My friends on Facebook must be rolling their eyes at me because of the smart watch trials I am currently facing. Oh yes, this is a heightened tragedy of our time, I know…
But in my upcoming book, one of my characters has a pink smartwatch and it can do different things, like making annoying sounds that wake people up at night. I decided that I wanted one in real life. I also wanted it to be pink. So, I looked for the Pebble in pink, but they were sold out of their special edition ones. Then I looked at Amazon, and found a really adorable one. It makes calls, has an SMS feature, and even takes photos and videos. It was really cool and it was pink. It wasn’t a known brand, it was inexpensive, and I was excited about getting it.

However, I had no idea how long shipping can take from the other side of the world, but my impatience was probably due to my anticipation. When it arrived after several weeks, I thought it was very cute and it kinda sorta fit my very small-boned wrist.

Then came configuring the thing. God bless the translators, because it isn’t always easy to localize text into English, and I smiled fondly at the use of intelligent phone instead of smart phone. I thought it sounded classier, anyhow. But there were two built-in apps for Bluetooth and I was going mad trying one, then the other, then trying to shut one off, and wondered if I shut it off correctly, and then tried the other. After hours, yes hours, somehow it worked. Yay! I could make phone calls.

So, then the SMS. I just needed to download their app and connect to my watch from my phone. Easy peasy. I saw the device name on the list of Bluetooth devices, clicked it, and then nothing worked. I discovered the SMS feature only went to android 4.0. I am on 5.0. Apparently this was clearly stated on the advert, so I suppose my perimenopausal mind missed that one. Oh well, I still had the phone feature, and the camera feature.

But I started thinking, I’m not really satisfied. I had written the vendor a few times, and they were super friendly, but they couldn’t accept a return about the SMS. (I also felt it was a bit heavy on my wrist. My joints can be sensitive.)

I decided what the hay, I’ll keep it. It’s still adorable. Even if I can’t text with it. Having a watch as a phone and camera is awesome.

So, I decided to charge it and transfer some songs onto it. Oh yeah, it plays songs, too. The moment I plugged in the USB adaptor, the adaptor broke. Yeah, that really happened. It’s not a standard adaptor, so I was screwed.

I wrote the vendor again early this morning. They are probably going to think this Canadian is a bit loopy. But I’m not making any of this up. At the time of writing, I haven’t heard back but that’s probably just a time difference thing. They are typically very responsive.

Lesson learned, though: buy from a local shop. Buy a brand you know.

I really hope I get a new USB adaptor. Stay tuned!

Update: They did send me the adaptor and were great about it. 🙂

/cg

Cait Gordon has been a senior technical writer in high tech and government organizations. She is currently a Web Developer consultant for Dynamic Canvas Inc., and assistant to the Executive Director at H’Art of Ottawa. She also enjoys her crafting business, Cait Cards.