Zenwatch Observations so far

[dswatson83]

So, I've now had my Zenwatch for a couple days so I figured i'd give some observations and maybe others have some solutions for a couple issues.
1. Very well built and looks great though the strap is on the stiff side especially compared to the 360. Hopefully it gets worn in more over time. The connection on the bottom of the strap is an insane 3/8" thick and can get annoying. Thankfully it seems the strap is easy to replace unlike the 360.
2. Screen looks much better than the 360 though it still sucks we can't control the display timeout as the 3-5 seconds is not nearly . Always on mode works perfectly though.
3. It is not as sensitive as the 360 (I mean that in a bad way) and often touching the display does NOT turn it on and flicking the wrist is hit or miss. It usually takes 2 taps to turn on the display.
4. Watch faces are not as good as the Moto 360 and most interfaces with info on them get covered up by the notification cards. Definitely needs work.
5. Battery life is solid so far and you should have no issue going through a long day with the screen always on.
6. Charger is OK but not as nice as the 360 plus you must buy that exact charger where the 360 can use any wireless charger. It feels nice enough but it doesn't hold the watch in any usable orientation like the Moto 360 which acts like a clock when charging.
7. Heart rate seems to be accurate but I'm not sold that my 'Relaxation' means anything. It can't measure anything without you placing your fingers on the sides of the device though so you have to intentionally get your scores.
8. Android wear is very limiting but Asus at least gave some additional controls like locking the phone and remote camera which work well. Very little customization though and Android wear is definitely a 1.0 product.
9. I'm having disconnection issues as I did on the 360 until the first update. Sometimes you ask the watch a question and it just sits there waiting on connection to the phone. Really annoying but somewhat expected.

Overall this is my favorite smartwatch (i've owned 3, the Galaxy Gear, Moto 360, and Zenwatch) by far and the first one that I feel confident in the hardware. Hopefully they can make improvements on the software side soon because it needs it. I got rid of the 360 because I felt the lack of an LED display (Always on mode wasn't usable) and slower processor were going to be issues no matter what the software did. The Zenwatch feels like a 2.0 device with most of those issues fixed. I'm happy so far but am desperately awaiting some software updates.

 

[mr_nobody]

I take it this will take any standard 22mm replacement band?

 

[dswatson83]

Yep, and it even has a tab on the inside of the strap for removing it without any tools. Of course you might need a tool with the new band but I'm guessing Asus might have plans for more bands that could be replaced without tools.

 

[mr_zen]

Thanks for the information.. I have one question though.. While working out my phone is connected to my Bluetooth headphones. Can the watch be connected to the phone at the same time in order to control the music? Similarly when I am driving and phone is connected via Bluetooth to my car can I use the watch to skip music, accept/reject calls?

 

[dswatson83]

Thanks for the information.. I have one question though.. While working out my phone is connected to my Bluetooth headphones. Can the watch be connected to the phone at the same time in order to control the music? Similarly when I am driving and phone is connected via Bluetooth to my car can I use the watch to skip music, accept/reject calls?

Yes, you can pair to multiple bluetooth devices at the same time. I have not tried bluetooth headphones but I use the watch with my phone still connected to my car without an issue.

 

[aitt]

Yes, you can pair to multiple bluetooth devices at the same time. I have not tried bluetooth headphones but I use the watch with my phone still connected to my car without an issue.

Correct. Headphones will work fine and use the phone for the remote. I once had the 360, Toq , and BT headphones and was able to use both the Toq and 360 at the same time to control the music.

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[aitt]

Does it have a colored band or something around the watch like the pic show on Google?

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[dswatson83]

Yep, it's like an orange gold or rose gold. Looks really nice

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[chekleto]

I'm curious know if the zenwatch vibration is any better than other watches.
Often people point out that the vibration is week(or too short) on a particular smartwatch (LG,samsung,etc.)

 

[cdf3]

I'm curious know if the zenwatch vibration is any better than other watches.
Often people point out that the vibration is week(or too short) on a particular smartwatch (LG,samsung,etc.)

I'd like to know this as well

 

[dswatson83]

I found that the Moto 360 was a bit loud...you could hear it when I was in a meeting and got an alert. This is a bit quieter though still a bit high pitched. I would say it is on the weaker side so you could potentially miss a notification but likely not a phone call which vibrates multiple times. Maybe those people wear the watch a bit lose...I could see that being an issue.
I am still having some connection issues and I'd say about 10% of requests to the watch or notifications seem to get missed. Also, sometimes there is a delay after I ask Google Now a question on the watch and when it gets answered of up to 10 seconds. I had connection issues on the 360 as well which were mostly fixed in later updates so hopefully we see some updates shortly. It's not horrible but it's enough to get annoying at times.

