Database Users

[Q] Looking for a smartwatch.

Hello,
I'd like to ask you people for help regarding my choice of smartwatch that I'd love to buy very soon.
There are criteria that I'd like the watch to fulfill.
1.) Make/answer calls with the watch
- speak to the watch through a built-in microphone and get answer from a built-in speaker
- possibility of getting answer to headphones, when connected to a phone, while being able to normally talk to the watch while making a phone call
2.) other stuff like controlling the music player, send messages (can be templates) etc., I don't really care for anything else, oh and yea, It should also look nice, the display I mean, I don't want any casual looking digital-like watch.
I've been searching through the internet for days or even weeks without any satisfying results.
My phone is SGS2 running on CM11 4.4.4 and I know it is possible to even connect it to Gear 2 and other Android Wear watches, which need 4.3+ Android , but I'm also not sure wheter to go for Tizen or Android Wear, I really like the Moto 360 but if it can't make calls, then it's a no go. Gear 2 can make phones on the other hand as well as Sony Smartwatch 2, but it's Tizen in the first case and I'm not sure how it would work with i9100, because it's running on custom firmware after all and in the second case I don't want to buy the old model with so many cool watches comming out.
Has anyone possibly tried this with S2, or does anyone have experience with it? Is it possible for Android Wear to support fully functional phone calls later in time?
I'm desperate please help.

Unfortunately, without having Samsung's factory OS with all of the touchwiz junk... You may run into many incompatibilities with the Gear line of products.
The SW2 lacks speaker and mic functions.
I would keep an eye on the Asus zen and LG's R that are about to hit the market. One of these might suit your needs.
Otherwise, keep an eye on SmartQ's upcoming releases... They may have something for you at a reduced price.
Good luck.

mghtymse007 said:
I would keep an eye on the Asus zen and LG's R that are about to hit the market. One of these might suit your needs.
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Neither of those watches has a speaker. Overall, Android Wear doesn't support making/receiving calls on the watch. Heck, it doesn't even have speaker support built in yet. It has bluetooth support, but, not a speaker. That's one of the things preventing me from pulling the trigger on one of the Wear devices.

doc_lee said:
Neither of those watches has a speaker. Overall, Android Wear doesn't support making/receiving calls on the watch. Heck, it doesn't even have speaker support built in yet. It has bluetooth support, but, not a speaker. That's one of the things preventing me from pulling the trigger on one of the Wear devices.
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Click to collapse
What about Smartwatch 3?
Edit:
Nvm, just found out it doesn't support it.
Somehow Sony thought it would be a great idea to include phone call possibility in the new Sony SmartBand but not in the Smartwatch 3

I was looking about a smartphone with the same capabilities and I found RWATCH M26 on Gearbest .
Using the coupon TSRWHF, the price will be $28.99. Not bad at all .
I've also read the comments on the seller page and I didn't found any big problem. I'm looking forward to buy it.
You can also watch some youtube videos of it.

[Q] Smartwatch in $60 range?

With so many options of clones what's a good solid one in the $60 range?
I was thinking about trying the Soyan M9?

Ok I was wondering since I was reading some other threads do any of these watches able to do Google now?

the ranking of this watch in Amazon is passable
but few customers bought it and few customers reviews
i don't recommend it

I know I'm late to the party, but anyone else thinking about getting this watch - it's pretty alright. It's definitely better than the U8, and definitely not able to do anything fancy though. It definitely is midrange, and it looks nice to boot. I want to flash it, but I haven't even looked into firmware flashing before I got this. So if anyone knows what I can do, let me know.

Please don't call them clones! These watches have been around for years before Gear, Pebble, etc. Soapbox away, I just got my GV08. A few flaws, sure, but for $60 I wasn't expecting miracles. This all comes down to the features. I've not seen voice commands on the lower price points yet. Waterproofing seems to be another issue. And most of these manufacturers are in China, so good luck with support. Beyond that I can say the construction seems sturdy. The touch screen is remarkably accurate. Any camera without a flash does poorly unless in full sun. I was glad to see my device accept an H2o SIM card with no issues. It now identifies its network as AT&T and allows me to make calls. And with bluetooth pairing to my Galaxy S4, I can avoid running up those minutes as well. I'm digging for firmware upgrades and driver support at the moment. One missing feature that I would like is a CALENDAR sync. And bluetooth filesharing is possible but terribly slow. It's going to see some stress in the next few weeks and if it self-destructs I'll let you in. Otherwise for the price I believe this was a good purchase.

