that was the best user review I have seen on a phone or watch phone. Everyone ghets into all of these specifications and technical matters and forget to cover the basics like "how does the watch feel, look---is it too large---is the screen really visible---If I make a call can I hear the other person and vice versa---all of these nonthechnical matters that go into an everyday user experience (and not from a developers or customizer's perspective) you attempted to cover and quite well I might add.
I can't wait for you to be able to report on the companion, bluetooth tethering capabilities of the watch if that ever comes to be. But for all of us nontechies your review and evaluation has been heaven sent
Srwilliams said:
Vectron:
I can understand and appreciate your response.
By the way I want to go out my way to express to you my sincere appreciation of you making sure you addressed the speakerphone matter that I had raised in earlier posts. You are the first and only one who has addressed the issue and let us know that the speakerphone is plenty loud enough for calls, something I decried about the Samsung Galaxy Gear.
By the way that was the best user review I have seen on a phone or watch phone. Everyone ghets into all of these specifications and technical matters and forget to cover the basics like "how does the watch feel, look---is it too large---is the screen really visible---If I make a call can I hear the other person and vice versa---all of these nonthechnical matters that go into an everyday user experience (and not from a developers or customizer's perspective) you attempted to cover and quite well I might add.
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Reviews like his take a lot of load off the developers and is very much appreciated. Doesn't mean there won't a developer review but in this case his review definitely give us some breathing room and time to actually use the TS vs fixing things. For example, I still have yet to actually play with mine yet and I've had it over a week now.
Thank you all for the kind words! As you have seen from my Index Review page on XDA: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2192333 I take every review very seriously, either if its $5 screen protector or $15 case or $200 smartwatch or $500 headphones. I actually started doing these reviews with a main intent to answer questions left open by all those other "pro" dry reviews on specialized websites where they list spec, summarize their opinion in one paragraph and post a bunch of picture that still doesn't provide a clear "picture" of the product. I also hated user reviews posted in the forum with low res picture shots from a phone in poor lighting. But anyway...
TS shaping up to be a great product with unlimited capabilities. For those interested to start testing Companion app, make sure to check Kurt's G+ page with instructions (the references were provide in the latest KS update), and for those who already have the watch - YOU MUST flash it with Loki's latest ROM. It's not even a matter of question.
Heh Vec:
Does your above post indicate that there is a Companion app or tool that is now available, but being tested and refined. If so that is great news and puts me in the position of making my purchase
Excelent review, I can't wait more for mine.
Enviado desde mi GT-I9100 mediante Tapatalk
Hello vectron,
Thanks for your good and detailed review.
I am currently using a MetaWatch Frame. I tried also Sony SmartWatch 2, but the vibration motor was too loud, so I returned it. All people around me would have heard every mail or SMS I got with this loud vibration.
The vibration of the MetaWatch is discreet, like it should be.
I saw in your reviews, that you tested a MetaWatch Frame.
1. Is the vibration of the Omate TrueSmart loud or discreet?
2. Is the vibration on the Omate TS louder than the MetaWatch Frame? How is the vibration of the TS compared with the MetaWatch Frame?
3. Did you also try the Sony SmartWatch 2? If yes, how is the vibration loudness of the TS compared with the Sony Smartwatch?
Enlightenment79 said:
Hello vectron,
Thanks for your good and detailed review.
I am currently using a MetaWatch Frame. I tried also Sony SmartWatch 2, but the vibration motor was too loud, so I returned it. All people around me would have heard every mail or SMS I got with this loud vibration.
The vibration of the MetaWatch is discreet, like it should be.
I saw in your reviews, that you tested a MetaWatch Frame.
1. Is the vibration of the Omate TrueSmart loud or discreet?
2. Is the vibration on the Omate TS louder than the MetaWatch Frame? How is the vibration of the TS compared with the MetaWatch Frame?
