Let's talk about smart watches!

[edcoolio]

Alright. I officially have a kind of love-hate thing with this watch.

The battery drain issue is fixed. My phone drains at a normal rate now. The tick box must have fixed it, because the MTK Bluetooth dropped completely out of my battery monitor as the leading cause of drain and everything is good.

I've had numerous compliments on the style of this watch. I even mentioned that I thought it was too big, but the people I was with insisted it went well with my "mojo".

I can definitely take calls through the watch. I've done it inadvertently twice now. The calls come through loud and clear. Loud enough for everyone within 25 feet of me to hear. Even though it'd be a sweet feature for the right person, I wish I could disable it altogether for me.

I can also play music through the watch. I have done this inadvertently as well. Loud and clear.

After 30 hours of use, the watch's battery is about 70%.

I guess my biggest beef is that the watch simply does too much. It does everything I want it to, but all the extras I find annoying. I wish I had some advanced settings to disable 90% of what this thing is trying to do. I also wish it had a smaller footprint. Bluetooth pairing seems kind of buggy right now. It works well 95% of the time. Every time it pairs it re-sets the setting to route my calls through the watch instead of through the phone (or through my car).

Even though the watch is pretty awesome, I suspect I'll continue to use this for another week tops before losing interest altogether. Stupid crappy attention span.

Thanks for the updates - in particular the size/weight thoughts.

It sounds as if the biggest problem with the device (other than bluetooth) is the inability to disable functions. Personally, even the off chance of my evil devil music starting to play from my wrist during a business meeting is enough to make me think twice (three time, four times...) about such a device. I have never had this problem with older watch-phones and frankly, it never would have occurred to me that this could be an issue.

When I use mine, I always have it paired via bluetooth to my Samsung pen device or headset. So, out of morbid curiosity, if the external speaker volume is turned all the way down (or muted), is the bluetooth volume also turned down? Basically, I'm wondering if bluetooth volume can be left alone but the device external speaker be turned off, thus removing the possibility for an embarrassing moment.

Also, thinking that these types of devices are essentially wholly dependant on bluetooth to make them useful (earpieces, car pairing, music headphones, etc), do you think that even though it works 95% of the time, the pairing failure rate is high enough to have to check it for proper function each and every time? I have to admit that this would not only drive me insane but also be another deal breaker.

Thanks for the information, it is highly appreciated. I'm very close myself to getting a Samsung Gear S, but the fact that to make a lot of the functions work I need to have one of my Samsung phones is giving me pause (that, plus no Android OS, so no standard apps on the device).

Currently, I'm on the lookout for a minimum dual core, 512MB RAM, TF (or lots of ROM), Android 4.2 or higher w/play store, relatively thin capacitive display device, bluetooth, AND 850MHz enabled 3G watch phone. If you come across something like that, I would love to hear about it. There are a fair amount that have come close, but fail with a lack of 3G, low ROM/no TF, older Android, no play store, or are fat enough to have an encampment outside of McDonalds.

[Buschmann]

I think all of you not use no.1 g2 before, it is nice than others, bluetooth 4.0, MT2502A cpu, built-in infrared remote-control television set-top boxes. Call logs, contacts. Independent music player, heart rate sensor, pedometer Exercise can also connect a Bluetooth headset to listen to independent music inside the watch, etc.

[edcoolio]

I think all of you not use no.1 g2 before, it is nice than others, bluetooth 4.0, MT2502A cpu, built-in infrared remote-control television set-top boxes. Call logs, contacts. Independent music player, heart rate sensor, pedometer Exercise can also connect a Bluetooth headset to listen to independent music inside the watch, etc.

Have YOU used the No.1 G2 before... since it is "nicer than others"?? If so, what were your impressions of the device in day to day use? Maybe not a full on review, but at least the basics...

It sounds like a fine, but basic Samsung Gear 2 copy, bluetooth watch with a smaller and inferior screen (TFT 240x240 screen, gorilla glass "copy"). So for around $70, it seems well priced, but does not fulfill my personal needs.

This having been said, I think it is mildly interesting for those without Samsung products that need something that works with their phones. There are so many of these clones out there that it is getting tough for me to differentiate them.

I'm still looking for my white whale from my post above, and so are many others that I know!

[WuddaWaste]

I think I have to clarify my review. It's been over a week since I stopped using it, and I've had a little bit of time to reflect.

To me, the biggest issue with the M26 watch is the lack of software support. Specifically, I'd like to see a legit Play Store app. GearBest has a link to an APK on their website. The watch itself comes with a QR code that links to another APK. Even though these APKs say right next to them "virus free" I'm just not convinced to give them full access to practically everything on my phone.

Because of the above problem, I was using a work-around app.

I think it was namely that which caused my experience to feel like such a clunky hack.

In regards to your question about Bluetooth volume -- I think you nailed the problem. If my BT volume was also down, I doubt streaming music to the device would have been a problem.

The pairing failure rate was an issue, but probably only because of my hackware. It was super annoying. That (and other issues) led me to think of the device itself as a burden rather than a tool which alleviates burden.

Ultimately, my phone (admittedly still running JellyBean) tried to treat the watch as if it were a Bluetooth headset. It would prioritize the watch for phone calls and for music when it was paired, namely because that's the default setting for BT headsets. Back in the JB days, headsets and car stereos were probably 90%+ of what we used Bluetooth for. If there was another set of settings in there where I could elect what data to send to the watch, it'd have been a much smoother experience.

[edcoolio]

I think I have to clarify my review. It's been over a week since I stopped using it, and I've had a little bit of time to reflect.

To me, the biggest issue with the M26 watch is the lack of software support. Specifically, I'd like to see a legit Play Store app. GearBest has a link to an APK on their website. The watch itself comes with a QR code that links to another APK. Even though these APKs say right next to them "virus free" I'm just not convinced to give them full access to practically everything on my phone.

Because of the above problem, I was using a work-around app.

I think it was namely that which caused my experience to feel like such a clunky hack.

In regards to your question about Bluetooth volume -- I think you nailed the problem. If my BT volume was also down, I doubt streaming music to the device would have been a problem.

The pairing failure rate was an issue, but probably only because of my hackware. It was super annoying. That (and other issues) led me to think of the device itself as a burden rather than a tool which alleviates burden.

Ultimately, my phone (admittedly still running JellyBean) tried to treat the watch as if it were a Bluetooth headset. It would prioritize the watch for phone calls and for music when it was paired, namely because that's the default setting for BT headsets. Back in the JB days, headsets and car stereos were probably 90%+ of what we used Bluetooth for. If there was another set of settings in there where I could elect what data to send to the watch, it'd have been a much smoother experience.

Those are very interesting observations. After all, longer term use is what it is about, not to mention day to day livability. Just out of curiosity, would you consider using the .apk(s) available to see if there is a significant difference? Or are the permissions issues far too dangerous to attempt? Maybe a spare/hack phone is the only way to go for messing around with this...

Most of what these watches do (the pure bluetooth ones at least) can be cool, but if it cannot do the basics, I'm sure it is frustrating. If it cannot keep a proper bluetooth connection, then it is maddening!

[WuddaWaste]

Yeah, so I already did download it onto another phone. It's wildly different. The official app that's linked from Gearbest looks like a fitness app with a girl running on the front or something. I didn't actually try using the watch with it, though. I'll try again next time I'm home and have time.