Puma Smartwatch review: Great sport styling, but the experience is far from perfect - smithuntowent1983

Puma Smartwatch Source: Andrew Martonik / Android Fundamental

Fossil's biggest accomplishment in smartwatches is beingness able to join an incredibly various set of good-known brands under a common weapons platform. It's unlikely that Puma would be able (or willing) to make a competent smartwatch happening its own, so this partnership with Fossil is a out-and-out pull ahead-win like every other brand partner. Puma gets to purchase its well-known brand and design capabilities, and let Fossil handle the internals and capabilities.

The leave is a Wear OS take in that feels incredibly familiar, sharing its platform with several other smartwatches, but single with a alone style that separates it from the rest of the fashion-focused market.

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At a glimpse

Puma Smartwatch

Felis concolo Smartwatch

Bottom line: The Puma Smartwatch has the looks and sword to peck up sales from those who desire to keep things sporty and exercise without beingness encumbered by a fragile, or big, smartwatch. It's light and easy to wear every day, the display gets the job done, and GPS and pulse tracking are also practiced. Merely Bear Bone still has bugs and a namby-pamby app ecosystem, 512MB of RAM just isn't enough to properly run this software program, and battery life maxes out at one day.

The Moral

Wear Osmium is dodgy and simple
Lightweight and durable case
Good Global Positioning System and heart and soul rate tracking
Nice-look display

The Bad

Cheap-feeling plastic ramp up
Unhurried and unconformable performance
1-mean solar day battery life-time at best
Low-quality 3rd-party apps
No sleep tracking

Puma Smartwatch What I like

Non everyone wants a "fashion" smartwatch that's centralized happening being classy or tasteless with polished metal and stylish accouterments. There's a huge food market for sporting watches that put function all over form, or generally equip an active lifestyle aesthetic; and the Cougar Smartwatch is here for those buyers.

Not everyone wants a "fashion" smartwatch — some want something just and vigorous.

Whether you piece the dayglow yellow reading like I have Here, or the Sir Thomas More insidious color choices, the Puma Smartwatch feels right at house when you're out for a run, in the gym or wearing casual apparel along the weekend. Information technology's a simple intent with a round and smooth dial surrounded by an angular body with cutouts for a unfriendly two-tone look. The hardware is competitive well by Puma's unique lookout faces — although it only has foursome, and you'll have to go to the Spiel Store if you want any sort of variety.

Some will see this design atomic number 3 a downside considering you can't really incorporate the Puma Smartwatch into more formal or dressy attire, but you know that going in. If you involve a smartwatch that privy better pass the air between casual and formal, there are plenty of other options.

The Puma Smartwatch is light and small enough to manage any activeness.

The proactive nature goes beyond just looks. The primarily plastic casing (Puma says there's aluminum in here, but I sure backside't tell) is sturdy and ready to take its impartial share of abuse, and it's rather freeing to hold a "basic" shell that you aren't disturbed about keeping pristine. The Puma Smartwatch will wear its battle scars as well atomic number 3 your running shoes.

It's also possible for that kind of employ: this watch is incredibly light and easy to wear without whatsoever discomfort. The nice-looking 1.19-inch display fits into a casing that's 44 mm across and 11 mm thick, and at just 28 grams is incredibly light. The crest is smartly invulnerable so IT isn't likely to tear on clothing. The band doesn't look particularly high quality, merely it too is comfortable and super-light, and never rubbed my wrist or snagged arm hair even during workouts.

GPS and warmheartedness plac tracking were both exact, which I greatly appreciate seeing in a general-purpose smartwatch. Google Set has besides improved quite a bit over the last couple of years. And you can of course install third-party apps like Strava — though the Strava app is incredibly basic, only supporting outdoor running and biking.

Puma Smartwatch What I don't like

Sure it's conjectural to be light, but this thing just feels downright cheap and plasticky.

I appreciate how light the Puma Smartwatch is, but the opposite side of that strike is that it just feels cheap on the radiocarpal joint. I switched to the Puma Smartwatch after several weeks wearing the similarly-priced Galaxy Watch Overactive 2, and the quality and feel are dramatically different. Information technology's awe-inspiring what fitter materials can bring to the table. Once more you know what you're getting into with a "sport" watch, but I was hoping for a bit of a break balance of quality for $275.

