Health Is Wealth
Posts
she gives the time, but do not ask for more

she gives the time, but do not ask for more

[ad_1]

In an ultra market dominated by Xiaomi, Samsung and Apple, rare are the brands still trying the adventure of the smartwatch. It was not counting on Mobvoi, a Chinese start-up that will launch, Thursday, December 6, its first watch smart health connected to the European market. We have had the opportunity to Review the TicWatch C2 in recent weeks, and here you deliver our impressions … mixed.

Update of 11/12/2018:Added information regarding the presence of an AC adapter in commercial versions of the TicWatch C2 and future updates regarding the translation of Mobvoi applications.

Well established in the Middle Kingdom, Mobvoi is an illustrious unknown on the Old Continent. The Chinese brand, however, has a wide range of wearables in his health home country, and specializes more recently in artificial intelligence through his personal health home assistant.

But here it is: in a market devoured almost entirely by Apple (Apple Watch), Samsung (Gear), Xiaomi (Mi Band 3) and FitBit, is there a place on the wrist of the consumer to welcome a newcomer, that One can not help but look with the same mistrust as this type too sure of himself who is encrusted with an evening with friends?

The answer could be yes. But you will understand: it is rather no.

TicWatch C2: technical form

Sober, the TicWatch C2 is the urban version of the TcWatch Pro, released earlier this year. A medium-range hitter, who logically has a technological baggage less generous than her big sister.

The TicWatch C2 is :

A 1.3 "AMOLED display with a definition of 360×360 (42mm)
A Soap Snapdragon Wear 2100
A battery of 400 mAh
512 MB of RAM
4 GB of internal storage
Bluetooth 4.1
Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n
GPS + GLONASS + Beidou
Google Pay compatible NFC
IP68 certified

The watch runs on Wear OS in version 2.0, and of course has all the sensor paraphernalia that we can hope to find in a smartwatch in 2018, namely accelerometer, gyroscope and heart rate sensor.

Note also that if the watch is IP68 certified against immersion and dust, it is absolutely not intended for swimming training. It will be suitable for the most valiant runners wanting to brave the rain, but can not withstand prolonged immersion.

The TicWatch C2 will be available from December 6 for 199 € in the colors black (Onyx), gray (Platinum) and pink (Rose Gold), the latter has the distinction of having a thinner strap, 18 mm against 20 mm on the other models. It comes with a USB cable to which the charging stand is attached. The version provided to us by Mobvoi did not contain a power adapter, but the brand confirms that the commercial versions will contain one.

Promotional images. © Mobvoi

A design that does not live up to its price

Let it be said immediately: we would not be as severe with the TicWatch C2 if it had the good taste to cost 50 € cheaper. Displayed at 199 €, the MobVoi watch imagines itself as an alternative to a Samsung Gear S3 or Sport, without ever approaching either its performances (on which we will return) or its level of finishes.

Thus the TicWatch C2 has a stainless steel case for its upper part, and plastic poor invoice on the part glued to the wrist.

The front and back faces of the TicWatch C2. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic

On this case there are two interaction buttons on its right side, the first of which has an orange dot to differentiate it from the second. Between them is a small microphone that, regardless of the sound level to which you will debit your requests, will not care.

Both buttons are located on the right side of the watch. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic

In genuine leather (vegans abstain), the bracelet is not of a remarkable standing. Worse, it seems fragile, as are passers-by responsible for retaining the tip. Luckily, Mobvoi has seen fit to make his bracelets interchangeable, which suggests that other declensions more pleasing to the eye will appear in the coming weeks.

The bracelets are interchangeable. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic

The underside of the watch has nothing special to show us, except for its heart rate sensor located at its center, and the magnetic port for the C2 to be recharged via its base.

A screen poorly defined and not very responsive

Let's attack the subject. The 42mm screen of the TicWatch C2 is not great. It may be AMOLED type, the display of various information and navigation in WearOS is rarely enjoyable when one comes a little bit of his wrist.

The fault, in the first place, at a pixel density too low for a harmonious rendering. Read an article on a smartphone with a resolution HD + or higher, then view information on the TicWatch C2 will not fail to sting your retina as the lack of finesse is felt.

