TECH CAFE

A “NOT” VERY LONG INTRODUCTION

If you asked few years ago about the idea of owning a smartwatch, I would have strongly said a bunch of reasons why I thought they were pointless. “Why have a whole phone in a less powerful device on your wrist? A fitness tracker makes more sense” I would tell you.

In 2020 I got myself my first wearable. The popular Xiaomi mi band 4 (at the time). Alter on the following year I switch from Nokia phone to a Samsung galaxy phone and decided to swap from my upgraded mi band 5 to galaxy fit 2 in an attempt to be in the galaxy ecosystem, I see all your judgmental faces right now. My reason for getting fitness trackers was that they can perform the essential functionality of smartwatches while still having a good battery life and not feeling like a whole phone on a inferior body. Well, the galaxy unpacked that introduced galaxy watch 4 changed my mind in 2021.

Fast forward 2022 December, I got my galaxy watch 4 which was already 1 generation behind. And I finally saw my mistake on smartwatches. They are not for everyone sure but let me change your mind or attempt to do so by showing my top apps on the WearOS apps that make life simple.

FYI: these apps work also on other WearOS watches and even apple watches.

MY FAVOURITE APPS ON GALAXY WATCH IN NO SPECIF ORDER

MESSAGING APP

No, I do not mean the third-party apps like WhatsApp or telegram (spoiler its next but keep reading). I am talking about the defaults like android messages. The galaxy watch does come with preloaded texting app, but I opted for the android alternative because I already use it on the phone as my default (we can have a separate blog just about duplicates on Samsung phones I tell you). The ability to reply text from your watch is absolutely awesome and makes you more productive as you won’t find your self doomscrolling your phone after replying to a text. Before you screen “Fred that keyboard is tiny and not comfortable”. It is sure but you have option of voice and swipe gestures so relax it is a comfortable experience. Not only that, but you can scroll back on a chat and check all the previous conversations. This is something many fitness trackers cannot do aside from just checking the notification (some like galaxy fit3 and mi band 8 have preset quick replies) still doesn’t match up to the full capabilities of texting the watches give you.

WHATSAPP

Something like the messaging app. (The image above shows both messaging {left] and whatsapp {right}) The official WearOS app was launched mid 2023. Initially you could just see and respond to WhatsApp notification just like any other app. But the advantage of the native pair app on the watch allows you to do everything that the messaging app does on the watch. This even includes checking image messages and listening to voice notes. Not video unfortunately. Also, this gives you freedom to walk without your phone and still reply to WhatsApp messages. Further making the watch less independent on the phone for such.

SPOTIFY

Remember the iPod? Or the generic mp3 players? or even the Walkman? Well smartwatches are the direct replacement. with Spotify premium you can take your music offline on your watch, with descent earbuds or headphones you can take an evening walk, jog or go to the gym (not me though) and leave the phone behind. Unfortunately, I am on Apple music and it doesn’t have a WearOS version. Why is this on the lust then? Podcasts. I use Spotify for podcasts, and this lets me leave the phone behind, grab my Visa (Samsung pay or google pay do not work in Kenya) and just head for small evening shopping or anything else.

AUDIBLE

Not much to say about this because it is exactly what I love about Spotify but just with audiobooks and podcasts too, but I use Spotify for that. I was excited when the watch version was released because I could finally get immersed in the sandman audiobook while walking with the phone lest at home thus minimising unnecessary distraction or reading texts on the road which well, not a good habit. Between this and Spotify, I use Audible more.

SHAZAM

You know that moment you at a friend’s house, public place like a restaurant or a matatu (public transportation for my non-Kenyan reader). And a cool song starts playing and you want to know the name but do not want to pull out your 6.5 incher out of your pants (wink wink) to shazam the song? Well, the galaxy watch will save you the time and hustle by simple shazaming the song from your wrist no problem. Yes, it synchronises with the phone app and you Will later has a listen to all your scanned songs in the day.

APP IN THE AIR

I knew this app from a YouTube video by Mike O’Brien. And installed it instantly. If you travel a lot by air this app is got you. It lets your track your flight schedule. Things like boarding time, take off time, landing time and all flight boarding pass information. The main phone app does the rest like checking previous trips but the ability to glance this information from your wrist is heaven sent. One of my favourite apps, I wish in house flight companies apps like KQ app was this good.

GOOGLE KEEP

While authoring this article I used google keep keeping track of the apps I will write and tick them as I go. Well it simple, you write notes and list and the likes and the watch version syncs with the phone and you can easy have your shopping list on your wrist without walking with your phone in the supermarket isle looking like you are constantly making calculation, hard economics time but don’t be that guy lol. (FYI your watch a calculator too)

GOOGLE ASSISTANT

I cannot believe galaxy watch did not have this on launch and they pushed Bixby instead. All in all, we later got our beloved google assistant on the watch. Yes, it does everything assistant does on the phone, answering your weird questions, controlling your smart home devices like bulbs and all. Even set reminder and alarms. Seriously Assistant’s reputation processed it.

THE END

Those were my top apps. I did not include stock apps like health and calling and clock because they are obvious uses of the watch. Leave a comment below on your best apps and suggestion of the next blog. Maybe a topic you want me to cover

jumaportfolio.netlify.app: BEYOND FITNESS