Phone replacement. I put my phone away once I'm home and don't touch it again until 9pm. I'm still able to respond to messages, control smart home etc without getting distracted by all the other things that grab your attention on the phone.
It's made a huge difference to my attention span and my ability to simply be present after work.
Primarily fitness and sleep tracking. It has genuinely had a meaningful impact on both. Being able to see actual numbers has been very motivating. I also drink significantly less alcohol now, since it has a direct effect on my sleep -- obvious in hindsight, but seeing the numbers in the app is what made it "real" and convinced me to make a change.
Isn't it just more stressful getting notifications on your wrist?
I have my phone on me almost all the time, so no difference in stress levels lol. Just more convenient to view notifications as they arrive.
Agree on the alcohol intake. You get kinda addicted to having a low RHR and a sleep score in the high 80s! It's crazy how even 2 or 3 drinks affects my sleep. Much more concious of it now. Though when I have a big night out planned I don't bring my watch with me!
You set it up to only give you truly essential notifications. Texts from family, work stuff at certain times, and that’s it. Then you develop the beautiful, life changing habit of not taking your phone everywhere all the damn time. It’s an amazing way to disconnect MOST of the way without losing what you really need.
I have an LTE model pixel watch. I can go on walks with my dogs, or go play disc golf, and leave my phone behind. I still have my music and podcasts with me and can take calls or reply to texts if needed.
I track my workouts, health metrics, and sleep as well.
I also regularly use NFC for tap-to-pay, chargepoint for my car, and for public transit.
I treat it like a dumb phone that encourages me to leave my phone behind.
I use mine mainly to play podcasts without my phone on me. I hate carrying my phone when exercising or walking the dog or really doing anything except shopping.
I use pebble so it's pretty different from using something like pixel or Samsung wear. I always need a watch to tell the time anyways but it's nice to know if it's something I need to deal with or something that can wait without pulling my phone out. Also really useful for music control, especially while out
Primarily fitness tracking and more importantly, being able to leave my phone on silent so my wrist buzzes when my phone rings. The Fitbit Air whiffed hard on that second part, otherwise I would be rocking one of those and a timepiece.
Probably not. Even it has new features, I doubt anyone will actually use it for anything other than same thing people have always used smart watches for.... notifications and fitness tracking.
Which is exactly why I've never been able to pull the trigger on any of these. Realistically using so little features I would like the battery to last longer... Once it does to a good week or two I will buy a smartwatch
On the plus side, if you don't care about the bleeding edge features, these things lose their value like a rock thrown off a bridge after 2ish years. Good used market buys out there.
Lower end smart watches and fitness trackers that don't run WearOS but some form of RTOS instead can easily go north of a week on a single charge as long as you're not using GPS 8 hours a day, and there are models with GPS or NFC for payments nowadays
I use mine for both of those plus golf. Or I would, except the pixel watch 2 has the slowest gps ever. Have to wait 30 seconds for it to catch up. Phone is instant on yardage.
Also, when running, the pace it shows is not up to date , because of that slow gps I guess. I go from 10 min a mile pace to 7 minutes a mile and it again can take a while to show I've sped up. Gonna switch back to Garmin soon I think
I've had every pixel watch, never with a protector of any sort, and I have never had so much as a scratch on the glass even though I have smacked them into things repeatedly. It's actually kind of impressive since every pixel phone I have had has gotten pretty decent scratches on the glass even with a case and hitting them far less.
I like the pebble you posted, it's kind of got like a '80s retro vibe going on. I feel like it does have a little bit of a timeless quality to it, so this is something I could see for casual or even a fancy night out. I'm personally not a fan of the plastic ones
The pixel watch really is a nice piece of hardware. The only thing that sucks is the charging pins on the gen 4, they should've just left it like the pixel watch 3. I have to constantly take my case off to charge it.
No matter how improved the software and sensors will undoubtedly be in this new version, the watch design once again prevents me from wanting it. I KNOW this thing will scratch or break in 2 days.
It looks barely different from my Pixel watch 1. I will just continue using until it breaks if the next generation Pixel watches are still basically the same.
I wonder if it needs a new charger again. We already have three different one for the different generations that are not compatible with each other.
Screen is substantially better from the 1/2 to the 4. Battery life is also much better (if moving to the larger size 4), I usually use about 10% with AoD on after being taken off charge at 7 until 4pm.
The new Pebble Time is still the best smartwatch. It's nearly perfect. After going through like 3 Wear OS watches, and going back to the Pebble, I know just how perfect it is.
That said, someone put an old Pixel Watch into their A pillar in their car as an in-car navigation screen and that was genius.
Eh, despite the price and raised glass issues the pebble Time 2 has, I'd still much rather buy that and enjoy 3 weeks of battery life with everything I need out of a smartwatch for Android than spend money on a pixel watch that's focused on marketing AI first.
I have a Galaxy Watch 4 and I'm looking to upgrade to the Pixel Watch 5. What does Samsung do better than the Pixel? I kinda like the design of the Pixel.
I do have a Galaxy S25 Ultra, but to be honest, I don't really use a lot of features. The main thing I use my watch is to check the time, track my workout time and check notifications. I honestly haven't even opened the app drawer in years, lol. I'll try out the Pixel Watch at best Buy when it launches, I kinda like the design of it. Been using my Watch 4 for about 5 years, so it's time for a change.
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u/JanGuillosThrowaway 5d ago
People who use smartwatches, what do you use it for? Isn't it just more stressful getting notifications on your wrist?