4562/17491
So I cracked and bought a futuristic sports watch, BUT amazingly I managed to resist the lure (and expense) of Apple and plumped for a
Garmin vivoactive. It doesn’t look quite (or anywhere near) as cool as some of the Apple watches and its functions are mainly limited to sport and fitness (though you still get notifications from your phone, which is more useful than I thought it would be), but although I am still finding my way round it, I am quite impressed. Hopefully it will give my exercise regime a boost.
The pros over Apple Watch are that it’s cheaper (still around the £200 mark, a bit more if you go for the heart monitor), it’s waterproof so you can wear it while swimming, washing up, bathing babies and showering (I know that I would quickly destroy an Apple Watch via the medium of water) and it has a fairly robust battery life (though using the gps runs it down much more quickly - though I am a day in and it’s still on 60%). I like the way that the exercise info syncs up with my fitness pal (though I am sure other watches will do this too), though for the moment the syncing seems a bit random and slow and less successful on the app on the phone. Also there is the slight advantage of not looking like the kind of prick who just buys whatever Apple puts out like a stupid zombie. But that’s only slight because you’re now the kind of prick who buys a cheaper version of the same thing in the misguided belief that you look like a real sportsperson.
The cons are that the heart monitor is a strap that you have to wear around your chest, which I can’t see me really bothering with even when I am exercising (I believe the heart monitor is integrated in other devices) and it doesn’t have the range of apps that the Apple Watch has. I liked the idea of having maps on the watch and getting directions to where you’re going, which the Garmin doesn’t have (as far as I can tell). The screen is maybe a bit small and I find it hard to read some of the info on it, but I am old and in denial that I need glasses. If only someone would invent some glasses that had loads of technology in them and linked up with your phone...
But it’s already sold me on the idea of the smart watch as a useful tool (especially within an exercise/diet framework). I like the encouragement to get out and do more walking (or running) and I like the stats all being there for you to see. I think it’s crazy to spend big money on a smart watch though, as it’s the kind of thing that will have a useful life of a couple of years before it is usurped by a better device. A couple of hundred pounds for something that you will use every day for 24 months seems a reasonable outlay. I imagine (perhaps wrongly) that in two years there will be a waterproof Apple Watch with maybe a better battery life (I am dreaming there clearly) and at a more reasonable price (I am so asleep that it is embarrassing).
I will see if the issues I have with the software turn out to be user stupidity or not and be interesting to see if it remains with me all the time. But it encouraged me to go for a run today and to do over 6000 steps in the afternoon/evening, so hopefully that will continue. The heart monitor does feel like something from the 17th Century though so I probably wouldn't bother with that. Or if knowing your heart rate is very important to you then maybe go with something else. And if you don't mind looking like the kid at school whose parents knew their child wanted a smart watch but got the wrong one, so the kid gets bullied for the next five years.
Whilst I am acting as an unpaid reviewer I will also recommend a couple of good apps that I've been using on my iPhone. I have been using
Laundrapp for dry-cleaning - might just be a London thing (not sure about that) where they pick up and drop off your dry-cleaning for you at home (or wherever). I've used it a couple of times and it's been reasonably priced and efficient and my stuff has been clean. So if you're lazy and dirty then this might be the service for you. If you use the code KZVGJF you will get £10 off and so will I! Which is the closest I will get to being paid to review something.
I've also been finding
Wunderlist very useful as a to do list. It's free and you can easily share lists with other people, which means you can let your partner know if you're run out of yoghurt (or whatever you're buying from the supermarket, that was just a random example) or work on a project with someone else.
And remember I am a man of integrity and can not be bought. Unless you want to sponsor an episode of RHLSTP in which case you can buy me for £1500. But the important thing is that I haven't been bought for any of this.
