So, what is the purpose of this thing? The display is too small for browsing or texting. Use it as a dumbphone for old-fashioned phone calls? Maybe, I don't know...
And no, I don't care about music players as a separate device.
Similar to every smartwatch that's out currently – notification delivery, screening of calls, playback control, and of course information display (weather/time/appointments). I'll have a full functionality rundown soon.
Are there any "smartwatches" out currently? The only one I've ever seen was Nike bracelet with no display. The more I think about it, I could actually see myself using a "smartwatch" as a dumbphone, especially if it offers good voice recognition for texting. It has to look a lot more elegant than this one though.
I currently own: - Martian Passport (my favorite, wear it every day to work) - Pebble - MetaWatch (original TI developers version) - MetaWatch Strata (Kickstarter) - Sony LiveView (awful) - Sony SmartWatch (better, but looks like a plastic toy on your wrist) - I'm Watch (disaster)
Of the new contenders, the Toq definitely looks the best to me, I'm really interested in this one. I'm not impressed at all with the Samsung Galaxy Gear, but I don't use Sammy phones (my old Galaxy Nexus doesn't count) and I'm not going to pair it to my Samsung Galaxy Camera. I think the design of the new Sony SmartWatch 2 looks far better than the last SmartWatch but I need to see it in person.
I like the Martian best because I get all the notifications I want on the OLED screen at the bottom on a device that is a real analog watch. That said I do like the MetaWatch and the Pebble as far as how much information you can see at a glance, so there's trade-offs. The other cool thing about the Martian is you can answer a call on it without taking the phone out of your pocket, it has a mic and speaker, pretty handy when you're driving and didn't put your phone in the cradle.
Brian, is there any chance that you'll be able to get hold of a review sample of the Omate TrueSmart at the same time the Kickstarter developers receive them (October?) The Sapphire Glass face has now been included as a standard feature and backers can pay $20 to upgrade the RAM from 512MB to 1GB.
Yep, Motorola has the MOTOACTV, and there are a few others that can not only interface with android, but they run it as well...which means that we can hack, flash, and mod them until our geeky hearts are full of love and are content.
TI have a "smart watch" called the Chronos, and you can build your own apps for it. I used quotes because it's really a development platform to help developers get acquainted with a specific SoC. It uses low power radio rather than Bluetooth. It has a variety of sensors.
Looks promising. Here's what I'd look for in a smartwatch: * Time! (hh:mm:ss ddd dd MMM YYYY) * Battery life (4 to 5 days here?) * Charging time * Waterproof * Scratchproof (Sapphire?) * Timezones with GPS sync * Do I have to turn this off on a plane?!
+ Outdoor readable display with zero power consumption while displaying static content, else the battery life won't survive. + Noise cancelling microphones for voice commands/speach recognition (answer short sms, short searchs, calling contacts by names, ...) + Metallic wrist band (If I pay $200+ for a watch, it must also look and feel good.) + slim design. It must be a device I can wear everywhere and all the time, not just while doing sports.
Is it possible to stream local content via BT to a headset and be connected to a phone for notifications at the same time? It seems I spend a lot of time being away from my phone for 1-2 minutes. BT usually can't reach that far and breaks so I'm either grabbing my phone to carry with me, if I remember, or reconnecting BT all the time. If I could change to streaming from the watch but still be connected to the phone for notifications it would be a great solution for me.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
21 Comments
Back to Article
p1esk - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
So, what is the purpose of this thing? The display is too small for browsing or texting. Use it as a dumbphone for old-fashioned phone calls? Maybe, I don't know...And no, I don't care about music players as a separate device.
Brian Klug - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
Similar to every smartwatch that's out currently – notification delivery, screening of calls, playback control, and of course information display (weather/time/appointments). I'll have a full functionality rundown soon.-Brian
p1esk - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
Are there any "smartwatches" out currently? The only one I've ever seen was Nike bracelet with no display.The more I think about it, I could actually see myself using a "smartwatch" as a dumbphone, especially if it offers good voice recognition for texting.
