I bought a cheap smartwatch from the wally world. Yes, right before Santa arrives. It was featured in an article I read and was on an early Black Friday sale. I was curious about actual step counts because I have an app on my phone but it only works if I'm carrying it. Also, sometimes it glitches and I don't notice until days later. Anyway, we'll see. It's an inexpensive experiment. Stay tuned/keep reading.
I don't usually wear watches so it is in the Feels Weird stage. I bought one for Kevin also because he’s been struggling with wearing an analog watch so I thought this might be good for him. Also: provide a distraction for him.
A few days later, I liked having the information but the user guide is not a user guide so that's challenging. The internet wasn’t much more help but I think some of the struggle was I just wasn’t being patient. I could receive calls and make calls but not texts and only if my phone was nearby. It felt like I used it more for the health features. I believe a more patient person would have more success than I did. Result of the original cheap watch experiment: good for a child who is too young for a phone or for tracking health data. Not a waste of $30 for me.
But now Kevin was kind of into it so I looked at getting a real smart watch. OVERNIGHT they went up $50. OVERNIGHT.
I ordered him a Galaxy 7 watch and it arrived in two days. Set up was easy and seamless. Except: it is not the kind he needed. He needs an "LTE Enabled" watch and not a "Bluetooth" watch. SIGH. He needs LTE Enabled so he doesn't have to carry his personal phone at work. Otherwise he has a phone on each hip like a modern day gunslinger. This is so he doesn't miss a call from or about his dad. I’m not sure how we didn’t think of this sooner.
I ordered the correct one and have been dithering on keeping the "wrong" one for myself. I left it out of site on my desk for a few days to ponder. It’s clearly a much better watch than the experiment watch. Also, I do like shiny new electronical things. Kevin doesn't care if I keep it, other than now we've completely blown the Cheap Watch Experiment.
Then I thought: I'm going to have an inheritance someday. Probably. Maybe. So I'm going to keep it. I'm going to order a new band because this one has an Army grey/green color. They have orange ones but I'm not sure I'm ready for such a bright color.
SO THEN, the second watch arrived and I made an appointment at the carrier store to set it up. I couldn’t get it to connect with his phone. This is where I say that be careful about where you purchase a smart watch. Although I made sure it was “unlocked”, it would not connect with the carrier. Because: of course not. This hasn’t been frustrating at all, but I'm silly for being surprised that something didn't happen seamlessly this year.
We’re now on watch #3 for Kevin, #4 total because I did end up keeping the Galaxy watch.
A few days later, I liked having the information but the user guide is not a user guide so that's challenging. The internet wasn’t much more help but I think some of the struggle was I just wasn’t being patient. I could receive calls and make calls but not texts and only if my phone was nearby. It felt like I used it more for the health features. I believe a more patient person would have more success than I did. Result of the original cheap watch experiment: good for a child who is too young for a phone or for tracking health data. Not a waste of $30 for me.
But now Kevin was kind of into it so I looked at getting a real smart watch. OVERNIGHT they went up $50. OVERNIGHT.
I ordered him a Galaxy 7 watch and it arrived in two days. Set up was easy and seamless. Except: it is not the kind he needed. He needs an "LTE Enabled" watch and not a "Bluetooth" watch. SIGH. He needs LTE Enabled so he doesn't have to carry his personal phone at work. Otherwise he has a phone on each hip like a modern day gunslinger. This is so he doesn't miss a call from or about his dad. I’m not sure how we didn’t think of this sooner.
I ordered the correct one and have been dithering on keeping the "wrong" one for myself. I left it out of site on my desk for a few days to ponder. It’s clearly a much better watch than the experiment watch. Also, I do like shiny new electronical things. Kevin doesn't care if I keep it, other than now we've completely blown the Cheap Watch Experiment.
Then I thought: I'm going to have an inheritance someday. Probably. Maybe. So I'm going to keep it. I'm going to order a new band because this one has an Army grey/green color. They have orange ones but I'm not sure I'm ready for such a bright color.
SO THEN, the second watch arrived and I made an appointment at the carrier store to set it up. I couldn’t get it to connect with his phone. This is where I say that be careful about where you purchase a smart watch. Although I made sure it was “unlocked”, it would not connect with the carrier. Because: of course not. This hasn’t been frustrating at all, but I'm silly for being surprised that something didn't happen seamlessly this year.
