I recently was fitted with hearing aids. These are cutting edge, amazing quality, open a whole new world of sound… and absolutely SUCK when it comes to a bluetooth interface. Oh, the sound is fine, but the controls… never mind.
Think of a bluetooth headset with no buttons, with great sound, but that you can’t answer the phone with, and you’ll be pretty accurate.
So…I’d like a watch that I can see the caller or message, and answer or receive calls on. The vast majority of the time I’ll want the call audio to be handled by my hearing aids - but answered by pressing a button on the watch. Having never tried “true” bluetooth calling I don’t know that it’s a feature I’d use much - especially now. I do care about screen quality, overall responsiveness, and face customization.
Given all that, and knowing my phone is Android 8 (Samsung Note 8) - would the Microwear H2 be the recommendation?
Apr 10, 2018 16:00:38 GMT 1 heavythumper said:
I recently was fitted with heating aids. These are cutting edge, amazing quality, open a whole new world of sound... and absolutely *SUCK* when it comes to a bluetooth interface. Oh, the sound is fine, but the controls... never mind.
Think of a bluetooth headset with no buttons, with great sound, but that you can’t answer the phone with, and you’ll be pretty accurate.
So…I’d like a watch that I can see the caller or message, and answer or receive calls on. The vast majority of the time I’ll want the call audio to be handled by my hearing aids - but answered by pressing a button on the watch. Having never tried “true” bluetooth calling I don’t know that it’s a feature I’d use much - especially now. I do care about screen quality, overall responsiveness, and face customization.
Given all that, and knowing my phone is Android 8 (Samsung Note 8) - would the Microwear H2 be the recommendation?
With as many watches that are available selecting one is always hard. Some suggestions based on my experience. If you truly don’t care about BT calling, my first question would be do you understand how it works? Then do you plan on just using a Sim card to make calls from the watch? If so I would avoid watches that have BT call installed in their firmware. Because most users, including myself, have experienced problems with the Watch Droid tethering app not working when the BT call app is installed on the watch. (Unfortunately it is in the firmware and cannot be uninstalled.) Watch Droid, in my opinion is hands down the best tethering app for responding to texts and knowing who is calling (on your phone). (You cannot respond to calls except to dismiss or end the call.) I currently use two watches mostly. The I4 Air and the Les 1. The I4 Air does not have the BT call app and Watch Droid works really well. The Les 1 installed the BT call app on the last OTA update and now Watch Droid no longer works on the watch. It continuously breaks the connection from the phone and watch and is unusable. I have to use the WiiWatch app instead and its usefulness is very limited in comparison to Watch Droid.
Don’t know how you hearing aids connect but I occasionally use a BT earbud for listening to music or phone calls on the watch but it has no controls either and everything must be set from the watch settings. But if you are using the Watch Droid app to play music remotely from your phone it does have a pause, volume control and the ability to skip tracks and other remote features. The H2 has the BT call app installed and neither the BT call feature nor the Watch Droid functioned well with the H2 I had.
/thread/1872/experience-bt-calling-app-issues
Apr 10, 2018 16:28:10 GMT 1 capt jon said:
With as many watches that are available selecting one is always hard. Some suggestions based on my experience. If you truly don't care about BT calling, my first question would be do you understand how it works? Then do you plan on just using a Sim card to make calls from the watch?
My understanding of BT calling is the watch becomes the microphone and speaker while using the phone’s cellular connection.
I have zero interest in making calls from the watch by itself - I will not purchase or use a separate SIM card. I have a phone - the phone is for making calls. If I don’t have the phone with me (almost never) then I’m not connected to the world on purpose.
What I need is a…remote control for my phone. To be able to identify callers, answer/reject calls, read and acknowledge messages/notifications. Those three functions are my minimum desire to justify investing and wearing something else.
My second tier desires are custom watch faces and … honestly it that’s all I care about. Anything else is either something I didn’t know I wanted yet or something I have no use for.
I don’t care about heartrate (I have a pulse). I don’t care about GPS, camera, or other sensors (I have a very multifunctional phone).
It’s possible what I want can be or best be provided by a dedicated tethered watch at a lower price - if so I’d appreciate recommendations. I’m hoping to find a quality solution for under $100US - based on the H2 pricing and reviews I think (hope) that’s reasonable.