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The quest for a simple smartwatch

• avmich 3y ago
  The watches were at the time considered an example of reliable manufacturing. It's sad to have this tradition fading away.
  • diffeomorphism 3y ago
    That still exists but is now decidedly in the jewelry/luxury segment, e.g. https://nomos-glashuette.com/de https://nomos-glashuette.com/de Historically (pocket) watches were highly useful, expensive and also somewhat of a status symbol. This kinda died out with quartz electronic watches, which are highly accurate and dirt cheap. Since telling time is nowadays an ubiquitous, cheap function of everything, a wristwatch has to have a different primary function. That can be "smart" or (in particular male) "jewelry" or "status symbol" (Rolex but also apple ultra).
    • maratc 3y ago
      There's a lot of mechanical watches that are neither Rolex nor Nomos. Seiko 5s are excellent and can be had at below $100. No batteries need to be changed.
      • diffeomorphism 3y ago
        Sure, but that begs the question of "why a mechanical watch"? A simple quartz watch doesn't need to replace batteries for years, is very accurate and much cheaper still. For many people it boils down to "I like the mechanical engineering aspect and want to show that" (status and signalling) or as a fashion item. Of course, that is a different signal than the rolex "I am rich", but it is a signal. Which is perfectly fine; most clothing and accessories are like that. The point is "because it tells time" is nowadays more of a secondary function after that. Just as an anecdote: A friend would often wear a very fashionable, old, mechanical watch. That watch would sometimes just stop, but that did not matter because the primary function was being jewellery on the wrist.
        • maratc 3y ago
          As GP noted, > an example of reliable manufacturing A mechanical watch doesn't need any intrusion and can work for years if not decades, and if it needs a service there are a lot of qualified people who can do it, including full disassembly and assembly. From that point of view, it can be a "lifetime" device. Any smartwatch, no matter how expensive, will reliably and predictably turn into a paperweight when it stops being supported by the manufacturer. Many smartwatches will do it sooner — when their non-replaceable battery is out of juice.
  • stevezsa8 3y ago
    I figure watches have been around for a few hundred years, so they were perfected over time. Smart watches have been around for like 10 years, so maybe in another couple decades we can expect efficiencies in power consumption and power storage. Or atleast something as revolutionary as user replaceable batteries.
• zoom6628 3y ago
  I’m using a pinetime and loving it. I use a Garmin Forerunner 735XT for training only with gps but it’s battery life is superb.
  • rnk 3y ago
    Garmin's have great battery life for sure.
• goda90 3y ago
  I want to see more wearable tech besides watches. I've never been a fan of things on my wrist, but I have a problem of missing calls from my wife when my phone is on vibrate. I don't need a screen, just something that is close enough to my body to always vibrate noticeably without being uncomfortable.
  • modeless 3y ago
    I liked the Pebble Time Round because it was and still is way smaller than literally any other smartwatch (and most regular watches). I didn't love wearing watches in general but I didn't mind wearing the PTR. Even "small" smartwatches feel like a brick in comparison.
  • pyr0hu 3y ago
    I think Sony had one of the few smart wristbands for analogue watches but IIRC its japan only. I found the idea quite nice, a small led row display to show whos calling for example and the wristband looked like a normal band for the watch. Havent found anything like that since that Sony one
    • silveira 3y ago
      Sony Wena, if anyone is searching too.
• wanderingmind 3y ago
  I have not personally used, but looks like banglejs[0], a fully hackable watch with GPS and a good battery life (4 weeks claim) is proabably the best successor for Pebble [0] https://banglejs.com/ https://banglejs.com/
  • jstanley 3y ago
    I have worn a Bangle.js daily for 2 years (I have both the original and the version 2). I really like the watch, it is easy and fun to program. But I'm not sure it's what OP is after. The requirements are: > Phone notifications (so I don’t miss calls/ texts) > Step counting > A long battery life Bangle.js doesn't connect to your phone at all, so you won't get any phone notifications. I don't personally use step counting, but when I have tried it I found it didn't work very well. Maybe that's just me. The battery life depends a lot on what you're doing. In particular, clock faces that show seconds (i.e. have to wake up the CPU every second) drain the battery faster than clock faces that only go down to minutes. It still easily lasts longer than a day, which is good enough for me. I just charge mine overnight.
    • Wilfred 3y ago
      Another enthusiastic Bangle.js user here: I had the original and used it, programmed it until the strap (integrated into the body) broke. Apparently you can actually connect it to phone notifications using gadgetbridge[0] but I didn't have much success when I tried it. The BLE was a little flaky at the best of times (pairing to a PC for programming failed more often than I'd like). [0] https://www.espruino.com/Gadgetbridge https://www.espruino.com/Gadgetbridge
      • lazycog512 3y ago
        Banglejs2 user here, Gadgetbridge works perfectly fine for my basic usage. idk if Bangle1 strap is different but (don't remember exact measurement) you can put any standard watch strap with a normal strap pin on it. I replaced the broken stock strap with a nylon one off the net and it's great.
    • 3y ago
• ausaus 3y ago
  I went on the same quest after the battery on my Fossil Sport died. Settled on slightly used Withings Steel HR which can be picked up on eBay quite cheaply compared to new. It has everything I need: notifications, great battery life and traditional watch looks.
  • landhar 3y ago
    I’ve been using a Steel HR for a few years now. I’m extremely satisfied. Long battery life is an understatement! Even when the battery drops to near 0 the watch is still useable as a plain analog watch for at least a week giving me enough time to find where I left the damn charger (given that I don’t get to use it often at all). What I don’t get is how this model (analog watch with just enough smarts) hasn’t gained more traction. It seems to me there’s a lot of opportunities in this space, not everything requires a high resolution display.
    • morsch 3y ago
      I'm kind of disappointed that the Fossil hybrid watches don't do the trick where the watch keeps working when the smart has run out of juice. That said, I get four weeks of battery life, so it's never been an issue in practice.
