I am looking at purchasing a smart watch. Nothing really expensive. I use an android phone so please don’t suggest Apple. Would lime something that pushes reminders and messages. Don’t care about calling on it. Are they worth it?
I’ve had quite a few of them, they’re only worth it if you have a specific function you’re looking for, or are happy with just ‘for fun’.
Pebble was the best no frills one. You only have to charge it every week and a half, it’s very subtle, and 0 lag.
I currently use that for sleep tracking (to use a smart alarm) and I wear a Nixon Mission during the day.
So that goes back to the purpose: your average android wear one isn’t great for sleep tracking because the constant pinging kills the battery. I like the mission because it’s completely waterproof (most are only good for sink/shower) & made for surfing, comes with a surf tracking app. It doesn’t have HR though.
If you like to workout, some are better automatically tracking workouts (some HR sensors are better than others - but most are still pretty inaccurate without also pairing a chest strap). If you’re wanting to run marathons and ditch your phone, you need one with GPS and/or LTE. But again, most of them have a battery issue and can’t make it thorugh a full marathon with GPS running. Garmin makes theirs specifically for that.
If you like to golf, the course tracking android apps work on all android wear watches, so you can see your distance to the pin at any moment, keep track of your score, and not have to pull out your phone.
Then there’s the matter of cost. I was able to get a decent deal on my Misson on ebay, but it was still over $200 and didn’t come with a warranty because it was used.
Pebble 2 HR is only $90 new, but I don’t know how well Fitbit is going to stand behind that. It may just have more and more functions break over time. You can get a used like new one for only $50 on amazon.
To me that’s worth it, even if it only lasts a year.
As far as your mentioned purpose of messages & notifications - I’d say this is only worth it if you’re in meetings often, or if you are trying to break an addiction to your phone. It can save you from having to pull your phone out at times, but not that often. You’re not going to voice text a response on your watch that often, and typing on your watch is usually slower than pulling out your phone.
I’m not much help to you because I switched from Android+Pebble to iOS for the Apple Watch. IME, getting notifications and basic tracking was nice but the real utility comes from being able to actually interact with the device and do useful things.
Like my Samsung Gear S2 Classic. Price/feature mix is good without being extravagant.