It's time to ditch your smartwatch for a fitness tracker

When the price of the watch went down, I grabbed it, because I love a good deal. I can safely say that I have never used anything like the last year'ssamsung watch.

I have enjoyed my time with the watch, and I really like it. I will be reverting back to using the simpler polar pacifier pro. There is a reason here.

Why I love the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic

There's a lot to like about the watch. How can there not be? One of the bright lights in the current Wearable space isSamsung, who led the charge in the first wave of Smartwatches. The rotating bezel on the last iteration of theGalaxy Watch is one of the reasons why it is likely to be remembered.

It is the first Wear OS watch that I have used, and it has come a long way since the pebble steel I used. I spent the entire first day playing with all the features because I never got tired of looking at the display. It is beautiful, fun to use, and full of capabilities.

You already know what's going on. Why didn't I stick with it if it was such an amazing device?

What’s it for?

I played with my new watch. I downloaded all the recommended partner apps after taking an electrocardiogram. I put up my watch face, added support for the assistant, and many other things. I enjoyed playing with my toy.

I stopped using it the day after. The novelty had worn off quickly. Every new electronic device loses novelty. This was the chance for me to see what I got for my money when I bought theGalaxy watch. I had been using a fitness tracker for a long time, but it was time for a new accessory.

That was never going to happen. I liked being able to reply to texts using my fingers, as well as controlling the music service from my wrist. I didn't want to use them anymore because they weren't jitter-free. Sometimes, notifications would just disappear because I didn't know my headphones were on. Most of the time I was not using the watch at all. The part of the watch that was smart wasn't quite proving itself.

I'm partly to blame for that. The list of apps that show up in my notifications has been cut down. I have reduced the amount of money I receive over the years due to the fact that the wrist is more annoying than the leg. That shouldn't matter, a smartwatch should be more than just a car for notifications. The watch is more than just a timepiece. I wondered why I was using the watch in the first place when I wasn't using those features.

You don’t just put a watch down

Maybe this wouldn't have mattered if it weren't for the battery life.

It is normal for a watch to require charging every day and a half, and I knew that before I purchased the watch. Living and knowing it are different things. If all the tracking features were on, the watch wouldn't make it through a single day. It would take around a day and a half to remove the stress tracking. I felt battery anxiety even though I had good battery life for a watch.

You might be thinking that you need to charge a phone every day. You are correct. Only one of the two are physically attached to you, and that is a big difference between a phone and a watch. Sometimes you need to put a phone down. It is not possible to do the same with a watch.

I put my phone down when I sit at my desk. I don't put my watch near my phone. There isn't time to charge it if I use it to track my sleep. I have to find time to charge the watch if I want to use all of the features. I forgot to charge it in the morning. I don't want to have to take my watch off at my desk all the time. It doesn't feel right to start taking off accessories. It is an odd complaint but it is.

I don’t need a smartwatch — do you?

I think I'm an unfair use case. The pebble steel had a 14- day battery life. The fitness trackers I used have a longer battery life than the watches. Minimum battery life is what I have come to expect. Smartwatch batteries don't butter any crumpets.

I was expecting a lot from my watch since I was using it to track my heart rate, stress levels, and calories burned. I don't think this is unfair, as that's the same use I was using when I was using the Polar Pacer Pro, and that Wearable is still lasting me a good week between charges.

The polar pacifier pro doesn't have the app support or features of the galaxy watch I can't play one of Calm's sleep stories on it because it doesn't measure my body composition. I wasn't able to do all of those things on the watch I was mostly using both devices the same way, and that felt like a waste of the watch's abilities.

This isn't just giving me the chance to complain about battery life, it's a bonus. There are still a lot of people out there who have never used a smartwatch and are considering investing in one, despite the fact that the Apple Watch is seven years old. If you are that person, ask yourself if you really need a watch. You may think you know how to charge a device every day, but you may not feel the same when you have to remove a watch strap every day. The Apple Watch Ultra has a three-day battery that is beefier than most watches, but it is also twice the price.

Dropping a watch doesn't mean you need a computer. The ability to pull notifications from your phone is one of the things modern fitness trackers come with. If you pair those features with a good battery life, you can get about 85% of what you want in a watch.

You might be missing out on having an app store, cellular connections, and other high-tech additions, but be honest with yourself and ask if you will ever use them. My experience is that the answer is a resounding no.

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