Any Android smartwatch?
Any Android smartwatch?
I liked the Fossil Neutra and then saw it's from Texas, so... My research started. A quick glace through a search engine didn't return anything... Hence, I'm asking you
Depending on budget and preferences.
The closest to your Fossil is probably Withings (French)
The two most serious brands for sport watches Polar and Suunto (both Finnish)
Of you want something more affordable that looks reasonable, you can look at Nothing/CMF.
At least some of the Withings and Nothing CMF are compatible with Gadgebridge, an open source alternative to the manufacturer's apps.
In May 2022, Chinese technology company Liesheng acquired Suunto from Amer Sports. So suunto is unfortunately not Finnish anymore :(
Thanks for bringing it up, Suunto still gets mentioned a lot.
I wouldn't mind a bot commenting basic info on companies' whenever they're mentioned. It's a lot of work to spread the same info from thread to thread.
Withings, sadly has absolutely horrific heart rate tracking. This guy does correlation tests with the Polar H10 (skip to the graphs).
And I say this whenever this comes up in this sub.
Nothing is European in name only. They only have UK marketing. They have american investors, a shady CEO with a history of lying about his companies (oneplus "starup" BBK controversy anyone?) and everything is designed, coded, manufactured, tested, etc... in China.
They have started to maybe hire some people to possibly take over a bit of the phone design in the future in London, but the smartwatch is 100% a Chinese product. It even looks exactly like the standard ODM smart watches from the dozen Chinese companies that make all of the generic smart watches that get rebranded.
Polar and withings are the only ones left. Polar has better biometrics tracking. Withings is a style brand. A guy does a to. of comprehensive heart rste comparisons with the Polar H10 gold standard ECG. He also now does sleep tracking correlations with EEG.
Sadly that is it. Some guys in India I believe just released an open source HealthyPi Move, which is getting closer.
You can also take the route of buying a supported watch by Gadgetbridge which at the very least will get rid of the data mining and constant location tracking of some non-EU smart watches.
So...
Thanks everyone. Gadgetbridge is a nice way to find 'ethical' models, regardless of brands. Will dive a lot on their website... In the meantime, I want to share an interesting model from Hama (Germany)..
Re: gadgetbridge, my current model I purchased because it was available through them. $100 and great reviews online. Check out the Amazfit Active 2 if you haven't pulled the trigger already. Alternatively, check out reviews from 'The Quantified Scientist' on YouTube if you really care about GPS/Sleep tracking and want to see how models stack up.
I am big Garmin fan. I love my Fenix 6. But this model has no touch screen (what is a pro point in my world). They also have models with touchscreen: https://www.garmin.com/de-DE/c/wearables-smartwatches/
Garmin is a Swiss company, but their operative headquarters are located in the US. So.. not sure if its really a European company.
At some point we should have a serious discussion about what does it even mean to be a European company, to put in focus a common idea, even if it has blurry edges and if it doesn't translate neatly in all situations.
We're discussing smartwatches, and Suunto gets shut down for being headquartered and operated from Finland BUT owned by a Chinese holding.
At the same time Garmin is a Swiss corporation, but run from Kansas, so that's not European.
And all all all smartwatches are made in China anyway. Maybe I should make a post.
Based on its Wikipedia page, it seems it is only Swiss in the sense that it is legally located in Switzerland since 2010. It was founded in Kansas and its operational HQ is in Kansas.
I was planning on getting Garmin this year, but considering other options now.
First time I hear about Garmin being referred to as a Swiss company - what’s your source? AFAIK, they’re American though and through.
"Garmin Ltd. is a Swiss[7] company headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland[2] with operational headquarters in Olathe, Kansas."
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmin
So, its a faky Swiss company, but.. yeah.
I really like my Garmin. I would love to find a source that breaks down how they operate and how European they could be considered being.
I hope my current Fenix lasts long enough for me to find a good alternative. Open source and locally managed data would be great but consumer friendly alternatives have quite a way to go still.
Oh man, do you have a minute to talk about our Lord and saviour Gadgetbridge?
It's an open source, 100% local Android app that can be used to replace vendor app for certain wearables. And it works really well with my Garmin Instinct 2s.
You can keep your Fenix going, and cut out the American server.
Check out ONE, its a Portuguese brand: https://www.onewatchcompany.com/
This page lists a bunch of brands you could look into, can't recommend something in particular since what I have myself is also American.
Can't speak about their smartwatches but the Polar heart rate chest strap I have is a total piece of crap that I haven't gotten to work once, mainly because they cheaped out on actually putting some sort of switch in there to turn it on and instead you need to somehow hope it picks up on the fact that it is on your body and enables bluetooth on its own. All while not having a proper rechargable battery. Oh, and you need to make sure the sensor contact with the skin is a bit wet too while you are at it.
I've used a Polar H10 extensively and am very happy with it. The specific model is hands down the best regarded hrm for accuracy. It's the only model I have experience with so I don't know whether other / older models are equally reliable. (Apart from the H9 which is basically the same device with a different strap)
On the off chance this helps:
The strap is switched on when the module is connected to the strap. It's switched off when you disconnect at least one of the connectors.
Initial pairing should be done with the Polar Flow app with your phone. You can manage the strap's settings from there and see the battery status among other things. E.g. turn ANT+ and bluetooth on or off.
Yes, it's supposed to connect to your sportswatch automatically when you strap it around your chest. At least if you've paried them. For my fenix you do this from settings "add sensor".
Iirc I get "sensor battery low" notifications on my watch. It's hard to remember because the battery lasts such a long time (even when on a marathon training cycle). It's been a while since I've had ro change it. Not that I wouldn't prefer a rechargeable device.