• treffer 3y ago
  If you want something simple and so cheap you don't have to worry about it then I can recommend the PineTime (< $30). The OS is open source. The finish is good (though not high end materials but still water proofed), runs for multiple days and does phone notifications just fine. It is very bare bones though.
  • Aachen 3y ago
    Yeah I'm very surprised OP doesn't mention the only wrist computer that doesn't need a "cloud" connection, is cheap, and does exactly what they want. --- Anyone wanna buy a pinetime? I'm selling. Free (+shipping from NL/DE/BE) if you have a good use for it and send me an update after a few weeks or so ^^. I wanted a heartbeat tracker but it didn't work at all for me (known software issue, I should have done more research before). I've got one open dev kit and one sealed one, but need to check which one I gave away already. Email in profile
• kyletns 3y ago
  All I want is an analog watch that shades the face of the watch when I have calendar events coming up. That's it. No screen, no pings, no nothing. Just the ability to check my watch and see how long till my next appointment. Unfortunately, [this kickstarter watch](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1540240985/calendar-watch https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1540240985/calendar-wat...) is now dead.
  • yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
    That's a super nice watch design; too bad it died. I know it's not what you want, but that interface is slick enough that I wonder if there's a good implementation of the same UX for an existing smart watch.
  • jeroenhd 3y ago
    Automatic mute isn't part of it, but I enjoy the "my day" watch face on my Galaxy Watch. It shows a simple analogue clock, the date, and an abstract time line around the edge of the watch representing calendar appointments. You can also tap the little blue lines to get a quick overview of the details without opening the calendar app on the watch. I'm not sure if this is available for other platforms. If not, there's money to be made, especially if you can add some kind of auto mute feature.
  • mamoul 3y ago
    Check out the app Spectograph. It has a great watch face for WearOS that offers that same feature.
  • alanpearce 3y ago
    I used to have a Garmin running the Simply Late[0] watch face to achieve a similar goal. I wish there was something better on a more everyday-looking watch. [0]: https://sl8.ch/ https://sl8.ch/
• lmm 3y ago
  The Amazfit ones are fine, I get the reliability concern but when it's 1/4 the price of a Garmin you can buy one and buy another if it breaks. I don't really get the complaint about it being "too simple" - isn't that exactly what he was after? Like MP3 players 10-20 years ago, I suspect there's "a market" for a simple smartwatch, but not a very profitable market. So your choice will be the expensive Apple version (and maybe a couple of other luxury brands) or the basic no-name Chinese manufacturer version.
  • TMWNN 3y ago
    >The Amazfit ones are fine, I get the reliability concern but when it's 1/4 the price of a Garmin you can buy one and buy another if it breaks. I don't really get the complaint about it being "too simple" - isn't that exactly what he was after? Agreed. My Amazfit Bip does everything the blog's author was looking for, including *40,000* watch faces. I paid $60 five years ago, then $20 for a used one 2.5 years ago after the first one fell prey to a known design flaw (that has since been fixed, by my understanding). The darn thing even functions as a Bluetooth heartrate sensor for running! <https://np.reddit.com/r/amazfit/comments/8t1gsp/six_weeks_with_amazfit_bip_bluetooth/ https://np.reddit.com/r/amazfit/comments/8t1gsp/six_weeks_wi...> >Like MP3 players 10-20 years ago, I suspect there's "a market" for a simple smartwatch, but not a very profitable market. So your choice will be the expensive Apple version (and maybe a couple of other luxury brands) or the basic no-name Chinese manufacturer version. I think my Bip is superior to Apple Watch. The latter does many things that Bip does not, but Bip has the insuperable advantage of three full weeks of battery life. I have zero, zilch, zip desire to recharge a watch every day!
• iamwil 3y ago
  If you get a used Pebble off of eBay, you can still bring it back to life with https://rebble.io/ https://rebble.io/.
• profsummergig 3y ago
  Was talking to an older lady the other day. Very non-tech. Only uses an iPhone and an Apple watch. No laptop or tablet/iPad. Gets a surprisingly large quantity of things done via her phone. My phone is an Android. She shared 2 things her iPhone can do that I don't think my phone (OnePlus 7 pro) and watch (Amazfit T-Rex 2) combination can do: - she can always find out where she parked her car - her watch buzzes to warn her if she leaves her keys or phone behind in her car. I think she has some airtag type of thing in her keyring. Surprised that Android phone + watch combination doesn't already natively offer these features (with easy discoverability).
  • tguvot 3y ago
    garmin watch will buzz you if it looses connection to phone. have an app from car on android phone showing where car is located
  • cuu508 3y ago
    On Garmin watches, Settings > Notifications & Alerts > System Alerts > Phone > Connection Alerts On. Yeah, it's a little buried :-)
  • daliusd 3y ago
    I think Android can do parked car trick. I am guessing only but google maps apps on iOS shows where I have parked car. I am surprised that google does not offer something similar to airtag.
    • Andrew_nenakhov 3y ago
      You can use any iBeacon/EddyStone BLE device for this, they are very cheap and are widely available. However, there are no neat built-in features in apps shipped with phones that make use of them on Android apps, you always have to use some 3rd party app and the UX there is usually not that great.
      • jbverschoor 3y ago
        That’s not how this feature works and not how this is notified to the user
• sockbot 3y ago
  Watchy is something that you could customize to meet your needs. Looks like it has an accelerometer to do step counting. https://www.crowdsupply.com/sqfmi/watchy#products https://www.crowdsupply.com/sqfmi/watchy#products
  • afandian 3y ago
    I've got a Watchy. It's a fun toy. Within an hour of opening the box I'd recompiled the code to remove a couple icons. Very cool, and the eink looks really nice. It doesn't have a lot of features, but you could give it a lot of features. But don't buy one if the idea of recompling.
• growt 3y ago
  Looking for a simple SmartWatch and then going for a big Garmin? I think there are other alternatives that are way simpler. The Withings watches for example.
