![]() TAG Heuer includes expected common sensors and features inside of the Connected E4 including your full complement of location and activity sensors as well as a heart-rate monitor. The crown functions both as a button as well as a scroll wheel to efficiently look at information on the screen without having to swipe at it with your finger (and get fingerprints on it). In addition to the touch-screen interface, the watch has two pushers, as well as the crown to control the operating system. The steel case is nicely polished with elegant lines, and the black bezel is produced from highly scratch-resistant ceramic. The case is water-resistant to 50 meters, and over the screen is a sapphire crystal. In this 45mm-wide form, the TAG Heuer Connected E4 is 15.3mm-thick and has a roughly 54mm lug-to-lug distance. The result is that a lot of people who want a more elevated product experience (that looks traditional versus like they are wearing an appliance) can enjoy the sex appeal of a European luxury product while having the convenience and functionality of a modern smartwatch. This took a few years of hardware miniaturization, but the resulting wearing experience today allows the Connected watch to more or less look and feel like a traditional watch both to the wearer and to observers. That means the size and shape of the TAG Heuer Connected E4 is very similar to that of a traditional mechanical watch. While it wasn’t always the case (no pun intended), most luxury smartwatches today look and feel almost identical to traditional watches on the wrist. For this review, I am specifically looking at the base model (reference SBR8A10.BT6259) of the 45mm-wide TAG Heuer Connected E4 in steel that comes on a black rubber strap. For example, TAG Heuer has different software in the Golf and Super Mario versions of the Connected as opposed to the base model. These products share a lot in common such as underlying hardware and case shape, but product materials, cosmetics, and even the software can vary. The Connected E4 is available in both a 45mm-wide and 42mm-wide size, and on top of that, there are various themed versions, including the TAG Heuer Connected E4 for golf, Porsche, and, of course, the fun Super Mario edition. TAG Heuer currently has a good level of variety in its smartwatch offerings. That status can have pluses and minuses, but I think it still makes a lot more sense for TAG Heuer to work with a popular and supported platform (Wear OS), as opposed to coming up with its own smartwatch operating system from scratch, as some others have. That means companies like TAG Heuer are, to a degree, subject to the whims of Google. Hardware makers can’t go very far with software additions and the underlying Wear OS system can’t really be tweaked. Google allows hardware makers like TAG Heuer to develop their own watch faces and a selection of software interfaces for things like exercise tracking, travel, and other commonly used tools. TAG Heuer has a dedicated team based in Paris (as I understand it) that is responsible for the extra software layers that are included on top of the base Google Wear Operating System. One of the best things about the TAG Heuer Connected series isn’t just the physical product itself but the software experience, as well. Of course, Wear OS faces big competition from other operating systems, such as those from Garmin or Apple, but a lot of people will find a Wear OS-equipped watch ideal for them, especially those seeking a city/urban watch who have an Android-based smartphone, or want something more visually distinctive than an Apple Watch. ![]() ![]() I certainly can’t think of any others that I would rather have right now. Over the last few years, TAG Heuer has really upped its game in the smartwatch market - so much so that I think it is safe to say that TAG Heuer produces the most desirable Google Wear OS-based smartwatch at this time. ![]() I was there for the first TAG Heuer Connected watch release that happened in San Francisco some years ago, and here I am today reviewing the latest version, the TAG Heuer Connected E4 (originally debuted here).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |