For Sc-fi fans who dreamt of talking into their watches
Quick specs
What: Huawei Watch
At a glance: 1.4in AMOLED display, stainless steel, 300mAh battery, 512MB RAM, 4GB ROM
USP: Elegant design, voice recognition
Best buy: Rs 22,999 (Flipkart.com)
Science fiction promised a brave new world of driverless cars, watches you could talk into, and teleportation. While the last one might be some time away, we’re making progress in the other two departments.
The Huawei Watch (we love the confidence in the name; no Watch 1.0.1 or Super Smartwatch) is as much Captain Kirk as it is James Bond, with its brushed steel casing, leather belt and classic watch face options. We just need the laser app, and the one that summons the Aston Martin.
What’s good: Beyond the specs, here’s what we reckon is the number one reason to get a smartwatch right now: sex appeal. It draws attention, it’s a conversation starter, you want to be asked about it. This one delivers with its build, finish and display quality. At 286dpi, the display is as crisp as that on a cell phone. The Apple Watch delivers 303dpi, but you can barely tell the difference. Honestly, we love the classic round face over Apple’s square one. The voice recognition, pretty much the only input source, is extremely accurate. We were able to send off short texts and email responses, though it does struggle with punctuation and Indian names. Sorry Krunal. My watch thought you ‘Kunal’.
{{/usCountry}}What’s good: Beyond the specs, here’s what we reckon is the number one reason to get a smartwatch right now: sex appeal. It draws attention, it’s a conversation starter, you want to be asked about it. This one delivers with its build, finish and display quality. At 286dpi, the display is as crisp as that on a cell phone. The Apple Watch delivers 303dpi, but you can barely tell the difference. Honestly, we love the classic round face over Apple’s square one. The voice recognition, pretty much the only input source, is extremely accurate. We were able to send off short texts and email responses, though it does struggle with punctuation and Indian names. Sorry Krunal. My watch thought you ‘Kunal’.
{{/usCountry}}READ MORE: Is your expensive fitness tracker lying?
What’s not: The fundamental issue with smartwatches (all of them) is that, at present, they’re as useful as your locked phone screen. It gives you notifications, but you still need to fish out the phone to answer calls, or input anything longer than a sentence. The navigation feature on it is just a gimmick, since the screen is too small to tell you anything useful. The biggest flaw we noticed, however, was in the fitness tracker. The so-called 6-axis motion sensor counted my scooter rides to work as steps. However, we faced no such issue while driving a car. Also, while the battery lasts for 1.5 days (as promised), it seeks to replace a device that easily goes a year.
Verdict: For someone who need the latest toy, and swears by Android. Smartwatches, otherwise, are a work in progress.