3. Did you also try the Sony SmartWatch 2? If yes, how is the vibration loudness of the TS compared with the Sony Smartwatch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good questions. As you have seen, I been working with MetaWatch for awhile and have//reviewed their STRATA/FRAME models - the main purpose is to receive email notifications and not to miss calls. The vibration is just perfect with MW. I can't comment on SW2. I'm on the list of Sony accessory reviewers and have talked to their PR firm about review sample. Unfortunately, they are delaying sending review products, and I have a feeling it has something to do with a lot of recent posts about quality control (people have screen popping off, problem with buttons, etc).
For me personally, Notification feature is #1 requirement for TS. But it's still in alpha testing and I wasn't able to get it to work yet, possible due to some setup issues. Trust me, as soon as I have a more stable release version and can get it to work on my TS - I will post a detailed review.
Another great thing Kurt is working on is OWatchOn app which turns the display on when you raise your arm. It's work in progress as well, and Kurt is fine tuning it. So far you need a specific angle/position to turn the display on, but he will add more options where you can customize it.
I tried loki's rom and didn't really like it. Back on stock now but I have installed his mod.
Sent from my TrueSmart using Tapatalk
Wondering if any of you guys have had the Gear 2 before purchasing the Moto 360.
I'm interested in the round screen as well as Android Wear. But I'm not able to really find any reviews of someone who has really used both devices day in and day out.
I've have Pebble, loved it! But never put it back on after the Gear 2 purchase. I don't think Tizen is a lost cause, I see new apps coming out all the time. But, I think maybe Android Wear is the way to go, for the long haul.
So, has anyone used both devices for some period of time?
Thanks!
jb4lsu said:
Wondering if any of you guys have had the Gear 2 before purchasing the Moto 360.
I'm interested in the round screen as well as Android Wear. But I'm not able to really find any reviews of someone who has really used both devices day in and day out.
I've have Pebble, loved it! But never put it back on after the Gear 2 purchase. I don't think Tizen is a lost cause, I see new apps coming out all the time. But, I think maybe Android Wear is the way to go, for the long haul.
So, has anyone used both devices for some period of time?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used both, and I liked the Gear 2 better. The software is just much more functional, and battery life is great.
Also, the Gear 2 had some neat features that the 360 didn't have (camera, speaker, IR blaster to control all of your audio/video equipment etc...).
I still think Android Wear will be the way to go, but for now it's not as useful as the Gear IMHO...
I had the 360 and went to the Gear 2. It is a much better and refined watch in my opinion. The Speaker, Amoled screen as well as the Android like Tizen, provide a pleasant experience for me. And the incredible battery life, wow! Doing chores around my house while waiting to talk to a customer support agent on my watch is such a revolutionary thing for me as well.
I had the opposite experience.
Camera function is useless on Gear 2.
You can't feel the vibration when you're doing anything with your hands using the G2.
Never bothered to use the IR because the OS on the G2 is clunky and slow.
I do miss the speaker option because you can take calls.
And battery life.
App support for the G2 is AWFUL.
S-Voice is horrible and slow.
G2 is much heavier, but the band is better (debatable).
I can go on for days, but I only had the 360 for almost 24hrs now so I'm still getting used to it.
Is camera function that bad? Since I don't have a waterproof phone I thought having a camera on my risk for our doors and pool beach play with the kids
would be a great solution. I dont really need the picture quality to be perfect or SLR quality but enough for social sharing. Pls comment .. Tq
I hear google voice search can be made to works too on the G2 so I suppose there can still be some google integration.
bubblebuddyi said:
I had the opposite experience.
Camera function is useless on Gear 2.
You can't feel the vibration when you're doing anything with your hands using the G2.
Never bothered to use the IR because the OS on the G2 is clunky and slow.
I do miss the speaker option because you can take calls.
And battery life.
App support for the G2 is AWFUL.
S-Voice is horrible and slow.
G2 is much heavier, but the band is better (debatable).
I can go on for days, but I only had the 360 for almost 24hrs now so I'm still getting used to it.
