CoWatch "smart watch" Another of my crowdfunded gadgets

     So I had been awaiting for the arrival of this Smart Watch from Cronologics ,who has been assisted on the Indiegogo Crowd funding platform to launch this product. Being one of the 1800 backers , and being an early one at that, I waited patiently for 6 months for this watch from concept to fruition. This goes for around $200 USD  at that time. I was happy to receive this one early evening in September after my "DHL " delivery was acknowledged from a Hong Kong based company called "Quickfish Intelligence". You know , I had been quite skeptical of DHL deliveries since there had been many scammers portraying as DHL couriers lately...  =_=  But yes ,this turns out to be a genuine product that I had supported on Indiegogo.

This watch comes with "limited"warranty from Shenzhen iMCO, and an instruction booklet.

         I had yet to understand what that limited warranty means but that's for another day. 

The review below are my initial thoughts on using this watch and for anybody interested in taking a look at yet smart watch on the market.

Okay, so Cronologics is made of folks from ex Googlers/ex Android team and collaboration with some Chinese folks from Shenzen iMCO, and the Cronologics operating system does have a variant feel to the Android based "Wear" OS. This somehow has  a "reminiscent" feel to the Android Moto 360 Gen 1 that I had been using, which unfortunately is giving way due to bad battery life recently, very often being my table talk topic whenever I meet someone into tech gadgets. 

The Feel.

My first initial "feel" of this watch is that this is quite a solidly built watch, having a metallic finish of aluminium material /alloy and a ceramic watch base, which I suspect should be for the antenna /receiver and also for its wear and resistance to scratches properties. The mesh strap feels great as well, unlike the usual "stainless" steel straps that always "plucks" my hairy hand. haha.. 

Setup and Wear.

The initial setup is quite a breeze. I would say it is more intuitive than going through another 2 watches I had , the Pebble Steel and Moto 360. The good thing is when you need to key in stuff on it, such as the "Wifi" password for instance, it will switch to your mobile phone to offer the bigger mobile screen to type instead. I hate keying in on small screens so this is a nifty thought. Oh yes, just FYI, it supports both Android and iOS for its "companion App" so this is not an Android wear watch. The companion app allows you get to make fine setup tweaks. Just hunt for the key word " Co Watch" , although the initial set up process already puts you through a QR code scan to get that app downloaded. If you would like the additional functionality to have Amazon's Alexa talk to you ,much like Google Talk and Apple's Siri, there is the initial additional step to log into your Amazon account to give access permissions to this watch. 

More on what is Alexa virtual assistant here. (Although at this time, Alexa only caters to customization on US based addresses so when you talk to your watch you are getting a US based address and weather based in the States. There is a settings for metric measurements for temperature and distance though. I reckon I would get sick of this "talk to your watch" thingy anyway so that is not such  a big deal.  Within this clean and solid casing is a 1.2Ghz Ingenic M200 Processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, which is twice as much as what is provided in most smartwatches.

The battery charger is a base connected by USB cable and has a magnetic fast snap to your watch. The charger is pretty light and compact, with the base having metal contacts for charging. 

This watch sits in nicely with a magnetic soft snap onto the base. Note how the watch is still powered up with the simplified watch face when selecting "always on" option

The wear is pretty cool after adjusting the strap to fit and wrap around my hand. (You get an attached "spanner tool" in the package to adjust the clasp). 

Showing the full watch face with the "containers' (inner circles on the watch face) within.

So what is different between this watch and the rest of what is now in the market ?

The Features.

As this is not a full fledged Android wear base watch, you do not get to include almost every app from the mobile phone onto the watch view. Instead what you get are the "containers apps " into the watch face itself, so you get to select functionalities dictated by what are the ones loaded in the containers for now. E.g. below , you can select from the few ones that I tried out such as the heart rate monitor , the music player control ,and steps tracker.

You can run the containers icon within the watch face to select some of the functionalies such as the heart rate monitor, and the steps tracker.

