wearable device suggestion

Bigbacon

Fully [H]
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Jul 12, 2007
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So Microsoft is killing off the MS band in May.....and I used my Band 2 all the time for non health stuff.

I used it a lot for notifications, sms get and send, and some other random things. That will all stop. I need a new solution that is NOT AN APPLE DEVICE.

Has to be able to get notifications, sms, email, from things like ebay, facebook but i also need to be able to respond to certain things, especially SMS, using it. The band has an on screen keyboard which is great.

If it does health tracking stuff that is fine too.

Can't be a huge gaudy thing like a lot of smart watches.
 
Samsung gear fit 2 pro is pretty damn close but its pretty old now and I don't think it has a keyboard option for sms reply.
 
Fitbit... Those devices don't even talk to Apple.

Fitbit devices certainly talk to iPhones! There is a bit of functionality lost, but you can pull in notifications and such.

But given the Anything But Apple mindset of the OP, I'm pretty sure they're using an Android phone as it is.
 
So Microsoft is killing off the MS band in May.....and I used my Band 2 all the time for non health stuff.

I used it a lot for notifications, sms get and send, and some other random things. That will all stop. I need a new solution that is NOT AN APPLE DEVICE.

Has to be able to get notifications, sms, email, from things like ebay, facebook but i also need to be able to respond to certain things, especially SMS, using it. The band has an on screen keyboard which is great.

If it does health tracking stuff that is fine too.

Can't be a huge gaudy thing like a lot of smart watches.

The Fitbit Versa would be my pick, but if not that, maybe Samsung's new Galaxy Watch Active. They're both smartwatches, but they're reasonably sized and have decent ecosystems.
 
Fitbit devices certainly talk to iPhones! There is a bit of functionality lost, but you can pull in notifications and such.

But given the Anything But Apple mindset of the OP, I'm pretty sure they're using an Android phone as it is.
No where near the level of integration to Android phones. It's more like a blind date with no conversation.
 
Fitbit devices certainly talk to iPhones! There is a bit of functionality lost, but you can pull in notifications and such.

But given the Anything But Apple mindset of the OP, I'm pretty sure they're using an Android phone as it is.

I am android, i just refuse to own an apple product.

I find the watches pretty gaudy.
 
I am android, i just refuse to own an apple product.

I find the watches pretty gaudy.

I don't think gaudy is the word to describe it, unless you saw one that someone blinged out with RGB all over it. It looks just like any other smartwatch. Anyways, I was an android guy until last week, I finally went back to the dark side and got an iphone xr and apple watch 4 after my buddy came over and showed me his watch and told me his thoughts on it. Between us, we've owned just about every android smartwatch there is and none of them compare to the apple watch. I know that's not what you want to hear, but my only suggestion would be to go with a Fitbit watch and not even bother with any of the android watches.

*edit: Or wait and see if google releases the rumored pixel watch.
 
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i will look at fitbit things. I think the major problem is none of them have reply abilities other than quick replies.

gaudy isn't right. usually just too big and bulky looking. I have small arms and wrists and they just look goofy as fuck on me.

think my overall problem is I want the keyboard option. it was great even on that small screen but it seems no one else wants that ability on anything.
 
Fitbit or Gear as others mentioned is one of the few options. WearOS is fine, it's just that the underlying hardware sucks- Qualcomm doesn't care, and the chipsets that most use- 2100 or 3100- are just out of date. Battery life is terrible and as a consequence you might get a single good day out of the wearable depending on the battery capacity. The iWatch has the benefit of Apple controlling everything- they deigned the spftware, chipsets, etc and as a result, the longevity is quite good- my LTE will go for about two solid days without a charge using cellular only. My LG Sport (also LTE) will go about 18 hours.

I truly wish this wasn't the state of affairs with WearOS devices, but this is sadly the case- until Google steps up and perhaps invests some resources into some better silicon, I doubt things will get better any time soon... and by then it may be too late for the platform.

As for Gear- the last I owned as a 4g capable S2. The companion software on my non-galaxy phone really reduced my battery life.
 
So I tried the Gear Fit 2 Pro... It is pretty damn close to the Band 2. I also even made a watch face the mimic'd the look of the band 2.....

sadly...the damn thing pretty much broke after 1/2 a day. It stopped tracking ANYTHING. It became a glorified watch/notification center with in 4 hours. Nothing I did fixed. Totally piece of shit.
 
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