We’re now on watch #3 for Kevin, #4 total because I did end up keeping the Galaxy watch.
I returned both cheap watches, which I felt badly about because they were adequate FOR ME. So that return went toward a small percentage of one smart watch. I returned the ”wrong” watch and ordered the orange watch band for me. We're not talking about the environmental impact of all this running around for a silly smart watch.
But wait, there’s more. As if 2024 couldn’t eff with us enough, Kevin’s watch is on backorder. Because I chose to do this during the holiday season. To be fair, this started before Thanksgiving! It’s been a week and it “should” be there by the 20th. Yes, the 20th. Poor Kevin. At least this gave me time to figure out how my watch worked for helping Kevin set up his, providing it ever arrives.
I did end up ordering another watch band for Kevin also. The salesperson suggested getting a cloth band because the silicon bands can be itchy and cloth is easier to adjust as the body changes throughout the day. I have an orange one now and I actually really like it. My fear that it would be too bright turned to naught. Not to say that if I like the feel of Kevin’s new band, I won’t switch again. Spoiler Alert: I liked the cloth band better. Now I have this one:
But wait, there’s more. As if 2024 couldn’t eff with us enough, Kevin’s watch is on backorder. Because I chose to do this during the holiday season. To be fair, this started before Thanksgiving! It’s been a week and it “should” be there by the 20th. Yes, the 20th. Poor Kevin. At least this gave me time to figure out how my watch worked for helping Kevin set up his, providing it ever arrives.
I did end up ordering another watch band for Kevin also. The salesperson suggested getting a cloth band because the silicon bands can be itchy and cloth is easier to adjust as the body changes throughout the day. I have an orange one now and I actually really like it. My fear that it would be too bright turned to naught. Not to say that if I like the feel of Kevin’s new band, I won’t switch again. Spoiler Alert: I liked the cloth band better. Now I have this one:
This experiment has provided yet another perfect example of how 2024 has been for us. But this is also very much a first world problem so no whining. EXCEPT...I called on the 20th for an order update and the call center (grrrr) said it was at the store. We went down and...nope. Not only was it NOT at the store, the order had somehow been CANCELLED. WUT.
Kevin was all WHATEVER, I DON'T EVEN WANT IT NOW. Except he did. The store manager got involved and we drove to ANOTHER COUNTY the next morning to pick up his watch. They set it all up for him so it was ready to use when we left the store. Because heaven help us all if if it didn't work perfectly at this point.
So, recap: four watches, three stores, and One Month to finally get Kevin the watch he wanted.
Right now I use the health features the most. It has a sleep tracker, an activity tracker, heart monitor, etc. It's soothing to know that everything seems to be in the normal range health-wise, because one just assumes. It's handy to have a timer on my wrist instead of using my phone then leaving it in another room where I can't hear it. Texting is both good and bad. Good that you can just glance at it and bad that it's very small to text from. There's a calendar option and I think that will also help the alphabet brain. I actually enjoy that it doesn't have social media.
And indeed, I was taking approximately 1,000 steps more PER DAY than the phone app captured. I expected a variance, I did not expect that MUCH. Now I feel extra-healthy! It can be pinged if I were ever to have an issue while on walkies and drop my phone where I couldn't reach it or if it were broken.
Essentially, now that we're all used to carrying around our phones, some of the most useful features on our phones are now available as a watch. It lends to everything circles back around again, I suppose. It's like Casio digital watches in the 1980's (which I just did a search and they're still a thing!)
Details:
It's perfectly adequate, a good starter watch. I would have been satisfied with it had a more sparkly watch not been available to me.
Galaxy Smartwatches:
Make sure if you get a Galaxy LTE watch to purchase it via the carrier. This insures that all the calling features will work as intended. Otherwise, you still have to have your phone within close range.
A Galaxy Bluetooth watch can be purchased anywhere. Take advantage of the holidays sales if you are helping Santa this year. (this is a moo point now but you get the idea)
The watches sync with earbuds. When I did the research, it says that Samsung earbuds are the best; even the older & less expensive versions. Normally I would just buy $20 earbuds and move on with my life but purchasing these Samsung earbuds replaced TWO earpieces for Kevin. So that was a win for less appearance of a cyborg and earpiece replacement cost. And, Kevin LOVES the Samsung earbuds and he's not usually effusive about such things.
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