Can we stop picking on this startup? They're just hardware hobbyists, give them a break.
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Outside of showing ads, Google is an everything hobbyist.
Well they're certainly not a video game streaming hobbyist.
You joke, but Google does not take hardware as seriously as they should. I say this as an owner of a Pixel 7. I actually really like the hardware, but the simplicity and clean look of the software is why I actually love the phone. I have to baby the phone because I know Google doesn't actually care even if they swear up and down they do.
Google does not take anything as seriously as they should.
Form over function. It is a wearable, give it a bezel to bump with instead of cuved glass.
I mean, why would you pay to replace the screen? The cost of a screen repair on a smart watch is about $300 for most comparable devices.
Guess how much the watch costs? About $300. It sucks, but it's literally not worth the parts and labor hours required to repair it. Buy a protection plan if you're worried about it, but otherwise, you just need to eat that cost. That's the risk you take with devices like this.
You realize replacing the screen costs that much because google says its supposed to cost that much... i wonder why they would do that...
No they don't. Google doesn't say it costs anything to repair, because they don't offer repairs. That's the whole point of this discussion in the first place, the fact that Google doesn't repair Pixel Watches.
I'm making a comparison to services offered from Apple and iFixIt, however - both of which will charge about $300 for a smart watch repair.
Has a smartwatch other than the Apple Watch ever done well?
Garmin does pretty well. Although you could argue they're more fitness and sports oriented, they do have "normal" smartwatches too like the Venu and Lily series, and also hybrid watches like the Vivomove. All Garmins have excellent battery life and there have been very few complaints about them. If anything, the most common complaint is that they've got too many watches to choose from, which can be confusing for someone new to the Garmin lineup.
Garmin also has titanium watches with sapphire glass on their high end. I'm ridiculously clumsy with watches, so I got one thinking I'd stand a chance of not breaking it. Now the new problem is, the watch is way harder than anything else I accidentally smack it into, and can break stuff around it instead.
I have the same "issue" on my galaxy watch 5 pro. I can see the dents on walls I accidentally hit, but the watch hasn't a single scratch.
And being pedantic, it's not sapphire glass, it's sapphire crystal. Glass is a wholly different thing. Sapphire glass would be when Apple claims their products have sapphire in them, but in reality they just mix the tiniest amount of sapphire in the glass so they can technically call it sapphire glass, but it doesn't offer any extra resistance or hardness.
I have a Venu 2 and I love it. Battery lasts forever and I can pretty much do all the things I'd want to. The best part is that the performance is always top-tier. The OS is very lightweight and that makes it nice and snappy.
I have the Venu and the only thing I'm waiting for Garmin is YouTube Music support. I know most fully featured smart watches have 1 or 2 days but I get like multiple days even when I go for runs so often.
My girlfriend and I both got Garmin watches and we absolutely love them. I got the Forerunner 265 and she got the venue 2sq. I like that they support both android and Apple, and don't have subscriptions!
Just got my Garmin watch and it's been fantastic already. Battery life is the best I've had since my Pebble smartwatch.
I feel like my Garmin could probably survive being run over by a car
Garmin's are excellent. Mine takes a beating.
The galaxy watches are pretty good, and as usual, Samsung carried Wear OS on its back while Google was planning on killing it, up to a point that Google then decided to have their own smart watches.
I've had a Samsung watch for a few years and I'm definitely not careful with it but it has easily put up to all of my abuse and the battery still lasts a couple days or more. Nothing I can really complain about.
Similar experience with my Galaxy Watch 4 classic, had it since launch, don't treat it carefully and I haven't managed to damage it, and it's been pretty much faultess for me.
My Pebble Time Steel is still kicking ass! The only repair I had to do was replacing the battery a couple years ago
Pebble watches were awesome! 1 week battery eink screens with app support. Too bad fitbit bought them and went nowhere. It shut down 5 years ago, but the hardware is still supported by third party alternatives. In fact I'm using it right now.
My 5 something years old Fenix 5s still works great with like, a week and a half battery still lol. So yes, it's just that brands like Garmin don't advertise as much as Apple's.
No complaints whatsoever with my Samsung Watch 4 Classic. Best watch I've ever owned, smart or otherwise.
I really hope the pixel watch 2 will be repairable or even be able to do a glue less repair.
Especially since Google already partnered with ifixit for parts for the Google phones