It has to look a lot more elegant than this one though.
p1esk - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
Well, I guess you can say that Nike bracelet has a "display".Brian Klug - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
Off the top of my head, there are now:1) Pebble
2) Sony SmartWatch and SmartWatch 2
3) MetaWatch
4) Motorola MOTOACTIV
5) Samsung Galaxy Gear
-Brian
jeffreytz - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
I currently own:- Martian Passport (my favorite, wear it every day to work)
- Pebble
- MetaWatch (original TI developers version)
- MetaWatch Strata (Kickstarter)
- Sony LiveView (awful)
- Sony SmartWatch (better, but looks like a plastic toy on your wrist)
- I'm Watch (disaster)
Of the new contenders, the Toq definitely looks the best to me, I'm really interested in this one. I'm not impressed at all with the Samsung Galaxy Gear, but I don't use Sammy phones (my old Galaxy Nexus doesn't count) and I'm not going to pair it to my Samsung Galaxy Camera. I think the design of the new Sony SmartWatch 2 looks far better than the last SmartWatch but I need to see it in person.
I like the Martian best because I get all the notifications I want on the OLED screen at the bottom on a device that is a real analog watch. That said I do like the MetaWatch and the Pebble as far as how much information you can see at a glance, so there's trade-offs. The other cool thing about the Martian is you can answer a call on it without taking the phone out of your pocket, it has a mic and speaker, pretty handy when you're driving and didn't put your phone in the cradle.
JT
Brian Klug - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
Wow I had no idea about the Martian Passport, that looks phenomenal. Also that's a super comprehensive list there.I might try and get a Martian Passport, I like the style.
-Brian
dabotsonline - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link
Brian, is there any chance that you'll be able to get hold of a review sample of the Omate TrueSmart at the same time the Kickstarter developers receive them (October?) The Sapphire Glass face has now been included as a standard feature and backers can pay $20 to upgrade the RAM from 512MB to 1GB.Brian Klug - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link
Getting review samples of kickstarter products is usually really difficult or impossible, unless you know someone personally.-Brian
jleach1 - Saturday, September 7, 2013 - link
Yep, Motorola has the MOTOACTV, and there are a few others that can not only interface with android, but they run it as well...which means that we can hack, flash, and mod them until our geeky hearts are full of love and are content.speculatrix - Thursday, October 17, 2013 - link
TI have a "smart watch" called the Chronos, and you can build your own apps for it.I used quotes because it's really a development platform to help developers get acquainted with a specific SoC.
It uses low power radio rather than Bluetooth. It has a variety of sensors.
Daniel Egger - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
You basically it's a completely useless gimmick?kjmathew - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
Looks promising.Here's what I'd look for in a smartwatch:
* Time! (hh:mm:ss ddd dd MMM YYYY)
* Battery life (4 to 5 days here?)
* Charging time
* Waterproof
* Scratchproof (Sapphire?)
* Timezones with GPS sync
* Do I have to turn this off on a plane?!
kjmathew - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
+ high pixel density displaykjmathew - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
That's a 223ppi 1.5" 288x192 display. 'll be interesting to see the 577ppi 600x600 next-gen version (Ref 2:12 of the video at http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/21/qualcomm-miraso...bah12 - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
Don't forget price. Samsung just released pricing on theirs at $299...LMAO as if. Maybe $50-75 definitely not more than $100.I feel like they are trying to reinvent the abacus here, didn't we kill off watches for a reason?
UpSpin - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
+ Outdoor readable display with zero power consumption while displaying static content, else the battery life won't survive.+ Noise cancelling microphones for voice commands/speach recognition (answer short sms, short searchs, calling contacts by names, ...)
+ Metallic wrist band (If I pay $200+ for a watch, it must also look and feel good.)
+ slim design. It must be a device I can wear everywhere and all the time, not just while doing sports.
Muthurasu - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
Any info about "HEAT DISSIPATION". I feel our wrists/nerves won't afford the heat. Any thoughts?omarccx - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link
I want this, but not for $300. That could buy me a new Nexus phone.Deelron - Friday, September 6, 2013 - link
It at minimum is one step better then the Samsung one, you can actually use it as a watch.Kidster3001 - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - link
Is it possible to stream local content via BT to a headset and be connected to a phone for notifications at the same time? It seems I spend a lot of time being away from my phone for 1-2 minutes. BT usually can't reach that far and breaks so I'm either grabbing my phone to carry with me, if I remember, or reconnecting BT all the time. If I could change to streaming from the watch but still be connected to the phone for notifications it would be a great solution for me.