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Click to collapse
fylim said:
Is camera function that bad? Since I don't have a waterproof phone I thought having a camera on my risk for our doors and pool beach play with the kids
would be a great solution. I dont really need the picture quality to be perfect or SLR quality but enough for social sharing. Pls comment .. Tq
I hear google voice search can be made to works too on the G2 so I suppose there can still be some google integration.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a link to the Gear 2 thread to "Show off your pics".
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2722717
They look pretty good to me!
I had the gear 2 and now I have the moto 360, this is a trade off at the moment, as far as voice recognition moto is much better, the style I think is much better. The gear 2 is like a swiss army knife, it's much more feature packed and its management of emails and text is better.
If andoid wear catches up the moto will surpass gear 2
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app
fylim said:
Is camera function that bad? Since I don't have a waterproof phone I thought having a camera on my risk for our doors and pool beach play with the kids
would be a great solution. I dont really need the picture quality to be perfect or SLR quality but enough for social sharing. Pls comment .. Tq
I hear google voice search can be made to works too on the G2 so I suppose there can still be some google integration.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The camera is quite good. It also take 720p video. No Google now as of yet, unless you use Tasker.
Spartiatis said:
I had the gear 2 and now I have the moto 360, this is a trade off at the moment, as far as voice recognition moto is much better, the style I think is much better. The gear 2 is like a swiss army knife, it's much more feature packed and its management of emails and text is better.
If andoid wear catches up the moto will surpass gear 2
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too had both. And agree with the above statement.
I don't personally have a Gear 2, but a friend of mine does.
The camera isn't very good. And honestly I cannot for the life of me figure out why you'd use it over your phone unless you were trying to do something devious. The one time my friend used it that was some what useful was to take a picture of our parking lot area number when we were at a convention.
But I mean...I had my phone out and could have done it in two seconds.
I don't quite get people wanting to replace their phone with a smart watch.
If you said "Gear 2 has better battery life, that's why I went with it", no debate, totally understand that.
But to say you like it better for a speaker and a camera? Geesh.
As someone who has seen both watches in use...
Gear 2, better battery life, wouldn't be caught dead in public wearing it (my friend looks like a dork among dorks).
360, looks like an actual watch, worse battery.
That's it.
The gear 2 is a completely crippled piece of hardware. In typical Samsung fashion they just cram it with as many features as possible hoping that at least one of them will grab someones attention so they can make the sale. Funny how this amazing strategy clearly isn't working when they are showing losses as of last quarter.
The crippling I'm referring to is Tizen, which will be obsolete in 6 months or less. How arrogant of Samsung to think they can write thier own OS and take on Android. They can't even get their android based OS down, and now they are writing a new OS from scratch?
And the nail in the coffin is s voice. One of the worst user experiences I have ever seen. Its slow, unintelligent, and not helpful in any way whatsoever. You can't even respond to an email wtih the gear 2.... Give me a break. I respond to everything on my Android wear watch, including chat programs such as groupme. Better battery life on the gear 2? Yes. S voice? Blows the entire package out of the water.
Have the Gear 2 Neo, just picked up the Moto last night to try.
Design: Clearly Moto Wins with round display.
Display Quality: Gear 2, so much better just not round.
Voice Recognition: Moto hands down
Interface Usability: Gear 2 is so much easier to use aside from voice control. Android Wear is so immature
Battery Life: Not even a competition, 4 Days+ on the Gear 2, after 10 hours I'm at 40% on the Moto.
Apps: Gear 2 by a hair, but both suck
Charger: Moto Charger is very cool, Gear 2 is annoying
Calls: Moto is Useless, No speaker, if you want to answer calls your only choice is Gear 2.
Messaging: Moto wins only because it will let you reply to Hangouts which is all I use, both are really bad as messaging
Performance: Gear 2 wins, Moto lags a lot
Watch faces: Gear 2 has far more options for customizing watch
Navigation: Both are terrible right now, but Gear 2 with a speaker has clear potential advantage. Moto will always be useless.
Gear 2 features you can't replicate on Moto:
IR control, kind of a gimmick, but fun to play with at your local bar and drive you bartender nuts
Voice call, ummm Android Wear, what were you thinking.
