Chinese smartwatchs- why so many extra features that others don't have?
Hi,As a proud owner of a LG G Watch R I tend to get a lot of questions regarding how useful it is. I pair it with my bluetooth headphones so that I am able to control my music and calls while getting my notifications even if the phone is in my back pocket or in another room. It's invaluable and I love it.
I'm introducing my partner to the world of smartwatches and so was researching a cheap one to get her as her first one. I've come across the No.1 SmartWatch. This watch has a speaker to have calls from the watch itself, a camera to take photos and even takes a sim to make calls. And it costs £40. A completely standalone device compatible with Android and ios. How are phones five times the cost not having these extra features? Even though the No.1 has no internet so you cannot get notifications without bluetoothing it to your phone, these are serious features that could push mainstream smartwatchs into the 'must have' of technology rather than the 'nice accessory' that it currently occupies. Who wouldn't want to get their notifications, make video calls, take photos, watch a video, send messages and make calls with their watch? Does anyone have any idea why mainstream watches have not featured these features while 'lesser' watches have them? You make some good points to which I don't have the answers to, so I may go out and buy one like yours at just £40.00 (unbelievable)... You're not going to regret it, trust me. Nice one. All the best... Have you got a link for it? Thanks It's just called the No.1 SmartWatch. They make a few models and can be found with a simple Google search. Android Wear 2.0 looks very promising, leaning towards more standalone apps that function without the aid of bluetoothing your watch to a phone. Your phone would still need to be wi-fi or LTE capable and these are few and far apart at the moment. Speaking as a former expat in China, there are several reasons why product like this are so much cheaper. Though not all of these reasons apply to all makes\models\devices\brands.
These apply to pretty much anything electrical from China:
1) Lower RandD cost. Sometime due to wage\facilities cost being lower in China, but sometimes because the technology is basically ripped off from other manufacturers and then repackaged
2) No price hike due being a big brand name (Apple\Samsung, I'm looking at you)
3) Lower profit margin. Some of these companies are making very little money from their products
4) Not paying fees for using patented technologies (See also bullet 1 above)
5) Lower quality, your iWatch should still function perfectly in 5 years, cheap Chinese electronics sometimes only have a life of 1-2 years due to cheaper components and lower quality control on solder and parts
6) Shorter battery life, and fewer recharges. This year your battery will last you a couple of days, next year it may run out after only 1 day (Again, does not apply all the time)
7) No support structure. The cost of your iPhone includes the cost of within warranty repairs and maintenance, and maintaining shops. Chinese manufacturers have few\none of this infrastructure to support
8) Some product specifications are false. Again, not always, but a Chinese tablet may say that it has a 1.2ghz processor, but it's really only an 800mhz with fake firmware, or it may be overclocked to 1.2ghz and will burn out 9 months
9) Some products have safety standard logos on, but were never actually submitted to them. Even if your product is safe, actually getting it approved is expensive. There's no guarantee that a bluetooth device from China isn't leaky, or that it has the range that it is supposed to have, or that it won't cause your granny's hearing aid to transform into a Decepticon war machine and try to take over the world.
Please don't think that I'm ripping on Chinese products, I'm a big shopper on Aliexpress and DX.com, andI love my Taotronic headphones, and my Sumvision media player, and all of the other Chinese brands that I own that you'll never find in shops in the west.
It's just that there are reasons why "some" products are cheaper, and that reason is usually that uses lower quality components, or that not all of the fees and such that a Western product has to pay were paid.
Of course, some Western products are just plain overpriced.
Just look at how many tablets are on sale that are just rebranded Chinese tablets being sold at inflated prices. I believe that Argo and John Lewis both sell rebadged Chinese tablets wit a 25% or more markup for the rebading. I think if mainstream watches company produce watches with such features, the watch would not affordable to everyone. Don't forget that the brand name worth a lot in marketing. This is true, and a lot of the Chinese smartwatches are actually quite ugly and plasticky so if the design build LG & Motorola brings was to be applied the price would go up. But many people pay hundreds of pounds for a regular watch so it's not out of the realm of possibility to make happen.
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