Android Wear watches: review and reviews

In 1966, the magazine "Technique of Youth" was published with smart watches on the cover. Already at that time, everything was predicted and a foregone conclusion, and they were not mistaken, these futuristic gadgets from the past look like this now. Electronics really became wearable. It is gaining momentum and becoming more popular, people love modern gadgets, especially interesting ones like fitness trackers or smart watches. Therefore, manufacturers are increasingly looking at this market, introducing more and more new products.

Android Wear watches: what is it and why?

Android Wear is one of the most promising and advanced platforms for wearable electronics. This is an operating system for watches, created for unification in the same way as regular Android is created to provide all manufacturers with a single platform. Initially, this platform was experimental, like most Google products, and was created as the main competitor to Apple Watch. It has all the features characteristic of a smart watch for communication, receiving notifications, playing sports and many other features. We'll talk about all that Android Wear watches are capable of next.

First of all, it’s a watch.

Although it’s “smart”, it’s still a chronometer, which means it must always provide its owner with accurate time.

The smartphone, to which the watch is connected, is responsible for the accuracy of time, data is synchronized between two devices. When changing the time zone, the time on the watch will change too. This is possible thanks to geolocation services (the first important advantage compared to conventional watches).

The clock display does not light constantly (although it may be at the request of the user), it usually lights up only when the owner raises his hand.

An important feature of the platform and the main difference from the Apple Watch is the presence of a dial store. There are plenty of them on Google Play, any user will definitely find something to their taste. The collection includes both dials imitating well-known brands and completely unusual solutions, such as using only images or text.

It’s also a good secretary.

Speaking of smart watches, you can't keep silent about notifications. Many users don’t dwell on these toys just because they no longer miss calls and important messages.

Notifications come from a smartphone; accordingly, synchronization is required.

Fortunately, there is also a setting, which notifications to receive and which not worth it. This is very important, as applications like Facebook or Twitter can be easily reached.

But it will be very convenient with instant messengers and mail. You can even reply to a message, for this a small swipe keyboard or voice input will come to your aid .

Google Now: All the information on your wrist

One of the best uses for watches is, of course, using a voice assistant or assistant like Google Now or Siri. In the case of Android Wear, it’s still more interesting, because Google Now knows a lot of information about you and knows how to present it correctly. It is enough to raise your wrist, as you will see: weather forecast, results of recent matches, new release, scheduled meetings and much more, which may be useful in a particular situation.

As for the calendar, Google Now collects information not only about your meetings, but also about the venue, which means that by looking at your watch you will also see how much time will be spent on the road and where you need to move.

Here it is the future, all the information on the wrist.

Programs and applications

The number of applications is growing, and growing very quickly, both large developers and beginners, who decided to try themselves in this field, pulled themselves into the Google Play store.

At the moment, I want to distinguish three categories of applications that are of particular popularity.

Organizers and task managers. The first thing that watch owners think about is productivity. Many popular programs have already been ported to Android Wear watches, for example, Evernote - a popular cross-platform notebook or Todoist - to-do manager with a capital letter.

Dials. Although they have already been discussed, it is still one of the most popular categories, people really like to change their dials.

Fitness Applications for sports, fortunately, have gained quite a high popularity among owners of wearable electronics. Smart watches Android Wear offer a whole catalog of programs for running, cycling and even powerlifting.

It is also worth noting that the watch is great for ordering a taxi or eating at home, searching for information on the Internet or listening to music. Complete with Bluetooth headphones, the Android Wear watch can be an excellent replacement for the player. If you take into account the fact that the watch received GPS and 3G-modules, then the situation is quite real when you leave your giant smartphone at home and go for a light walk, because your watch is now as smart as your phone.

Key Market Representatives

Since the advent of Android Wear, many manufacturers have already attempted to enter a new market, but most of them, unfortunately, fail, because it is not so easy to interest the user and force them to buy such an ambiguous device. Serious players are needed, and among them so far only Sony and Motorola. Moreover, many manufacturers did not contact this system at all, for example, Samsung makes watches on its own platform, Pebble did the same.

So, let's take a look at the best Android Wear watches. We meet a high-tech product from Sony and a chic timepiece from Motorola.

Sony Smartwatch 3

Sony, although it stands apart from the rest of the representatives of the Android world, always presents technological innovations among the first. It happened with a watch, Sony, without thinking twice, threw their Smartwatch to the market, which did not know much in the first version, but had an interesting, stylish appearance.

The second version of the watch was much more advanced. But still far from its closest competitors.

The turning point was the release of the third version of the watch. Sony Smartwatch 3 was the first watch with a full-fledged, stand-alone GPS module, which immediately won respect among manufacturers and users. The GPS module in this watch turned out to be surprisingly accurate, in this parameter it exceeded even specialized devices.

Users spoke warmly about the new watch model, an updated version of the software facilitated communication using the watch and gave them a lot of new features.

Unfortunately, the operating time is not impressive; it was always low and remains so today.

Moto 360

The Motorola gadget is the first of its kind to be able to connect to Wi-Fi without a smartphone. The device also has GPS tracking and a clean Android Wear system.

The functionality of both gadgets is similar, but the Moto 360, unlike many market representatives, has an elegant design with a round display.

The watch is often criticized for its extremely short run time and a cropped display (everything was done to please the design). Practical Android users, for the most part, refused to purchase in favor of more advanced devices.

Next, let's talk about another category of devices. Chinese watches on Android Wear.

SmartQ Z Watch

Smart Q is one of the representatives of consumer goods. Why is such a plain gadget included in the list of the best? He was here only because it is the cheapest Android Wear watch that you can use at least somehow.

The characteristics are generally modest, even less than the manufacturer claims, but the device works, it has a microphone and a headphone jack, which means it can play music and supports communication applications, which already makes the watch useful, and considering the price, smart device.

GT08

Another Chinese smart watch Android Wear, only this time we have a real work of art, namely a copy of the Apple Watch. Frankly, it’s a very mediocre and cheap copy that works on Android.

Among the functions, the manufacturer notes: sleep tracking, calls (real calls, you can insert a SIM card directly into the watch), a built-in pedometer, player, calorie counting and much more. They even found a place for the camera (!). In general, a full-fledged Android Wear watch, it's a pity it's a fake.

Despite such a rich functionality, the watch behaves unpredictably, hold less charge than stated, and often fail even in simple tasks.

conclusions

Speaking specifically about Android Wear, then, probably, everything could be simpler and more understandable. Now the device is still perceived heavily, despite all its advantages, and the technical aspect, including the battery, is suffering terribly.

Acquiring smart watches even now is a risky business. It’s far from the fact that such an outlandish product will be liked and useful, so it’s worth starting with something cheaper.