GV08s Comment
LukosTheWolf said:
Please don't call them clones! These watches have been around for years before Gear, Pebble, etc. Soapbox away, I just got my GV08. A few flaws, sure, but for $60 I wasn't expecting miracles. This all comes down to the features. I've not seen voice commands on the lower price points yet. Waterproofing seems to be another issue. And most of these manufacturers are in China, so good luck with support. Beyond that I can say the construction seems sturdy. The touch screen is remarkably accurate. Any camera without a flash does poorly unless in full sun. I was glad to see my device accept an H2o SIM card with no issues. It now identifies its network as AT&T and allows me to make calls. And with bluetooth pairing to my Galaxy S4, I can avoid running up those minutes as well. I'm digging for firmware upgrades and driver support at the moment. One missing feature that I would like is a CALENDAR sync. And bluetooth filesharing is possible but terribly slow. It's going to see some stress in the next few weeks and if it self-destructs I'll let you in. Otherwise for the price I believe this was a good purchase.
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Click to collapse
I have a GV08s which is a nice smartwatch but it keeps disconnecting from my Galaxy Note 2 and will not keep a BT connecting. I also have a U8 which is not as nice, but connects without a problem. The problem appears to be with the GV08s...just not sure if it is this particular watch or if the GV08s has a problem...also I cannot change the weather to our local weather...nice screen, can see it in the sun and also the menus are great, just wish it would hold a BT connection.

