GadgetFreak

No, not the iWatch, well not yet anyway, but other wearable tech. What have people used and liked? I have a Fitbit flex, my third Fitbit and they have really had a positive impact on me due to making me more aware of activity and generally motivating me to get more exercise. The iPhone 6 Health app might do the same.

But what about other devices, especially with more functionality? What have people found useful, especially while traveling (although not exclusively)? Someone I know had a Basis watch which looked interesting. Have any of you tried one? Thanks for any suggestions and discussion.

ScottC

Love my Moto360 - one of the best pieces of hardware I've used in a long time. Battery life is still an issue though. And today, Google announced Android Fit, completing the health side of their wearables.

IsleOfMan

I'm highly interested in the Asus ZenWatch... I'm a watch guy and don't really mind a big watch, but the Moto360 just looks a bit too thick for my taste. In the end, though, I may just grab an LG G Watch if they come up for $69 pre-owned on CowBoom again (currently $89). The design of the ZenWatch looks quite nice, the best square-screen design I've seen (including the Apple Watch), and I like the profile and slight curve to conform to the wrist.

For those who have Android Wear devices, what is the BT range like? I work from home and have my cellphone connected to an office-phone through bluetooth, so it stays docked on my desk during the work day. If I walk from my office to the kitchen (20' away with a couple of walls in between) will an Android Wear device hold the BT connection and continue to give notifications? If not and the BT range is only 5-10', it would probably relegate the watch to a travel accessory and push me towards the cheaper pre-owned G Watch.

macdonaldj2

I have my pebble but haven't worn it in ages, it was a step forward, but not perfect, I'd like the moto 360 but I've heard issue about the battery so I'll pass.

edweird

I have an original Fitbit which I no longer use, and a LG G Watch which I wear anytime I leave my home. I also have Google Glass which I use every now and then.

I find the Android Wear based G Watch to be very useful during travel, as an alternate notification display. My phone (Nexus 5) might be in my pocket or in the seatback pouch and I'll still be able to easily turn my wrist and read notifications. If I'm walking in the airport, I don't have to stop to pull out my phone to see what it says. TripIt, the Delta app, SMS, and Google Now are sending me stuff frequently while I travel.

To conserve battery power, my watch's display isn't on all of the time. I've recently taken some mileage run trips that were 18-26 hours in duration and with these settings I'm confident that I don't need to take the watch's charger base. When I feel a notification vibration or want to see what time it is, I simply turn my wrist and it comes on. I have a 48 hour long trip coming up and I may try and see if I can make it the entire time as well.

I have tested the range and in my house I can get to the other side, about 50-60 feet away before I start to notice the BT connection dropping. I have an app on mine that will vibrate when this happens, to warn you that you are walking away from your phone, so it's something I've got a good feeling for. I will add that if you spend a lot of time with your watch away from your phone (not just a couple feet) then you will notice the watch's battery life doesn't last as long.

When I first got my watch, I left the screen on mid brightness all the time, and of course used and played with it a lot. That's when I was seeing only about 1 days worth of use before the battery was less than 10% left, which meant overnight charging every night. Now that I'm using the other settings I have no worries about making it a single day on a charge.

pseudoswede

I was trying to remember where I saw this blurb, but it was down to $74 yesterday on Cowboom with promo code TREAT. Maybe it still works?

IsleOfMan

Possibly, but now the white model is out of stock and the black (which I don't really want) is up to $131. My company just got me a 2014 Moto X, so I may sell my personal Galaxy S4 GPE and see if I can get enough out of it to cover the cost of a ZenWatch when it launches.

GadgetFreak

I have an Android phone (Moto X 2013) but my main phone is an iPhone 6. It would nice to have a watch that was compatible with both. Any experience with the Basis or the Pebble? The later is only $99 on Amazon now and looks interesting as a first try at a smartwatch.

Dodge DeBoulet

I received a Pebble Steel as a gift recently and use it primarily for notifications. It's great to know who's calling, emailing or texting me in situations where my phone is stowed (or legally unusable, such as while driving). And I like having a choice of watch faces, even though they're all monochromatic

I only have to charge it every 5-7 days, which is a big plus. I don't think I'd care to use a smart watch with battery life inferior to that.

On a related note, it's actually helped the battery life on my phone since I'm not lighting it up every time I get a message.

GadgetFreak

Thanks. Have you used it for tracking steps/activity at all?

Dodge DeBoulet

Nope, sorry. I know it's capable of that stuff, but I just haven't looked into that aspect of it yet.

IsleOfMan

I grabbed a black LG G Watch for $69 + $5 SH from CowBoom today (Condition 7, all accessories included) as a deal of the day... not bad when it's still $229 on the Play Store, Best Buy, and $175 on Amazon.

I wanted the white version (mainly for the silver lugs as I'll be putting it on a brown leather strap anyway), but they sold out a few days back at $89 + SH, so I figured I'd grab the $69 deal while it was around. I have a feeling this will really only get used while traveling, but should be handy for BPs and quick notifications without digging my phone out (and maybe even NAV in rental cars without). Even if I don't like it or decide I want the ZenWatch instead, I should be able to flip on eBay and either break even or make a small profit.

GadgetFreak

I bought a Pebble about 10 days ago. They have dropped to $99 on Amazon. Overall I am quite happy with it. I love the notifications and having weather and calendar functions on my wrist. Also, the Runkeeper app works with it which is very nice. I'm still looking at options for step tracking on the Pebble.

AnalogMan

As a watch enthusiast, I have a BASIS watch, the original, not the new PEAK. I bought it for the sleep monitoring/charting features but stopped wearing it after about a month. it really falls short as a watch.

The battery life was not very good, maybe 4 or 5 days. Charging is quite slow, and when would I charge it, when I want to have my sleep monitored, so that's no good.
The Bluetooth sync with my smartphone was unreliable, crashing all the time. If I don't plug it into my computer to sync, it runs out of memory after about a week.
I had to be careful about exposure to water because of the metal contacts on back to measure body temperature.

I don't think all of those deficiencies are as important for a smartwatch that is meant as a companion to a smart phone (iWatch will need to be charged daily according to Tim Cook). If there is one with speaker and microphone on-board, and I can make a call on it (tethered to a bigger device), I think I would be interested. But I would use a smartwatch + tablet combo, dropping smartphone altogether.

IsleOfMan

Got my G Watch today... so far, even for $75, I'm fairly unimpressed. I work from home and spend a solid chunk of my time at the desk in my office, so I get all of my notifications on my phone (docked on my desk) and/or on my computer (either through Outlook or Moto Connect)... I can walk to the kitchen and get notifications on my wrist, but if I walk up stairs to check on the kids it goes out of Bluetooth range about 50% of the time.

I'm also hitting a point where I'm getting some notifications in TOO MANY places. With my Moto X docked, sitting in front of my computer (notifcations from Moto Connect), phone connected to my Bluetooth DECT desk/office phone, desk/office phone DECT headset on, and Android Wear watch on I get an audible, pop-up, or haptic notification of an incoming phone call on 5 different devices all at once... Outlook or GMail messages trigger notification on 3 different devices... sometimes NOT at exactly the same time making it even more obtrusive. I think I need to pair down what devices are displaying/alerting for what notifications or my office will eventually sound like a clock store at noon.

Travel will be the real use case test for the Android Wear concept... I'll know by the end of next week what I think, at least partially, as I have a trip to Phoenix that I can test things like boarding passes (DL), notifications with my phone in my pocket, etc. If it doesn't find a compelling use case then, I'll likely either ship it off to eBay or give it to a fellow Android/Gadget Enthusiast friend of mine for Christmas.