Festina Conected D, the smartwatch for those who don't want a smartwatch [Review]

There is still a good niche of users who are not comfortable with watches that are all screen, the "misnamed" smart watches. Traditional watch manufacturers know this well, as they continue to sell in droves. However, Festina has managed to find the middle ground that will satisfy some and others. The Festina Connected D range allows you to enjoy the advantages of having a smart watch, with the elegance of a traditional watch. Discover with us this novelty from Festina and how it can attract a good handful of users who are still undecided.

As on many other occasions, we bring you a video in which you can see the complete unboxing and configuration of this hybrid watch from Festina's Connected D range, because many times a picture is worth a thousand words, do you like it? Buy it at Amazon the best price.

Materials and design: Is it a watch…traditional?

You can buy it in a watch store, it is displayed like a watch, it comes in a watch case, and all because it is a watch. Festina's Connected D catalog has up to 8 models, We are testing the F23000/6, the red edition.

First we are going to focus on the contents of the case, where we will find the watch, a charging port, a USB-C cable, and the quick use guide. Nothing more to add, so let's move on to talk about what the "traditional" watch would be.

We have one 44 millimeter titanium case with a thickness of only 13,96 millimeters, surprising considering its functions. On the right bezel we will find a total of three buttons along with the wheel.

El titanium It is especially light and premium, and that gives this Connected D a feeling of perceived quality that until now only traditional watches offer. The sphere, crowned by sapphire crystal, It will provide us with extra resistance to shocks that is appreciated in this type of products. Finally, at the level of resistance we must also highlight that We can submerge it up to 3 ATM.

The strap, for its part, is red rubber, with a width of 22,8 millimeters and a classic buckle closure type.

Technical characteristics: Very hybrid

The type of movement called hybrid by Festina, has its Fks934 system and a Pd2430 battery type. Definitely, a round battery, button and rechargeable, which other smart watch brands such as Garmin already use.

Apart from this, there is little else to mention, and that is that Festina has all the features well kept at the hardware level. Therefore, we are going to focus rather on everything that this watch is capable of doing by itself, in addition to telling the time:

• Multimedia content management: It has multimedia control, allowing us to press play, skip songs and even change the volume, all from the watch.
• Camera controls: We will be able to capture images remotely, controlling the camera from the watch.
• Phone search function: If we have lost sight of the phone, we just have to select the option in the clock menu to make it ring and find it quickly.
• It has a system to remember frequent places, inform other users of our way home safely and explore any place.
• Reading notifications: In compatible operating systems we will be able to read complete notifications, such as WhatsApp messages (only on Android).
• We can configure automations through IFTTT.
• Time: It has notifications about the state of the weather and warnings
• Timer, stopwatch and alarm silent through vibrations.
• Sleep tracking.
• Notification filtering.

At a technical level, inside we have a accelerometer, at the same time that it has a heart rate sensor, all this to correctly monitor our daily health, even if we do training.

In this sense, the quick health functions will allow us to control our daily goals (exercise, steps... etc.), as well as knowing how long it takes us to cover a kilometer in our runner sessions.

Battery, It is capable of providing us with 10 days of autonomy, extreme that we have been able to verify in daily use, since the functions are quite controlled within a simple use environment.

In order to customize all of the above, we only need to download the application, completely free for iOS y Android, through which we will configure and enjoy our Festina Connected D.

Editor's opinion

I am not going to deny that I myself, a user of the Apple Watch since its launch in 2015, and a technology analyst since long before, always live in the eternal but that smart watches are really one step behind in terms of sophistication and elegance. However, I don't want to do without the main functions that my watch provides me. That is why I consider this Festina Conected D as the smart watch for those who did not want a smart watch, from €599 at your most common point of sale You will be able to enjoy the best of both worlds. Of course, as always, also available in Amazon.