Comment by tombert | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tombert | Hacker News Reader

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I was mugged about two months ago, and had my iPhone 12 Pro Max stolen from me [1]. Not wanting to spend $1000+ for a new iPhone, I figured I'd just get a Pixel 7 Pro since it's a bit cheaper and I never really considered myself an Apple loyalist.

Going to Android, however, meant my Apple Watch would not be terribly useful anymore, so I was left with the decision of "do I buy a Google watch, or do I just go back to one of my 'dumb watches'?"

I opted for the latter, and now I'm kind of glad I did. The watch I am wearing right now is a Casio from 2016 that still works fine, doesn't need to be recharged every day, and ironically I can get fixed by a whole bunch of places for a very cheap rate should it ever break.

Obviously it doesn't do as much as the Apple or Pixel watches do, but honestly I wasn't using most of the features in the Apple Watch anyway, and for telling time I actually think the Apple Watch kind of sucks.

Also, for those wondering, I really really hate the Pixel 7 Pro.

[1] Before anyone says anything, I have reported the phone stolen to both Apple and the NYC police, and they have all the relevant IMEI stuff so in theory it shouldn't be turning up in any kind of black market.

Costing under $100 and needing to be charged no more than every two weeks is an absolute killer app[liance?] for me. I have enough random crap needing constant charging or awaiting expensive replacement. So that's why my watch is a Timex (in low-enough light conditions its Indiglo backlight doubles as a flashlight. A flashlight!!) and my ebook reader is an e-ink device rather than a phone or tablet.

Come to think of it, having an LED screen of any kind is a big red flag where one doesn't have to exist. It's as true for guitar pedals as it for wristwatches - just one more thing that can break and may as well brick your device when it breaks unless your repair game and supply chain is strong.

I had Pebbles forever until they stopped making them. The eink display was so great for battery life and it was highly functional compared to other wearables at the time. I was even coding apps for it because they made the ecosystem so developer friendly. Rip Pebble

I broadly agree; the price didn't really bother me much (it's not hard to spend much much more than that on a watch), but one thing I never really forgave my Apple Watch for was the fact that I really needed to charge it every day. A Casio (or Timex) watch battery will last for years, upwards of a decade sometimes, they keep time perfectly fine, and are pretty cheap so it's not a huge deal if they are broken.

This doesn’t really seem on topic. It’s not about device repairability.

It’s just “I ditched Apple and I’m happier”, which of course gets voted up.

I'll admit that it was a bit tangential and I probably didn't make my point as thoroughly as I should have; I was trying to say that I feel like I dodged a bullet not buying the Pixel watch.

Also, I did mention at the end that I really hate the Pixel 7 Pro. I think it's a pretty awful piece of hardware and I am counting the days until I allow myself to buy something else.

Yeah you did with Pixel phone.

I missed the “dodged a bullet” aspect you were going for on the watch. That makes sense.

Why?

Not disagreeing, just curious. My Pixel 6 Pro seems fine, but I don't have much to compare it to.

It's probably because I'm comparing it to the iPhone 12 Pro Max which was more expensive, but keep in mind that that phone was also three years old.

Here's a list of complaints in no particular order:

> Firefox on Android doesn't properly background tabs. I didn't know this and had lots of tabs open and my phone battery would literally be like four hours total. This is obviously Firefox's fault, not the phones, but it was a bad first impression.

> Similarly, ProtonMail also sucks up all my power; if I don't turn on "power conserving" mode for protonmail, I only get like 13 hours of battery life. Again, not directly the phone's fault but a bad early impression.

> The camera is dreadful compared to what I had with the iPhone 12 Pro Max. It's not horrible in really bright conditions but it's terrible even in "general indoor lighting".

> The audio quality with bluetooth seems to "clip" a lot, even with stuff like LDAC codecs, and even playing a raw FLAC file with VLC.

> The overall interface is just mildly stuttery which isn't horrible but is mildly annoying.

> Google Pay seems to work sometimes, but it almost always rejects the first attempt.

There are more, but those are the biggest complaints. Uninstalling Firefox on Android made my life substantially better, so that's good, and maybe I'll find enough stuff that I actually like about it to where I want to stay within the Pixel ecosystem.

As of right now, though, I'm just wishing I bought another iPhone.

You might have missed the ending.

> Also, for those wondering, I really really hate the Pixel 7 Pro.

Many brands offer Android watches (Samsung, Garmin, Huawei etc) , why limit yourself to Google?

I did actually debate getting the Garmin as well since my sister has one and loves it, though the thing that stopped me from getting any of them was largely that I really hated having to recharge my Apple Watch all the time, and I felt like smart watches would universally require somewhat frequent charging.

Try a used Garmin, you won't be sorry, in fact you will be overwhelmed with how much functionality it has. If not happy you can resell it for about what you paid.

As for battery life, 5 days to 10 weeks depending on the model and how you use it...

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/general/how-long-will-my-g...

Analog watches are the best.

I picked up a Garmin Instinct Crossover for this reason.

Absolutely loving having a normal set of hands, charging once a month (depending on my workout schedule can be once a week), and still having all of my features.

I agree, though I think I'm happier with quartz analog over automatic/mechanical. They're generally cheaper, keep just as good (if not better) time, and usually can have more complications for a lower price.

Granted, I don't really use the complications either, but I think they look cool on the watch face :)

and they can use solar energy. so no baatery swap every 3 years and the watch does not stop working if removed from your wrist

$50 dollar fitness bands with 2-3 week battery life basically all I need. Show some messages, control media, occasionally use as remote camera shutter. There's some in watch form as well. Still nothing close to Pebble with programmable buttons.

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