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: 5, Funny) by Gravis on Monday June 22 2015, @10:55AM
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by Zappy on Monday June 22 2015, @10:59AM
If you accept crappy software and a lack of updates, this might be a good starting point.
http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=phone+watch+sim [aliexpress.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 23 2015, @06:22PM
Did you not notice the qualifier in the question? The word "decent", any idiot can do a google search for phonewatches, but are any of them decent? That isn't always so easy to discover, and likely was the whole point of asking here.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22 2015, @11:13AM
I've heard that Apple makes a watch now. You might look into that. The website OSNews is all over it.
(Score: 1) by Zappy on Monday June 22 2015, @11:30AM
Thats a watch you connect to a phone, he wants a phone (in the phone formfactor)
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Monday June 22 2015, @11:53AM
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.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 22 2015, @01:00PM
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 . . .
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 3, Informative) by khedoros on Monday June 22 2015, @10:25PM
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
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.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday June 22 2015, @12:04PM
Whats the battery life like on one of those watches? Yeah I know all marketing is lies. On one hand the display is smaller, on the other hand radios don't draw less current because they're physically small. Also if I carried my phone everywhere (which I do not) then I'd use it more, so the smaller display should be cancelled by higher use.
Anyway I checked one link and found a typical watch with 400 mAh battery, assuming the marketing is a lie but the tech specs are true, and my full size phone runs for about a day on 1800 mAh, I'm guessing you'd only get six or so practical hours between charges? Which brings up some questions about how mobile you really are if you can't survive more than a couple hours away from a charger. I've gone on longer nature trail hikes, I've been on shopping expeditions longer than that, I've gone to parties longer than that...
I have a fitbit that I charge once a week, every Thursday evening. When I can get a watch with a battery life like that, I'll consider it. I probably still won't buy it, still won't go back to wearing a watch, but at least I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand as being too inconvenient. I occasionally use my fitbit as a watch, after all, it does display the time and is always with me and is quite waterproof (even washer and dryer proof).
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22 2015, @03:08PM
... I've gone on longer nature trail hikes,...
Isn't there a beanie with solar cells for that?
(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.)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by isostatic on Monday June 22 2015, @12:25PM
(Score: 5, Funny) by pkrasimirov on Monday June 22 2015, @12:56PM
Instructions unclear: Taped phone to arm and put fingers in power outlet. Became Spoderman.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 22 2015, @01:04PM
You need to come to my house and clean my monitor now, Spoderman!
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mmcmonster on Monday June 22 2015, @01:07PM
I recently got into a steampunk kick (the kids like the costumes) and bought myself a nice old pocketwatch.
That being said, a smart pocketwatch may be pretty cool. A little less useful that a regular pocketwatch but bigger than a wristwatch so more space to hold electronics and a bigger battery.
The manufacturer could probably sell dozens of them (okay, that's probably not a plus).
(Score: 1) by J.J. Dane on Monday June 22 2015, @05:30PM
Maybe something like http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/3/8140023/smart-pocket-watch-mwc-gadget [theverge.com] with hinges and a watch chain..
(Score: 4, Funny) by Alfred on Monday June 22 2015, @03:50PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Tracy [wikipedia.org] ...if you are too young
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 23 2015, @11:25AM
MTK Dual Core 512MB Ram, PowerVR SGX 531 gpu, camera either 'front facing' for videophone apps, or where the adjustment knob was on analog watches.
All are quad band GSM and some have 3g support as well. 802.11g/n (most are N, but a few cheaper/older models are G). All seem to have bluetooth and most have a micro-usb charge port.
As stated by someone above, they only get a few hours of talk time and a few days of standby, but that is easily remedied with a portable li-po usb brick nowadays.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Tuesday June 23 2015, @07:41PM
I used to wear a watch. I was always fiddling with it. Subconsciously, I guess it really annoyed me, but what else was I going to do? Then I got a phone. I could wear something on my belt to house my phone or just put it in my pocket. It was big enough for me not to lose it and had even more function than a watch. That's the end of watches for me.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"