So this means that the usual stuff is there to achieve it, accelerometer and gyroscopes are onboard, and the heart rate sensor for activity tracking.

The music controller container app is also pretty nifty if you want to keep your mobile in the pocket while listening to music, do note though that you need to first start your music app on the mobile before it picks up which is the music app that is tied to the controls.

 you get the artiste details and a background of the track art on the watch face

So finally, what comes to test would be the battery life, which matters the most to all the smart watches out there.

The "always on" watch face is simplified but it does show the basics, the Time.

With the option set to "always on" mode, you get the simplified watch face running, unless you double tap on the screen. This sets the full details with the container apps for you to swipe left and right. I had this watch charged to almost full battery life on the test and it lasted around 14-15hrs with 40% + battery life left based on normal usage such as the occasionally swipes to run some apps. So it should manage the supposedly promised battery life of almost 30 hours before you need to recharge it.  This compares favorably with what is out in the market, where at least 24 hours should be the minimum to make it practical, however still short on the ever more impressive Pebble watches with 5-7 days of battery life on monochrome display. 

The Verdict.

As an early "supporter" on the crowd funded product, I get a better price than when it is released on the shelves , so that will kind of defray the waiting times I had to bear with usually for such projects. The build quality did not fail me, the features wise are adequate actually and focused on what an "urbanite" would need on his/her watch, and it fact most folks would find smart watch apps an overkill. The most basic functionality if it can fulfill is to keep track of time, would be a nice consistent battery life without constant charging. It does look aesthetically pleasing and is a "dress" watch that feels good on the wrist. This should be my alternate switch between the heavy duty Pebble Steel that I wear most of the times.

Cheerios to whoever might find this review useful.

My Shanghai Trip Revisited - Shanghai life and Coffee culture discovery

       It has been a while since I had visited this City of mish mash, full of modernity and technology, yet a place of vintage and nostalgic charm. I had been wanting my annual break from work, having bad health recently and recently finishing a busy part of my work life. So yeah, I planned for this trip back to Shanghai, in the glorious month of May, where the temperature was lovely at around 20ish degrees C. It was also a great time to catch up with old friends; colleagues current and previous ones but that would be for another story. As usual, my partner in crime is my red hot B. 

So here I am, back to the city that I visited 4 or 5 years ago. I paid my dues getting myself lodging at Rachel's place through AirBnB, the 3rd time I placed my trust on this platform. I was not disappointed once again, as Rachel is a very lovely lady whom had been very helpful throughout my trip to provide places of interests that I can visit. We even had a lunch "eat in" via the very convenient Wechat App or known as 微信 to the local folks here, which helped us to make cashless payments. There are various recommendations through a local app called "Dianping" 大众点评 , trust me, it looks more friendly on the phone as an app than on a web browser. 

So here is Rachel's link, doing some promo for her, in case any friends would like to stay in the heart of Shanghai City. link here: Rachel's Airbnb apartment 

Rachel's living room

With my lodging taken care of , the next thing would be to account for any modern man's concern, having internet connectivity on your mobile phone. Thanks to the convenience of Shanghai life for anything with your mobile (you can really get complacent in this city) , I bought myself a SIM card for my mobile, a Xiaomi Note 3, which is really great as I can have dual SIM cards on it, and the China based card complemented with the ability to make local calls and 4G internet connectivity. I went to a nearby China Unicom phone store but the cards are also available at most convenience stores and I bought a Chinese SIM card for 120rmb,(Renminbi) for 1GB of data. If this is not enough the recharge card for China Unicom can be purchased quite conveniently. I used the data quite extensively for a week and I am still left with 400mb end of the week. This guy provides great details of this Sim card purchase here: The Mad Traveller Online 

So with some plans on this trip to discover the coffee culture here in Shanghai on my red Brompton, which had been to Taipei notoriously last year in April, having broken down most parts of the trip. I was skeptical it would behave well this trip. But very fortunately it did, the whole trip was fabulous with my B. 

