Tag Heuer Connected review

PROS:

High-end specs
Lightweight and premium build quality
Stylish

CONS:

Expensive
Low resolution screen
Not 'luxurious' enough

If you wanted any more proof that smartwatches are a genuine 'thing', you're looking at it. Tag Heuer, one of the most established Swiss watch brands, has waded into the segment with its very own Android Wear-powered device.

The wearable was unveiled today at an event in New York, and it's being sold as the 'most premium' Android Wear watch to date, but is it any good? Luckily for you, techradar has gone hands-on to find out.

Swiss build, Swiss price

Let's start with the cost. The Tag Heuer Connected is a whopping £1,100 (US$1,500, around AU$2,100). That's not a patch on the £10,000+ Apple Watch Edition, but it's far more expensive than most of the smartwatches currently available, which hover around the £250 (US$229, around AU$320) mark.

Tag Heuer Connected

What do you get for that cash? First of you get a body made from grade II titanium - the same material Tag uses for its more expensive Carrara watches - so it should be hard wearing and durable, but it's also lightweight at just 81 grams.

The weight is surprising, especially given the size, measuring 46mm in diameter and 12.8 mm thick. That's chunky, even for a smartwatch. It's definitely more suited to muscular, thick wrists, rather than slender wrists, even dwarfing some male wrists - mine, for instance.

Somewhat disappointingly, the strap is rubber, rather than metal link or leather. This gives it a sporty feeling, and doesn't feel as luxurious as the more premium versions of the Apple Watch or Huawei Watch, for example.

The rubber strap comes in seven colours, black as standard, and green, blue, orange, red, white and yellow as optional extras. The watch is rated at IP67, which means it's water resistant, but not waterproof.

Tag Heuer Connected Strap

The watch doesn't include a heart rate sensor or GPS. Some might see the former as a pretty large omission, especially if they're into fitness tracking. Personally, I've never seen much use in a heart rate sensor on a smartwatch.

Intel chip and other specs

The Tag Heuer Connected is the first to make use of Intel's newest Atom processor made for a wearable. It clocks in at 1.6GHz, which compares to the usual 1.2GHz Snapdragon found in most Android Wear smartwatches. That means it should be faster than its rivals, and it certainly felt fast in my brief hands on, but I'd have to spend more time with the device to test if there's really a noticeable improvement.

It'll also come packing 1GB of RAM, and a 410mAh battery, which beats the competition on paper, but Google is only claiming an "all day" battery life, which is standard. Presumably the large screen and the fact it's always on by default mean the larger battery doesn't offer longer life.

To round things off the watch has 4GB of internal storage, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 BLE. All of which are fairly standard for an Android Wear smartwatch at this point.

Tag Heuer Connected Screen

The Tag Heuer Connected is really let down by its low-resolution screen. The 1.5-inch screen has a resolution of 360 x 360 pixels. That creates a pixel density of 240ppi, which is pretty bad. In comparison, the Huawei Watch has a ppi of 286, and the Samsung Gear S2 and 42mm Apple Watch have 302 ppi. The Tag watch does sport a transflective LCD display however, which should make it appear less reflective. The screen didn't look terrible by any means, but it's a shame it's not a sharp as some rivals, especially considering the price.

The 410mAh battery should be around 25 hours, according to Tag Heuer. Again, we'd have to spend more time with the device to see what it's like in the 'real world'.

Android Wear and a few Tag touches

The Tag Heuer Connected comes running Android Wear. Google's OS is fairly well developed now thanks to numerous and frequent software updates.

The most recent version comes with a number of important features, including improved navigation, emoji messaging, and most importantly, iPhone compatibility. It's an intuitive operating system, but it does have a few problems, too much swiping for example, and iPhone compatibility is limited.

Tag Heuer Connected Thickness

Android Wear is identical across all devices as Google doesn't allow third-party UIs, but Tag Heuer has added a few of its own touches, including three bespoke watch faces, and a 'less cartoonish' UI. The faces are among the best we've seen pre-installed on a smartwatch, then again they should be, because Tag has a lot of experience in this area.

Trade-in

Tag Heuer is all about creating 'eternal' watches, but technology is inherently transient. The Swiss company has combated this by offering a trade-in deal at the end of you two-year warranty.

If you think your smartwatch has become obsolete, Tag will let you swap it for a more traditional, mechanical watch. This luxury will cost you an extra £1,100 (US$1,500, around AU$2,100), so it's not exactly cheap, but it's a neat option to have.

Tag Heuer Connected

Early verdict

The Tag Heuer Connected is an impressive smartwatch, but again, it should be, because it's also one of the most expensive.

The watch feels solid, and impressively lightweight. You can see that years of watch making experience has gone into the design of this watch.

But is it worth the extra money over any other Android Wear watch with near-identical functionality? It's a tough sell, and we'll have to spend more time with the device to find out.