- [Narrator] Apple and Samsung don't just dominate
the smartphone market in the U.S.
In my home city of Boston,
these two companies also rent real estate
on most of the wrists I see, which is fine.
They're good products.
But for this video I wanted to introduce you
to three less common smartwatches
you might not have seen before,
all of which shine brightest in the summertime.
(upbeat music)
Okay, if I start with the most expensive one of these,
you're gonna click right away and unsubscribe.
That's the opposite of what I want.
So, let's kick off with the cheapest instead,
the latest from Beijing-based Mobvoi.
I reviewed this company's TicWatch Pro last year,
and the new watch bears the same name
along with a suffix that tells you
all you need to know about what's different.
Yeah, Mobvoi is betting that an always-on 4G connection
is what people are missing in their smartwatches.
And to that end, it's got a speaker and mic for phone calls,
and a built-in LTE radio to carry those calls
and everything else.
Unfortunately, Mobvoi's launch partner, Verizon,
won't activate this thing until August.
So we're essentially stuck with a warmed-over TicWatch Pro.
While it has lost some weight,
I still find it chunky and uninspired.
The only hint of flair coming from the knurled
texture on the steel bezel and pushers.
That's still not a rotating side button by the way,
which has a big effect on how easy it is or isn't
to use Google's Wear OS.
Still, doubling the RAM over last year's model
was a good call because the software here
glides along nicely, once you get past the initial setup.
There's also additional durability
alongside the IP68 dust and water resistance,
and this display should be on every smartwatch,
not just the circular AMOLED, though that is beautiful,
but the FSTN fitted invisibly above that.
Where most smartwatch displays have to ramp up
the battery-killing brightness to overcome
direct sunlight, this LCD gets more intense
the more sun you shine on it,
kinda like the bad guy from Superman IV.
Better still, in the words of Android Central's Ara Wagoner,
it sips battery like a fine cognac.
I was able to get about two days per charge,
but that's on pre-release software.
I won't be able to confirm
until the 4G issue gets sorted out.
And for the same reason,
I can't yet give this watch a proper review.
If you already know you want one of these,
Mobvoi is taking $20 off the eventual retail price
of $299 until August 10th.
And if you want to see a full review,
stay tuned to the end.
I'll tell you how to vote for this one.
Number two on the countdown
is a blast from the much more distant past.
See when I was a kid I used to think my dad's
Casio sailing wrist watch was the beefiest watch
I would ever see.
But it turns out, 1989 and 2019 have very different ideas
of big when it comes to watches.
This is the Casio PRO TREK F30,
and if it's ringing a vague bell,
that's because I've been covering this line
since it launched in 2016.
Casio was actually the first
to bring that dual-layer display to wearables,
so the F30 benefits from the same battery-saving
and visibility boon that the TicWatch Pro does.
With this generation, Casio also took the opportunity
to sport up the primary watch face with a sharper
OLED display.
And, well it's still a bit of tea saucer on your wrist,
but the F30 is actually smaller
than either of its forerunners.
It's also more stylish, if you ask me,
and if you don't agree,
well this is the first of the Pro Trek F-series
that let you do something about that
by changing the watch band.
At its core, this is a watch made for adventurers,
and it packs a lot of custom software from Casio
and third parties to help with that.
What's wrong with it?
Well, it's just kind of an iterative sequel to the last two
and for all the excellent features it brings over,
like dust and water resistance and 810G durability,
it also brings old frustrations
like lack of NFC, lack of a rotating crown,
lack of a heart rate sensor
and a magnetic charging cable
that's easier to accidentally jostle free
than something like MobVoi's cradle.
Fortunately, battery life is a solid three days,
you just have to do what I did
and disable raise to wake.
Price, $549, higher than the TicWatch, yes,
but way lower than this next one.
Garmin is still known mainly for it's GPS devices,
but over the past few years,
it's become a bigger name in watches
with it's fitness-focused fore-runner,
Vivoactive and Fenix lines.
And with this one, the company is moving
into a category known as tool watches.
Yeah, I had to look that one up.
It just means a watch designed
to serve a particular, specialized purpose.
Accordingly, there are five variants of MARQ.
One each for pilots, drivers, athletes, hikers,
and one for sailors.
Because I've spent almost as much time
on the water as I have on land
and because I occasionally like people to call me captain,
it's the latter I decided to buy for this video.
This is the MARQ Captain,
and it kind of feels like an artifact
from a parallel universe
where the modern smartphone was never invented.
There's no Wear OS, nor even a touch screen
under that sapphire crystal.
Instead, you control the Garmin software
with the five pushers studding the titanium casing.
For a tool watch, this makes sense.
On a boat with wet fingers,
the last thing you want is to be fiddling
with a tiny touch screen.
Instead, these clicky buttons
and the old-styled digital beeps,
leave no doubt when you've executed a function.
In fact, it all reminds me of another nautically-focused
watch I wore back in high school, the Citizen Navisail.
Showing off all the features of the MARQ Captain
would take a full video.
In short, you've got everything you expect
from a typical smartwatch.
From notifications delivered over wifi or Bluetooth
to mobile payments
to locally stored music.
But where a typical watch maxes out at four gigs,
the Captain turns it up to 32.
Extra space to store the things that matter
to Garmin buyers on the whole.
So, you know, GPS running maps and fitness apps.
And sailors in particular, nautical charts and tide tables.
It also has apps for interfacing
with your boat's Garmin navigation equipment.
The transflective memory and pixel display
is visible in all lighting conditions
and the battery life is the best in this video.
On my first charge, I got week of use
even though I used it to track my sleep every night.
And the charger is clever too.
It's a clamp, not likely to be shaken loose
by anything short of a rogue wave.
If it's not obvious, I like this thing.
I like how weighty it is on my wrist,
and I love the look of its jacquard weave strap.
It's obvious that Garmin is going for a status symbol here.
If I had the money for a boat
that I could fill with Garmin gear,
I'd probably celebrate its launch by dropping the $1850
that this watch costs.
But even if I had yacht money, folks,
I would have reservations about paying a bill that high
for a screen resolution and saturation this low.
A handy Captain becomes hilarious
when you plunk it down next to a watch
that costs over $1500 less,
and its screen gets spanked.
I do think a watch could be worth this much
if it were a mechanical masterpiece
suitable for uses in a heirloom or something,
but in the digital world, where things
become so obsolete so quickly,
I'm just not convinced luxury watches
over $1000 are justified.
Judging from the comments
from actual wrist watch enthusiasts
on this video from the excellent "A Blog to Watch,"
I'm not alone in that.
My friends, I wanna review all of these,
but my schedule is tight,
so let's bring you into the decision process.
Hit up the poll on my YouTube channel page
to vote on which of these watches
you'd most like to see me review,
if you had to pick just one.
Then, be sure you're subscribed to the MrMobile
on YouTube, so you don't miss that review
when it goes live.
This video made possible by review samples
from Casio and Mobvoi and a retail Garmin MARQ Captain
purchased by Mobile Nations.
No manufacturer was given copy approval
and no compensation was requested or provided
for being featured in this video.
Until next time, thanks for watching,
happy sailing, and stay mobile, my friends.