Smartwatch 2 Review

Smartwatch 2 Review

    

  As mentioned earlier, smart watches are cool. I’ve bought the Sony Smartwatch 2 for four days now, and I have received mixed reactions from anyone who first saw it. Nevertheless, the end of every conversation was, “I want to buy it. Is it worth it?” The reason they failed to judge it themselves was that ALL reactions followed this flow chart:

     Therefore, I hope to answer everyone’s questions. What can the SW2 do and cannot do, what the others can do that the SW2 cannot, etc., shall all be covered. First, my personal experience, and an important note:

I gave up on LG forever

This is a sadistic bastard, but he isn't actually bad at performance.

  Ever since a vital update in the SW2 app extension in the app store, no LG user can connect to the watch, and I searched high and low for the older apk version but with no luck. If you are a just person, and have a readily available server nearby, host an HONEST website WITH NO SURVEYS to archive all the apks on the Play Store. Back on track, this is the last straw with my LG. Ever since the software update, I have to restart my phone weekly, else the RAM will clog up to 84% used up. The memory reading hasn’t improved to the point of the first few months I bought it, and the Home is now ruined. I use Mobo live for its RAM booster just to avoid opening the settings. The worst part of this whole story is that the reason I updated was because 4.0.3 had a dreadfully revolting bug, which I’d not even mention its name. On a side note, after countless days of searching the internet, 4.3 is ominous, which gives me the conclusion that the number 3 is cursed. More proof: Divide by 3, or any multiple of three, and most of the time you’ll get irrational numbers (unless you are in primary school, still unaware of the malicious schemes of sadistic mathematicians).

Oh the horror! This is so stupid though, because they inverted all what they did except adding 6 and dividing it by 2.

    Sorry, and I love math. I am aware that this has no relation to the title, so I’ll stop here (was about to explain error margins in languages). After connecting my Smartwatch 2 to the Samsung – finally - the baby behemoth was running. Running apps from the phone, that is. Which means, most apps you will find in the play store will require you to connect to your smartphone to be able to use them, but if you keep looking, there are good apps out there that don’t require connection. There is also a method to emulate a full smartphone on the Gear, which, in theory, should work with most of the others too, but I’ll keep you updated if I actually try it. It’s important to note that the only method of notification from the watch is vibration and light, so tighten the strap if you want to differentiate between an insignificant Facebook comment “lol” and the fact that your phone is out of range, because there is a significant difference in vibration, which is very practical. I’ve literally had a period of paranoia over objects in my bag getting stolen. You can never be too careful. Imagine the possibilities a smartwatch in general can save.

image from here

      But the smartwatch 2, whats so special about it specifically? NFC? LCD display? 5:4? I like the fact that it is for all android devices 4.0+ , the fact that it is waterproof, wouldn’t spy on my words, wouldn’t suddenly go loudspeaker, has great battery life, and is small. I do want to be notified of important notifications, but at the same time, mobile phones are sometimes too precious to be taken out. I also don’t want to have an expensive delicacy that can be easily identifiable and theft, which is why I decided not to get the Galaxy Gear. However, my mother will get it with the Note 3, so I might review it too. Sadly, I didn’t try connecting successfully via NFC, but I will soon.

image from here

  The battery lives for really long! Being the power-consumption obsessed person I am, to get to hear this from me is something. The unit is a little too big to perfectly fit on the sides of my wrist (OMG my wrist isn’t a cylinder at all! I’ve been deceived!) but they’re easy to get used to, and I’m guessing that all smartwatches will be as comfortable as ordinary watches. I’ve found myself using the smartwatch a lot too, saving many situations where I needed to open the phone, such as checking someone’s phone number, checking the recent SMS of what to buy from the groceries, Setting a timer of when to stop playing Xbox and play on 3DS (you think I study? Ha!) In addition, viewing events from the calendar. The only reason I’d open my phone then would be to make a call. Even the music player is taken care of (but I find myself going back to the phone for that one, SW2 only for I/O toggle).

before the Gear?

      Therefore, the smartwatch has set aside some of the uses of the phone at the street, but still, it’s a smartphone accessory. Which goes back to the vital question: Is it worth buying? Tech enthusiasts would say that its ahead of its time, but those people should try saying that to the Gear. Unless they are looking for things that can measure blood pressure and best way to give you a trauma – defining the Smart Lens – then they are right. However, it is impossible to ignore how many people own this already. It was sold out thrice in a row at my local shop, and that is why I got it late. I wasn’t careful this time. All the tech geeks I met, on the other side, already owned a smart watch, someone having all Pebble, SW1 and SW2. If you own one already, then welcome to the geek boat. 

image from here, and this is what non-geeks are asking for: weapons.

If you want reasons to repel away from buying it, well I don’t know, look at the price of the Gear. It looks like it’s already trying to compete with Apple’s future watch, before it’s even released. Seriously, we shouldn’t be giving them that kind of expectation. Also, it’s a “new” market, but lets all agree on not having tech gadgets becoming very selective on the devices they pair with. The Gear had that as a big minus, unless you so happen to own two or three interchangeable Note 3 devices in your house. We should decide what they’ll tailor for us, not the other way around. 

good one, Samsung.

   All in all, I don't regret this one bit! It feels like the future already, the dreaded future with robots beheading us and all that. If you are a real geek, you must own one of these things. However, the smart lens do feel scary, even if I support the Google Glass. Lets leave dark theories for another article. Caio.

I promise you a really good series of articles about my predictions of the near and distant future pretty soon.

    Do you plan to buy a wearable accessory? Tell us below in the comments. Read more on smartphones here. Play More Zelda!