ZGPAX S29 Quick Review

Hi everybody
I know there are a few reviews of the S29 around but I didn't find them useful for my decision to purchase the S29 so I'm going to throw in my own 2 cents (I'm Australian - if you don't know what 2c means then just google it). Hopefully if you are reading this review you are considering buying an S29 and probably (like me) you are faced with an overwhelming array of different devices and options. My plan is to present information that is helpful.
I decided that I wanted to get a smartwatch about three months ago because I'm a teacher and I don't like it when I miss important texts or phone calls from my wife. When I'm in class I will not bring out my phone, and sometimes I'm so busy teaching I don't even notice the phone vibrating anyway. Sometimes, if I had known that I had gotten a text or phone call, I could have gone at the end of the lesson to the staffroom, sorted things out in a minute, and proceeded to the next lesson.
I was also in a situation where the watch I used for running was really irritating me, and it had no way of telling me how I was going, other than the time it took me to run. If I run the same route, it's fine, but if I do extra bits then I have no way of comparing.
I'm also a bit stingy and a bit wary of buying into the next big thing when the price is high. The prices of first generation smartwatches have come down a fair bit in the last 6 months but I would have to spend at least $120 if not more for something that didn't have a great review of battery life and for something that my wife was telling me was a waste of money.
So, my criteria was that it needed to be cheap, have a battery that would last easily through a full day, show me texts and emails, have some kind of pedometer. I was also looking for some sort of storage just in case (some watches have very, very small amounts of storage) but things like camera, photos, and music weren't a big part of this decision for me.
I narrowed it down to about 10 chinese smartwatches that ranged in price from $30 (U8) to $80. Bear in mind that these were AUD.
As I was wading through all the information I decided that I was really drawn to the fake G2 look. Something about the colour and the icons just seemed attractive - it was just a personal taste thing. It wasn't a game changer for me, but looks count for something.
I really wanted a Bluetooth 4.0 or 4.1 but I decided that it was really going to go above my price range (I didn't really want to spend more than $60AUD) and that pretty much knocked that out. That really meant that the No.1 range was out.
After a lot of deliberation I ended up with the S29 and I have to say that I am really glad that I chose it. I managed to get it from Aliexpress for $55AUD (around $34USD) and I got it from China to me in about 2 and half weeks which is pretty good (so kudos to Aliexpress for that).
Having used it for half a week now, I can tell you a number of things about it. It's never going to beat any kind of Android wear for functionality and the software is fidly, but for what I wanted it is perfect.
The look and feel is great - very comfortable and just like the photos.
The software that you can download by QR scanning is useless on Lollipop so don't bother. I am using the Mediatek app (make sure you get the version that was released April 2015 or later) and it makes sure I get all my texts and emails. I have turned off my accuweather notifications (it didn't show the temperature) and chromecast notifications because they were just annoying and I could probably turn off a lot more. I haven't tried Facebook because I don't allow FB notifications on my phone (too many, too annoying, too distracting).
I have been for a run with it, and I'm pretty sure the pedometer works really well. I say pretty sure because it says mileage, but reads km. I knew the distance I ran and converted it from miles to Km and it was spot on.
Battery life is great. I've had a few days worth of fiddling around and changing things and hardly used any battery to do it. I'm up to day 2 without charging and it's still more than half full (according to the icon). I changed the screen on time to 15sec because I just don't need it to be longer and 15 seconds actually feels like a very long time once I've done what I need to do - it's not like a phone where I might be reading a lot of text and not touch the screen for a while etc.
Sound through the speakers is tinny which I expected but it's clear enough for me to listen to if I want - I just can't control the volume using the phone, and I can't get it through the audio icon (it goes for the bluetooth on the phone and opens up my podcast app - who knows why?) but I can get it through the file manager. The Camera is great for low resolution grainy photos but that's about it. The remote camera for the phone works really well. I accidentally had a conversation with my wife through the bluetooth (I haven't got a sim in it even though there is a spot for it) and it was clear enough and I didn't have to hold the watch up to my mouth and ear.
I have sent texts using the tiny keyboard without too many problems, but it's probably easier to get my phone out really.
I was pleasantly surprised by the "multimedia" function which is just sound or video recording - I haven't tried video, but sound was good enough and simple enough for a quick memo.
The interface is quite good. There's no real lag and mostly it's easy to get to the feature you want.
Here are my problems with it...
There is nothing on the screen normally so to see the time I have to press the button. I can't therefore surreptitiously look at the time.
The bluetooth is quite aggressive and wont let me turn it off if it is connected to my phone. I have to go to my phone settings to swap to my car bluetooth. Thankfully I have "trigger" (an app similar to IFTTT but simpler) and it there were enough options to create a rule to hand over the connection to the car and then back again afterwards without any dramas. I think the fact that I have the 450MH Battery is certainly an important part of the battery life with BT3.0 and I think they have made a good choice with it.
There is no way of recording the pedometer readings. I've tried a few apps but they just don't play nicely with the watch. It's no biggie to me, but if you were interested in that kind of thing then you would want to spend a little bit more for a No.1 watch and use Fundo (though be careful which app you download because fundo isn't a unique app name...) You'd also get a heart rate monitor which might be useful. The S29 tells you that it records your calories burnt, but really it just calculates your steps and comes up with a number of calories that you might have burnt.
The pop up notifications are just enough information to tell you who sent you a text and the first line, likewise with email but it's the name with a subject. I'd probably like a little bit more, but lets face it - it's a watch.
These are only very minor problems and I'm really happy with my purchase. My plan is to use it for about a year and then get something with android wear (or Tizen ... maybe).
At the very least I feel like I know the one feature I will have to have on my next watch is the ability to turn on the screen just by turning my wrist.
I hope this has been useful if you are making a decision about a smartwatch.

Hi! Im planning on buying this ZGPAX S29. Have you tried the Watchmaker app with this? Does it really work?? Thanks in Advance!

First smart watch. Huawei Smart Watch 2 Classic?

Looking to get my first smart watch. Around £250.
I would like it to do the following without a having a phone on me:
Pay with tapping.
Track runs via Strava.
Play music (possibly Spotify?).
I would like the following when I have the phone on me:
Email alerts
SMS
Whatapp
Facebook Messenger
Answer / Make calls (would this count as legal hands-free? ).
The Huawei Smart Watch 2 Classic looks to do all this for about £230 (unless someone else can find it cheaper?).
Any other alternatives that can do the above?

Ticwatch Pro is my favorite. I don't own one yet so I can't really back that up, other than on paper and community reviews.

