That brings us to the brand-new Timex
Metropolitan collection, which can be considered the company's rookie attempt
at a "mainstream" smartwatch with a stylish design. The
"collection" includes two main variants and several different
eye-catching designs, all of which are up for pre-order right now on Amazon at
a recommended price of US$ 179 apiece ahead of an actual release later this month.
The cool thing about this line of Android
and iOS-compatible smartwatches is that you can choose between a circular
Metropolitan R variant and a rectangular Metropolitan S design. The latter is
billed as a "unisex" timepiece, arriving on June 30 in a black hue
and a swanky blush/rose gold combination, with a relatively large and sharp
1.65-inch AMOLED display in tow sporting a resolution of 348 x 442 pixels.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan R is available
in a brown leather flavor for men and a blush silicone model with a pink
ceramic top ring that should primarily appeal to the ladies. Interestingly, the
"manly" version is scheduled to start shipping on June 14, with the
"feminine" smartwatch due out more than a couple of weeks later.
Both Metropolitan R variants come with
1.2-inch AMOLED screens sporting a 390 x 390 pixel count, and all four members
of the intelligent Timex Metropolitan family also have on-board GPS
connectivity, a built-in optical heart rate sensor, 24/7 activity monitoring,
sleep tracking, and top-notch water resistance going for them.
One important thing to note before pulling
the trigger here is these affordable bad boys don't run Google's Wear OS
software, instead opting for a proprietary operating system developed by Huami,
the manufacturers of those relatively popular and incredibly cheap Amazfit
smartwatches. This OS is mainly focused on saving energy while helping display
all the smartphone information you need on your wrist, contributing to a
phenomenal battery life rating of up to two weeks.
That's obviously with power-hungry
features like GPS switched off, but even so, if the number proves attainable in
the real world, the Timex Metropolitan collection could turn out to be a real
game changer.
