
Ask HN: How do you like your smartwatch? - halotrope
Out of curiosity since I recently bought my first wearable. To all owners of Apple Watch, Pebble, Android Wear etc. how do you like your smartwatch, what do you use it for, what feature is most usefull to you, how long do you have it, what annoys you and which festure do you miss the most?
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bmuk
I have a moto 360 (bought when they first came out), and I definitely feel
strange when I don't have it on. The biggest feature for me is the ease of use
while driving - the google maps integration keeps my eyes on the road, and the
next turn is only a wrist flick away. I think the utility is less about
specific features, though, and more about how connected to the internet you
are when it becomes an extension of your body (not that phones weren't
already).

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TrevorJ
I'm curious as well. I've noticed that one of the things that seems like a big
predictor of the success of gadgets that we use in public is whether or not
they force users to break etiquette, or if they can be 'grandfathered' into
existing social norms. I'm curious about smart watches during one on one
interactions in particular because the 'checking your watch' gesture is
considered to be pretty blatantly rude in a lot of places.

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wvenable
I have noticed that checking my watch for notifications seems to make people
think I'm checking the time. Where as actually pulling out my phone would
indicate that more obviously.

I do absolutely love that my phone's ringer is never ever on. It just doesn't
ever make a noise.

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freehunter
I've had the same thing. I didn't tell my coworkers I had a Pebble, but when I
got a notification in a meeting, I looked at my watch and the boss commented
that I must be bored with the meeting and looking to get out. Once I said it
was a smartwatch, they then always assumed I was playing Tetris.

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ritic
I currently have an Apple Watch and two 1st gen Pebble watches. I have had the
Apple Watch since its release in 2015 and the Pebble watches since their
kickstarter campaign. What I like most about my Apple Watch is that I don't
need to wear a chest strap to use the heart rate sensor. Other features that
are useful are turn-by-turn navigation and the ability to store music on it
for use with bluetooth headphones while exercising. That being said, I had the
Pebble watches for awhile before receiving my Apple Watch. While the AW has
more functionality and features, the thing I loved most about the Pebble
watches was the need to charge them only once every 1-2 weeks. The AW needs to
be charged nightly. The AW was given to me as a gift. While I do like it and
have found it quite useful, I wouldn't have bought one myself. I don't feel
its worth the $400 price point. I have several friends that have fitbits and
every other flavor of android-based smartwatches. I haven't heard one
complaint about any of them. What it comes down to is finding the
platform/form-factor that works best for you and understand that wearables are
still in their infancy. Much will change and improve as time continues.

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drakonka
How accurate would you say the heart rate sensor is with the Apple Watch? I
know there's a fitbit with an optical HR monitor as well but it is apparently
very unreliable. That's one of the reasons I ended up going for the Garmin
Vivoactive + heart rate strap - accuracy of results. Do you know of any
comparisons between the Apple Watch sensor and a strap?

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megraf
I've been wearing an Apple watch since nearly week 1. My company bought us the
Sport edition which has become a luxury that I wear daily. Never missing a
notification is nice, never missing a call because your phone is out of reach
is nice, paired with Apple music, I can speak to my wrist like a 90's spy at a
party and listen to the music change - all of these things are nice. It's
luxury sure, but do I really miss it when it's gone? Yes. It's something that
I've grown accustom to, and when I don't feel the taps on my wrist, or loose
the ability to glance and see that I can't count my minutes of exercise, I
really wish I was wearing it.

Annoyances: I wear the sports band, and it's gotten difficult to put on. The
rubber(?) hole that the metal peg grasps onto has become loose and is now
agape, and slightly torn resulting in a couple of extra tries when I put on
the watch. The external speaker is also a let down, I can not hear who is on
the other end unless I put the watch up to my face (about 4" from my ear).

Features that I could use: Improving Siri's abilities with Wolfram Alpha when
dictating to the watch, Improve watch face modularity. Decrease the thickness
of the watch.

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sudorossy
I have a G watch R, Initially I wore it constantly, but I stopped wearing it
around the house, it seemed to get in the way. Admittedly I never really wore
a watch before so it could be that.

I feel odd going outside without it though, I have bluetooth headphones, so on
my walk to/from work, my phone can stay in my jacket pocket, and I still get
notifications and can control my music.

I use the heart rate/step tracker a fair amount too as I'm trying to lose
weight.

I don't use the other apps on there particularly regularly, although I found
the 'remote camera view' app is great when working behind PCs/Monitors.

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askafriend
I don't wear it anymore. It's useless. Thank god I don't have to charge it
every night anymore. Such a pain in the ass.

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austinhutch
I won a free Apple Watch, and wore it for a while but decided to switch back
to the Fitbit Charge HR after two months. The most valuable features to me are
its consistent heart rate tracking and long battery life. I don't miss any of
the features of the Apple Watch, other than maybe the ability to control
Spotify from my wrist.

