@2many2no Me either. I made the conscious decision when I realized I had a clock in front of me on my computer screen or in my car all day. And I had a cell phone for those few times I wasn’t in front of either. 18 years ago this month.
I have an old fashioned analog watch that I’ve had so long that the fast fix watch place has regretted selling me the lifetime battery replacement plan.
I’m not going down the smart watch road. A few years ago my wife bought me a wonderful Citizen Eco-Drive. Water resistant to 200m, syncs to USNO Time Server every 24 hours, perpetual calendar, multiple time zones, alarm, chronograph, sapphire crystal. An outstanding watch that I will pass down to my grandson.
@tweezak As I read the words “pass down to my grandson”, I conjured up almost this exact mental image of Mr. Walken (or should I say Captain Koons?), even before I scrolled down below the watch…
I don’t mind them actually, to read, but trying to respond is like looking for the proverbial needle in a bushel of pins, no matter what you do, it’s gonna stab your fingers.
Right now, I’m back to a stupid watch, mine died, and since the OS for the non-crapple watches - the ones that run on a Google OS system - is changing in the next couple of months, it’s time to wait.
@accelerator When my wife bought me the Eco-Drive (also doesn’t need a battery because it’s powered by a solar charged capacitor) I was shopping for a Seiko 5 Sports automatic mechanical out of the Asian gray market. They aren’t fancy but they can be had for about 150 US clams. An excellent timepiece for the money. I’m envious of your Omega. Those are great watches. If you haven’t, you should check out watchuseek.com . Lots of horse trading and stuff and discussions of cool watches.
@Barc777 I’ll check that out. My buddy owns a diamond brokerage and fine watch resale business. He keeps me constantly lusting after new watches, most Rolex watches in 5 figure sale prices. So far I’ve managed to stick with my Omega!
I have a Garmin running watch that can get all sorts of fancy notifications that I do not want on my watch. It’s just too much. Sometimes, it’s good to put the phone down and walk away from it for a little while. If it wasn’t so friggin’ convenient to have music on it or Pokemon Go didn’t exist, I’d put it in a drawer for hours. General social interaction with people is one of the lesser perks of having cell phones.
@zinimusprime You can always shut off your music and interact with the real world. I suppose if you are running or exercising it might be nice but hearing the car that is careening out of control behind you is also nice. Also, pokemon go only exists if you install it.
@zinimusprime If you haven’t done it already, the Smart Notifications section of the Garmin app lets you allow/disallow each app from sending notifications to your watch.
It helps a lot to avoid the annoyances of notification overload and might also make your battery last longer (if you have vibration enabled).
When either a phone or a smart watch is made affordably available with enough screen intensity to make text readable in bright sunlight, I will give a damn about this. Until then, it’s pretty much irrelevant; if I’m indoors, I can get the notifications on the phone perfectly well.
I had a three year old Fitbit that would tell me who sent the text. That was enough, then I could check my texts or not based on importance. The new one I got sends me the actual texts in writing too tiny to read and I can’t tell who it’s from. Useless. There are a lot of things I prefer about that old watch. But this one does have the timer I’d always wanted.
I bought a smartwatch on Meh. It was … meh. Did not improve my smartphone experience at all and was just another thing to fumble with in the mornings and before bed. Would a higher quality smart phone be better? Maybe… but I am unconvinced.
It depends on the conversation. I’d like any from my husband to get through, but sometimes group chat BS winds up buzzing my wrist for half an hour and for whatever reason I can’t mute it from my watch. Argh.
The Garmin app on my phone lets me choose which apps are allowed to send notifications to my device. Thankfully, my friends/family mostly keep spammy group chats in apps like Discord and GroupMe, so I’m free to block those while allowing texts and Google Chat.
It’s so nice to be able to see text messages at a glance while having a conversation or riding my bike or doing anything else that makes picking up my phone slightly inconvenient. Also, smartwatches are now prevalent enough that people don’t think you’re bored and checking your watch for the time.
I was a “real watch” person for years (even wore my first Garmin on my right wrist so I could keep wearing mechanicals on my left), but I’m now fully on the fitness device bandwagon. They’re just so useful.
You’re aaking me if wrist cancer is an improvement on pocket cancer. Meanwhile, I’ve been monitoring and avoiding remission for the better part of a decade.
I don’t wear a watch.
@2many2no Me either. I made the conscious decision when I realized I had a clock in front of me on my computer screen or in my car all day. And I had a cell phone for those few times I wasn’t in front of either. 18 years ago this month.
I have an old fashioned analog watch that I’ve had so long that the fast fix watch place has regretted selling me the lifetime battery replacement plan.
I’m not going down the smart watch road. A few years ago my wife bought me a wonderful Citizen Eco-Drive. Water resistant to 200m, syncs to USNO Time Server every 24 hours, perpetual calendar, multiple time zones, alarm, chronograph, sapphire crystal. An outstanding watch that I will pass down to my grandson.
My watches are smart enough not to have that feature.
