It is Official - I am Sold on Android Wear

[arod]

Personally the real value I see in wearing something on my wrist is in having all the sensors give me data about my life/day and the possibilities that allows for.

Interacting with my phone is better done with my voice in the car and windows phone driving mode and cortana actually does most of the things that impressed you with android wear and the wp driving mode works over bluetooth which pretty much any new car will have. As good as it is though it could be far better and am somewhat surprised google hasn't done more with that yet (but i guess it would make android auto pointless)

 

[Raduque]

And that basically what it comes down to- my watch has become the world's greatest steering wheel controls. I mean, the essential problem is that ALL built-in car stuff sucks and if it doesn't suck it is locked to a platform or a set bunch of functionality.

Don't you mean world's most dangerous set of steering wheel controls? I don't see how "hands off wheel, look at watch, swipe swipe tap" to control a music player is better than me simply pressing next/back or vol+/- with my thumb while not removing hands from the wheel or eyes from the road.

And with Sync's Bluetooth, any app that supports being controlled over BT works with the buttons.

my friend with the 360 says he can't manage it and get through a long day. But he has way better watchfaces.

I use Ambient mode on my M360 and I regularly end my day with 15-20% battery life. My M360's day starts at around 9am and I'm home and putting it on it's cradle around 1130-midnight.

 

[soccerballtux]

neat review thx

 

[soccerballtux]

Personally the real value I see in wearing something on my wrist is in having all the sensors give me data about my life/day and the possibilities that allows for.

Interacting with my phone is better done with my voice in the car and windows phone driving mode and cortana actually does most of the things that impressed you with android wear and the wp driving mode works over bluetooth which pretty much any new car will have. As good as it is though it could be far better and am somewhat surprised google hasn't done more with that yet (but i guess it would make android auto pointless)

there's no reason we can't get the voice control working better. Google just needs to tighten the grip a little on the filtering algorithms and quality and dynamic range from the mics going into the phones; and then they need to stop trying to respond to everything and just teach the user the commands. It's not hard, and if I were in control of google, it wouldn't be a "me-too" for the sake of the shareholders envious of Apple.

 

[Commodus]

Agree 100%. But that is the real question: what is an eye-sore? For those who normally wear watches, anything that doesn't look like their old familiar round friend will be considered an eyesore. Meanwhile to others a less watchlike design (say closer to a fitness tracker) might be more appealing.

I don't think that the general design of normal watches, that basically hasn't changed since the 80s (conservative colors, lots of metal, etc.), is some sort of perfect form for a smartwatch. It might be the best form for an old style watch, but if we force this more dynamic category to ape a relatively ancient design we better have good reasons.

An eyesore is something that looks too much like a tech toy (or just a generic hunk of plastic) on your wrist. A lot of current smartwatches look like the arm-worn equivalent to a cellphone holster -- they're for people who are so obsessed with function that they have no sense of style.

Honestly I think women are key to my point. I mean, you simply CAN'T make a smartwatch that looks like a traditional women's watch that has ANY function. The screen would be too small, and the face size would force terrible compromises like sticking the battery in the band. She just can't wear Android wear to a wedding, she can't wear any smartwatch. I am sure that fine crafted iWatch will still look huge on a female wrist.

An optimal women's smartwatch can't even be created yet. It would be some braclet that at the touch of a button would pop out some folded OLED screen is that multiple times wider than the bracelet is at its widest point. Or one that projected some sort of holo screen ala R2D2. Basically we need a new screen tech that would allow for a decent sized screen to fit in a smaller space. But any smartwatch that accommodates such a design would look NOTHING like a traditional watch. It would look more like a fitness tracker or bracelet, which the way some people talk about smartwatches would be completely unacceptable.

No, it's that most current smartwatches were designed by men, for men, with little to no regard for women. The Apple Watch will have a variant with a 38mm case to accommodate everyone with slim wrists, including many women; for reference, the Moto 360 has a 46mm case (that's larger than the largest Apple Watch, which stops at 42mm). You don't have to make a "girly" smartwatch, you just have to make something that isn't ridiculously huge.

 

[vshah]

i had a moto 360 for a week or so...I enjoyed almost everything you said about it, ambient mode didn't keep the display on enough, and battery life wasn't quite there. I'll try it again when gen2 comes around.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Don't you mean world's most dangerous set of steering wheel controls? I don't see how "hands off wheel, look at watch, swipe swipe tap" to control a music player is better than me simply pressing next/back or vol+/- with my thumb while not removing hands from the wheel or eyes from the road.

And with Sync's Bluetooth, any app that supports being controlled over BT works with the buttons.

Yeah, but what happens when the app DOESN'T support BT controls? That is what is great about Wear, I can force ANY audio app onto my watch by installing an app.

I think Sync has some cool ideas, but it is not even CLOSE to the flexibility of Android Wear. To me the competition is look at my phone vs look at my watch, and of the two the watch is safer.

Until we have real Android in the car (like I can sideload apks Android), nothing will be good enough because there will always be some app that doesn't play ball.

I use Ambient mode on my M360 and I regularly end my day with 15-20% battery life. My M360's day starts at around 9am and I'm home and putting it on it's cradle around 1130-midnight.

What brightness setting do you use otherwise? I have read online and apparently his complaint about the battery life is common.

 

[EricChiam]

Hey poofyhairguy

Actually what type of Android waer smartwatches you sold ?
Moto 360 or LG watch ?
I also have some useful tool for Andriod wear there is Watchface Pro Maker site tool
User can use it to customize own watchface for the Android wear smartwatches. Wish you can enjoy with this watchface maker.

 

[podspi]

I really like my 360. Haven't had any issues w/ battery life even with ambient display on - but I only wear it about 12 hours a day. I do agree that the 360 will probably be the first outdated Wear device (from an app point of view) but I'm not sure I care - these aren't the types of watches you're keeping for decades and passing down to your children - their tiny batteries will go kaput in a few years and then they're going to the trash/recycling.