Do I really need to compose emails or check calendars on my wrist?
Like many people, Covid changed my various habits. Going from wearing a wrist watch every day for most of my life – owning a watch for almost every occasion – I fell out of the habit during lockdown. Then, after some minor health issues, I decided to buy a smart watch, primarily to monitor my heart rate and record steps and activities. I considered the top smartwatches from the big players (Google, Apple, Garmin etc,) and considered them extremely overpriced for what they were.
After a lot of research I decided upon the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro3. Primarily because, as a google user, it ran on Google WearOS therefore allowing integration with my existing apps, with plus it advertised a longer battery life than the competition.
As soon as this watch was unboxed, it was immediately apparent how big this thing was! Fine if you want to look like a mountaineer, F1 driver or commando, but if you plan to wear it most of the time for monitoring purposes it’s just too big, especially if wearing over night in bed. However, I chucked myself into the idea, installing maps, email, WhatsApp, calendar, Spotify etc, etc.
When you think about it, the idea of even wanting to compose emails or texts on your wrist via a keyboard about the same size as a postage stamp is totally absurd. Never mind taking calls on it and talking to the back of your hand like a covert FBI agent. Many of these features won’t work without being connected to your phone anyway, so you may as well take your phone out of your pocket anyway.
These points considered, plus the fact that the ‘long’ battery life was still only about three days, it very soon became apparent that this watch, although very capable, was just beyond what I needed.
I bought a Fitbit Versa 4 to replace it. This is much more compact and comfortable on the wrist, does everything I really have a for that is: time, step tracking and heart monitoring, plus a couple of Brucie bonuses, namely: Google wallet, WhatsApp/text notifications, Google map instructions and YouTube music control. The battery life is a much more respectable 6-7 days too. All in all very happy. Sometimes less is better.
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