OneTouch Watchby Alcatel

My review unit came with a stiff, dark gray resin band with red trim (there's also a fetching white model up for pre-order), and hardly anyt…

My review unit came with a stiff, dark gray resin band with red trim (there's also a fetching white model up for pre-order), and hardly anything about it'll make you want to wear it for any serious amount of time.

...the biggest problem I had was the interface and watch operation felt sluggish: touch gestures were sometimes unresponsive, and Bluetooth …

...the biggest problem I had was the interface and watch operation felt sluggish: touch gestures were sometimes unresponsive, and Bluetooth connection was buggy.

With its limited support for notifications and lack of these extra features, it’s better to think of this as a fitness device with some smar…

With its limited support for notifications and lack of these extra features, it’s better to think of this as a fitness device with some smartwatch features rather than a smartwatch with fitness features.

There's no always-on mode for the watch face, the longest period before a time out is just 15 seconds. That wouldn't be so bad if the wrist …

There's no always-on mode for the watch face, the longest period before a time out is just 15 seconds. That wouldn't be so bad if the wrist flick motion to fire up the screen actually worked.

Unfortunately, there is no app store, which means what you see is what you get.

Unfortunately, there is no app store, which means what you see is what you get.

Unfortunately, the screen doesn't automatically come on when alerts come in, unless it's a calendar event reminder, so you'll have to lift y…

Unfortunately, the screen doesn't automatically come on when alerts come in, unless it's a calendar event reminder, so you'll have to lift your wrist or press the button on the side to turn the screen on.

In our experience, we generally reached 3 solid days before it’s tapped out – that’s better than most smartwatches, but falls short against …

In our experience, we generally reached 3 solid days before it’s tapped out – that’s better than most smartwatches, but falls short against your standard fitness tracker.

Try to get an HR reading during a run and it'll likely either fail completely or return a wildly inaccurate result.

Try to get an HR reading during a run and it'll likely either fail completely or return a wildly inaccurate result.

I dig smartwatch simplicity, but Alcatel’s approach feels underbaked, especially because trivial, lightweight utilities like a brightness se…

I dig smartwatch simplicity, but Alcatel’s approach feels underbaked, especially because trivial, lightweight utilities like a brightness selector and airplane mode switch are given just as much U.I. weight as built-in weather and activity-tracking apps.