 the red B who loves to travel

After getting some research done on the area which I stayed, which incidentally was really great , as it was in the "JingAn" district, which is very convenient to the the coffee belts. Some Chinese websites really had this all planned out for you, if you are into coffee. See here , but the one that really got on my mind was this little small cafe called "Manner Cafe" on Nanyang road, which is really small and yet reportedly churns out profits of around 100k per month (RMB) for the owner. See here (in Chinese, so you need Google translate for non Chinese reader) 

On a lovely morning, I decided to start my discovery ride. I rode my B with the help of Baidu Maps, oh yeah, nothing works here Google related, or Facebook related, unless you can tunnel a small hole using VPN through the great Firewall of China.

The stretch of my discovery in Jingan district for coffee are in particular to 2 popular stretches , along Yuyuan East Road and Nanyang Road. See below for illustration

Yuyuan East Road and to Nanyang Road

My ride will take me down towards Changde road, from Changping Road near to where I was staying and towards Yuyuan Road. My first destination was stopped temporarily with the waft of a nice morning scent of a 烧饼，(pancakes) which reminded me of our local Roti Prata , without curry though. Her stall is strategically located at the start of the stretch of cafes. 

big "Sister" making the pancakes, which you can add eggs , lettuce and bacon to it. She accepts "cashless payments" through Wechat or Alipay QR code...how high tech :)

Yuyuan East Road

I walked thru this stretch of cafes, and even a pretty fancy barber shop that looks more like a cafe. 

a very fancy Barber shop

However, I decided to leave my taste-buds for "Manner" cafe, which is just a left turn into Nanyang Road. Along the way , there are even more cafes.

another cafe along Nanyang Road

The "famed" coffee place was still awakening from the morning crowd, hence I managed to chat with the young and very polite boss. He was quite happy to see me with my Brompton, known as 小布 to the Chinese community. I wanted to try their Americano and Flat White, which was known to be pretty good. I also saw a "Yunnan" 云南 coffee on the daily menu board, but decided to stay safe. 

Manner Coffee

The place is really really small, with just an opening for the Barista to hand you the coffee.

But you get really all the folks who swear by their good coffee, locals and foreigners as well. 

Prices of a small cuppa starts at 15RMB, lovely

There are folks who wanted the flasks filled with their morning coffee, some just like me on plastic cups and people who will buy packets of their coffee beans for home consumption. Looking at the occasional break in between a singular row of customers, I am not surprised they are selling a lot of coffee, daily.

and Of course ,everything can be paid through QR codes :)

Me? I am just happy sitting on the bench outside the stall having my pancake and my cuppa..watching the Shanghai workforce in action  ^=^ 

watching the world go by...

The morning crew had a female rider who just reported to work on a pretty cool "Pigeon" bike, known as 凤凰 , a new version of the Classical Chinese bicycle which used to roam China by the thousands, before cars became their symbol of status.

a Pigeon with "faux Brooks" looking saddle

En route back after my morning cuppa, I chanced upon some lovely wall art along a small corner of the streets, and took a vanity shot of my B once again.

I just love this old charm of Shanghai life, mixed with sophistication and lovely May weather.

to be continued...on my ride along the river....

The Man with Many (watch) Faces 

     Well, it has been a while since I am back with a new post, and I thought I might start blabbering about my other passion, besides cycling and coffee, I love getting tech gadgets! 

I had been recently hooked on finding crowd funded products that looks new and interesting via Indigogo and Kickstarter, but that will be on another separate post when my funded projects really materialize. I had been told this is the easiest way that peeps now gets their funds for their big dreams but sometimes, we might just be the victims of their empty promises and bubbles. 

