I have had a string of smart watches over the years and none has been perfect. In many respects, the Huawei GT3 is my favourite but it has one Achilles Heel – no near-field communication, so no Google Wallet features. So I thought I’d give Google’s flagship an outing. And I’m pretty impressed. Which isn’t to say it’s perfect. To itemise the good first, the screen is lovely. It’s clear, bright and, given that the watch diameter is only 41 mm, remarkably large in appearance. That’s because there’s no real bezel to speak of, since the face gradually merges into the base. The diameter certainly suits me, as I have quite narrow wrists but that’s about personal preference. Second, the crown behaves as it should. That is, you can turn it to scroll the screen regardless of what is displayed. (Not all apps play nice with it but that’s not Google’s fault.) Third, there is one other control, a button, flush with the case, slightly above the crown. This lists recently used apps and is quite useful, given that not all apps can be selected as tiles. Fourth, the watch runs the latest version of Wear OS, as you’d expect. But it does so in an unusual way. When you first pair the watch with your phone, a new app (called ‘Watch’) is automatically downloaded to the phone. If you had a previous Wear OS watch, it remains linked via the old Wear OS app. All this happens without any input from you, so it’s very straightforward. Watch does everything Wear OS did plus a few new tricks but not always in the same way. It’s easy to get used to, though. Fifth, the Fitbit health features (including ECG measurement) are all bundled into the watch. Sixth, the microphone and speaker are good quality. You can hear a phone call very clearly and the caller can’t hear any difference whether you're using the watch or your phone.
So what are the downsides? Well, first there’s the perennial problem of battery life. Of course it depends on what apps you have open all the time and how often you interrogate the watch but my experience is that it loses about 2% of charge per hour when set to ‘tilt to display’. That’s not too shabby but remember I’m used to a Huawei beast that will happily last ten days with ‘always on’ selected. Second, and inexplicably, Google has included an oxygen saturation sensor (SpO2) and then not implemented it in software. I assume it will appear in an update but why it wasn’t included initially is beyond me. Third, the full Fitbit suite is only included for 6 months. After that, you have to pay for those components that are in the ‘Pro’ version; and it’s quite expensive in my view.
All in all though, I’m pretty happy with the watch. It’s got more right than wrong, especially for a first outing.
| OS | Wear OS, Android |
|---|---|
| Produktens mått | 4,3 x 1,4 x 24,77 cm; 59 Gram |
| Batterier | 1 Litiumjon Batterier krävs. (inkluderat) |
| Artikelnummer | GA03305-DE |
| Trådlös kommunikationstekniker | Cellulär |
| Tekniker för anslutbarhet | USB |
| Specialfunktioner | Aktivitetsmätare, Kontaktlösa betalningar, ECG, Pulsmätare, Aviseringar |
| Andra visningsfunktioner | Trådlös |
| Human Interface-inmatning | Knappar |
| Färg | Silver |
| Vad är i lådan | Klocka, rem |
| Artikelns vikt | 59 gram |
