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posted by cmn32480 on Monday June 22 2015, @10:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the watch-this! dept.

Some people like smartwatches, some don't. I thought it might be worthwhile to ask fellow Soylentists about a decent phonewatch. Maybe there is something nice out there?

About 1.5 years ago I replaced my old Nokia 5310c with an Omate Truesmart. The Omate has died this week - it fell for the third time from my desk, and this time it wouldn't charge (or connect to a PC) anymore. I guess that the USB wiring inside it got disconnected. So now I'm back to my old Nokia.

I was never completely happy with Omate: crappy software and not a single software update from the seller. Buggy apps desperately needed updates, which were in fact released by software authors, but not pushed as Omate updates. At least the Omate worked, and I was mildly content with that. I felt comfortable talking to it on my wrist. It made me pay attention to find a silent spot first, so that I troubled people less during my phone conversations. That was good, since I too hate listening other people yelling at their phones.

I never used a smartphone or a phablet because those are too big for my taste (my wife uses one and sort-of accepts it). I prefer smaller mobiles than bigger ones. They are supposed to be mobile after all, this is why I deliberately did not use the term "smartwatch" in the title because some companies think that smartwatch is "good enough" when it has a companion phone. Well, that is not the case for me, a phonewatch has to have a simcard slot in it. Also it must be able to record audio memos (e.g. to record some idea that I had), and a decent calendar. In fact I look forward to some opensource Ubuntu phonewatch, but it hasn't arrived yet. So until then I'll have to use something that might not be as good.

I looked into Samsung Gear S, but I am not entirely convinced. Do any of you fellow Soylentils had any experience with phonewatches?


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  • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Monday June 22 2015, @11:53AM

    by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Monday June 22 2015, @11:53AM (#199374) Journal

    On the same site there is a quad band phone watch [aliexpress.com] which from the sounds of it is what he's wanting, a phone in a watch form factor.

    As far as phones go? I like my new BLU Studio Mini LTE [bluproducts.com] which I've been using for the past month. Its a quad core with a GB of RAM, its light and thin, comes with Jelly Bean but already has KitKat being pushed out by BLU, the sound is good, screen and calls are clear, and the phone unlocked was only $106 shipped. I can't say a bad thing about it honestly.

    But as far as smartwatches? I never did see the appeal. When I wore a watch it was always getting bashed on cases or getting hung on something, it was frankly irritating and with all the clocks around us in our daily lives I really didn't see the point. With the amount of times I have to whip out my phone for one reason or another its just easier to just look at the phone for the time while I already have it out and talking to folks at the shop when the iWatch hype started? Turns out for once I'm not the oddball, most of the people under 35 coming in don't wear watches as they prefer their phones and even the older folks are wearing watches less and less and just using the phone.

    So sorry I couldn't be of more help but I've honestly never even seen a smartwatch in the wild, much less had a use for one.

    --
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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 22 2015, @01:00PM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 22 2015, @01:00PM (#199395) Journal

    That's not a bad looking phone. Do you have to get a SIMM card for that, or is it ready to roll out of the box? I should probably be able to answer that myself, but one family member has to futz around with a SIMM, and the next one just fires up his phone OOB. I get confused . . .

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by khedoros on Monday June 22 2015, @10:25PM

      by khedoros (2921) on Monday June 22 2015, @10:25PM (#199621)

      but one family member has to futz around with a SIMM, and the next one just fires up his phone OOB

      If a phone works directly out of the box, it means that it has already been registered to the phone provider's network. Either it already has a SIM installed or the IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) number is encoded directly into the hardware of the phone and cannot be removed. That ad for that particular phone states that "We need to emphasize that it can access every carrier in the US’ LTE network." As far as I'm aware, all LTE phones contain a SIM.

    • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday June 23 2015, @10:54AM

      by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday June 23 2015, @10:54AM (#199818) Journal

      Uhhh...If you would have went to the middle of the page it says "Excelvan 1.54 Inches Bluetooth Smart Watch Unlocked SIM
      Phone Watch
      Sync Call Anti-lost phone mate for Android/IOS" so its using a SIM, probably a micro as that is the most popular FF on international models.

      Hell its $90 man, if you really want to go Dick Tracy why not take a shot? I'm sure if you put that model into YouTube you'll find reviews, that is what I did with the BLU and I love the hell out of it so I say go for it friend!

      --
      ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.