• Xenonym 3y ago
  The Withings Steel HR seems to fit the bill perfectly - it has a screen for phone notifications, a step tracker and basic fitness function, and I regularly get two weeks and more of battery life out of mine. Only problem might be that you find it’s small circular screen too small - but I think that’s a feature of its minimalist aesthetic, not a bug. https://www.withings.com/us/en/steel-hr https://www.withings.com/us/en/steel-hr
  • art0rz 3y ago
    I've owned a Steel HR for many years and I can highly recommend them. I wanted a basic smart watch with a classic analog look that isn't too flashy but offers notifications, basic fitness tracking with a battery that I don't have to think about very often (we have enough stuff to keep charged in our daily lives). The Steel HR fits the bill perfectly. I've gotten many compliments about it too, and people are surprised to learn it is a smart watch. Don't expect to read full emails on it. But then again, I never understood why people would want to. As for size, I never thought it was too small. In fact, I would say it's a perfect size for my wrist.
    • RhodesianHunter 3y ago
      I similarly love my Withings ScanWatch. I charge it maybe every three weeks at my desk, and it monitors my sleep and hearth rhythms which is important to me for genetic reasons. Otherwise it's just a good old fashioned watch!
  • tomgp 3y ago
    I’ve had my Steel for years (it’s nokia branded so pre 2018) and would buy another in a snap if it broke or i lost it. my battery life tends to be closer to a month or more (though recently that’s been creeping down)
  • z0mghii 3y ago
    Scanwatch is the newer model which uses sapphire glass, usually can find it pretty cheap on a marketplace
  • 3y ago
• computer-user 3y ago
  I think the problem is that everyone has their own “all I want - it’s so simple” set of features, but there are nearly limitless possibilities of feature combinations. I wanted a long battery life (e-ink would work) minimal watch with health tracking only. In the end I just chose the Apple Watch SE, switched off all phone & message notifications and made recharging part of my daily routine. It’s easier to adapt than find the perfect device and I’ve found many useful features on the SE that I wouldn’t have chosen on my custom smart watch.
  • gonehome 3y ago
    The ultra’s battery life is substantially longer if that’s important to you.
  • lawn 3y ago
    If your goal is long battery life with health tracking, there are lots of Garmin watches that would fit that bill.
  • skeyo 3y ago
    Exactly. There was a very similar discussion on here a little while ago about electric cars. For me, all I want is a simple smart watch that has great battery life, navigation with maps, and high GPS accuracy. Everything else I don't care about. The Garmin Fenix fits that bill, along with 500 other features for everyone else with their simple lists.
  • delecti 3y ago
    I entirely agree with your identification of the problem. Everyone thinks their desired set of features is the most reasonable set of features to want, and is confused why anyone would want anything else. My desired features are basically yours, plus notifications. I've found the Amazfit Bip to just about fit the bill. I wish it had a bit more health tracking, but the ~month of battery life makes up for it. Watches with batteries that last a week are what confuse me; it's too regular to forget about, and too infrequent to easily remember. I could probably get used to a daily charge though.
  • gwbas1c 3y ago
• corkybeta 3y ago
  I'm using a Fossil Hybrid. A nice analog watch with an e-ink display for notifications. https://www.fossil.com/en-gb/products/neutra-gen-6-hybrid-smartwatch-medium-brown-leather/FTW7073.html https://www.fossil.com/en-gb/products/neutra-gen-6-hybrid-sm...
  • morsch 3y ago
    They're also supported by Gadgetbridge.
  • INTPenis 3y ago
    Same here, been using two Fossil Hybrid smartwatches ever since my Pebble stopped working. I'm sold on simple smartwatches that only require an e-ink (or whatever it is) screen because they hold a charge for well over a month and still do everything I need from them. Namely show notifications, who's calling, who's messaging, read messages, control music, and some other stuff that is less important. The app has also improved over the years, even though I'm still pretty sure they sell all my personal data to any bidder. Of course I'd prefer a more self hosted or open approach. But it's good enough. Currently I'm using a Machine, don't remember the name of the one before it but it was similar, slightly smaller.
• makach 3y ago
  Isn't that a oxymoron? A simple smartwatch?! I remember I got one of the early t-touch watches in early 2000, that has to be as simple as they get yet so infinitely cool: https://www.tissotwatches.com/en-en/men/categories/t-touch.html https://www.tissotwatches.com/en-en/men/categories/t-touch.h...
• cheesio 3y ago
  Kronaby looks like a traditional watch but it has step counter and vibrates when someone is calling or sending text. And the battery lasts for 2 years. https://kronaby.com https://kronaby.com
  • yiyus 3y ago
    I've had a Kronaby for a few years now. The first battery lasted maybe 14-15 months, next one barely one year. Nowadays, I switch battery every 8-9 months. It's still much better than charging your watch every night/week/month. And I really like the minimal functionality it offers.
• iancmceachern 3y ago
  I wear one of these, it's a Casio calculator watch, I love it
• raffraffraff 3y ago
  I got a Garmin Fenix 5s when they first came out. I do some running, but I really got it because I was on a terrible on-call rota (daytime only) where I'd get 20+ alerts per day. The alert app was dreadful, took a screen unlock, swipe and wait just to see if it was one of the bogus alerts I needed to tune out. With the Garmin I could "ack" the alert with two button pushes. My phone stayed in my pocket. It's years old by now but I still get well over a week of battery life, if I don't use GPS. It tracks my sleep, runs, walks and cycles automatically. It mirrors my notifications, including 2fa codes sent via email, sms or app. It finds my phone. It can keep my phone unlocked as long as it's nearby. It's waterproof at depths where I'll be dead. It has a stopwatch and a countdown timer (like any decent watch should). Everything is controlled with a few buttons (no touchscreen, so no accidental swipes or poor usability when wet). I got the one with the sapphire lens, expensive as ffff at the time, but it's completely perfect after a few accidental scrapes on concrete.
• warunsl 3y ago
  I am surprised no one has mentioned Coros yet. I have been using the Coros Pace 2 and it been very good. Basic smartphone with notification mirroring from iPhone. Has about 10 days of battery life. Has very good support for various activities. Very satisfied so far.
  • throwawayai2 3y ago
    I just got a Coros Apex 2, I'm very happy with it.
