Smartwatch for IOS user, Ticwatch 2 e or Samsung Gear 2 or something else

[AngeNoir0324]

I've been considering getting a smartwatch for a while now, but they are so expensive. Here are my criteria if you can help:

-iPhone 8 compatable

-one waking day of battery or more

-vibrate on notifications

-analog (at least looking) face (I'm old-fashion like that)

-slightly complicated design (like below, I'm weird like that)

-under $200

-not even necesarily a smartwatch, I've seen some hybridwatches that seem ok, but I'd never heard of them before today.

 

Thanks if you can help or give me some advice!

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

apple watch? There nice and work very well. Yea it doesn't' look analogue, but you can set the face to what ever you want.

[NTDaws]

I personally recommend the Ticwatch S Knight as I own it. It's a great watch, it's fast and responsive. There are a variety of apps as well. And changeable watch faces.

[kirashi]

16 minutes ago, AngeNoir0324 said:

I've been considering getting a smartwatch for a while now, but they are so expensive. Here are my criteria if you can help:

-iPhone 8 compatable

-day of battery or more

-vibrate on notifications

-analog (at least looking) face (I'm old-fashion like that)

-slightly complicated design (like below, I'm weird like that)

-under $200

 

Thanks if you can help or give me some advice!

None - there are currently no color screen Smartwatches on the market that can make it through a days' real world use without needing a recharge before 24 hours are up. Obviously, everyone's use-case will be different, so I'm not saying one can't make it through a day if they minimize their use, but a 24 hour day of real world use just isn't possible yet because manufacturers want people recharging things more often so the batteries die, requiring us to throw stuff away and fork out $300 on a Smartwatch as often as we replace our phones battery technology is still "behind" apparently.

 

Pebble was probably the best option for people wanting a Smartwatch that actually operated really well as a watch while providing smart features for more than a day at a time, but FitBit bought them a nuked that option, so we're still waiting for a replacement. The reality is that a watch is supposed to do one thing really well: accurately keep time. I'm not against the idea of Smartwatches; I loved demoing the Samsung Gear at work when it first came out. However, if a Smartwatch cannot fulfill its' primary purpose (keeping time) over an acceptable period of use, then I still have to carry a regular watch, defeating the purpose and investment into a watch that doesn't function as a watch.

 

Seriously though, if you still want one, save up for an Apple Watch. If I were in the market for a Smartwatch (ignoring my battery complaints above) I'd buy an Apple Watch in a heartbeat were they to be compatible with Android phones because they do "just work" and don't need any finicky setup.

[Hiitchy]

I have an iPhone 8+ and can’t imagine using any other device unless it were really made for the phone. The Apple Watch may be overpriced, but I’ve been using it quite often to reply to messages and make quick phone calls with ease. 

[AngeNoir0324]

Just now, Hiitchy said:

I have an iPhone 8+ and can’t imagine using any other device unless it were really made for the phone. The Apple Watch may be overpriced, but I’ve been using it quite often to reply to messages and make quick phone calls with ease. 

thats the thing though, i don't need nor think I'd ever use the calling feature, so.... yah

[AngeNoir0324]

9 minutes ago, Being Delirious said:

I personally recommend the Ticwatch S Knight as I own it. It's a great watch, it's fast and responsive. There are a variety of apps as well. And changeable watch faces.

And are you using IOS or Android, out of curiosity? Can you generally get through a day with that watch?

 

[AngeNoir0324]

6 minutes ago, kirashi said:

None - there are currently no color screen Smartwatches on the market that can make it through a days' real world use without needing a recharge before 24 hours are up. Obviously, everyone's use-case will be different, so I'm not saying one can't make it through a day if they minimize their use, but a 24 hour day of real world use just isn't possible yet because manufacturers want people recharging things more often so the batteries die, requiring us to throw stuff away and fork out $300 on a Smartwatch as often as we replace our phones battery technology is still "behind" apparently.

 

Pebble was probably the best option for people wanting a Smartwatch that actually operated really well as a watch while providing smart features for more than a day at a time, but FitBit bought them a nuked that option, so we're still waiting for a replacement. The reality is that a watch is supposed to do one thing really well: accurately keep time. I'm not against the idea of Smartwatches; I loved demoing the Samsung Gear at work when it first came out. However, if a Smartwatch cannot fulfill its' primary purpose (keeping time) over an acceptable period of use, then I still have to carry a regular watch, defeating the purpose and investment into a watch that doesn't function as a watch.

 

Seriously though, if you still want one, save up for an Apple Watch. If I were in the market for a Smartwatch (ignoring my battery complaints above) I'd buy an Apple Watch in a heartbeat were they to be compatible with Android phones because they do "just work" and don't need any finicky setup.

Noted, but to clarify, I meant one awake day.

[kirashi]

Just now, AngeNoir0324 said:

Noted, but to clarify, I meant one awake day.

Then yeah, I can vouch for the Apple Watch if you're running iOS, and currently nothing if you're running Android because we don't have a Pebble replacement yet.

[SquintyG33Rs]

7 minutes ago, kirashi said:

None - there are currently no color screen Smartwatches on the market that can make it through a days' real world use without needing a recharge before 24 hours are up. Obviously, everyone's use-case will be different, so I'm not saying one can't make it through a day if they minimize their use, but a 24 hour day of real world use just isn't possible yet because manufacturers want people recharging things more often so the batteries die, requiring us to throw stuff away and fork out $300 on a Smartwatch as often as we replace our phones battery technology is still "behind" apparently.

