Review on 👨 Men's Skagen Connected Stainless Smartwatch with Touchscreen by Sean Xayamonty

3.5 stars. There are many things to love about this watch, but there are also things that are really disappointing. Before I dive into the pros and cons, I wanted to clear up some of the confusion surrounding the watch's ability to respond audibly. This watch doesn't have a speaker, it has a microphone. The following is verbatim from the Falster 2 FAQ - Your smartwatch doesn't have a speaker, but it does have a microphone. This means you can ask questions or give commands into the microphone and your watch will read the answers, but it won't be able to answer your questions out loud. Pros: This is a really nice watch, especially the black one, it's very light and comfortable. at the wrist. - The silicone wristband is flexible and easy to clean. A good choice for training. what they call data points (they give you three modifiable ones) like weather, battery percentage, steps, etc. If this is your first smartwatch, you might want to read the Falster 2 FAQ. I couldn't find them on the Skagen website, just general information, no specific model. Strangely a google search turned up an FAQ with the Skagen URL, I'll paste it here, but it might get blocked as Revain doesn't allow external links in reviews. skagen.com/en-us/falster-2-smartwatch-faq#google - it has an "on command" heart rate monitor, which isn't as basic as a fitness watch, but having one is a huge plus. It automatically tracks your workouts and your stats are available in your workout history in the Google Fit app. I like how it handles text messages and emails, you can reply quickly using the microphone. When a call comes in, you can select a short text message from the watch if you cannot answer the call. You can even invoke a keyboard that can't be used with thumbs but works well with a stylus. - Unbound GPS. Major advantage. Main Cons - The battery is terrible; it takes nowhere near 24 hours. Fully charged yesterday at 5pm, only worn for five hours, and this morning it had already dropped to 10% after just sitting without wearing. While wearing it for five hours, I didn't check the messages or use any functions other than checking the time and counting my heart rate a few times. GPS is off. This is unacceptable. The battery fully charges in just an hour, but that's still an issue. You need to make sure you always have a charger with you if you plan to wear the watch all day and leave the house. An hour of interval training used 25% of the battery. - Music storage. It is completely wrong to say that this watch stores and plays music. What they really mean is that if you have a paid music subscription for Spotify, Google Music, etc., you can play saved music from your account. We have paid Spotify subscription and downloaded music available for offline playback and this WON'T WORK! I have app permissions enabled, I spent an hour on Spotify support chat and they said I have the correct version of Spotify app on the watch and when you open it (you need to make sure the app is on your phone closed), you should get a system login screen, but the only option you see is to pair with your phone. It does this seamlessly and you can control the music playing on your phone using the music controls on your watch, but you want the music to play independently from your phone. Spotify support said there should be a sign-in option if the watch is a standalone device. So they don't know how to help me. Now I should try to continue the investigation with Skagen, but I'm fed up at the moment. If anyone reading this has learned how to work with Spotify or maybe Google Music, please post a comment. - Slow response to functions - there is a slight delay with many controls. It won't be a big problem, except that the screen will quickly dim before you can do anything. You can't extend the screen timeout, you can only choose the "Always On" setting, which would be a good idea at least for the initial setup, but of course that uses more battery. - Not particularly impressed with the Wear OS app. I really like the idea of this watch, a smartwatch with fitness watch capabilities, but it needs some work, especially the battery. I have a Fitbit Versa, the opposite, a fitness watch with smartwatch capabilities, and not only is it a lot cheaper than this watch, it has many of the same features (though no separate GPS), it actually stores music, and the battery lasts for three days or longer, even if worn all day and all night. Vibration Advice which bothers me but may be useful for those who need to turn off the ringer and/or vibration on their phone but still need to know if a call is coming without disturbing others. I don't need it so I just want to disable all vibrations but there is no setting to turn it off and presumably if you don't have active vibration on your phone the watch will, which I don't have. not vibrate. No, it still vibrates for calls, texts and emails. As such, the only way to turn it off completely is to select Do Not Disturb, which is easily accessible by swiping down from the top.