• Andrew_nenakhov 3y ago
  I had a moto360, first version, when it was released. Well, it was pretty cool. The battery could almost last all day if I didn't use the watch for anything.
  • soylentcola 3y ago
    Same. I got mine for $149 (down from $199) thanks to some discount deal they were running at Staples of all places. Looked nice, did all the basics (notifications, nav for when I was riding my motorcycle, quick replies, could install or create any watch face I wanted), and the battery lasted long enough that I only needed to charge for 30min in the evening if I was going out somewhere after work. Eventually the battery died and I failed miserably at replacing it so it was toast. I figured there would be something new available in the few years since I'd bought it - maybe improved battery or a fix for the "flat tire" at the bottom of the display. But when I searched, all I found were either ugly plastic "omg sportz@!" designs or classier stuff for 2-3x the price. Still haven't purchased another smart watch. It was bad enough dropping a couple hundred bucks for ~3 years of use. I can't imagine spending $400-600 for (at best) minor incremental updates.
• gbtw 3y ago
  The new Casio DW-H5600 has solar charging and amazingly long battery life. I was pretty anti-smartwatch but i like g-shock squares and ended up getting it been surprisingly good.
  • JoachimS 3y ago
    I bought one of these for the solar charging, great battery life. And that works. But it is really hard to read the LCD. The automatic lightning works quite unreliably, and even when it works the tiny screen is hard to read. At least with my old man eyes.
    • 1ko 3y ago
      The latest casio lcd screens are amazing in terms of readability. They don't have the digits shadow problem anymore (this was especially plaguing the negative displays). It's really night and day.
• Affric 3y ago
  The long tail is the name of the game. My smart watch can do shitloads of shit I don't need it for. But there's no slimmed down smart watch that can do all the things I need it to do. Imagine trying to make a smart watch that has all the features only an individual needs?
• BiteCode_dev 3y ago
  I get where the author comes from, but my definition of simple doesn't include anything with the word "smart" in it. I have simple watches. They are casio.
  • CRConrad 3y ago
    I have an Auriol. (I don't know for certain, but I like to imagine the brand is named after French rally driver Hubert Auriol.) It has a monochrome face, twelve simple hour demarcations, and two hands. In its own way(s), that is actually quite a smart watch.
• mdrzn 3y ago
  I stopped using a smartwatch once I started wearing a MiBand. They're too good.
  • pzo 3y ago
    I use those too - they are super cheap. I mostly need smartwatch/smartband for: 1. push notifications (I keep my phone on silent) 2. show time, date, weather 3. change music volumes 4. remote camera trigger 5. sleep tracking / step counter Things I like about miband: - dirty cheap - 2weeks+ battery - waterproof (I just go to swim with it or take shower and had no issues) Things I don't like in miband though: - screen is small to read some longer push notifications (its good to get notified and figure out if something is important or not). If seems important you will still have to fish for your phone to double check - firmware has problems with displaying emoji and some non standard characters - bands are of poor quality and they will after half a year or so - same with charging cable - they keep changing charging cables so you cannot use older one and those also easy to break or hard to find where you need charging - wish had some wireless charging - wish had some simple google maps navigation support (just basic info e.g 'in 100m turn left', etc - wish had some physical programmable buttons to open specific apps
    • mdrzn 3y ago
      >> screen is small to read some longer push notifications I agree, but also I don't want a full-size watch on my wrist, so the latest MiBand (which is larger than the one before) is actually perfect. I can see who the sender is and what the start of the message is. >> firmware has problems with displaying emoji and some non standard characters Haven't had this issue so far, or haven't noticed. >> bands are of poor quality and they will after half a year or so I also agree, but they're still so dirt cheap (bought a box of 20 different colors for like 9,99€) that I don't really care unless they break while I'm on a scooter or doing some physical activity. >> same with charging cable - they keep changing charging cables so you cannot use older one and those also easy to break or hard to find where you need charging Battery life is so long that I only take it off on a Sunday while showering and leave it charging near the pc for an hour or so. >> wish had some wireless charging Eh, the current charger is decent and used so sporadically that it's fine. >> wish had some simple google maps navigation support (just basic info e.g 'in 100m turn left', etc This is one of the main thing I miss from a full fledged smartwatch, but still not worth to wear the Galaxy Watch Active I have. >> wish had some physical programmable buttons to open specific apps I think you can do that with some Android apps like Tasker or similar.
• fxj 3y ago
  I have an Amazfit Bip. 4 weeks runtime, notifications, step counter, HR monitor, workout monitor. Always on display like a pebble.
  • pizza234 3y ago
    I own one, too, and it's a piece of crap. It takes ages to sync, and, adding insult to injury, every time the app is updated, it syncs the AGPS, which is a very slow operation. The on-demand screen backlighting is unreliable (one needs to do a very exaggerated arm twist to ensure it works). But worse of all, when the Bluetooth connection breaks, one receives no notifications, which is a very serious problem for users relying on a smartwatch to be notified when they're at physical distance from their phone. There are other UX problems (e.g. alarms can be set only via app), but those are secondary compared to the above). It's a shame, because even if it's not really a smartwatch, it could perfectly fit the bill of "minimal, long-running smartwatch" (as a matter of fact, it fits the requirements of the author).
  • fensgrim 3y ago
    For a 204-mhz device (as in: not using basic 16mhz NRF52840) it seems to be surprisingly limited.
• cientifico 3y ago
  Surprisingly (and with different needs than OP) I am using for 5 years Amazfit neo. It is a 10 bucks with digital screen (always on) 1 month battery, sleep, step, activity and heart beat tracker. You can enable notifications but that reduces the battery life. They are hard to find now but if you like the design, for me is the best.
• xavxav 3y ago
  I really want a good health tracker with all the sensors of the Apple Watch but completely inconspicuous as smartwatches are ugly.
  • cmason 3y ago
    Oura ring?