I had the Huawei 2 classic for about a week. The battery didn't get me through the day, and at least for me, the 1.2 inch screen was just too small. It's a really good looking watch though. Had the screen been bigger and the battery lasted a day, I would have kept it no questions asked. Hopefully the 3 whatever fixes those two things. Also, at this point, you *should* be able to find a 2 classic cheaper. Keep looking around. Or wait until Amazon's black Friday week.
OR, do what I did and buy a Fossil Q Explorist HR. I LOVE this watch. It looks great, the battery last more than a day, the screen is 1.4 inches, and super fast charging. Brand new, just came out they go for $250-270 depending on the color and band type. I got the gunmetal with the metal band just because I love that color. I don't even use that band.
OR, wait a couple more months for some smartwatches to come out with the new chip.

WillyShatsWig said:
Looking to get my first smart watch. Around £250.
I would like it to do the following without a having a phone on me:
Pay with tapping.
Track runs via Strava.
Play music (possibly Spotify?).
I would like the following when I have the phone on me:
Email alerts
SMS
Whatapp
Facebook Messenger
Answer / Make calls (would this count as legal hands-free? ).
The Huawei Smart Watch 2 Classic looks to do all this for about £230 (unless someone else can find it cheaper?).
Any other alternatives that can do the above?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, hopefully I am qualified to provide you with a reasonable answer.
I have had Smartwatches since the beginning I think.
My Huawei watch 1 has finally given up after 3 years, a great service, may it rest in pieces (literally) and my backup Sony SW3 just never feels 'right'.
in my search for a replacement, I have since bought/returned or tried the Samsung Galaxy Watch (46mm), Ticwatch Pro (Amazon deal 180£), A fossil gen 3.
The Samsung is faster than a speeding bullet, well made, awesome bezel thingy, and a great screen. But there's bugger all app support, notifications don't work to my liking (eg it notifies of Twitter feed but not the actual message), slow to charge and battery simply not as great as stated and Samsung Pay, doesn't include Halifax (my bank (well not my bank as in I own it, but rather they have all my money)), expensive additional chargers and expensive watch in the first place.
The Ticwatch Pro - uses same tech as all current items and the LED screen cant be seen in low light or dark, and it was the laggiest of all watches owned/tried and isn't particularly cheap.
I didn't want to buy another HW1 so I purchased an Amazon WH special HW2, just to give it a whirl.. £130
Glad I did. Agreed the screen is too small and was a backward step compared to HW1 but this helps with battery life. It doesn't look like anything special (like a mid range Casio). But it is comfortable, all apps work as they're supposed to, cheap to buy, low-cost spurious chargers (£4!), and once you disable a couple of bloatware apps the battery is incredible and Android Pay works (never had this before).
If you can't wait for watches with 3100 chip (and they're unlikely to perform much better, but hopefully have improved staying power, then I recommend the HW2 .... especially an Amazon special.
I'm currently experimenting with different settings to understand battery implications but with 'Always on' set to off, I can get 3 days if careful), currently trying always on, with simple screen and looks like a comfortable 2 days ... which I could never get with my HW1. Additionally I just discovered it has a watch only facility (bit like the Ticwatch) giving you a month's use as a dumb smart watch.

Thanks for the above... I took the plunge and bought the HW2, A-grade second for £170. It turned up still sealed, with all the protectors on it. Great!
However, it looks like I'll be sending it back unused, as Huawei have leaked that they will be release the GT (baiscally HW3) THIS MONTH and it looks gorgeous.
Available in Classic, Sport and Fashion versions. It will have the new Snapdragon 3100 chipset, a bigger screen, be completely water-proof and a much longer battery life. Whether it will be running Wear OS remains to be seen:
https://www.techradar.com/news/first-huawei-watch-gt-photo-leaks-showing-the-new-design

