This isn't the first time I experimented with Smartwatches. Back in 2016 - (e:paul,60448) - I got the Samsung Gear 2, which I actually sold back to best buy as part of getting the Active 2. Before you accuse me of just generating more e-waste note that I sold that back and bought a used Active 2.

Honestly that wasn't even the first one. There was a google watch a couple years earlier in 2014 (e:paul,59394) but more specifically, I believe the kickoff of this obsession was the time in the 1980s as a child where I threw a shitfit in the Eaton center because I wanted, no needed, a Casio calculator watch. We ended up leaving Toronto and going home ;( I am so glad I was not the parent of myself.



However, this post is not about the Active 2, I will post about that more later. This post is about the Fitbit sense. You may ask, why would you get a Fitbit Sense if you have a Samsung Active 2. Well I was fortunate to have an Independent Health Extras card, was sick of squandering it on herbs and vitamins I never use from Feelrite, and in 2020 Fitbit is now a participating vendor in the 2020 list ::READ PDF::

I got a fitbit sense. and it seems pretty good. The fitbit developer studio is pretty easy to use browser based IDE with Javascript as the SDK language.

I was really disappointed in two things:

1. The lack of linux native fitbit simulator though the SDK is browser based
2. That once I pushed a custom watch face to the sense, I could no longer use any of the ones from the fitbit app. It constantly just says "another clock is being installed"

I made a clock face that can pull in heart rate and step data, and transmit info back and forth to a companion app of the phone in order to move and receive data from an external server.

The plushies randomly showup throughout the day. I am still working on the file styling.




Most of the adult characters show up.

(e:Grandma)


Layla


Layla's husband Henry


Mora


Mora's husband Bo


Gene - for nightime mode


Wolfgang


Big P and Little P


Stinky


Bluedog


Bluedog, who's backstory has him as a local branch manager for the church of Satan's contract division, takes over the watch at a special time of day at 6:59. Time then goes from 6:59 to 6:60, 6:61, 6:62, 6:64, 6:64, 6:65, 6:66 in spooky red and black. Then it continues in normal time with 7:07.



I am planning to do something fun with each character as time permits.

Sadly the fitbit sense doesn't have sound. On my other arm I am wearing a Samsung Active 2 smartwatch which I like much more and will review in more detail later.

Both have ECG, HR monitor, steps, etc. The main benefit of the fitbit is the week long battery life whereas the Active 2 only goes for a few days. On the flipside the Active 2 is more fully integrated with my Note 20 Ultra and can play sound and spotify right on the device in offline mode. The fitbit for some reason only works offline with pandora and deezer. What even is deezer.

Smart watch number two. I used to have the Samsung gear live which I know gave to Joe. It ran Android wear which was actually pretty nice considering its integration with Google.

I switched to the gear s2 because the watch looks nicer and because I was interested in a watch with its own data connection.

T-Mobile has a nice deal where you can get a phone number and data plan for your watch for $5/month with no contract. That's only $60/year and it makes it so that your watch is not useless without your phone.

Calling from the watch is pretty great. The sound is very clear. It feels space agey go dial and talk to your watch. I still wish it had a camera of its own. You can use it to control your phones camera but that's still not as awesome as if it had its own camera. If it did I would be more likely to leave the phone behind.

I miss the better hangouts integration that the Google branded watch had but it still works pretty good. you can also use it with Samsung milk music which has a pretty great app.

The build in GPA should be good for directions and when biking.

Did I need it? No. Was it worth the $200 I got it for used. Yes.