  • Kaibeezy 3y ago
    I’m an analog watch wearer and have been looking for something like that too. Found a dead Kickstarter thing that replaced the buckle on a watch band with a sensor blob, would have been perfect. A simple strap (or ring, I guess) with a minimal electronics package, waterproof, long battery life, that sends data to my phone. Anyone? Is it not a business? Everything goes upmarket. Oh, without a mandatory monthly fee, Oura.
    • mft_ 3y ago
      I’ve been waiting for this for years. If it’s possible to stick health tracking features into a ring, it should certainly be possible to fit them into a watch strap. I’m imagining a standard-looking watch strap with a small display that would sit just below the face of whichever analog watch it was attached to. It could have a thin bridge joining the two sides of the strap together, running underneath the watch - this isn’t a problem when wearing (for example) a NATO-style strap.
      • Kaibeezy 3y ago
        Yep. Or even with no display at all, just the sensor package. And/or even with no watch at all, just attach it to one of the billion straps out there. I was all ready to file a provisional when I found that smart buckle or whatever they called it.
  • troupo 3y ago
    I think it's a physics thing. You can either have good health sensors, or a good-looking slim watch. I'm surprised Apple Watch crammed so many sensors and still doesn't look half bad (I still don't like it :) )
• mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago
  I was fairly happy with my fitbit charge 4, but now it's actually useless as a watch most of the time because they pushed a firmware update that reduces the max screen brightness. So now it's impossible to read the screen outside, even on the max settings. God I hate closed down hardware. I don't actually care if the battery life gets shorter because I take the damn thing off every day to shower anyway, and the time it stays off is more than enough to charge it every day if I had to. But what really annoys me is that the choice is just made for me. I'm never buying a device with closed firmware, unreplaceable batteries, etc, ever again. It's a complete waste of money in terms of durability and I'm sick of not really owning the devices I pay out the nose for and that fact making them strictly less capable.
  • xnorswap 3y ago
    This is why I loved my Pebble. The LCD screen meant it was readable in any light and also had fantastic battery life.
    • 0xEF 3y ago
      I still only use Pebble watches. You can pick them up on eBay for $30 USD, and the Rebble.io community helps keep them alive. I have yet to see another smartwatch do what they did, which is a bit baffling to me. Watchy came close, being fully programmable with an e-ink screen, but the bulk of the housing was atrocious.
      • pbronez 3y ago
        Oh man I had no idea there was a project keeping pebbles alive. The rebble project looks great. Very impressed by the documentation on their site.
      • b112 3y ago
        which is a bit baffling to me. I'm guessing pebble watches didn't geolocate you, and report your position, and probably didn't record everything said around you then "anonymize" it, so it was likely deemed useless by VCs, and thus died? No wonder there's no replacement! To all VCs, my startup sells geolocated tools, and also orders screws and nails, automatically, by selling special nails, with an rfid tag build in! (next day? 1B buyout)
• Al-Khwarizmi 3y ago
  The Huawei watches aren't simple, but you can just ignore the functionality you don't need (there are tons of exercise apps I haven't even opened) and enjoy 2-3 weeks of battery life.
• mft_ 3y ago
  I have a Fitbit Inspire 3 which, while looking more like a bracelet than a watch, offers all of the functionality the author was searching for. (I bought it primarily for sleep tracking, for which it offers AFAIK the best feature set outside of dedicated expensive sleep-tracking equipment.) However, I’d not really recommend it, and probably wouldn’t buy it again, given the choice: - very slow and buggy sync, which often takes a minute or longer to sync a day’s activity when sitting next to the phone running the Fitbit app in the foreground, and/or often fails. (This is the sort of crap that makes me appreciate e.g. AirPods just working) - poor ability (and worse, to my memory, than very early Fitbits) to accurately determine the start and end of sleeping. Given sleep tracking is one of its standout features, this is very disappointing. - probably, overly-sensitive sleeping tracking suggesting I wake multiple times in a (good) night, which other data would suggest isn’t the case. - the ‘raise wrist to turn screen on’ feature almost never works. Not the end of the world because I’m used to double-tapping it instead, but another example of bad coding/QA. - weird inaccuracies/oversights in exercise tracking. For example, it will correctly figure out that the recent two-hour block of raised heart rate was a bike ride, but will simultaneously credit me with 15000 steps during that time, presumably due to the vibrations from riding the bike, but not putting 2+2 together.
  • smallpipe 3y ago
    The double counting of bike activity as steps drove me crazy when I had one. Made me switch to a garmin.
  • wartijn_ 3y ago
    My experience with Garmin with regards to sleep tracking is unfortunately not much better. It does measure the time I'm in bed, but if it takes me a while to fall asleep, or keep laying in bed after waking up, it will count that as sleep. I've even had a few times where it didn't notice that I woke up at night, went to the bathroom and then back bed. It would just count that as sleeping. Since it can't even see the difference between being awake and sleeping, I absolutely don't trust anything it says about the amount of time I spend in each sleep phase.
• fbn79 3y ago
  I love my Garmin Instict. Has all the basic feature I love (always on display, activity tracking, notifications, ...) and I charge it only tree times a month.
  • NoboruWataya 3y ago
    I'm also happy with my Garmin vívoactive 3. It has the features I want and I can get it looking fairly minimalist. Battery life is good as well, probably over a week on a single charge, though maybe a bit less if I'm doing loads of activities. I do like the look of the "hybrid" watches that have physical hands.
    • orbanlevi 3y ago
      Ex Garmin Instict user here, I just now changed to MK2S beacuse of the diving capabilities, but in general one of my best and robust watch that I ever used.
• somethingsome 3y ago
  I was very very positively surprised by the Amazon smartwatches, I brought a amazfit GTS 2 Mini Fitness Watch, and it fulfill the main points of the article, it was very cheap also (65€). The app is nice, not perfect but does the job at tracking steps, the GPS is accurate, heart, stress levels, sleep, etc.. Perfect synch with the phone, I receive the phone notifications, good waterproofing and the battery last something like 6-7 days. The oled screen simulates a classical watch, so it's not hybrid, but for me it doesn't matter that much, I barely notice. The app could be better integrated with other fitness app, but it works with the ones I use.