BobDunn said:
OK, hopefully I am qualified to provide you with a reasonable answer.
I have had Smartwatches since the beginning I think.
My Huawei watch 1 has finally given up after 3 years, a great service, may it rest in pieces (literally) and my backup Sony SW3 just never feels 'right'.
in my search for a replacement, I have since bought/returned or tried the Samsung Galaxy Watch (46mm), Ticwatch Pro (Amazon deal 180£), A fossil gen 3.
The Samsung is faster than a speeding bullet, well made, awesome bezel thingy, and a great screen. But there's bugger all app support, notifications don't work to my liking (eg it notifies of Twitter feed but not the actual message), slow to charge and battery simply not as great as stated and Samsung Pay, doesn't include Halifax (my bank (well not my bank as in I own it, but rather they have all my money)), expensive additional chargers and expensive watch in the first place.
The Ticwatch Pro - uses same tech as all current items and the LED screen cant be seen in low light or dark, and it was the laggiest of all watches owned/tried and isn't particularly cheap.
I didn't want to buy another HW1 so I purchased an Amazon WH special HW2, just to give it a whirl.. £130
Glad I did. Agreed the screen is too small and was a backward step compared to HW1 but this helps with battery life. It doesn't look like anything special (like a mid range Casio). But it is comfortable, all apps work as they're supposed to, cheap to buy, low-cost spurious chargers (£4!), and once you disable a couple of bloatware apps the battery is incredible and Android Pay works (never had this before).
If you can't wait for watches with 3100 chip (and they're unlikely to perform much better, but hopefully have improved staying power, then I recommend the HW2 .... especially an Amazon special.
I'm currently experimenting with different settings to understand battery implications but with 'Always on' set to off, I can get 3 days if careful), currently trying always on, with simple screen and looks like a comfortable 2 days ... which I could never get with my HW1. Additionally I just discovered it has a watch only facility (bit like the Ticwatch) giving you a month's use as a dumb smart watch.
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Click to collapse
Good for your detailed review. I have gone ahead with HW2 and currently getting almost 20 hours battery life including 1 hour of training with BT headset playing so that itself uses almost 30% with GPS on for tracking activities. Would like to know which 2 apps you froze to give you better battery life. On other items my watch is always on power saving mode and connected to BT all the time with Wifi off and GPS off (on when only needed). At night, its on airplane mode.
ChrisMarin said:
Thanks for the above... I took the plunge and bought the HW2, A-grade second for £170. It turned up still sealed, with all the protectors on it. Great!
However, it looks like I'll be sending it back unused, as Huawei have leaked that they will be release the GT (baiscally HW3) THIS MONTH and it looks gorgeous.
Available in Classic, Sport and Fashion versions. It will have the new Snapdragon 3100 chipset, a bigger screen, be completely water-proof and a much longer battery life. Whether it will be running Wear OS remains to be seen:
https://www.techradar.com/news/first-huawei-watch-gt-photo-leaks-showing-the-new-design
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you get that watch? i have seen this watch and tho it looks awesome it based on Huawei OS and not on Wear OS. Second thing which killed it for me was the lack of internal storage. It only has 128 mb ROM. Not sure what you can do with it.

OnePlus Watch

Hello.
So I managed to get a OnePlus Watch when pre-orders went live about a month ago. It was delivered today. After spending almost 24 hours with it, here are my thoughts (might be a little long winded).
1. It is missing ALOT of basic features, chief among which are tap-to-wake and no Google app support. The no Google support is major seeing as you cannot sync apps to the watch properly. My LG urbane does a million more things than the OP watch does.
2. Heavy focus on fitness. I like that they're trying to get people more active but come on, at this point it's basically a fitness tracker. For the price they're selling for, there are much better options out there that are dedicated to fitness. This is meant to be a proper smart watch from a company that is trying to take on the big boys like Samsung and Apple (obviously they have very little chance against Apple but, they can at least give it a go). With their recent products like the OP 8 and 9 series, they're starting to tell the world that they're no longer going to hold back and that their Nord line is for users that are on a tight budget but want something "premium feeling". To come out with a smart watch that focuses heavily on fitness and 0 Google support or features was a mistake.
3. It was clearly rushed to market. Very obviously, it was rushed to market before it was even ready. Personally, I believe that the hardcore OP fans put pressure on them to release a budget friendly smart watch. OP caved and just released what they had. Given more time for development and refinement, this could have been a solid product and I would have happily paid around the £200/€200 mark for it.
4. Notification issues. This has to be in top 3 gripes about the device. When you receive a notification on your phone, it pops up on the watch like normal but, you can't do much with it. If it's a group chat notification and you're getting quite a few messages, the notifications will not stack into one. Instead, you'll get several notifications on the watch about it. Dismissing a notification from the watch also doesn't dismiss it from the phone too and vice versa. There have been several times where I've dismissed from the watch, only to look at my phone later and it still showing up there or vice versa.
5. Poor step counter accuracy. MKBHD pointed this out in his review. I thought that maybe it could have been an issue with his review unit but no, it's an actual thing with the watch. A normal work day would get me 5000-7000 steps according to my LG urbane, the OP watch only registerd 3300. How?
That's my little rant over
Anyways, what's your experience with the watch been like so far? Overall, this watch has a lot of potential but it was let down due to OP wanting to get it to market as soon as possible. This needed a lot more development time and refinement. I'll keep a hold of it for now and see what improvements they bring in the near future.
5H1R42