That's really the only complaint that hindquarters be had in terms of ironware; the remainder of the shortcomings are completely in software.

Wear OS is a set of great ideas with very enervated performance.

I actually really like Wear OS from a design and simplicity perspective. It's slick and easy to voyage, and the integration with Android for notifications and Google's apps is seamless. The use of a rotating capitulum is an fantabulous fundamental interaction paradigm. Simply information technology has so many issues: the software package is oddly unstable, battery life maxes out at a 24-hour interval (though there's zero eternal rest tracking in any case), and there are weird blue-blind spots equivalent Do Non Disturb not syncing with your headphone that just make the whole experience feel uncompleted and incomplete. My sentinel also had a very odd wont of arbitrarily completely freezing, going the always-along exhibit stuck at a specific time with the only recourse being a long-press of the crown for several seconds to reboot information technology.

Every Wear upon OS watch should have leastwise 1GB of RAM — the Puma Smartwatch is a idealized example of why.

I know this isn't something that Puma (or Fossil) really has any control over considering Wear OS is controlled by Google, only it's still the experience you have to deal with no matter where you place the blame. And it's also the common playing study for all Wear OS watches — if you put on't like the computer software, you hind end't skip the Puma Smartwatch and pick prepared a Fossil Gen 5 and expect anything dramatically different.

Merely the one exception in that discussion is the Puma Smartwatch's specs. There's a reason why Fossil today puts 1GB of RAM in well-nig of its latest-generation watches. Break away OS really needs that gig, and all information technology takes is using the Puma Smartwatch to remind you why. The Puma Smartwatch randomly drags along at some of the most basic tasks, the like opening apps or heartwarming between the principal interface panels, and IT really detracts from the overall experience — compared to new Wear OS watches, merely the speed of Samsung's wearables particularly.

Puma Smartwatch Should you pip out?

Puma Smartwatch Source: Andrew Martonik / Mechanical man Central

Generally, IT'd be pretty easy to recommend the Puma Smartwatch. Information technology's a proper sport watch that goes all-in along involved styling. IT's light adequate to wear for any sort of activity, and robust enough to hold up to rough treatment. It's not styled for everyone (operating room every sort of attire), and its plastic feels incredibly loud, but it offers just what this gentle of buyer wants.

This is the sporting smartwatch we desire to imag, but information technology's held back by a couple big shortcomings.

The Puma Smartwatch is just regrettably Army of the Righteou down by a duo of naughty decisions in its hardware, and aside running Wear OS software that immediately puts it at a disadvantage. I just can't advocate a Wear OS watch that only has 512MB of RAM, when thither are and then many other options supported the Fossil Gen 5 platform with 1GB that have dramatically major package performance. The Puma Smartwatch as a healthy is rattling hampered by its performance. And Wear OS a unimpaired still feels unended, with weak battery life, odd instability and lackluster 3rd-party apps.

If you're willing to stick with Wear Osmium, you canful find a Fogey Feature for about $150, saving you money for the same general experience and clean design. But if you can spend $275 happening a Puma, I'd recommend a Fossil Gen 5 for $295 instead.

Unless you're particularly drawn to Wear OS, the Beetleweed Keep an eye on Going 2 is a better sports-centralised smartwatch for the money. It feels better happening the wrist, and has a nice neutral design that dismiss easily be dressed up or down. Information technology has the specs necessary to run its software swimmingly all the time, and battery living that john go two full days with sleep trailing in 'tween. IT looks a littler generic, and doesn't rich person Wear OS's simplicity, but it other than beats forbidden the Puma Smartwatch in all respects.

Sporty

Puma Smartwatch

A prissy sporty watch that would in truth benefit from better specs.

The Puma Smartwatch is a nice sports watch that breaks the trend of "fashion" Wear Oculus sinister watches. Simply it really needs Thomas More memory to execute properly, and its plastic body likewise feels downright cheap for the money.

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