Hugo Boss Smartwatch Touch Review: massive piece of jewelry

With the Touch, the fashion brand Hugo Boss manages the balancing act between a classic wristwatch and a smartwatch. The 400 dollars watch is based on Android Wear and has neither GPS nor heart rate monitoring, but a powerful battery.Read our Hugo Boss Touch Review to discover more.

Scope of delivery

The Smartwatch Touch comes to the customer in a high-quality watch box. In addition to the actual watch with a leather strap, the scope of delivery includes a magnetic charging cable, a second silicone strap and brief instructions for use. A USB power supply for the power supply of the charging cable is missing.

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Design

The manufacturer relies on a classic analog watch design. Instead of a dial, however, a 37 millimeter large Amoled display is installed. The round stainless steel case with a diameter of 46 millimeters is of high quality and weighs 71 grams without a bracelet. The touch-sensitive display and a button are available for operation. The bracelets can be changed quickly and easily thanks to the quick-release fastener. We really like the little details – like the logo embossing on the clasp.

There are two charging contacts on the underside of the housing. The magnetic end of the charging cable is simply attached to charge the battery. Hugo Boss does not use wireless charging via an induction coil. Basically, this also works; however, long-term experience with contact surfaces of other products shows that they are not maintenance-free. In practice, dirt accumulates here, some also tend to corrode in combination with body sweat – then there are problems.

Compared to the filigree Apple Watch, the Hugo Boss watch looks very massive. Heavy fashion watch wearers will like this. Despite the high weight, the touch is very comfortable. The pre-installed dials are all very simple. If you like it more striking, you can add other skins at any time and customize them according to your personal wishes.

Hardware

The manufacturer uses Bluetooth 4.1 to communicate with the smartphone. The Touch supports apps for Android Watch 1.0 and 2.0. Heart rate monitors or GPS are not installed. A pedometer and microphones for speech recognition are integrated.

Contrary to the manufacturer’s instructions, the battery lasts for over 24 hours even when used intensively. Despite the installation of numerous apps, a very intensive use and permanently activated screen, the Touch managed a runtime of almost 26 hours in the Review. After about 60 minutes at the socket, the empty battery is 80 percent charged. It takes a total of 2 hours to fully charge.

The watch is waterproof to IPx8 and can withstand hand washing or showering without any problems. It is not suitable for swimming; not for dives anyway.

The greatest benefit is in combination with an Android smartphone. Android Wear and Android OS work together perfectly. Although the Touch is also compatible with iOS, the range of functions is by far not as extensive: notifications appear on the display, but further control is not possible due to the lack of interfaces.

Data sheet

Display

The display has a resolution of 400 × 400 pixels. There is no flattened black border, as is often the case with older smartwatch models. The screen brightness regulates itself depending on the ambient lighting. If you want, you can also set them manually in five stages. Thanks to the high resolution, the display is sufficiently sharp.

To protect the battery, the display switches off as soon as the watch is not used. As soon as the wrist moves again, the screen is activated automatically. If you want, you can also switch the display on permanently. However, this is at the expense of the battery life. Even when the screen is constantly activated, the watch goes into standby mode when not in use. The dial darkens and the display shows only a stripped-down version of the selected skin.

Brightness and contrast are high enough to be able to read the touch sensibly even in direct sunlight.

Variants

Hugo Boss’s Touch is currently available with a polished, silver case and brown leather strap or with a matt, black case and blue strap.

Practical Review

As a non-watch wearer, you first have to get used to the relatively high weight of the Touch. Otherwise, the Boss smartwatch is very comfortable. Thanks to Android Wear, the operation of the smart health watch is intuitive, logical and uncomplicated. Even inexperienced users can get used to it after just a few minutes.

After connecting the smartwatch and smartphone, the first step is to individualize our Review device. We install additional skin designs and a dozen different apps. Including the Messenger Threema, the Remote trigger app Watch Camera and the Software from Ebay.

The clock no longer only shows who is calling. It forwards us Threema messages, informs about current eBay auctions or serves as a remote trigger for the smartphone camera. In a nutshell: the habituation effect is impressive. The longer the watch is used, the more often the smartphone stays in your pocket.

However, this does not apply to every situation. When it comes to sending a message, it is worth using a cell phone. Typing texts is also possible using the touch function of the display, but typing on the small screen is very tedious. The smartphone also has a clear advantage when reading long texts.

Conclusion

The Touch is a successful mix of analog watch design and smart technology. The argument that a smartwatch looks too technical definitely does not apply to this model. In this respect, the Smartwatch from Hugo Boss, especially for analog watch wearers, is an ideal introduction to smart technology.

If you want to use your watch to navigate without a smartphone or need a heart rate monitoring, you have to look for an alternative. Other models, such as the Huawei Watch 2, have these functions integrated.

If you are looking for a masculine-looking smart health watch with an analog watch design and sufficient battery life, you will be very satisfied with the Boss Touch.

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