Life with the LG R Smartwatch

I've had the LG R for about a month now, and I've got more than first impressions on it:

1) Battery Life is Incredible

When the 360 first came out, I seriously wanted to order one, but the battery life was a real problem.  I know it's been fixed now, but the R's almost three day run time with constant use is so much better.  The lack of Qi charging isn't a big deal - the base is magnetic and is probably less hassle then hitting the right spot on my wireless charger.

2) Apps are Disappointing

There's some amazing capabilities in the device - but the apps already out there are pretty retarded.  All the alerts bounce to the phone by default - but anything beyond that requires bringing the phone out.  Google Music supports, but it wants to copy my 10GB of music randomly to a 2GB device, which isn't that great.  My primary use is still adjusting volume on my headphones, and just clearing Twitter update notifications during the day.  Runkeeper supports this, but the 'support' is putting a mangled graphic on the screen when I run.  The only app I have that actively uses the watch is a Pomodoro timer, which is really nice - but not that impressive over all.  This will change, but it's not there yet.

3) Google Fit is, not so useful

Everyone who knows me in the real world knows that I'm fairly active.  I run quite a bit, regularly do strength exercises, and I'm up and around a lot.  The software gets very happy when I do a run, but other than that isn't so smart.  Strength training gets no love, and the few miles I walk daily don't show up at all.  It really needs to check heart beat levels randomly and pay attention to location (for gyms and the rest) and give some feedback.  For now, it's just sort of there and pats you on the head every once in a while.

4) It's a really cool, good looking device

I get comments when I wear it even from non-techies that I have a 'cool watch'.  It just looks good - it's a bit thick but most watches for guys are like this anyway so there's no harm.  The band is a bit clunky (it's hard to get the band flat, especially when it's cold) - but it looks good even after a month.  Most of the faces just look like a normal watch, so nobody notices that it's a smart watch until Twitter goes crazy and starts sending messages I need to clear.


Overall - I'm glad to have it.  This is a really handy device, and if you are a nerd or a Twitter/news geek you need a smart watch.  Once some better integrated apps are out there I think we'll never know what we did without these things.