Back to my most constantly interest in smart watches, which I had 3 pairs so far, namely the earlier Samsung Gear I in 2013 , the original crowd funded Pebble watch , and an almost a year old Moto 360. 

my earlier Samsung Gear I

Well I will miss my Gear for its capabilities to take photos /videos stealthily , a.k.a. James Bond ..but it does not really have an attractive watch face. It does have a plain LCD black/white watch face, although I did have it rooted and ROMed with so you can change it to a much better interface. Interested folks who still loves your Gear I can try having some fun here. Flash-custom-rom-samsung-galaxy-gear-video/

The other smart watch would be my alternative side kick to Moto360, which is the Pebble watch. I bought it after the KickStarter campaign ended, so it was non discounted retail price online, but still a very affordable and functional watch which serves my needs for a cyclometer during my cycling trips as it is supported on my android app , MapMyRide. It does have its aesthetic appeal as well, given multiple watch faces to choose from, and I had applied a metallic "onyx" sticker skin on it so it doesn't look too "cheap" haha... So besides my Moto360, this is my other daily watch.

pebble with "onyx" skin applied

Now comes the main guy, my daily "watch", the Moto360 android wear based watch from Motorola , which I had gotten almost a year ago. I had saved on shipping charges with the blessings of a friend who traveled over from the States, so it was nicely around $320 SGD then.

I had changed the strap from the regular one with the stainless steel upgrade, and it is  an absolute beauty.

absolutely a "dress watch"

The fun part of this watch is besides all the functionalities which I will highlight below, the best being able to customize your outfit of the day with matching "watch faces". The flushed stainless steel with watch bezel gives a great industrial look and and a "clean cut stylish" look. This is definitely one of the best looking watch in the market now, compared with other Android Wear watches from makers such as LG's G , Urbane watches and Huawei's Watch. A comparison between these other two android wear makers can be found here Smart watch showdowns

Nevertheless, take a look at some of the watch faces here and you will know why I had fallen in love with this watch. 

a "Tag Heuer" watch although due to copyright issues the "brand" is now Android...Zzzxxx

a Breitling with "wifi" signal widget

One of my faves, a LONGINES watch face. It has Battery level indicator, as well as the number of steps taken, and weather/date widgets as well. 

you can even own a "Rolex" finally! It does really complement well on the steel frame and easily mistaken for a real watch face.

All the watch faces are easily found in Reddit groups or Google Plus pages and you will need the Android wear application such as "WatchMaker", available on Google Play store. All kinds of watch faces to match your outfits, and the guys have something now, our very own "Watch Face of The Day" , vs #OOTD , haha.... 

adding watch faces that you can import from or even design yourself

Besides this, let's talk about some specifications,  functionalities and how this fits into the urban men's lifestyle.

Battery Life

Sad to say, this is one area the Moto360 fails to excel. Initial battery life was really bad initially , but after a few firmware iterations, and some choices not to accept all notification alerts, now on a normal day, it can last a full working day usage without charging,  with some juice to spare. I can probably use it between 1 to 1.5 days before charging now. (But this is also dependent on some watch faces that runs widgets, as this will definitely reduce battery life) 

Docking and Charging

So this brings us to the next topic, Charging the phone.

 Well, they made charging the Moto360 an elegant display, which can be charged wirelessly via the docking station. This turns the watch into a clock, a.k.a. your bedside clock. After a day out, you probably will place this watch on the bedside table as a clock for charging, or so what was expected.

it comes with the wireless docking station, and turns your watch into a clock

Alternatively, you can also use one of the "Qi" charging pad, that can be purchased from any 3rd party vendor, and it works as well. The charging took less than 3 hours to give your watch a quick boost enough to last another day.

using 3rd party "Qi" charging pad works as well

Useful Apps to run 

This is subjective, but based on my usage on this watch, more and more android apps are supporting android wear so you get a similar yet customized experience suitable for your watch face. 

MotoBody  - This is a built in app for Moto360 watches and it utilizes the heart rate monitor sensor at the base of the watch face, as well as calculates the number of steps taken, just like most of the health or fitness bands sold on the market now. Take a look at the introduction here.

