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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?
Original Submission
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22 2015, @12:21PM
Last I looked, most phone watches fell into two categories:
There were a few in between, but still, it seemed like anything with the right features to be interesting had poor enough battery life to be infeasible.
Note that there's two objections to the currently popular type of smart watch -- first that it needs another device for internet connectivity (as far as this goes, that could be a dumbphone with bluetooth DUN or PAN tethering), and second that it's intended to act as little more than a second display for apps running on that other device, thus requiring the second device to be a compatible smartphone.
The first limit is IMO mainly a limitation of current battery technology, combined with manufacturers' unwillingness to produce really oversize clunkers (high speed cellular radios just need way more juice than bluetooth), but with a little software hacking, you can bypass the second issue on some devices. Assuming you can find a dumbphone with PAN and Bluetooth LE, of a size you don't mind leaving in a pants pocket all day, you might consider the original Galaxy Gear -- I use null_ rom on mine, and it's next best thing to stock android. I run a variety of android apps directly on the watch (Gmail, fbreader, and more).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22 2015, @01:33PM
In regards to the battery/size limitation for standalone phone watches, I forgot to mention the Gear S -- think it has a 2" screen for your convenience? Nope, it has a 2" screen to "justify" its physical size, which is determined by the battery needed.
BTW, I've got to hand it to Samsung for the Gear S as a market-developing tool. They've got a curved display, which will benefit smart watches of all types; they also want to have two lines, standalone and slaved watches. If they'd released a standalone last year with a 2" flat display, many reviews would have consisted mainly of "but it's almost twice the size!" and the product wouldn't stand a chance. If they'd introduced curved displays across the line, and simultaneously or subsequently introduced the standalone version, reaction to the curved display would've been enthusiastic, but the standalone would've suffered the same dismissive treatment. By introducing the curved display only on the standalone, they make direct comparison between it and the flat-screened slaved watches harder, giving it at least a decent chance to be reviewed on its own merits. Once the Gear S is accepted, they can still put the curved display in all new models, slaved or standalone.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday June 23 2015, @08:29AM
What does this null_ rom do? [nullproject.net] They seem to fall over themselves to say it's good but missing why and context.
Galaxy Gear = Samsung Galaxy S4-S6 ?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 23 2015, @12:22PM
Null_ adds a bunch of customization options, including the ability to add Google apps (including Play Store) and various parts of Android (e.g. the status bar and notification tray, normal Settings app) that were/removed/disabled in the factory ROM. Much (not all) of this can be achieved with the stock ROM by sideloading the appropriate APKs.
Galaxy Gear = Samsung Galaxy S4-S6 ?
If by = you mean "is", then no, Galaxy Gear is Samsung's first smart watch, which runs a lightly modified Android/Touchwiz. (They dropped the "Galaxy" part for subsequent models, which run Tizen or Android Wear: Gear 2, Gear Live, etc.) If by = you meant "is supported on", then approximately true; it is only supported on certain recent Galaxy/Note phones (roughly S4 onward, though I'm not sure of the exact list), but the basic features can be made to work with any phone you can pair it to. (AFAIK it should work even with a dumb phone not supporting Bluetooth LE, but I think the battery impact of using standard Bluetooth for an always-on internet connection would be a bit much -- I know it was big on my MOTOACTV, which lacked Bluetooth LE.)