On Wearing A Smart Watch

Not too long ago, I was given a simple smart watch. It’s an older Samsung Galaxy Fit2, and I’ve been wearing it consistently. I’m actually not normally someone who wears a watch, but I’ve decided to be open-minded and give it a go. Just to see what it’s like. So how is this smart watch?

It’s handy

Haha a pun. But yeah, I’ve actually found this thing quite handy. Mostly because it vibrates just before my phone rings, giving me an extra second to react. It also vibrates when my alarms go off, which do an okay job of waking me up or notifying me about something. There’s a feature that checks how stressed you are, but I don’t really know how it works. The same goes for heart rate, but I doubt this watch is particularly accurate.

The watch is connected to an app called Samsung Wearable, where I can change the settings. There are a lot of settings but it’s worth going through them and seeing what they do. I haven’t managed to turn off the notification when my phone is out of range, but I can deny a lot of permissions and mute the thing entirely if I need to.

I’m mostly using it as a pedometer

Really, the best thing about this watch are the health features. Mostly the step counter. I’ve been trying to improve my activity and health and just overall move around more, and the watch makes me do that. Not only does it count steps but it also buzzes at me when I’ve been sitting on my ass for too long. I’m known to get caught up in my work, so a small buzzing reminder does help me get up and stretch my legs for a bit. I’ve also been keeping an eye on my steps. My daily goal is 6000 steps (the default setting) but I often try to go over that if I can. Today (as of writing), I have managed 8000 steps.

The walking mode is also good. It doesn’t show steps, but it does give me a quick idea of how many calories I’ve potentially burnt, as well as my pace, how long I’ve been walking for and how far I’ve walked.

There are some downsides though.

It’s not all good. One of the more annoying features about this watch is that it will make a notification sound every time my phone and watch are disconnected from one another. The notification sound in question though is Heavy’s omnomnom from eating a sandvich. It’s quite loud and a tad annoying. I don’t have my phone on me 100% of the time, and the apartment I live in has thick concrete walls, making Bluetooth signals rather weak.

The other thing that bothers me is that it’s not always consistent when it comes to lighting up. Sometimes the watch face refuses to light up, no matter how I have my arm. But while I’m flailing around getting ready for bed and under my blanket, it can suddenly turn on and annoy me because it’s very bright. It’s a minor thing though, and I can solve it by taking my watch off at night, so it’s not really a problem.

Overall though, I think this watch has been quite beneficial to me. It’s an incentive to keep on going and maybe start losing some weight. Which I really should do, since I’m a lazy butt. But yeah, I’d recommend it. The watch is pretty good but I am under-utilizing it. I’m just using it for the health settings.