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I for one welcome this change. I want a standalone smartwatch good enough so that I can stop using my phone. The state of smartwatches right now is quite sad (I
by kungito 7y ago
I for one welcome this change. I want a standalone smartwatch good enough so that I can stop using my phone. The state of smartwatches right now is quite sad (I cannot afford an Apple smartwatch so I cannot speak for those). The simple list of things I want from a smartwatch right now are barely fulfilled by the best I could find which is Huawei Watch 2. I want Google Pay, calls and LTE, proper Maps navigation, sending voice messages through some Facebook owned chat app which everyone uses, some very very simple browser experience, bluetooth connection for headphones, Youtube and Spotify.
The Huawei Watch 2 I have constantly crashes, the battery life is horrible, charger doesn't connect well, Google Maps doesn't offer directions (only location), WhatsApp and Discord aren't supported, Google Pay works but I have to use PayEnabler because they don't care, Spotify isn't there and Youtube is very very laggy.
I guess the biggest issue is actually Qualcomm because the current chip is 3100 which is 28nm (is that like 5-6 year old tech?). I sincerely hope that with this acquisition and Qualcomm rumored Snapdragon wear 439 (they are rebranding it as 3500 or something) I will finally in the May of 2020 get an actually good (no need to be great) standalone Google Pixel Watch.
- ocdtrekkie 7y agoThat's a completely different product than Fitbit is. Even its full blown smartwatches are very light, very dumb peripherals with very low power that last a week on a charge. They're really not the same type of product as a Wear OS or Apple Watch type device, and trying to turn them into one will take away all of why Fitbit owners choose them.
- kungito 7y agoWell there's also market segmentation you know. Xiaomi is entering the Wear OS smartphone market, no reason why FitBit couldn't also. This move from Google is obviously a way for them to speed up their own watch tech so that they don't have to start from scratch. This doesn't mean there wont be these simpler dumber versions of smartwatches for the people who want exactly those
- scarface74 7y agoThe Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular is $329. How much cheaper can you get a smart watch with cellular, gps, health sensors, etc?
- AgloeDreams 7y agoThe Series 3 without cellular is $199 and you can find a cellular model on sale under $250 all the time too.
- kungito 7y agoYeah well I'm from Eastern Europe where it's more expensive, never on sale and I have less money
- scarface74 7y agoOut of curiosity, what is the cost of an iPhone 8 (the cheapest current iPhone) + Apple cellular watch where you live?
- kungito 7y agoIn a shop or used? 1788kn watch + 2452kn iphone 6s = 635$ usd. Average net salary is about 750$ usd. I think this is the cheapest new: https://edigital.hr/apple-i-dodaci/iphone-c18325?filter%5Bsearch%5D=&filter%5Border%5D=cheapest&filter%5Blimit%5D=24 https://edigital.hr/apple-i-dodaci/iphone-c18325?filter%5Bse... And watch https://edigital.hr/apple-i-dodaci/watch-c29547?filter%5Bsearch%5D=&filter%5Border%5D=cheapest&filter%5Blimit%5D=24 https://edigital.hr/apple-i-dodaci/watch-c29547?filter%5Bsea...
- ben1040 7y agoAnd it's looking like this year's Black Friday deal is that model for $199 (cellular for the price of the regular).
- gman83 7y agoYeah but you really need to buy the IPhone to go with it.
- snazz 7y agoI do think an Apple Watch meets all of your requirements pretty easily. You’d have to spend more on an LTE model, though. I don’t think Fitbit has ever tried to compete in this space.