  • agapon 3y ago
    Amazfit has nothing to do with Amazon, though.
  • occz 3y ago
    >I was very very positively surprised by the Amazon smartwatches Wait, Amazfit is not created by Amazon, right?
    • moondowner 3y ago
      Noup. Amazfit/Zepp Health is a Chinese brand, somehow related to Xiaomi (I have a few Xiaomi Mi Band devices and they use the Zepp app on the phone).
  • Bad_CRC 3y ago
    I have an Amazfit Bit U for 35€ and is everything OP wants. They have nothing to do with Amazon though.
• 0x53 3y ago
  I have a Garmin 265. I really like that Garmin doesn’t make you subscribe to any monthly service to get the full features of the watch.
• miniwark 3y ago
  The author is a bit strange. He said than he have only tree requirements: Phone notifications, step counting & long battery life. But then faced with a Casio he said "Casio watches showed promise, but their limited notifications and unattractive styling didn’t meet my preferences for a more elegant design"... His final choice may have been more because of the "elegant design" than his initial requirements. He confirm it more or less because he even "had to disable a ton of fitness tracking features that I’ll never use just so that I could do the things I wanted."
• chimprich 3y ago
  The title should really be the quest for a cheap smartwatch with battery life, which seems to be what the author was looking for. The more expensive Garmin watches have excellent battery life and solar charging. I use a Garmin smartwatch. One of the surprising things about Garmin is that they don't have a proper app store. They have an app where you can load apps into your watch, but it's rather crippled by having no payment system. That would be fine if all the apps are free, but they're not: a lot of the prettier watch faces (for example) expect cash - but there's no easy way to pay for them. I recently added a watch face which stopped working after a few days because the author wanted cash sent through some dubious third party website. I presume they do this to avoid issues with Android / Apple rules about payment, but it's a poor experience.
  • caturopath 3y ago
    I am so satisfied with my Garmin Fenix. It's comically expensive, but it has been a dream compared to the Fitbits I used for years. Garmin has lots of lower-end watches, too, which would have resolved most of my headaches and many still have great battery life compared to the competition. I haven't touched the "smart watch" features, though. Garmin conducts themselves really well, too. They make good stuff and do little to lock it down: you don't have to use their cloud shit if you don't want (I do use it and like it), they created a peripheral standard in ANT+ that became widely adopted, without actually privileging their own stuff, etc.
    • xur17 3y ago
      Same here. I had a Samsung Android watch for years that I would use for tracking runs, and I was never very happy with it. Slow gps fix, horrible battery life (the thing died on a bike ride when I started with it fully charged), and the touch screen was hard to use while running. I wear my Garmin all day, and charge it every other week. Physical buttons are a game changer, and the activity tracking software feels like it was made by someone that actually uses it.
    • danielbln 3y ago
      I've got the Garmin Forerunner 735XT and while the software is a little clunky at times, it's a total work horse. Battery lasts for a week when worn all day and with at least 30 minutes of GPS tracked running activity per day, the display is extremely well to read outside in the sun and the smart features I use are the app notifications and that's it. No complaints, that thing is indestructible and I would buy it again. The prices at times are truly comical though, then again I've got this watch since 2017 and it's still going strong, I'm sure I would have gone through at least a couple of Apple Watches or Android Wear watches in the meantime.
• boredumb 3y ago
  I got a couple pine time watches last year and have been very happy with them. They are bare bones so i'm sure they don't hit everyones use cases but I really enjoy it. I also ended up stumbling on https://github.com/lupyuen/pinetime-rust-mynewt https://github.com/lupyuen/pinetime-rust-mynewt which got me interested in rust which i'm using as a daily driver now and have fully ingested the rusty kool-aid
• factorialboy 3y ago
  I feel the new G-Shocks will fill this role quite well. Insane battery life, ruggedness, and now an improved MIP screen and smart features. I tested out and threw out smart watches. They are not for me. I love the freedom of a €125 dumb rugged square G Shock.
  • kasey_junk 3y ago
    Which g shocks do phone notifications? My problem with the g shock line is it’s so expansive and hard to figure out which does what. The g shock website doesn’t allow you to filter by phone notifications…
    • maktouch 3y ago
      I have a GBD-200. battery life is like 2 years lol. the notifications aren't the most reliable... sometimes it disconnects and I'm not sure why.
    • factorialboy 3y ago
      The recent release H5600 is a square G Shock with smart features. There's also the GBD 200 and the H1000s, but the 5600 is closest to the old-school square G Shock.
  • doodlebugging 3y ago
    I am not a watch person myself though I do wear a Garmin Instinct 2 Solar that I bought last year for some of the activity tracking functionality. It is the first thing for a wrist that I have worn in more than 40 years so I am still getting accustomed to the feel of something on my arm. I may ultimately give it away after getting enough data to understand where I am in my personal fitness at my age (>60). If I were a watch person I would definitely be a G-Shock person. I bought one for a brother more than 20 years ago when he joined the Army and needed a durable watch. His model charges by solar and syncs to local time via radio I think. No matter where he has traveled he always had the correct time. He told me that the watch has never had a problem and that he wouldn't consider "upgrading" to a smart watch which would tie him to a charger. Casio makes excellent watches and their entry into the smart watch domain should be interesting. I bought the Garmin because of the battery life, feature set, and reliability and because I have used Garmin GPS devices and know them to be excellent devices. Casio has a similar reputation for quality and so they should be on anyone's short list of devices to consider.
• alfiedotwtf 3y ago
  I've been on this quest and have tried almost everything you can name. Even bought a 3D printer so I could prototype my own and started reading electronics books to start putting one together myself. ... but then I bought a Garmin, sold the 3D printer, and can focus my time on other things. I loved my Pebble, but I feel like the Garmin Instinct and Fenix 7 is probably a no brainer. Just a shame that Garmin don't have Pebble's app ecosystem even though their API looks not that bad.