@tweezak As I read the words “pass down to my grandson”, I conjured up almost this exact mental image of Mr. Walken (or should I say Captain Koons?), even before I scrolled down below the watch…
@ELJAY Christopher Walken is awesome in that scene. He’s probably also my favorite SNL guest of all time too.
POPSOCKETS! SPA KITS! POLLY POCKETS! AWESOME!
If a smart watch relays spam, is it really smart?
don’t have any sort of watch and also loathe the idea of being even more reachable than a smartphone already makes me.
I don’t mind them actually, to read, but trying to respond is like looking for the proverbial needle in a bushel of pins, no matter what you do, it’s gonna stab your fingers.
Right now, I’m back to a stupid watch, mine died, and since the OS for the non-crapple watches - the ones that run on a Google OS system - is changing in the next couple of months, it’s time to wait.
I don’t have a smart watch nor do I want one.
I don’t even want text notifications on my phone.
What’s all this about watches with smarts? Intrigued, scared, confused, hungry but mostly Meh.
Just part of the reason to wear a smart watch since they frown upon us having our phones out all the time at work.
Can’t use any technology that emanates where I work. So, I wear a Omega Planet Ocean Seamaster. Keeps excellent time and doesn’t need a battery.
@accelerator When my wife bought me the Eco-Drive (also doesn’t need a battery because it’s powered by a solar charged capacitor) I was shopping for a Seiko 5 Sports automatic mechanical out of the Asian gray market. They aren’t fancy but they can be had for about 150 US clams. An excellent timepiece for the money. I’m envious of your Omega. Those are great watches. If you haven’t, you should check out watchuseek.com . Lots of horse trading and stuff and discussions of cool watches.
@accelerator
@Barc777 I’ll check that out. My buddy owns a diamond brokerage and fine watch resale business. He keeps me constantly lusting after new watches, most Rolex watches in 5 figure sale prices. So far I’ve managed to stick with my Omega!
I have a Garmin running watch that can get all sorts of fancy notifications that I do not want on my watch. It’s just too much. Sometimes, it’s good to put the phone down and walk away from it for a little while. If it wasn’t so friggin’ convenient to have music on it or Pokemon Go didn’t exist, I’d put it in a drawer for hours. General social interaction with people is one of the lesser perks of having cell phones.
@zinimusprime You can always shut off your music and interact with the real world. I suppose if you are running or exercising it might be nice but hearing the car that is careening out of control behind you is also nice. Also, pokemon go only exists if you install it.
@zinimusprime If you haven’t done it already, the Smart Notifications section of the Garmin app lets you allow/disallow each app from sending notifications to your watch.
It helps a lot to avoid the annoyances of notification overload and might also make your battery last longer (if you have vibration enabled).
@tweezak Pokemon Go is fun so I choose to acknowledge its existence. Hahaha
I usually use a speaker if I listen to music at home because I want to be available to the kids and all.
Casio G-Shock FTW, no connection capabilities; they just work and keep working.
When either a phone or a smart watch is made affordably available with enough screen intensity to make text readable in bright sunlight, I will give a damn about this. Until then, it’s pretty much irrelevant; if I’m indoors, I can get the notifications on the phone perfectly well.
Neither love it nor hate it, more of a Meh.
@rawhid I like it, I guess, but I could definitely live without it. There are more important features in my smartwatch.
I don’t have a smart watch I’d definitely use one if I had one.
I had a three year old Fitbit that would tell me who sent the text. That was enough, then I could check my texts or not based on importance. The new one I got sends me the actual texts in writing too tiny to read and I can’t tell who it’s from. Useless. There are a lot of things I prefer about that old watch. But this one does have the timer I’d always wanted.
I bought a smartwatch on Meh. It was … meh. Did not improve my smartphone experience at all and was just another thing to fumble with in the mornings and before bed. Would a higher quality smart phone be better? Maybe… but I am unconvinced.
Back in the day I bought a couple of those Martian smart watches from here. (Different colours).
Loved them at first, but after a while it got obnoxious having notifications on my watch.
It depends on the conversation. I’d like any from my husband to get through, but sometimes group chat BS winds up buzzing my wrist for half an hour and for whatever reason I can’t mute it from my watch. Argh.
@jitc American Standard - The Universal Off Button
@tweezak damn. We only have Totos in our new home.
@jitc Give it a try anyway. Report back with your unbiased review.
The Garmin app on my phone lets me choose which apps are allowed to send notifications to my device. Thankfully, my friends/family mostly keep spammy group chats in apps like Discord and GroupMe, so I’m free to block those while allowing texts and Google Chat.
It’s so nice to be able to see text messages at a glance while having a conversation or riding my bike or doing anything else that makes picking up my phone slightly inconvenient. Also, smartwatches are now prevalent enough that people don’t think you’re bored and checking your watch for the time.
I was a “real watch” person for years (even wore my first Garmin on my right wrist so I could keep wearing mechanicals on my left), but I’m now fully on the fitness device bandwagon. They’re just so useful.
You’re aaking me if wrist cancer is an improvement on pocket cancer. Meanwhile, I’ve been monitoring and avoiding remission for the better part of a decade.