Smartwatch software support lags well behind smartphone pledges, even from Google and Samsung, but this really shouldn’t be the case.
Garmin
Maybe they can, but my experience with them was so horribly bad that I’ve sent it back after 3 days trying. From hardware issues that got through quality control somehow, software incompetence and finally the cloud-everything-approach.
If that’s the best we got, we’re in trouble…
Oh bummer. I’ve had great experiences. I’ve had two Fenix watches. The first one for 5 years and it still worked great I just wanted to upgrade. The second one I’ve had for two and it’s just as good but with more features
But hardware support is just not there, I’ve mailed them to try to buy a new screen, they just made me an offer to send the old one and get a new one for a “good deal”. It makes me sad when I know how dar good these watches are.
Casio gang. You don’t use all that bullshit anyway.
This is the way.
Start demanding or refusing to purchase. You don’t need these things, we need to break this flawed cycle.
Completely agree. My main watches are a Casio G-shock, 10 year battery, 200m waterproof (Mine dived with me to 32 m two days ago), A Cressi Diver’s dual time (I have had to replace the battery after 4 years), and the iconic Seiko sknx007 Diver’s automatic.
My watch is a tough, good looking, and well engineered device to give me the time, and in my case a rotating bezel to time the dive.
I hate the idea of a prissy thing you can’t take for a swim in the pool, with a battery life measured in days, and that mostly replicates functions in the phone already in my pocket.
No thanks.
Been using my pebble for 10 years.
Still the best one IMO.
I ended up going back to the watch of my childhood; a Timex Ironman Indiglo. Until laws are passed that require smartwatch makers to open the devices for FOSS ROM development once the model has reached the end of its lifecycle, I don’t much see the point of owning one.
Just because the watch doesn’t get software updates doesn’t turn it into a brick. It still does everything it used to do until something breaks.
The original Apple Watch “Series 0” still works fine with the latest iPhones and iOS. I’m not sure about android wear devices but I’d assume they work fine too.
There’s not a smartwatch battery in existence that’ll last 10 years, and most smart watches will struggle with water resistance after a battery replacement (kind of important for a watch). Not saying that excuses the lack of software support, just pointing out there are bigger considerations one may want to make when purchasing a watch if they want it to last that long.
There is, my Pebble 2 is showing 30% and I last charged it on Friday. It’s gonna turn 8 in a few months. The key is making something with 10 day battery life so that it takes ten years to hit the lifespan of 400 or so charge cycles, and not something that needs to be recharged daily which barely lasts a year.
Does it still last 10 days, of course not, but 4-5 days after 8 years is still perfectly usable.
Not if the manufacturer makes the same adhesive gasket that they use at the factory available
plus, as with smartphone batteries, they will need replacing in a relatively short amount of time. Are they user replaceable?
Smartphones are less likely to require water resistance than a watch
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There are many legitimate issues with Hauwei, I have a very similar watch, but undermining Google’s centralisation of the app store is not one of them. The main one is that if I would let it connect to my phone after I set it up, it would be sending lots of personal data to Hauwei and the CCP. And, of course, it’s a proprietary OS with no alternatives and not much customisation. But it is the best option under £60.
I simply walk back to my older analogue watch. Its strap wqs broken and battery drained. Despite being left to dust for like 3 years (it’s 7 years old now), a simple replacement of strap and battery make it works again. While smartwatch does offer a lot of features, it comes with the trade off of the requirement to be constantly recharged, and I don’t need those features. As a lazy ass person, I think it’s rather inconvenient, which ironically changed my habit of wearing watches whenever possible.
My coros sports watch is on year 5, still days of battery life, no bugs, behaves as bought. Granted it has limited non sport tasks, but I think 7 is entirely possible Edit days of battery if I use it for gps sports tracking once a day, for over an hour, which I normally do
Days of battery life…
My casio G-shock, a no-bullshit über-tough, good looking, practical time-telling device, is on YEAR SIX of the original battery, and comes scuba diving with me.
Keep your days-of-battery watch, I’ll keep mine.
No one is asking you to switch your watch. Different people have different needs.
My post says precisely that
It clearly comes off as a dig at watches like mine, oddly hostile
That’s cool. I’ll revise my statement too.
I get weeks of battery if I never used it for gps tracking, sports stuff.
Days if I go on a run or a hike every day, which I usually do.
Totally different machines
Yeah and until this is the case, I’ll just use a fitness watch, that does almost all the same, but did cost me just 35€. Using it since 5 years. Battery lasts 2 weeks still. Is watertight too.
I say at least 10 years of support should be doable, a smart watch is less complex than a phone. Maybe 5 if it can connect to the internet.
Even with the Apple Series Watch they only get 5 years. We deserve 7.