• mike_pol 3y ago
  I recently got the Garmin Instinct Crossover with solar charging, basically if you turn off all the features that the OP did you get infinite battery life more or less. It functions as a normal watch with hands and can do most of the smart notifications. I've turned off all notifications apart from calls/messages so it doesn't constantly beep and have been very happy with it so far.
• millitzer 3y ago
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  • dromio 3y ago
    Same. I've had a fossil hybrid HR for several years and am pretty happy with it. From what I read, you can do some more automation if it connects with an android watch, but I use iOS so I only get the out of box functionality -- which includes customizable display with information like heart rate, steps, and weather. Notifications with vibration and readable text. And probably my favorite thing, physical hands so it looks like a "normal" watch.
    • knodi123 3y ago
      My fossil hybrid HR was a beautiful watch, and the display was great. But the software, ugh! In 3 years of use, they never managed to get as high as a 30% success rate on fetching weather info. It was almost always displaying "connection error" or something like that. It's just the weather! Why was THAT the sticking point that they couldn't figure out?
  • pwenzel 3y ago
    I picked up a used Fossil FTW1166 smartwatch for $45 on eBay. It features a simple analog activity tracker, with just a plain-old dial like any other watch. There is no screen and no e-ink. The lack of screen is awesome and I can't believe there aren't more watches out there like this! Also, after 4 months of use the battery life is still around 100%. https://www.fossil.com/en-in/products/hybrid-smartwatch-machine-smoke-stainless-steel/FTW1166.html https://www.fossil.com/en-in/products/hybrid-smartwatch-mach...
• hammeiam 3y ago
  Withings scanwatch is the way to go. Looks like a watch, functions like a smartwatch, doesn’t break the bank. https://a.co/d/gvy1CWR https://a.co/d/gvy1CWR
• furyg3 3y ago
  I'm disappointed with the lack of notification granularity, at least as it pertains to my iPhone / non-Apple Watch setup (Garmin). On my watch I'd only like notifications about meeting reminders, scheduled reminders, and possibly google maps notifications (directions) while biking. I don't want my watch to buzz when I get a message. I do want to see a badge / bubble on my phone though. With iPhone / Garmin, it's all or nothing.
  • xela79 3y ago
    > With iPhone / Garmin, it's all or nothing. time to upgrade to Apple Watch ;) it has all that granularity, which is just awesome https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/change-notification-settings-apd9b833c9f3/watchos https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/change-notification-se...
  • binarymoon 3y ago
    With Garmin on Android you can enable or disable notifications per app in the Garmin app settings.
  • HumblyTossed 3y ago
    > With iPhone / Garmin, it's all or nothing. With Garmin you can enable/disable which apps notify you. Right now I only have my task app, signal and calendar sending me notifications. Nothing else gets through.
    • furyg3 3y ago
      Where do you do this? I think this is only with Android...
• wesapien 3y ago
  On the topic of simple, when can we see continuous glucose monitoring that's fairly accurate?
  • koheripbal 3y ago
    Current wearables on the upper arm are not accurate?
• silveira 3y ago
  After my two Pebbles, I have never found something quite like it. I have then accumulated a drawer full of sad, obsolete and nonfunctional smart watches. I then moved my interest to good old plain watches. Digital, mechanical, self-winding, manual-winding, hacking seconds, chronographs, divers, all that. It's a rich, complex, and beautiful world. They can get as expensive or as affordable as you want, but for the price of one expensive smart watch you can get quite a nice collection of watches that you can combine with different styles of life and fashion.
  • spdif899 3y ago
    I'm right there with you (drawer full of loved-but-neglected pebbles, along with a few Garmin watches). I ended up going the other direction, I got an apple watch and just sucked it up and accepted that I'll toss it on the charger every morning. It has a lot of really good features (I can approve okta logins and get authy codes from my wrist, I can check weather and scroll around to browse the forecast, things like that). I think there are two branches at this point post-pebble. You either get something that augments your phone with a couple benefits over a traditional watch, or you get something like Apple Watch that does many of the things your phone can do, saving you from spending time on the big screen. For me there's strong value to the latter that makes up for the battery downsides: the powerful-but-focused app functionality means I can accomplish a task without getting pulled into other things. On a phone I find it all too easy to check the weather then start checking notifications and get sucked into news or something.
  • 2OEH8eoCRo0 3y ago
    After my Pebble I switched to a $5 Casio that was on sale at Wal-Mart and has a "10 year battery" Less is more.
  • BloodyIron 3y ago
    Why not revive your pebbles? Depending on the model, there are replacement battery options, and with rebble.io the software aspect is addressed. Literally wearing a fully functional Pebble Time as I write this. I also have a Pebble Time Steel (not wearing currently) also fully operational.
• deleted 3y ago
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• yakcyll 3y ago
  On that subject, are there any good looking smart/hybrid pocket watches?
  • zeekaran 3y ago
    A pocket watch? Yeah, it's called a phone.
• amelius 3y ago
  I don't understand why some men would choose to replace the most important piece of jewelry a man can wear —a precision mechanical wristwatch— by something that looks like a cheap toy.
  • hext 3y ago
    You and me both. One of the only statement pieces a guy can wear and you throw that away to save the effort of taking your phone out of your pocket? Insanity.
    • wartijn_ 3y ago
      Is it one of the only statement pieces a guy can were though? I know plenty of guys with bracelets, chains, rings, earrings and/or tattoos. You can express statements with your clothing too, if you want. And than there are people who don't care about statement pieces and just want to wear whatever is most practical. And people who want to express themselves by wearing a smartwatch.
      • amelius 3y ago
        > I know plenty of guys with bracelets, chains, rings, earrings and/or tattoos These are mostly considered to be low-status symbols. For men, in fact it is often recommended not to wear necklaces to a job interview, and hide any tattoos.
        • Jim_Raynor 3y ago
          Maybe he already got a job? So lets leave mechanical watches to unemployment?
          • amelius 3y ago
            Makes little sense as being unemployed for medium-long term also doesn't look nice in a job interview. The watch basically says: I had a good job that paid well.