The pixels are very visible on the screen of the watch. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic

Second problem: the lack of responsiveness of the slab. I have had to go back to it several times – grandmother type an SMS – so that the smartwatch take into account my interaction. A fault that is unfortunately not attributable only to the screen of the TicWatch C2, but also to its technological equipment well dated.

Meager performances happily overtaken by a good autonomy

The TicWatch C2 is equipped with Snapdragon Wear 2100 released … two years ago. The least performance of the knockoff Mobvoi is a euphemism, especially as it has only 512 MB of RAM to help him in his tasks. The choice of Snapdragon Wear 3100 would have been much better.

This sub-regime is characterized by applications that take 107 years to launch, including Google Assistant queries that take millennia to be processed. Integrated natively, the voice assistant of Google can indeed be called by a long press on the upper button of the watch, or by sliding to the left on the interface. There is even an option in the watch settings to call Google Assistant via "OK Google". Something that works only once in five about, either because the processor is completely picking up, or because the microphone is too small to hear anything.

The autonomy of the watch is honorable. © Pierre Crochart for Clubic

But fortunately, not everything is so catastrophic under the hood. And especially on the side of autonomy – honorable – of the TicWatch C2. Its 400mAh battery allows the watch to take a very comfortable day, and tickle the two days if you used to spend it in airplane mode when you do not use it. In intensive use, as in sports training, it will rather rely on a maximum day of use. Charging is done rather quickly, but it will depend a lot on the AC adapter you use because, remember, none are supplied with the watch.

WearOS nice, but sometimes painful integration

Compatible with both an iPhone and an Android smartphone, the TicWatch C2 will ask you to go through a preliminary configuration step during which you will have to cross on any kind of concept of privacy. Google (which provides the OS) as Mobvoi (which provides the watch), are thus particularly greedy personal data, and ask you (each!) Access to your calendars, contacts, geolocation and so on. What cause a syncope to your indoor Edward Snowden.

Moreover, it must be admitted that if the watch actually works with an iPhone, the integration is much better using Android. Take for example the case of the official application Mobvoi. On iPhone, it was impossible to match my watch, while it could be done easily via Android. Most of the fitness apps preinstalled in the watch turn out to be unusable on an Apple smartphone. But when we see the result, we say that it may not be a bad thing.

Indeed, we are talking about an application (TicExercice) that has the tendency to make the most pleasant guilt as the undervaluation of your efforts. For example, I spent a particularly physical day today getting up from my chair just to get bread in front of my house. The watch shows me no less than 700 steps and – get well – 400 calories burned for this physical effort! At the same time, this same app tells me a burning of nearly 100 calories less than the sensor of the gym I frequent for a quiet 30-minute run. Calculation systematically in cabbages, therefore, especially as the watch takes the initiative to put the exercise in pause in the middle of the race. Because why not?

Regarding the translation of the application: The brand has confirmed that we are actively working on the translation problems of its applications. A future update should definitely fix the issues.

The general interface of the supplied applications also suffers from a glaring lack of finishes. On Android, some windows of the application Mobvoi and asked me my consent to the collection of my personal data in … Spanish. The watch, finally, invited me to "Finished to finish" my race to record my performances. An entire program.

TicWatch C2: Clubic's opinion

Let's cut short any suspense you might have about our verdict: no, the TicWatch C2 is not a good one smartwatch. As we said earlier in these lines, it could be an acceptable product if it was offered at 150 € maximum, but wanting to position itself at the same level as some tenors, and never tickling neither the performance nor the degree finishing, Mobvoi shoots himself in the foot.

The Chinese company pushes its laxity to the point of quickly translating the interface of its applications, interacting with you sometimes in French, sometimes in Spanish. Looking a little, we must even find traces of Mandarin somewhere. Applications that, in any case, provide wet finger analysis never reflecting the accuracy of your sports efforts.

Mobilizing a dated hardware, serving a poorly defined and unreactive screen, Mobvoi signs with its TicWatch C2 a product that is inconceivable for us to recommend.

TicWatch C2

– poorly defined screen

– aging hardware

– Unreactive interface

– Poorly translated applications and picking

– A lot of personal data collected

– Fair fair finishes

– AC adapter not supplied

– Too expensive

[ad_2]

AB SMART HEALTH health home & BUILDING REVIEW