An Old Man's Guide To Stuff

Some of you have asked for some real world usage stats, so here it is!

So after the that incident with the watchfaces , I decided to monitor the battery drain again, and I am pleased to report that all is normal again.

Remember this? The rapid battery drain? All I did after yesterday’s post was charge the watch, and change the watchface from “Illusion” to “Master” (while leaving all the other settings untouched). The result? Phenomenal! This probably means that all watchfaces are not created equal and have different requirements and levels of optimisations. I will monitor the battery life tomorrow to see if this holds.

After showering the Zenwatch 2 with praise over and over again, I find myself in a weird situation. What is it you might ask? Rapid battery drain! Strangely enough, the only thing that has changed on the watch or my phone so far is a watch face and I seriously doubt, that it would be enough to reduce the 50 or so hours that I have been getting to a mere 15. I’ll poke around further and revert once I shed some light on this mystery.

I am pleased to say that my first experience with Android Wear has been a positive one (although there were some minor annoyances earlier on). I’ve had the watch for slightly over 2 weeks now , and I think that there is very little that has to be improved at the current price point (For the benefit of our readers, the Zenwatch 2 with a leather strap retails for MYR 699 or approximately USD 166 from the local Asus store). The only improvement that could probably be made would be a slightly more comfortable strap . I would like to take this opportunity to point out that whilst there are many vendors selling screen protectors for the watch, it is not required. I have dropped my watch a couple times and I will assure you that it has come out with no scratches on the screen thus far, however the same cannot be said for the bezel on the side. I will revisit this post regularly to see if my thoughts on the above change. Till then, I would highly recommend this as your entry point into And...

Whilst I have enjoyed using the Zenwatch 2 over the past couple weeks, its leather strap has been somewhat lacking in the looks and comfort department. Therefore, I have decided to source for some alternatives. Here are some of my favourites: Navy Blue 22mm Genuine Leather Smart Watch Replacement Band TX74722BL Dark Gray / Orange 22mm Genuine Leather / Nylon Combo Slip Through Smart Watch Replacement Band TX75722GR I’ll update more once I find some other attractive alternatives.

After spending a couple minutes going through the documentation and setting up the app, I managed to get the Qmote up and running (set up was a breeze, it probably took more time to download the app ). Basically, you can assign functions to specific button presses on the Qmote. Some of the options include: So what am I using the Qmote for? Well I have it setup to do the following so far: Set my phone to silent mode; Set my phone to ringer mode; Snooze on my alarm; Ring my phone so that I can find it; and Controlling the camera shutter As time goes by, I will probably find more uses for it. Is the Qmote essential? Not really, but it does open up so many new ways to interact with your phone. I suspect that it will probably be hard for me to stop using it after a couple weeks.

Just received a Qmote as a gift and I am really excited to try it out. Check back soon for some impressions after I get some usage in.

Before you plonk some money down on a wearable, you might want to take note of the upcoming Android Wear update . What about the update in particular? The portion in the red box of course!     As of current date, only the Huawei Watch and the Zenwatch 2 (49 mm i.e. the bigger one) have speakers, you might want to consider getting one or the other over the competition.

With deals like these, there is no reason not to do some shopping. Edit: The Smartwatch 3 is RM 799 with a 1 year warranty at select Sony stores, so that will be a better deal. Technorati Tags: Wearable , Android Wear , Sony , Smartwatch 3

Just found out via Android Authority that Facer is now free! Go hit that download button watchface addicts! Technorati Tags: Android Wear , Watchface

The Zenwatch 2 has been chugging along fine but there are some minor annoyances (No, I still have not experienced any of the random disconnections which seem to be affecting some users). Firstly, the watchfaces are limited to 3 widgets max (i.e. phone battery, watch battery, steps taken, etc.) and this limitation forces the watch not to display a day and date combo when you use said widgets. What about the watchface designer you ask? I think it s just as limiting as the watchface customisation that you have access to in the base Zenwatch Manager app. Secondly, the sensitivity of the screen goes through the roof after prolonged inactivity. It just seems too snappy and eager to go about whatever you need it to do. Thankfully however, there are no major annoyances thus far. Perhaps I just need a little time and tweaking to address the two annoyances I listed above. Technorati Tags: Wearable , Asus , Zenwatch 2 , Android Wear

I’ve been the Zenwatch 2 since I got it from the Asus store at 10.47am yesterday and so far its been rather impressive. I’ve not encountered any of the random disconnections that I’ve been reading about and the battery life is pretty good. I’ve even tweeted about the battery life a couple times today because Í was impressed about how frugal it is. Below are the list of tweaks/adjustments that I have done with my Zenwatch 2 and Note 4 so far: Updated the firmware; DIsabled Google Fit; Disabled S Health on my phone (it doesn’t work with the watch); Installed Zenwatch Manager; Installed Zenwatch Wellness; Installed Calendar for Android Wear; Installed Swarm; Enabled Smart Lock (Google); Added the Zenwatch 2 to the list of trusted devices to unlock the Note 4 via proximity; Edited the Master watchface to include phone battery, watch battery and number of steps taken; and Enabled “Forgot phone warning”   Technorati Tags: Wearable , Asus , Zenwatch 2 , Android Wear

After a few false starts and “teasers”, the Asus Zenwatch 2 is now officially available (as of 4 Feb 2016) at Asus stores nationwide.  As you can see from the box below, I picked up the “D Gun Metal with Dark Blue Leather Strap” and so far it has not disappointed. I’ll be providing more updates after I have spent more time with the watch. Technorati Tags: Wearable , Asus , Zenwatch 2 , Android Wear