Also the range is definitely on the low side. I'd say 30-40ft is the max...maybe even less through walls.

 

[atishc]

A few observations from my end (I have not owned any other smartwatch before, so this is not a comparison):

Overall, it looks nice and it goes fine with both casual and more dressy clothes. My wrist is quite small, so the watch looks gigantic to me. That being said, the last hole on the strap could accomodate me (no having to create an additional hole or take out links like I usually have to for men's watches), and my friends said that the size was reasonable for the style of men's watches nowadays.

Not blown away by any of the watch faces, but I do appreciate that the battery lasts all day even with it always on. For some reason in the dimmed mode, the analog-style watch hands are kind of pixellated/jagged which doesn't look that great but is probably not that noticeable from far away.

Voice recognition works well, though I do have to talk closer and louder than for my phone. I did not realize that it has a microphone but no speaker, so the watch does not make any noise other than vibration buzzing. (I learned this the hard way when I set an alarm to wake up on my watch, thinking it would ring on my phone, but instead it just buzzed the watch at the other end of my bedroom.) My phone is password protected and sometimes at work it is a hassle to pull it out, so being able to see who is calling/texting, sending texts, accessing music controls and using Google Now are all pretty useful; I also used walking directions today. Dismissing all notifications is a bit of a pain, and the fact that Google search does not allow you to access more text in a link than the first couple lines (just allows you to push the link to your phone) is a small hassle.

Overall, I am happy with it - not essential by any means but is a nice toy since I got it as a birthday gift from my wife. If anyone has recommendations on cool apps (other than watch faces, games, fitness trackers and calculators), it would be much appreciated. Also, if anyone knows why my Google Now reminders are not working from my phone or watch, that would be helpful as well!

 

[methods]

wear mini launcher.... Helps getting to apps and other settings quickly & easily

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[rodrigo_braz]

I've had it since yesterday and have some issues/questions. Does anyone have solutions for those?

- Often does not turn on with arm movement. That's a big problem. Telling time at a glance should be perfect. Always-on display is a solution, but still does not make voice search available with arm movement.

- it's almost impossible to tell time outdoors when in dim mode. Brightness setting does not seem to affect dim mode brightness. Since it doesn't always get out of dim mode with arm movement, that's a big problem (again because telling time in a glance should be perfect).

- sometimes does not turn on even with a tap, or even two. At first I thought touchscreen was not sensitive enough, but during normal use it is very sensitive, so I suspect it's busy processing something sometimes. Software updates may fix that hopefully.

- not seeing as good battery life as heard from other people (even with display always on as reported by OP). Today at 10:30 am it had 100%. It's now 2:30 pm and it has 72%. And I wasn't even using it that much. At this rate I'll have 14 h, not too good. But I'll have to wait and see.

 

[atishc]

I am guessing that your first 3 issues are related. This is just a guess, but I think it goes into a bit of a deep sleep after a period of no use (to save battery in always on mode), which makes it less responsive to both the wrist motion and taps. Once I am able to wake it up (often with a couple taps), then it is much more responsive to the wrist motion and subsequent taps in the immediate term. This is obviously not an ideal situation, but it might be a compromise we might have to deal with for now. I am getting pretty good battery life - I was out late the other night and I had no issues with ~20 hours, but I have silenced many notifications on my phone so I do not get that many notifications on my watch.

 

[rodrigo_braz]

Thanks, that makes sense and my experience that it is easier after its coming out of deep sleep is similar to yours. I will keep that in mind and see if it helps with use.

Right now I have a similar feeling to yours, that it is not perfect but it's a nice toy to have.

 

[reelon]

. T. Tt. Tt. T. T

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[rodrigo_braz]

Just for the record, I figured the arm movement issue. It's simply that I was looking on the watch lowering my head and leaving is screen almost parallel to the ground. It needs to be at a more vertical angle, and then it works every time.

Also, battery is very good. I'll be running it for 28 hours today (not always on, low use, but still). Depends a lot on apps and faces, wear battery stats app is great and helps a lot.

 

[rodrigo_braz]

Just for the record, I figured the arm movement issue. It's simply that I was looking on the watch looking down and leaving its screen almost parallel to the ground. It needs to be at a at 30 degree vertical angle, and then it works every time.

Also, battery is very good. I'll be running it for 28 hours today (not always on, low use, but still). Depends a lot on apps and faces, wear battery stats app is great and helps a lot.

 

[phissith]

Look up 8sms app