10 Ways A Smart Watch Could Change Your Life For The Better

10 Ways You Never Knew A Smart Watch Could Change Your Life For The Better

This smart watch will literally save you time, find your phone, track your sports, give you daily mantras and make sure you never get lost!

by Women’s Health

March 23, 2020

I’ve been testing the new Suunto7, which is a sports watch meets smart watch. I was previously using the Suunto9 and have tested other brands of watches before, but I was not prepared for the awesomeness that would come with really smart technology (watch the video below for more info).

Here are some unexpected ways in which this watch has made my life easier, been good for my mental health and literally saved me time *wink.

1/ This smart watch will help you find your phone

Now, I’ll admit it, I tend to leave my phone lying around. I haven’t left it in the fridge yet, but a couple weeks ago, I left it at my friend’s house after a dinner party. I constantly leave it under jackets, in pockets and at the coffee station. The Suunto7 has a function built into it that helps you find your phone. If you go to the smart watch settings and select “find my phone” it will then make your phone ring. Even if it’s on silent. And not your ring-ring, but a loud noisy pitch, so it’s really easy to find. This has saved me loads of time when I would otherwise been rummaging around trying to find it.

2/ The Suunto7 comes with a de-stress breathing exercise built-in

If, like me, you struggle with anxiety, you will really appreciate this simple built-in breathing exercise. If you select the smart watch settings and then go to “Fit Breathe”, the watch will take you through a two-minutes guided breathing exercise. I honestly find it super calming and try tap in to do it at least once a day. It starts with “let’s Relax”, it encourages you to “sit still” and then take you through a prompted series of slow inhales and exhales. It also works in flight mode – good for us anxious travellers.

3/ It will control your playlist

You might be thinking “Okay, but when would I not use my phone to do this…?”. I’ll give you two great examples! One: when I’m running and I want to skip a song, I don’t have to stop and get my phone out of my running belt to do it. It’s a quick touch-screen action on the watch. Two: when I was teaching yoga the other day, I realised the song playing was too loud and so I just tapped the watch gently to turn the volume of the speakers down while demonstrating. Now you might not be a yoga teacher, but you might be hosting a dinner party and you’re struggling to hear your friend over the buzzing tunes. Tap while you’re cooking and you’re sorted! Equally, you may want to turn the volume up when you’re in the shower and your fave song comes on. The watch is waterproof — of course! — and boom, turn it up while you sing along. No need to get out the shower.

4/ Know the weather in one swipe

Swipe right and you immediately get to see current weather for your area as well as the time of sunset — something would normally take me a few scrolls and clicks on my phone.

5/ Never get lost!

If you love travelling or travel a lot for work, this smart watch feature is super handy. I love how when I run, the GPS will zoom into where I am on the watch so I can “see” map-wise, where I’m running. It’s so great for walking around cities! And because it’s offline, you don’t have to worry about downloading and waiting for internet connection to be able to find out where you are. being able to use the map technology for things like trail running — and being able to find your way home off a mountain is pretty handy. I tested it the other day on a walk / hike with friends and I felt much calmer knowing I didn’t have to stress about “which way we went” because I could track us home.

6/ It boosts my mood

Okay, it already does that because it’s super-pretty and have you even read the above points… But it gives me a quote or mantra every day, which cheers me up or makes me think positively. Like the one I got today “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies” — Aristotle.

7/ Get up-to-date news snippets

I have a few news apps on my phone and my watch, via the clever Wear OS system syncs these apps to my phone so during the day, I can check in on mini news updates on my watch. Just a summary will let me know if I actually want to read more, in which case, I will then click on the whole story on my phone or google it later. Super handy!

8/ Translate conversations from your smart watch

Language barrier? Trying to understand what your boyfriend’s ouma is saying in Afrikaans? The Suunto7 smart watch “translate” settings can help you out of a sticky situation. Just select your languages, speak into the watch and it will translate for you.

9/ The Suunto7 will light your way

We have recently experienced bouts of loadshedding again. And at a coffee shop the other day, I walked into the bathroom and found myself in complete darkness. But thanks to my watch (because we don’t always take our phones to the bathroom), I could select the torch function to help myself see (also great for camping!).

10/ Smart watch meets sports watch

I’ve focused heavily on the Suunto7’s smart watch tech because that is the aim of this story, but it would be remiss of me not to mention that this smart watch comes with amazing sports watch tech too. The watch offers over 70 different sports modes. In full GPS mode the battery will last up to 12 hours while activity tracking – yes, you can do technically run Comrades with it! You do not need to have your phone with you to access GPS. It’s waterproof and even has settings for open-water swimming or obstacle course racing or kettlebell training or kayaking…