Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2023
So let me be clear here, this is a 70 DOLLAR watch, a 10th of the price of a Apple watch, that was newly introduced into the market by Nothing Tech, so being critical in my opinion, for value sake, isn't warranted. I will point out key flaws with the watch and address my concerns throughout this review, and point out quality control matters.
Packaging: Very simple, everything can be recycled or reused to store the watch, nothing fancy there, not a lot of plastic waste like Apples shrink wrapped boxes for everything they use, and they are fairly compact, though not as compact as a Samsung watch box.
Comfort: I'd give it a 8 out of 10, its not bad with the original strap, but its better with a higher quality strap, these watches mount a 22mm watch strap, a common size, even the Samsung Gear S3 used this size, so I had some spare straps sitting about I wasn't using, added some comfort to the watch.
Build Quality: This thing is light, for a watch of its size, it makes the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 feel heavy, same for the Gear 3 Frontier, granted these are flagship watches of their time, but you can still buy them today for maybe 20 USD more for a used one, or 200+ for a new one, and they will have more features.
Continuing the build quality note, the watch band is crap, replace it right away, or get one when you buy the watch, the notch on the buckle is stamped in, not molded so it looks uneven up close, far away it isn't a issue. The backing of the watch is plastic and the shell is what I can tell is metal. I question the durability of both the shell and the glass, which I hope that someone would build a case for this watch soon, and I do not trust this glass.
Screen: The OLED screen is nice, despite the massive borders around the edges, you can see them plain as day if light was to shine on the watch, but other than that, the colors are crisp, bright, and the screen is easy to read.
Performance: The watch boots fast, but struggles with its own apps, sluggish at times when scrolling though the apps, or looking between them on the home screen. It doesn't bother me but it may bother someone else. The Heart rate sensor and O2 sensor are decent, accurate, and fairly fast.
Hardware: Apparently this thing supports BT 5.3, 13 days of average battery life with its 340mAh battery, There isn't much information on the watch from CMF's website. But on other sites you can find more on the watch, but the only thing I found so far is that It features a 410x502 screen, GPS, and Accelerometer.
It does lack NFC and Cellular data, and other features that you would see on flagship watches, so features like google pay or apple pay (unlikely to have apple pay anyways as that is proprietary) are not present, you can make phone calls but the microphone is somewhere, but require your phone to do so. It also lacks a light sensor behind the screen, the screen will not adjust based on lighting conditions.
Software and OS: I question the watch's security as it has its own Custom OS, its not like Google wear or IOS, as this causes other issue, the fact that it would need to rely on its own source for watch faces and applications so you are limited. Even the App that is on the phone is very rough in keeping track of what notifications you want to track, if I wanted to track Emails, it would check that box, leave that screen, only to come back to see it unchecked, so the App is unfinished and presents it's issues, even with proper permissions and app permission to run in the background when on standby. Granted this is a new watch, its going to have its new issues.
The OS of the watch has me more concerned, this is a device connected to your phone, what Security, if any, are they running, and what assurance do I have that data wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. This is a Bluetooth device after all, and I haven't seen much on security from CMF, or on the watch itself, nor the App. So if you are running sensitive data, or giving this to a child, might not be recommended. The watch does have a feature to take pictures, but it is more of a macro setting that defines the key press as a volume down, to take a photo, it doesn't directly control the camera which honestly is a relief.
Will I recommend? Depends on CMF, for now 70$ is decent price for the watch, but Nothing has a tendency to drop support on their Legacy hardware. I do like their build quality and their design, but their approach to keeping things supported and the idea of saying that they are carbon neutral, yet not keeping support to older devices has me personally thinking that isn't the case. To reduce waste, either have a means to take the device back, or continue support. Granted that these devices are cheap, inexpensive, and simple, but what is the environmental impact in the long term? What is the lifespan of these devices before they reach the bin? Or worse put into the ocean?
For now I would kind of recommend, as they haven't done anything significant with CMF to put people off, but don't expect support for the long term, nor the device to last or be durable. I fear that the devices that they are making is contributing to an already growing problem to E-waste unless they can prove otherwise, ill stick with that. Make devices repairable and you'll solve about 80% of that.
