So, something I did today. It's a little bulkier than I would prefer. The strap is pretty inelegant and may well be replaced. But I'm in the future now, and you can all feel free to join me whenever you like.
I've loved the idea of smartwatches since before the first prototype even existed. They're what people from the future wear. You, grand cynic, might think they are lame or pointless or even dorky, but I do not fear your scorn. I embrace this incoming technology with ironclad arms.
To that end, I finally got one. There have been a lot of different ones I have been interested in over the years and the good ones have all always been prohibitively expensive purchases for me. But yesterday I found a Motorola Motoactv on Craigslist. Retails for $205; it's a great little device:
The wrist strap an extra $20-30. That makes it look like this:
Had to drive down to Miami, but I got both from the dude for $125. Too good a deal to pass up; thank you Craig.
Full disclosure: this isn't so much a true smartwatch as it is a really good fitness tracker with smartwatch-like features. I really got it because I've been getting a lot into personal fitness over the past few months and have started biking a lot again and just generally being more active, and it has some really awesome tracking features (I'll get to that).
But first off, I had a rather odd and enlightening experience.
I started playing around with it and I found it to be an obviously cool and fully functional device with some annoying flaws. There seemed to be no setting to keep its screen on all-times at low brightness or anything of the sort, meaning you always had to hit a button to see the time. It struck me as silly how little companies thought about this because it so severely limits the functionality as a watch. Then I noticed how little there was in the way of smartphone interoperability. Luckily I only have Motorola phones (yay Verizon + keyboard -_-), so it all set up flawlessly, but only text and calls would actually come through the watch. A lot of the review mentioned low battery life as a big con. Finally, it does WiFi syncing of all fitness data which is a feature that I was really looking forward to, but... the app it came with doesn't let you add hidden SSIDs, which mine is. Derp.
The screen is really nice, smooth, and responsive, and the software is polished, but these are big flaws. So after that I was resigned to having a very cool little fitness device that I'd use for rides and workouts and not much else.
Then I updated the firmware.
Now this thing is fucking awesome.
As the updates were installing I read through the changelogs. It's like they were written for me personally.
Some cool features that were added to my watch before my eyes:
Some updates that almost double the stock battery life and add a bunch (40+) of custom activities that weren't available before. Then there's:
And finally, just 8 days ago:
This thing is perfect for me really. It can track all my fitness stuff, bike routes, calories burned, average speed, etc., and it'll sync it wirelessly every time I come home. I can get a text or facebook message and look at my watch to see what it is. I can get a call, look at my wrist to see who's calling, and then answer on my bluetooth headset (also a motorola product... I swear I'm not a shill for them), no wires. It's waterproof enough to run in the rain or shower with it on. 7GB of music storage, and it can even track which songs you perform the best with during workouts and compile a "peak workout" playlist. ANT+ support for stuff like wireless heart rate monitors, etc.
Really impressive tech. For the curious, it's apparently been rooted and all that good stuff.
After how overwhelmingly successful the very clever Pebble kickstarter was, it's clear that these kinds of devices are going to be embraced.
Are you planning to get one? Are there features you need that just aren't there yet? Too costly (I'd never have paid over 200 for this thing)?
TL,DR: I got a Motoactv, updated the firmware and it is a sweet piece of tech and my new fulltime smartwatch. What are your thoughts on smartwatches at present and in the future?
I've loved the idea of smartwatches since before the first prototype even existed. They're what people from the future wear. You, grand cynic, might think they are lame or pointless or even dorky, but I do not fear your scorn. I embrace this incoming technology with ironclad arms.
To that end, I finally got one. There have been a lot of different ones I have been interested in over the years and the good ones have all always been prohibitively expensive purchases for me. But yesterday I found a Motorola Motoactv on Craigslist. Retails for $205; it's a great little device:
The wrist strap an extra $20-30. That makes it look like this:
Had to drive down to Miami, but I got both from the dude for $125. Too good a deal to pass up; thank you Craig.
Full disclosure: this isn't so much a true smartwatch as it is a really good fitness tracker with smartwatch-like features. I really got it because I've been getting a lot into personal fitness over the past few months and have started biking a lot again and just generally being more active, and it has some really awesome tracking features (I'll get to that).
But first off, I had a rather odd and enlightening experience.
I started playing around with it and I found it to be an obviously cool and fully functional device with some annoying flaws. There seemed to be no setting to keep its screen on all-times at low brightness or anything of the sort, meaning you always had to hit a button to see the time. It struck me as silly how little companies thought about this because it so severely limits the functionality as a watch. Then I noticed how little there was in the way of smartphone interoperability. Luckily I only have Motorola phones (yay Verizon + keyboard -_-), so it all set up flawlessly, but only text and calls would actually come through the watch. A lot of the review mentioned low battery life as a big con. Finally, it does WiFi syncing of all fitness data which is a feature that I was really looking forward to, but... the app it came with doesn't let you add hidden SSIDs, which mine is. Derp.
The screen is really nice, smooth, and responsive, and the software is polished, but these are big flaws. So after that I was resigned to having a very cool little fitness device that I'd use for rides and workouts and not much else.
Then I updated the firmware.
Now this thing is fucking awesome.
As the updates were installing I read through the changelogs. It's like they were written for me personally.
Some cool features that were added to my watch before my eyes:
Yeah this is awesome. Once you get used to it this works incredibly well. You can blow peoples' minds with this feature honestly; it looks like it just turns on when you go to check the time. One down.
Some updates that almost double the stock battery life and add a bunch (40+) of custom activities that weren't available before. Then there's:
Now you can add feeds from Facebook, Twitter and Accuweather (not mentioned but it's on the market and it's actually my favorite concept). Touché.
And finally, just 8 days ago:
...huh. Well that's all my major concerns gone. Now it basically won't come off my wrist.
This thing is perfect for me really. It can track all my fitness stuff, bike routes, calories burned, average speed, etc., and it'll sync it wirelessly every time I come home. I can get a text or facebook message and look at my watch to see what it is. I can get a call, look at my wrist to see who's calling, and then answer on my bluetooth headset (also a motorola product... I swear I'm not a shill for them), no wires. It's waterproof enough to run in the rain or shower with it on. 7GB of music storage, and it can even track which songs you perform the best with during workouts and compile a "peak workout" playlist. ANT+ support for stuff like wireless heart rate monitors, etc.
Really impressive tech. For the curious, it's apparently been rooted and all that good stuff.
After how overwhelmingly successful the very clever Pebble kickstarter was, it's clear that these kinds of devices are going to be embraced.
Are you planning to get one? Are there features you need that just aren't there yet? Too costly (I'd never have paid over 200 for this thing)?
TL,DR: I got a Motoactv, updated the firmware and it is a sweet piece of tech and my new fulltime smartwatch. What are your thoughts on smartwatches at present and in the future?
