We have gotten two of them, under one hundred dollars and they both said to download an app on your smart phone to make them work. What gives me pause is the name of the app did not match completely the name of the app given in the instructions.
The instructions for the second watch was "download 'Fundo'" so I go the the android play store and only find variations on Fundo, like Fundo bracelet which may be the right one since the box the watch came in says 'bracelet'. But what I don't like is the app says it want's to access basically every name in contact list, every photo, every file on the comp, or at least it sounds that way.
Has anyone used these watches that needs an app download? For instance, without the app, you can't even set the proper time on the watch, there is nothing on the watch allowing that.
It sounds to me like they may CALL it a smart watch but needing an app like that would seem to me a signal the watch is not smart enough, that is to say, it would be great to have one of these smart watches not needing such apps.
I for one would be less uneasy about some app being able to suck off anything on the cell phone like personal data which they explicitly say they can do.
It seems like a sneaky way to suck info off unsuspecting public.
Any thoughts on this new technology?
Are there smart watches that don't need such apps but just work and connect to say wifi or the net and such if they need to?
@wildgrass
Have you researched those smart watches? Not for me, but for my wife who has a number of medical issues, they take blood pressure reading, heart rates, body temperature and the like and can transmit them via bluetooth or similar tech to a smart phone.
The thing I don't like is when you get to the nitty gritty of the instruction page, there is both cases a statement that goes, we can use any data you have on your phone for any frigging thing we want and if that happens to be an enrichment of a Chinese data base TOO FRIGGING BAD, if you want to use OUR product, LIVE with it losers.
Which is why I am trying to find a smart watch that does its work without having to download some creepy Chinese software capable of sucking out all the data on your smart phone including personal data, photos and such, THAT IS IN THE disclaimer, you have to accept such data theft if you want the watch to work.
The latest one I got doesn't even have the ability to be able to set the correct time without being hooked by this insidious Chinese software to your smart phone.
THAT upset me right off.
So my search is on for a watch that just does its job locally INSIDE THE WATCH without having to connect to a smart phone.
And don't take that to mean I am anti Chinese. I have Chinese co-workers and we are good friends, I also have Russian co-workers and co-workers from Korea and India. My daughter MARRIED a dude from India and I have 2 half Indian grandchildren and half Mayan grandchildren as well as half Swedish grandkids and more.
I have worked around the world for YEARS and get along fine with every one I worked with so I hope nobody tries to read into what I said as anti Chinese.
I am against software designed to steal data from unsuspecting folks using those products.
China has a great science background, excellent scientists and engineers and have for a long time.
But they are known to have lazy dudes who want to short circuit the years it takes to make a commercial product and they will if they get a chance, SOME Chinese are well known for their love of stealing data from anyone they can hack.
Note I said SOME. That is not a criticism of all of China.
I would LOVE to visit, for instance, their MAGNIFICENT 500 METER radio telescope almost twice the size of the Arecibo radio telescope in puerto rico.
And now the Arecibo scope is history, the last hurricane did it in and there is no fixing it. It is destroyed and they analyzed how to repair it and concluded there is no safe way to do that so Arecibo is now decommissioned and a huge loss to the scientific community.
But the Chinese one is working now, which is good news and it is a lot more sensitive than Arecibo ever was.
Sorry for spending time on that, I love astronomy.
@sonhouse saidNo I haven't researched them, but I do know there are lots of devices that can monitor vital signs that don't link to your phone.
@wildgrass
Have you researched those smart watches? Not for me, but for my wife who has a number of medical issues, they take blood pressure reading, heart rates, body temperature and the like and can transmit them via bluetooth or similar tech to a smart phone.
The thing I don't like is when you get to the nitty gritty of the instruction page, there is both cases a statem ...[text shortened]... is a lot more sensitive than Arecibo ever was.
Sorry for spending time on that, I love astronomy.
Also, almost every app you download to your phone also tracks your data. Unless you ditch the phone altogether it's unavoidable.
@wildgrass
I think the smart watches I bought say explicitly they can suck off ANYTHING on the phone, data, photos. contact list and the like.
@sonhouse saidYes, many of them are essentially an extension or remote control for your phone.
@wildgrass
I think the smart watches I bought say explicitly they can suck off ANYTHING on the phone, data, photos. contact list and the like.
@wildgrass
Why would a watch NEED access to personal data? I would think a reputable company would make a special file for just watch data and the like. What POSSIBLE use could a smart watch have with personal data? Sounds to me like a ploy to suck off personal data for the use of nefarious programs by adversary countries.
@sonhouse saidDepends on what you want to use it for.
@wildgrass
Why would a watch NEED access to personal data? I would think a reputable company would make a special file for just watch data and the like. What POSSIBLE use could a smart watch have with personal data? Sounds to me like a ploy to suck off personal data for the use of nefarious programs by adversary countries.
If the purpose of the watch is to be an extension or remote control for your phone, then it makes total sense that it would have access to everything on your phone. I don't think this makes your personal data any more/less vulnerable to misuse compared to any other app you install on your phone.
If the purpose of the watch is to monitor vitals and health, you can get specialized 'watches' that only do this and you can choose whether to integrate this with your phone or not.
If the purpose of the watch is to tell time, just get a regular watch.
@wildgrass
Well GEE Mr obvious. What POSSIBLE use would a smart watch have for say your phone # list? Or photos or the like. If there was medical information like past history of blood pressure, that would be one thing to monitor but smart phones are WAY to dumb to be able to use that information so what information exactly would such a watch actually need to function to measure blood pressure or heartrate or O2 stats and the like?
It just seems to me a cynical underbelly of information gathering for some other purpose than the use stated.
And to Lemon, that is the crux of what I am saying. What the HELL do they actually need with personal information having nothing to do with medical history?
Like your contact list, just exactly how would that relate in any way to the ongoing medical information the watch would be legitimately collecting, and other data on your phone like photos and text messages recorded on the phone?
The bottom line for me is a search for a watch that does all it's medical stuff and maybe connects to a smart phone to post results and the history of the data but it seems to me that is ALL it needs. There is ZERO need from a medical standpoint for a watch to be able to send data to some party by some backdoor net link which is entirely possible given the level of today's net.
@wildgrass
I think the idea for connection to a smart phone is to use bluetooth connections to get the data to the cell phone pretty much instantly because usually the cell phone and the watch would be within a few feet apart, so you can view the results on your cell which of course has a much bigger screen.
It sucks that you can't even set the time of day unless you have it connected to a smart phone.
That should be on the front of the watch or maybe buttons like a regular watch so you can at least use it as a watch. Right now, being a bit paranoid about that watch sucking off personal data, not using it means it is TOTALLY useless even as a watch.
@sonhouse
There will always be a balance between convenience and privacy with technology. For smart watches, many are sleekly designed and cheap. User friendly apps are expensive to build but are offered free to users. If you're going the route of 'convenience', their business model depends on aggregating user data to share with advertisers.
@wildgrass
Which is why I refuse to play their games. I'll throw those two watches away before I allow any access to my personal data.
@sonhouse
I don't think you have to if you are willing to sacrifice some convenience for privacy. This is a fairly common issue in our modern technological era. If there's anything in your life you don't want to share with the NSA, keep it away from your phone.