Summary:
The Moto is a beautiful watch, but between the battery life and the lack of a speaker I will probably return it and stick with my Gear 2, it's just a more useable mature product.
gorillaz1 said:
I don't personally have a Gear 2, but a friend of mine does.
The camera isn't very good. And honestly I cannot for the life of me figure out why you'd use it over your phone unless you were trying to do something devious.
That's it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A few situations come to mind where you don't want to risk your phone flying out of your hands. Roller coasters, surfing, Sky diving to name a few. Maybe your life is too boring. Lol. Personally I like the design of the Gear 2 better. The 360 looked like a hockey puck strapped to my wrist.
Some little nit pickey things
I traded my gear 2 for this. Everyone is right about battery life it does suck. Like 10-12 hour suck if your lucky. On the gear 2 you get a notification and if you ignored it it would go of the main screen. Basically if you ignored the notification and the display went dark next time you flick you wrist you would have a clear view of the time. With the 360 no matter how many times you flick your wrist that notification is still there and it wont go away without swiping it away which gets old after a while. I kinda miss the speaker and dedicated away from the phone for a while music player. Can't speak for the vibration problems people are having and ir blaster since I didn't use much to care if it wasn't there. My kids are mad because no camera now but not that big a deal to me. One last thing it comes with a day one update that needs 80 percent to attempt. Mine came out of the box at 6 percent. That reminds me it get wildly inconsistent charging rates. Sometimes it's like 30 minutes to 100 percent other times it sitting on the charger all night and I go to leave and it won't turn on because it stopped charging for some reason. But anyway you can't even use thing as a watch until the update it just says it won't connect. The screen is nice but not for the trade off the we are getting with battery life. Would I still trade my gear 2 for this. Yes best solely on looks right now. Maybe software can fix some of what's wrong
I also went back to my gear 2....I loved the 360 look feel etc, but it was hard to justify the 250 price tag....also considering how hard I am on devices I think I'll just use the gear 2 into the ground and hopefully by then something that comfortably gets me through the day with battery is out. I do drive 3-4 hours a day or more so maybe the crappy battery life has to do with that. It is almost a full day but when I am afraid to look at my watch so I can conserve battery I think it loses its usefulness.
Is it worth it to trade my gear 2 for a moto 360?
I had gear 2 neo before having the moto 360... The only thing that I see gear neo is better that is battery life and the screen as Amoled.. Other than that it a useless especially the tizen OS!
Thought about getting a gear 2 but biggest most massive issue with any of samsung none wear watches are you gotta have a Samsung Device and I've got a nexus 5. Have a lg g watch with my 360 I rarely use the g watch even though it has a better cpu.
Samsung is also really really bad about updating their devices or even providing proper organized device source so you could make a update yourself.
Argument on a speaker on your watch I find silly rather have a nice Bluetooth headset lot less background noise. Heck I'm looking at the bragi dash when they come out!
I'm wondering how many of you have a smartwatch with your Pixel 2 (XL) and what kind it is? I'm shopping for a smartwatch now. I LOVE the look and feel of the Nixon Mission and it's waterproof for up to 300 feet I believe( I'm not a diver but I hate taking my watch off to swim), but the price sucks, I also love the look and feel of the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier. I really want one that is waterproof as can be. I don't really care for taking calls on my watch. But I do love the notifications I can get on the watch. I really want good battery life. Just want to know what you all think of your watches if you have them....
Would love some feedback!
I've got a Gear S2 Classic - if I use the always on display, then I get about a day and a half of battery life. That extends to 4 days if I turn off the AOD.
Here are the pros:
Getting notifications on my wrist is perfect when I'm in a meeting. It allows me to discretely check to make sure it's not important without pulling out a bright 5" phone screen.
I wake up at a different time than my wife every morning. I can use the watch's vibration as a silent alarm while it's on my wrist.
I can change the watch face and bands to match my outfit. Dress it up with a metal band when I wear a suit or keep it casual with a black leather band when I'm wearing jeans.
Here are the cons:
Price - I got mine from an eBay user who never wore it and just wanted to sell it for cheap, so I only paid $150. I could never imagine paying full retail prices for these things.
