I already have the perfect smartwatch for me
At some point last week I started looking at the Samsung Galaxy Fit3` One of my coworkers mentioned she bought it, and I saw it on Amazon for less than $70. My current watch, a Samsung Galaxy Watch 46mm, is quite old and no longer receiving any updates, and I have entertained the idea of replacing it a few times.
Usually I stop looking at replacements because I decide that my watch is perfectly functional and does what I want it to: track health data and send me notifications. Since it's not broken, there's no need to replace it!
This time my thought process was different. At less than $79, if this newer smart watch (technically, a health band) could do everything I wanted, then maybe I should take a closer look. After all, it's a relatively new device and will be receiving support from Samsung for a few more years.1
I read some reviews and they seemed mixed; I think some people were expecting a smartwatch and were disappointed, while others were expecting a fitness band and were pleased. On the surface it looked like it did what I wanted.
Onto the technical specs. Again, I wasn't looking for anything fancy. Exercise tracking with a few extra biometrics that I don't already have, and notifications. This band has all of that. What it doesn't have is wireless charging.
I have a handy wireless charging pad by my bed that can charge both my phone and my watch. If I switched to this Fit3 band, I'd have to plug it in somewhere else. Inconvenient. And I'd lose half the purpose of my charging pad.
And my Galaxy Watch still isn't broken. There are tons of free watch faces still available2 and it functions precisely how I want it to. Really, the only issue is with it's age, and cleanliness.
For a long time I've dealt with the dial randomly jamming up, unable to turn it properly. It's very dirty underneath and I've never tried cleaning it before - that is, until last week.
I did some searching around and figured out how to pry off the dial - I already have a watch repair kit, so I had the tool to do this. Getting the dial off was very easy - and then I was able to use alcohol wipes to clean up underneath (it was so dirty).
Trying to figure out how to put the dial back on was trickier than it should have been, but in the process I discovered I'm actually missing some springs and ball bearings. I'm going to replace those soon but for now, the dial works so smoothly and effortlessly - it's almost like a new watch (or at least new hardware).
I already have the perfect watch, and a bit of spare parts repair will make it feel even more like new. Like my 4 year old phone I'm going to hold onto it for as long as possible.
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When I bought my first watch, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier, it was on clearance and end of life. Same for my Galaxy Watch - new versions were replacing it so I got maybe a year or two out of it before it was "officially" obsolete.↩
Most of these faces were originally paid watch faces on the Galaxy Store, but since Samsung changed platforms for their watch they stopped charging any money for them.↩