Today's ultra-connected world demands that every gadget we possess can perform numerous tasks tied to our connected lives.
The Cookoo Bluetooth watch, a wearable extension of the smartphone, designed to keep you connected with the outside world - even when you do not have your phone in hand - fits perfectly in this category. It's an iOS and Android app-driven watch that pulls various notifications and alerts from your smartphone or tablet.
Unlike the Samsung Gear 2 which not only sends notifications, but can also perform TV remote control functions, comes with games, a pedometer and a 2MP camera, the Cookoo is limited to sending notifications on your wrist using visual, audible and sensory alerts.
Look and feel
The watch is large, with the size largely attributed to the fact that it houses two removable batteries, Bluetooth electronics and the time-keeping piece itself. The watch features a large stylish face that displays various icon notifications, and comes in a clever, reusable birdhouse case packaging.
I have the black-and-blue face one, with no numerical markings, so little notches indicate the hours and minutes. The Cookoo's face works fine for its purpose - telling the time. It's simplistic, clean and relatively easy to read in daylight. My only gripe with the face is that the hand icons and hour markings do not light up or glow.
The buttons - all four of them - feel solid and give decent tactile feedback. The button on the top left is for turning on the backlight, while the top right changes the watch from beep and vibrate to vibrate to just beeping to silent. The bottom left button is for pairing the watch to your phone, while the bottom right is the programmable "command" button. A short, medium, or long press of the command button performs a task you configure from the app on your phone.
Functionality
Like most smart watches, the Cookoo's functionality becomes limited when it's not tied to a phone. Bluetooth connectivity is the primary reason you'd buy the Cookoo over any other analogue watch.
When you receive alerts for incoming and missed calls, calendar and reminder alerts, as well as Facebook notifications, an icon on the watch face will blink. The icon itself does notlight up - you still need to use the backlight to see it on the watch face in the dark, but this works well and the backlight makes it extremely easy to see the icons.
Rather than displaying text or detailed information like caller ID, the Cookoo's simple icon concept is quick to acknowledge, but it lacks convenience and actual useful information. It's also worth mentioning that both the LCD display and watch dial lack a simple date indicator.
Conclusion
Cookoo changed my dependence on my phone - a little bit. The one problem is, because Cookoo tells you somethinghas happened, you may be slightly more tempted to check your phone to see whatit is. I also do find that the current features are a bit limited, but more will surely come. Ultimately, Cookoo is a device to augment your phone - not replace it.
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