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halotrope
I have bought my Apple Watch two weeks ago after convincing myself since it
came out that I would really not need it, would probably annoyed by constant
distractions and charging yet another device at night. I really wanted to wait
at least for version 2 as I thought of it as way to gimmicky and clumbersome
for above reasons. I got one for my mother as a birthday gift and surrendered
some days after that to get mine soon after as she was calling me specifically
to tell me how much she loved it. Long story short to my great surprise I
really like it. Like a lot. I find myself reaching for my phone much less than
before and as a consequence I am much less inclined to follow
Twitter/Facebook/Email OCD than before. When I check some notification /
reminder on my watch there is nothing to do due to the severely limited
software. Apart from a quick glance and maybe a very short reply there is
little I can do with it. The "apps" are - apart from the watch face - very
slow don't offer a lot of notifications. But surprisingly it covers the things
I use my phone most for on a daily basis: Checking notifications, setting
timers, adding reminders, navigation. It handles these things well for me yet.
While being miles away from that it reminds me of the movie "her" where
technology gets rid of visual interfaces and fades away from the "glowing
squares" to are the ubiquitous screens of today. And for that reason alone it
is much more and something completely different than a smartphone with a tiny
screen. Sadly though there are nearly no apps that use the tactile interface
etc in a innovative / surprising way for e.g. real life games or something
like that just yet. But this will hopefully change over time. One last thing
that I really find worthwhile sitting in front of a screen way to much is the
activity tracking and reminders to "stand up and move for a minute". In
combination with my whitings a lot of aspects of my life are now measured
completely automatic and continuously (Hearth Rate, Weight, Distance Walked,
Steps, Body Fat, Workouts) which I value quite a bit. Since I know only two
people that also are using a smartwatch I was curious what the HN crowd things
of them so far.

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NetOpWibby
I have the Pebble Time (Kickstarter Edition!) and I like it for the most part.
My favorite feature is seeing text messages on my wrist so 1) I can enter 2FA
codes without taking out my phone and 2) seeing if I actually need to reply
back to someone.

What annoys me is the constant Bluetooth disconnection and sporadic battery
life. Maybe I'm a heavy user or am remembering things incorrectly, but I feel
like I used to get more battery life. I get a 20% battery warning every two
days it seems.

I only wish the screen was retina like my co-worker's  Watch. It's nice.

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tobinharris
Had Apple Watch since summer.

Miss it when I forget to put it on.

Phone stays in my pocket most of the day.

Looking at it during meetings is rude and literally a deal breaker.

Only use it for:

\- notifications

\- remote controlled camera for group selfies

\- asking Siri how far away somewhere is, or simple questions

\- quickly responding to messages

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davidandgoliath
Love the pebble (3+ yrs). Had an apple watch for a short while but didn't
enjoy it all that much. UI was really a disadvantage, but voice control was
spectacular (for siri).

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martiuk
Moto 360 Gen2

Mainly use it to get a glance at messages (Hangouts etc.), control music while
on the go and to track my fitness goals.

I'm working on a Raspberry Pi powered doorbell/camera, so I'm looking forward
to making the companion app and wear app.

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NameNickHN
Pebble Steel: I like the look and I don't have to pull my six inch phone out
of my pocket every time I receive a message.

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soylentcola
Moto 360 (gen1) here. I find that a lot of it depends on the cost. This watch
launched at $250 and while I really liked the look and idea of it, it was
still a bit more than I wanted to pay for a cool gadget that I didn't really
need.

A few months after launch I snagged one on sale for $175 and I quite enjoy it
(although not necessarily for the reasons I originally expected to).

My experience: it's nothing groundbreaking like your first (or latest)
smartphone because it's largely just an extension of that smartphone. I don't
really run too many watch-specific applications and mostly use it for quick
notifications/replies and the occasional case where having a control on my
wrist is nicer than messing with my phone.

One example of that would be navigation while riding my motorcycle. I don't
have a phone charger/mount but I can fire up nav before leaving and glance
down at my watch to see upcoming turns. It can also be nice as a remote for my
phone's camera or to pause something I'm casting to the TV like a Netflix
show.

Honestly my main, favorite thing about this watch is the ability to change the
face to look like just about anything I want. I never would've guessed this at
first but this is my stupidly obvious killer app (or at least the most
enjoyable). There are several great watch faces for free or cheap on the Play
Store and thousands of them available for download and application through
apps like Watchmaker.

The fact that this is just a programmable screen means you can make it look
like a subtle, classy "traditional" watch or you can do things not possible on
traditional jewelry. If I felt like it I could swap between a long list of
favorites to match whatever I'm doing or even what I'm wearing. Granted I'm
not quite that obsessed with fashion or anything but it's a surprisingly cool
thing to have.

And since I enjoy playing around in Photoshop and Illustrator, I can create my
own interactive watch faces with no programming skill required. Watchmaker and
other apps allow you to create each element from the background to the hands
or dials or readouts or buttons and tie them to variables like time, date,
battery, location, or even the orientation of the watch in space.

It's totally a geeky bit of tinkering that not everyone would enjoy but again,
there are thousands of great ones out there made and shared by people who are
into that sort of thing. Granted there are plenty of shitty "brand" watch
knockoff faces and ugly amateurish stuff but that's the nature of user-
generated designs.

So yeah, for $150-250, if you're a gadget fan and have the dough to spend on
something that's mostly just pretty neat but not necessary, I think these
sorts of watches are great. If the idea of putting it on a cradle on the
nightstand every night turns you off or you would never spend that much on any
watch, maybe it's not a great idea.

I doubt that I would spend the $400-500+ I've seen other smart watches going
for because there's only so much I'd pay for a smartphone extender with custom
display but in the $150-250 range it's pretty sweet.