At the end of the week, it gives a very nice report of your heart rate, steps taken and calories burnt. (Although I greatly doubt the accuracy of this report, since there will be considerable times un monitored as you will not be wearing the watch 24 hours a day) 

my weekly Motobody report 

Endomondo for Android Wear

As a  casual rider, I also would like to view some stats on my weekly cycling trips, and this is one app that I love to use if I am wearing moto360 during cycling, or I would be alternating to the Map my Ride app that works well on my Pebble watch.

the Endomondo app interface on Moto can be set for monitoring speed or distances

Citimapper for Android Wear

This is another useful app that works well between your android phone and moto360. 

Just key in your destination and the screen will show up useful directional information and map as well as public transport such as train stations and bus stop and available bus numbers for directions. I had tried this more than 3 times will pretty satisfying results helping me to get to places I am unfamiliar with. 

showing the map as you walk or travel

Spotify for Android Wear

While this works generally for all android wear based watches, and not just for moto360,  you do get very limited functionality.(So far it just shows the pause button, so you can stop your music via the watch). It is my daily music companion, and it is next to glance at the music artists or album on your watch face. 

So what's next ? 

With the android wear update months ago, more enhancements had been added ,notably having wifi connectivity on the watch independently of your mobile phone now, as well as some of the following. More details here : Android wear Updates

Emoji

You can now draw your own emoji on the screen of your smartwatch and Android Wear 5.1 will convert it into the actual emoji you were after.

Gesture controls

The Android Wear 5.1 update adds gesture controls so you can simply flick your wrist to scroll through the stream (the vertical cascade of screens)

I have been happy using this watch so far and it does seem more and more like a "real " watch with its beautiful round watch face and quality build. There is much fun too changing watch faces, so you feel like you are having multiple watches to suit your wardrobe. Only minus to me would be its battery life, unlike a Pebble watch that can last 7 days on a single charge. But you cannot compare a black ink display over the vibrant and near real watch face on the Moto360.  

If there is anybody wanting to get this watch, I would say, find a good deal as the prices will be dropping soon for sure with the next moto360 2 on the horizon. 

Daniel Foo 

Taiwan Riding experience Part 2 (8th April)

map of the sights and points of interests

     

 With renewed vigor and looking forward to the next riding trip, I had a day's rest before embarking on my "smell" the flowers riding trip again. This time, I explored further down the northern main river of Tamsui, along the Guan Du 關渡 Jetty, the Temple as well as more cafes along the way. Starting from the cycle path again next to Hong Shu Lin MRT station, the first place we reached was the Guan Du Jetty, a landmark which offers the same beautiful and peaceful river view every day. This time I had the great fortune to ride with a new found friend, known more fondly as Big Brother, (大哥) David. He had rode the more challenging routes around Taiwan but has changed gears to lowest to bring me along the cycling tracks along the riverbank. 

With Big Bro at the Guan Du Jetty

Most notably overlooking is the iconic "red bridge" or Guan Du Bridge that I had posed a day  ago. It was a scorching early "summer" weather at 30+ deg C on that day. We continued forward and it was not long that we reached the Guan Du Temple in celebration of the worship of the Goddess of the sea,  Mazu. 

Along this area, it was a bustling of worshipers, daily commuters on bicycles as well as even "make shift" bicycle shops selling spares, gloves , helmets and windbreakers. It was a sight of rustic chaos with peace at the same time.

huge "urns" for the worshippers

buying "tributes" for the Goddess of the Sea

 

I guess these small vessels really need the blessings of Mazu out into the sea

"makeshift" bicycle shop serving the daily riders

I like this backdrop

 Pressing on in this heat, it did not take us long to reach our first pit stop, a small container based cafe place, known as "I'm here ", and here we had already turned right from Tamsui into the "Kee lung" river. Some girl  blogger put up another interesting "eats" account of her Kee lung river ride here, in case you are interested.

Location of "I'm here" cafe along the Kee Lung River

We needed a nice little iced coffee to keep us rejuvenated, and they provide some books and magazines to go along,  bike related of course. 

 It even has outdoor seats facing the river which I thought was pretty neat and artwork to go along.

to be continued....