If you try to use anything other than the smart reply features to incoming text messages, you'll hate typing on it.
Digital DJ said:
I'm wondering how many of you have a smartwatch with your Pixel 2 (XL) and what kind it is? I'm shopping for a smartwatch now. I LOVE the look and feel of the Nixon Mission and it's waterproof for up to 300 feet I believe( I'm not a diver but I hate taking my watch off to swim), but the price sucks, I also love the look and feel of the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier. I really want one that is waterproof as can be. I don't really care for taking calls on my watch. But I do love the notifications I can get on the watch. I really want good battery life. Just want to know what you all think of your watches if you have them....
Would love some feedback!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speaking of battery life in a smart watch, never go for a watch with android wear! The OS sucks. Tizen OS is just better in every way. So Samsung Gear S3 is the best when it comes to battery life & user experience, Not to mention that rotating dial for navigation which is very very convenient. As for as the looks Huawei watch 2 is awesome.
P.S: i dont use a smart watch.
Digital DJ said:
I'm wondering how many of you have a smartwatch with your Pixel 2 (XL) and what kind it is? I'm shopping for a smartwatch now. I LOVE the look and feel of the Nixon Mission and it's waterproof for up to 300 feet I believe( I'm not a diver but I hate taking my watch off to swim), but the price sucks, I also love the look and feel of the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier. I really want one that is waterproof as can be. I don't really care for taking calls on my watch. But I do love the notifications I can get on the watch. I really want good battery life. Just want to know what you all think of your watches if you have them....
Would love some feedback!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a LG G watch but the battery life on android wear is just too ****ty. I want a Samsung gear s3 frontier
I use a Polar M600, which suits me very well, but I don't think it's for you. It has all the attractiveness (or lack thereof) of a running watch, which it is, but it also does everything I want a general-purpose smart watch to do.
As has already been pointed out, no Android Wear watch offers truly great battery life. Getting through the day is the best you can hope for with AW.
My own personal oddity is that I prefer watches with a light background, so I avoid OLED displays, which need to be kept as dark as possible to minimize battery drain. That's one of the things I like about the Polar: its transmissive display. I'd prefer transflective, though
You might consider an activity tracker, instead of a smartwatch. The Huawei Fit, for one, looks more watch-like than most, supports notifications, and is said to be waterproof and have long battery life. I have no direct knowledge of it, so I can't endorse it, but it looks like it might meet your specs.
True, android wear sucks. (Sony smartwatch 3, Motorola moto 360 in past)
For sport Garmin and Suunto. I had Garmin Vivoactive HR, great like sporttester, weaker like smartwatch.
And now I bought Fitbit Ionic on January. Good smartwatch and sporttester in one.
I've been using an LG watch Urbane with my non XL Pixel 2. It works ok, but sometimes looses connection. I can get about a day and a half out of it but normally charge it every night.
For the past couple of weeks I've tried not using it again and leaving my Bluetooth off, and it seems to have granted me around an extra 5-6% battery compared to using the watch.
It is fun to get notifications on your wrist and reply with the Swype keyboard, but I think it's not useful enough to warrant losing the phone battery.
I haven't found any suitable replacement for my Sony SmartWatch 3. Newer smartwatch's might have a HR-censor that I don't use anyway. Even when running three times a week the watch has at least two days of battery life. If not running it will be three to four days. With my new Google Pixel 2 XL I have smartphone that match the the battery life of my smartwatch.
I use the original Huawei Watch (still the best looking smartwatch out there) and love it. The only bug I have is since I bought the Pixel 2 I can't pick up phone calls directly on the smartwatch because if that setting is on the person calling me dosent ear me for like 10 seconds when I pick up a call on the phone. Google is aware of this and says it will release a fix.