thanks for your reviews.
MKBHD made me hesitating ; ''buy for what is is, not what it will become''
Cyberpunk like, rush ****, and then is a kinda waste of money.
Anyway, since I did NOT own any watch, and I was looking for a simple smart watch that looks classy (not like a gadget) , I hit on that watch. It was a good 'deal' here in canada, since 20$ off, no duty fee, no shipping and only 1 tax.
Hopefully one plus wont let this watch down. They are pretty good for old phone updates anyway, I guess they will do it on this watch.
I also wish some dev do great port on this watch, I dont know it it will be possible tho...

Any idea how to change the firmware? I got one from aliexpress, when they went out of stock in the US, and it can't be paired with the oneplus health app, only with the chinese oppo app.
I think the firmware is way behind (A38, vs B48 as of today), and I would like to have the oneplus app and updates... Half of this app is in chinese.
Thanks

RSchmauk said:
Any idea how to change the firmware? I got one from aliexpress, when they went out of stock in the US, and it can't be paired with the oneplus health app, only with the chinese oppo app.
I think the firmware is way behind (A38, vs B48 as of today), and I would like to have the oneplus app and updates... Half of this app is in chinese.
Thanks
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OnePlus Community
Introducing our new OnePlus Community experience, with a completely revamped structure, built from the ground-up.
forums.oneplus.com

Barmenchik said:
OnePlus Community
Introducing our new OnePlus Community experience, with a completely revamped structure, built from the ground-up.
forums.oneplus.com
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Thank you, I will try it.

Is there any hacky way to pair it to a iPhone for some alerts, until official iOS support arrives?

Hello guys. Help me pls
Updated to the global firmware and the exclusive watchfaces cyberpunk edition disappeared. Can you help me with the return of the cyberpunk firmware?

Contact 1+ and ask them about the watch faces, and see if you can liberate some firmware for our hopeful/eventually getting google wear on this B# either via official means or otherwise with the help of the sleepless xda unsung heros.
So I got the watch about the first wave from the store app (which I have not been able to reinstall since after the crash the 7pro had otw to 11) and I'm very impressed with the slick hardware... Shame on them not going the 'lazy' route and doing the Google wear thing, but instead doing their own thing and seemingly not even half-assing many a feature available on a cheap Chinese 30$ watch (with 3g/lte mind you) just because their æsthetic/simplicity metric. If I had nfc ability, the ability to just get coords via gps, or even midi sounds for timers then I could understand not using the hardware to full potential, but as some of the hardware isn't even being used right now, or at least the software provided doesn't allow it's use, the positive isn't much but here is what I got:
The damn thing at least lasts forever, even with 24/7 heart/0² monitoring... (I use only low light levels, no aod)
The first day I had it, I jumped in a pool and everyone was trying to tell me that maybe I should take it off, but it recorded all my strokes & movement amazingly well (if only it was exportable to kml/anything). I shower with it too, w/e.
Charge time is warped to a good ratio of charge/use, so realistically not much miss in data if monitoring is what you're after...
It's quite nice looking, responsive, and screen is anything but dainty. I don't think it's ever lagged.
The fact it does play music via BT is quite decent for a musician, as you can play someone your music on the fly considering there is a speaker with bt on in the vicinity. It's storage is huge as the space that could have gone to good use leaves gigs available...
I hope that oppo seriously gets to convince them that they must make wear a thing so we can choose to kill our batteries like we intend to, rather than have them force 2weeks battery life because it's good for them, rather than our choice to live with that allowance, or be realistic about how ridiculous we know we are being watching netflix on it...
It should be my call afterall. We'll see how it plays out, at least my sister with the iwatch was like "You don't have to charge it everyday, 2weeks!?” That made it almost acceptable...