 

Pebble was probably the best option for people wanting a Smartwatch that actually operated really well as a watch while providing smart features for more than a day at a time, but FitBit bought them a nuked that option, so we're still waiting for a replacement. The reality is that a watch is supposed to do one thing really well: accurately keep time. I'm not against the idea of Smartwatches; I loved demoing the Samsung Gear at work when it first came out. However, if a Smartwatch cannot fulfill its' primary purpose (keeping time) over an acceptable period of use, then I still have to carry a regular watch, defeating the purpose and investment into a watch that doesn't function as a watch.

dude i charge my tickwatch S once every 2 days. it lasts well long enough

[Hiitchy]

3 minutes ago, AngeNoir0324 said:

thats the thing though, i don't need nor think I'd ever use the calling feature, so.... yah

I understand. Let me know what works out for you.

[AngeNoir0324]

Just now, SquintyG33Rs said:

dude i charge my tickwatch S once every 2 days. it lasts well long enough

well that works for me

[DrMacintosh]

The Apple Watch is really going to be the only worth while purchase. Android Wear is already half baked and Android Wear on iOS is even worse than that. 

[NTDaws]

26 minutes ago, AngeNoir0324 said:

And are you using IOS or Android, out of curiosity? Can you generally get through a day with that watch?

 

Yes one full day, and I run android.

[AngeNoir0324]

8 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

The Apple Watch is really going to be the only worth while purchase. Android Wear is already half baked and Android Wear on iOS is even worse than that. 

How is it half baked, if you don’t mind elaborating. Are the basic features just unresponsive and unusable, or are the additional features the terrible part?

[brickster]

A hybrid smartwatch would probably be your best bet then. They're basically an analogue watch that connects to your phone through bluetooth. They vibrate for notifications and some of them have buttons you can bind to media playback and such. As they're basically just a normal watch with bluetooth the battery lasts for months. 

[AngeNoir0324]

9 minutes ago, brickster said:

A hybrid smartwatch would probably be your best bet then. They're basically an analogue watch that connects to your phone through bluetooth. They vibrate for notifications and some of them have buttons you can bind to media playback and such. As they're basically just a normal watch with bluetooth the battery lasts for months. 

Do you have any suggestions specifically? I’ve been looking at hybrids and it seems that they are a better option for my use case.

[brickster]

4 minutes ago, AngeNoir0324 said:

Do you have any suggestions specifically? I’ve been looking at hybrids and it seems that they are a better option for my use case.

For under $200 Fossil would probably be your best option, they've got a ton of different styles on their website and there's a bunch of reviews for them on youtube.

[Mr.Meerkat]

14 hours ago, kirashi said:

None - there are currently no color screen Smartwatches on the market that can make it through a days' real world use without needing a recharge before 24 hours are up.

Does my Zetime smartwatch count? I personally can get 4-6 days of use which matches my pebble time plus as it has physical hands, like my pebble, I can always view the time meaning for my usage, it was a perfect replacement to my pebble. 

On a side note: If anyone is interested...

Spoiler

as it is a kickstarter product, I'd say hold off the purchase for a little bit. In my experience, the companying app is actually rather bug-less however the actual watch is not bug-less and there are noteworthy bugs (e.g. display sometimes randomly turns off for no reason, very very very occasionally the display does not respond to a swipe, the hands don't always move out of the way when viewing notifications ect.). Also, the watch interface could be a little more sleek, less clunky-feeling, has a more consistent theme plus more customizations would be nice (which is promised in a future update). 

 

However, I do like it and the bugs don't annoy me very much so...me rikey?

 

[kirashi]

1 hour ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

Does my Zetime smartwatch count? I personally can get 4-6 days of use which matches my pebble time plus as it has physical hands, like my pebble, I can always view the time meaning for my usage, it was a perfect replacement to my pebble. 
--SNIP--

As someone who's been burned by MyKronoz (the makers of the ZeTime Smartwatch) before, I have a hard time recommending them. This was mostly due to their incompetent phone and email support (probably not the fault of the support agents though - I'd blame budgeting / funding / training) and their abysmal Android app at the time. Plus, their marketing department didn't really tell you what version of BlueTooth you needed, so some of their products required BT4.0 LE but didn't state this on the package, and instead listed BT4.0 only.

 

That being said, this was over 2 years ago, and the ZeTime Smartwatch (if it lives up to the promises on its' Kickstarter page) actually looks like a half decent Smartwatch if you want something basic yet still functional for light fitness tracking and notifications. If you're getting 4-6 days battery life (about the same as my FitBit Alta) and enjoying its' use, I'd love to see a well written detailed review in the Member Reviews forum someday.

 

https://linustechtips.com/main/forum/25-member-reviews/

[Mr.Meerkat]

1 minute ago, kirashi said:

I'd love to see a well written detailed review in the Member Reviews forum someday.

Tee hee hee, I did actually start writing a review (which I accidentally posted while not complete and a mod hid it) a month or two ago. If you'd like one, I'd be happy to write a review but don't expect it to be quick . 

[AngeNoir0324]

I think I’ve decided on going with the Misfit Command Hybrid watch. It suites my purposes.