• Brajeshwar 3y ago
  I'm still using my Apple Watch Series 5. I started with that series because that was when the Apple watch actually became a watch (you can see the clock dial stays on). The battery is the only reason I might upgrade next. It is the simplest one that works with the ecosystem I'm in. Of course, I can walk out if need be. Besides the clock (retro analog dial with the numbers), and the date, the only Complication on the first watch face is the Timer. The Timer is the most productive tool that I have found. It is way easier to quickly set the timer for everything than use my brain for remembering the short-term events - such as making tea just before a meeting, boiling eggs, allowance time to people coming late to meetings, grocery aisle walks, and many other things. I also have a second Watch Face used only when traveling outside of the country, a travel specific data and 2-3 complications. I don't do phone calls (except a few allowed numbers), no notifications except a few, such as calendar and health app. So, it is the simplest yet good Smartwatch for me. Sometimes, the battery dies - so, be it - the intermittent charging in between hand-washes, baths, washroom breaks, early morning, and during the wind-down routines are good enough to go round the clock.
• oldandboring 3y ago
  I'm surprised the author didn't end up with the Garmin Vivosmart, it's everything they say they want: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/782585 https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/782585
• utopcell 3y ago
  Notifications / step counting / long battery life: the Pebble watch fit that bill perfectly.
• DrNosferatu 3y ago
  On paper, the "MyKronoz ZeTime"[a] seems great - even perfect, at least for my needs. However, some reviews here and there claim it does not do (satisfactorily) what it says on the tin. - Anyone with direct experience? There was also a ZeTime 2 announced by MyKronoz in 2019[b], but failure to launch is worrying... [a] - https://www.mykronoz.com/eu/en/zetime.html https://www.mykronoz.com/eu/en/zetime.html [b] - https://cdn-magento.mykronoz.com/media/wysiwyg/Press/press-article/MKZ_CES_2019.pdf https://cdn-magento.mykronoz.com/media/wysiwyg/Press/press-a...
  • slobiwan 3y ago
    I have a ZeTime that I used on and off for a couple of years. Now it's just sitting on a shelf. It was fine for my purposes at the time, but ended up inheriting an Apple Watch that's a lot more polished. I don't see ever going back to the ZeTime. If you are interested, I'll let you have it for the cost of postage.
• user_7832 3y ago
  > Plus, call me picky if you like, but having a reputable brand name behind my purchase gives me extra peace of mind when it comes to reliability. I hope the author realizes that Amazfit is owned by Huami which is a sister/sibling company of Xiaomi. And as of 2021 at least, they were the 3rd largest smartwatch maker after Apple and Samsung.[1] I'd expect their build quality to be at least quite decent on average, and my n=1 $60 Amazfit Bip is probably 4 years old now with absolutely no issues. > I’m aware that there are cheaper alternatives out there like the Amazfit range but these watches were either too complex, or too basic, there was no middle ground. AFAIK nearly all the fancier options can be turned off from the app. And apart from a very few models with (I think) 8 segment displays all of them satisfy the author's criteria of notifications + other features. I sometimes wish Amazfit would advertise more because every "I want a simple smartwatch!" discussion ends up with "Aah I wish Pebble existed" comments, folks paying $$$ for Garmins/Fitbits and people bemoaning the battery life on Apple/Samsung watches. Just get an Amazfit Bip (original or S). 1 - https://www.gizmochina.com/2021/11/30/amazfit-becomes-third-largest-smartwatch-brand/ https://www.gizmochina.com/2021/11/30/amazfit-becomes-third-...
  • dirtyid 3y ago
    Amazfit and xiaomi bands are like the Casio f91w of smart watches.
  • dspillett 3y ago
    > I hope the author realizes that Amazfit is owned by Huami which is a sister/sibling company of Xiaomi. And as of 2021 at least, they were the 3rd largest smartwatch maker after Apple and Samsung. For some this association might be offputting. My current phone is by Xiaomi, as was the previous one, but my next won't be. There is a pile of stuff you can't (easily) uninstall that keeps trying to run and wants all sorts of odd perms for their task, heck the default clock on this device wanted location access before letting me set an alarm! (I just installed a different app), and they get good battery life scores by being _very_ aggressive about killing apps which is a pain for some things you might want to keep running in the background. Can these watches be used without the company's own cloud stuff, and/or an advert laden app, or is that forced on you like like the inexpensive (and sometimes not so inexpensive!) home cameras from Yi and similar manufacturers? > I'd expect their build quality to be at least quite decent on average, That is certainly true with the phones I've used. The hardware seems as solid as similar (usually more expensive) devices, including the cameras being pretty decent.
• lukeinator42 3y ago
  An interesting thing to note is that Garmin, Coros, and Suunto are pretty much the only brands used by long distance runners, and all three companies have really optimized them for long battery life. I really love my Garmin Fenix 6, and the battery on it lasts around 10 days-2 weeks depending on how much running I record with it. It's funny how most people don't know about Coros or Suunto outside of the running community though.
• runjake 3y ago
  Some notes: - The Forerunner 55 doesn't do SpO2 measurements. - The 55's battery lasts me about a week, with 4-5 30 minute runs per week. - The 55 goes on sale occasionally. - The 55's screen could be much brighter. It's often hard to read the time and date.
• shubhamgrg04 3y ago
  It's surprising how the smartwatch market seems flooded yet lacking when it comes to basic, reliable options. I would look for reliable battery life, GPS and water resistance.
• saool 3y ago
  The Skagen Hybrids (cell battery powered for 4+ months) are the best I've found for this low-tech approach, much more so than any Garmin.
• TYPE_FASTER 3y ago
  My Pebble Steel was great. I've had an Apple Watch 5 for a few years now. It's comparable, except for the shorter battery life. I configured it for very limited notifications, and mostly use it for exercise tracking because it has the heart rate sensor. I don't feel the need to upgrade to a newer version. The only motivator for me to upgrade an iPhone is usually the camera. I have the cell version of the watch, but have never used it because I have my phone with me.
• classified 3y ago
  Isn't "simple smartwatch" a contradiction in terms?