Digital DJ said:
I'm wondering how many of you have a smartwatch with your Pixel 2 (XL) and what kind it is? I'm shopping for a smartwatch now. I LOVE the look and feel of the Nixon Mission and it's waterproof for up to 300 feet I believe( I'm not a diver but I hate taking my watch off to swim), but the price sucks, I also love the look and feel of the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier. I really want one that is waterproof as can be. I don't really care for taking calls on my watch. But I do love the notifications I can get on the watch. I really want good battery life. Just want to know what you all think of your watches if you have them....
Would love some feedback!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had the Samsung Gear S3 and while it was nice, if it's not a Samsung phone it does not work correctly. I switch to the Huawei Watch 2 and it's perfect. Don't listen to someone who doesn't wear one. I got about 2 days a battery on Samsung in about a day and a half on the Huawei Watch 2. Both with normal use. Battery saver can get you a lot more time with it if needed. I never use it though. Android wear is getting refresh as Wear OS soon so let's see what that does.
I have a FitBit Ionic. I'm a former Garmin VivoActive and Apple Watch user.
I don't get much into the applications because I almost always have my phone with me anyway. So far, it's been great. Battery is 5+ days easy unless you're using GPS a lot, and even then it only drains at about 8% per hour. The display is pretty nice and there's a decent amount of watch faces available with more trickling out once in a while.
It has arguably the best app for the smart sport watch segment and the HR, movement, and sleep analytics make it a pretty good fit for me overall.
Is there any androidwear or tizen nwm watch that can be trigger for a photo on google camera? I'd like to place a phone on a tripod and make photos from distance
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
Everyone else is having huge issues with "Play phone voice call on watch" on my Pixel 2 XL their android wear smartwatches where apps (Phone, Duo, WhatsApp - anything that uses a BT headset) freeze for 10-15s after making or receiving a call on the phone with the watch connected?
There's many many people complaining about this since December. Here's the Google bug report where you can report it https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/71010564
Proday said:
Is there any androidwear or tizen nwm watch that can be trigger for a photo on google camera? I'd like to place a phone on a tripod and make photos from distance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably one in the Samsung watch store
PuffDaddy_d said:
Probably one in the Samsung watch store
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Click to collapse
Every Android wear smartwatches can do that, there's several apps that have that ability
PuffDaddy_d said:
Probably one in the Samsung watch store
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope...there is only one apk, and that one install aditionall photo software as I could see
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
I grabbed a Ticwatch S, my one issues is when I get in the car Android auto starts going crazy on my phone(constantly restarting). Must be a bluetooth conflict between car/phone/watch
Garmin watches will last weeks in smartwatch mode until you start actively tracking activities that enable the GPS.
Right now I'm wearing a fenix 5X that works well with the Pixel 2 (did NOT pay full price for it). I think some of the cooler devices out there now are the vivoactive 3 and the vivomove HR. I know people with both and they really enjoy them.
jayb222 said:
I've had the Samsung Gear S3 and while it was nice, if it's not a Samsung phone it does not work correctly. I switch to the Huawei Watch 2 and it's perfect. Don't listen to someone who doesn't wear one. I got about 2 days a battery on Samsung in about a day and a half on the Huawei Watch 2. Both with normal use. Battery saver can get you a lot more time with it if needed. I never use it though. Android wear is getting refresh as Wear OS soon so let's see what that does.
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Click to collapse
I also wear a Samsung gear S3 with my pixel2.
I used the same watch on the OnePlus 6 and now I'm wondering what exactly isn't working right for you. I used to own a s8 and don't see any features missing on the watch. So please elaborate [emoji4]
Verstuurd vanaf mijn Pixel 2 met Tapatalk
sis3970 said:
I also wear a Samsung gear S3 with my pixel2.
I used the same watch on the OnePlus 6 and now I'm wondering what exactly isn't working right for you. I used to own a s8 and don't see any features missing on the watch. So please elaborate [emoji4]
Verstuurd vanaf mijn Pixel 2 met Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
The messaging app would give me problems. Didn't show mms pics and had trouble with threaded conversation. Couldn't use Samsung voice and ok Google wasn't an option so no voice dictation. That was along time ago and I now have a Sony xz2. My Huawei Watch 2 is still going strong with that one.