The Martian Notifier smart watch is a step in the right direction. Let me explain.
I got the package via courier and quickly opened it up to see. I was curious as to how easy it was to use right out of the box. It had a charge, but it highly recommended a full charge (which only took a short amount of time). Then it was time to pair the device (bluetooth speak for syncing up the devices wirelessly, so that they talk to each other). It was a breeze with my iPhone 4S. Then I downloaded the free Martian app. Once opened, there’s a list of typical settings that are all user-friendly and intuitive. Then there’s the Alerts filters, which allow you to see push notifications from your smartphone on your smartwatch (the defaults: Incoming call, Missed call, Voicemail, Calendar, Email, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Line, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, Skype, Renren, Vine, Wechat, LinkedIn; and then custom push notifications, like some of the ones on my phone: Messenger, Gmail, Words Free, Bible, NFL Mobile, SongPop).
This device is awesome — right here and now. I get push notices across the LED screen at the bottom of the watch face of anything that I would normally get push notices on my smart phone from incoming emails, incoming phone calls, Facebook post messages, tweets, stuff about mobile app games like SongPop, Words with Friends, and it scrolls across. If the subject heading or the sender’s name is not too long, I’ll get the gist of the message by glancing at my watch. So, it’s a time-saver.
The watch vibrates and then a blue light comes on and scrolls the message across the screen. I can tap the watch face to toggle through messages and I can use the watch to pull up Siri on my iPhone with the touch of a button. I can also, with three taps to the bottom button, pull up my camera mode on my iPhone. Then, with one touch of the top button on the side of the watch I can snap a picture, so it’s a virtual remote control for my phone’s camera. I can take selfies using a tripod or by leaning my phone against the wall or some books or an object and then stepping back to get inside the shot and take a picture. It opens the door and expands the possibilities for smart phone photos and selfies.
I cannot answer the phone and talk from my watch, which would be the next generation of smart watches, I’m sure, but this is a great transition into the future. And, this just in: Turns out I’m wrong! The brilliant Martians have already made that transition with these watches… You can see more about these fabulous lines here: http://www.martianwatches.com/voice-command/
From what I can tell based on the information I have, the Martian smart watch is not waterproof nor water resistant, so that is disappointing because I like to wear my watch pretty much 24/7 when I’m sleeping, in the shower and going swimming.
The battery life on this thing, which is rechargeable from the USB port, is really significant. I have not had to recharge too often. I’ve gone several days in between charges and I like that. I like that a lot. I will usually turn off the watch, which is just one push of the bottom left button, when I go to sleep. The goodbye message scrolls across and the pairing and push notifications power down. This is my common sense choice, because I don’t need push notices going across my phone or making my wrist vibrate while I’m trying to sleep.
It’s kind of cool when you have your smart phone in your pocket and your Martian smart watch vibrates. You can glance at your wrist to see a message roll across your watch face, which will tell you, “Hey, I need to stop and pull my smart phone out of my pocket and reply to this message” (or not) — just by glancing at my wrist, which is nice little time-saver there. The next generation of the smart watch will give you the ability to reply to a text message by talking on your phone and using your voice to dictate a reply. That’s what I’m looking for in the next step, but again — this is a great transition step into the future. I like it.
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