TAG Heuer Connected Review

The Ultimate Smartwatch? The Full TAG Heuer Connected Review 

If you think that smartwatches are just a fad, TAG Heuer Connected will surely change your mind.  

The luxury watch manufacturer launched TAG Heuer Connected in 2015, and it was its first ever smartwatch.  The TAG Heuer Connected was also the most expensive Android Wear device when it came out, costing around $1,500. 

Would you buy a $1,500 smartwatch?  Is that price tag somewhat justified?  

Design and materials  

TAG Heuer Connected

The TAG Heuer Connected looks every bit like a luxury watch from the company.  It makes use of grade II titanium for the body, lugs, and case, and black rubber for the strap.  Grade II titanium is more durable than either gold or steel and is more resistant to dents, bumps, and scratches.

There are other strap colors available, including blue, red, orange, green, yellow, and white.  The case measures around 1.8 inches and is half an inch thick.  It has a sapphire crystal touch display, which you can see rather well in sunlight but does not use backlights.

This helps the smartwatch save on battery, while also allowing you to see the watch face.  The screen measures 1.5 inches and gives you a resolution of 360 pixels by 360 pixels.    

Features  

The TAG Heuer Connected does look good, but it is also powerful with a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor running things behind the scenes.  The TAG Heuer Connected also offers 1 gigabyte of RAM.  That means that the TAG Heuer Connected has a faster processor and almost double the memory found in other Android Wear devices.

When you compare the performance, you will see that the TAG Heuer Connected is faster than other devices and does not suffer from lags and clunky transitions.  

The TAG Heuer Connected also gives you 4 GB of storage space.  That can accommodate a lot of mobile apps and music files on your smartwatch.  The smartwatch also has an onboard gyroscope and accelerometer for basic activity tracking.  

It runs on a 410 mAh battery, which is much better than the 300 mAh that most other smartwatches have.  One full charge is enough to power the smartwatch for at least 25 hours. The TAG Heuer Connected also comes with a small microphone, which allows you to control the smartwatch by voice.  

Not only does the TAG Heuer Connected boast a sporty look and top-grade materials, but it is also resistant to water splashes and rain.  Owners would surely appreciate not having to worry about getting it wet.  It is rated IP67, which makes it splash- and rain-proof.  You cannot take it swimming or wear it in the shower though.  

Android Wear  

Google has made it a point to constantly update Android Wear, which means that devices using the operating system are also getting slicker both in terms of looks and features.  However, hardware manufacturers are not allowed to modify user interface screens when they use Android Wear.

This means that the interface of the TAG Heuer Connected looks and feels the same as other Android Wear smartwatches.  

The TAG Heuer Connected has all the best features of Android Wear 5.1.1, including gesture support, iPhone compatibility, and watch-to-watch communication. It also features the Google Now layout, which shows you the cards at the bottom of the display.  You can scroll through the cards, tap them for more information, or dismiss it.    

While wearing the TAG Heuer Connected, a user can just utter the key command, “Ok Google” to activate voice control.  This makes it easier for you to perform tasks with your smartwatch, such as checking the latest weather reports, getting updated on your stock portfolio, or getting directions to the nearest restaurant.  

You also have a rich mobile app ecosystem for Android Wear.  You can get a myriad of mobile watch apps for your TAG Heuer Connected from Google Play, on top of the pre-installed ones.  

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02/18/2024 12:04 am GMT

What you would like about the TAG Heuer Connected  

The TAG Heuer Connected looks and feels like a traditional watch on your wrist, and it is made from top-notch and top-quality materials.  TAG Heuer also included four watch faces right out of the box, allowing you to change the look of the watch face.

What’s nice about these four default watch faces is that they make your smartwatch look like a traditional TAG Heuer watch, and that says a lot about how good these watch faces look.  

The TAG Heuer Connected can connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth, but it also uses Wi-Fi.  This enables you to continue getting notifications even if your phone is out of Bluetooth range. 

What could be better about the TAG Heuer Connected 

tag hauer

Women or those with slender wrists would be turned off by the bulkiness of the TAG Heuer Connected.  The smartwatch is evidently designed for the male wrist, and it would look rather awkward on women’s wrists.  TAG Heuer does not offer other sizes.  You are also stuck with just one material and color for the case.

Also, you may have an option for the strap colors, but the straps are proprietary and not standard, so you cannot use straps made by other watchmakers with your TAG Heuer Connected.  All in all, personalization is a bit limited.  

The touch display can use some more brightness.  At one glance, you could see that the display lacks vibrance and can be a bit dull.  It makes the watch faces, no matter how well designed and attractive, come off as cheap-looking.  the Samsung Gear S2 and Apple Watch, as well as other premium smartwatches, have blazingly bright and sharp screens.    

Another disappointment: It might have a better battery, but that does not mean that it lasts longer than the batteries used in other smartwatch brands.  For instance, the Samsung Gear S2 has a 250 mAh battery on board, but it gives you up to three days before you need to charge again.  

For a smartwatch with its price tag, the TAG Heuer Connected does not have a heart rate monitor.  And when you wear it to a run, you would also need to bring along your smartphone with you because the TAG Heuer Connected does not have an onboard GPS.  

Then you also have the limitations you get from using an iPhone with an Android Wear device.  While this is not something that is unique to the TAG Heuer Connected, it does mean that if you have an iPhone, you might find it better to just consider an Apple Watch.

For example, you can still get notifications on your TAG Heuer Connected when you get a text message on your iPhone, but you cannot read it on your smartwatch, nor can you interact with these notifications.  

It also does not have speakers that would make it possible for the smartwatch to read out your e-mails or news reports.  A cheaper smartwatch such as the Huawei Watch has speakers, while the $1,500 TAG Heuer Connected does not.  

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02/18/2024 12:04 am GMT

The final say on the TAG Heuer Connected  

Did the luxury watchmaker make a mistake when it decided to enter the smartwatch market?  Not at all.  The TAG Heuer Connected is a testament to what the hardware maker can do.  It has the same premium look and feels of other TAG Heuer watches. It looks great, it uses top-quality materials and carries the same DNA that all other TAG Heuer timepieces have.  

However, it does come with a very steep price, and with it, people would expect it to be flashier, better, and more feature-packed than other less expensive watches.  Unfortunately, this is not the case with TAG Heuer Connected.  It uses Android Wear, so it suffers from the limitations that the operating system has.

It has a rather lackluster display, and it does not have a heart rate monitor.  Personalizing the smartwatch is also quite limited, too.  You will only be able to change up the strap color.  It comes in one size: BIG, and it comes in one case color.  

Nevertheless, users would really like the TAG Heuer Connected.  It is not perfect, but it certainly does look good and it was built rather well.  

If you like what you’re seeing in the sporty design of the TAG Heuer Connected, but are not willing to compromise.  Then you might want to see the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45, which is made out of grade 5 titanium alloy, has a slightly smaller diameter but thicker than the first generation Connected smartwatch.  

The plastic back is replaced with a titanium one on the new watch. But what really makes the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 stand out is that it seems that the watchmaker listened to everyone’s complaints with the original Connected and tried to correct as many of them as possible.  

The TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 now has a variety of case materials and colors to choose from. You can choose from close to five dozen models, including a diamond-studded or rose gold lug, or a metal or leather strap.

Moreover, it has an AMOLED display, which is brighter and clearer with a 400 pixel by 400-pixel resolution.  It also has an onboard GPS and NFC, which allows you to pay with your smartwatch.