7:50 the firmware is not based on android. it is a custom rtos likely based on zephyr os 10:45 notification issues are likely related to android's battery optimization settings
I just came across your channel and you're already one of my favorite tech creators of all time, your videos are really high quality in every aspect and are really enjoyable to watch. Thank you Jason
Honest answer to your question, I got it because I wanted a good looking watch with decent battery life. Literally just that. Don't care about GPS or sensors, to the point I swapped the band for a NATO strap which goes between the watch and the wrist, so sensors are permanently obstructed. The ability to use any 22mm strap was actually a solid point for me, because it's the same as my dumb watch.
For $69 or £59 here in the UK this watch does all I need it to. I have absolutely no need for fitness stuff, GPS trackers, HR monitors. Why as soon as the smartwatch come out it had to be attached to health? As long as I'm breathing and upright it's a good day for me! Good looking watch that lasts over a week and notifies me of calls and messages? That's all I want.
I have one main request when it comes to a smartwatch: to be able to disable all RF. The second one is that the watch be able to function independent of a smartphone. I wanted so much or the CMF Watch Pro 2 to be my everyday watch because of its beautiful aesthetic; it just looks so damn nice on the wrist, and it has really pretty watch faces (with matching always-on faces). But here's where it fails for me: 1. You cannot set up the watch without the phone app; you can't get past the second screen when you turn it on without it's companion phone app (the first being language selection). 2. Once the watch is set up, you cannot disable RF/bluetooth. Well, you can, but only using power saving mode, which goes to a default single watch face and no other functions. I want to disable the radio on this watch for multiple reasons: 1. for health 2. to extend the battery 3. I work with RF sensitive equipment I would proudly keep it on my wrist if Nothing added an airplane mode, or whatever they want to call it, so that I can turn off the radio but keep the functionality of the watch the same. Most other smart watches have this feature. Also, allow me to setup the watch standalone, without needing a phone, and I'm sold.
yes, delete all messages at the bottom of your messages, all at once, the heart rate measurement also works synchronously with my Garmin HRM Pro, but you have to tighten the watch strap
I bought this watch mainly for the looks and for watch faces. Something a bit different to my Apple Watch SE. Not really into fitness etc so it’s perfectly suitable for me. Batt life was a plus point.
As a first smart-ish watch it’s been pretty good for me, but after owning for only 3 weeks the bezel has a few scratches. They used to have both the flat and round bezel on the Nothing/CMF store but now they only sell the rounded bezel as a bundle with the cheap wrist bands. Seems strange for them to brag so much about the bezels in their ads and then not really offer that option to customers.
Despite enabling all app and Bluetooth permissions for the CMF app and turning on WhatsApp notifications within the CMF app, I am not receiving WhatsApp notifications from my iPhone 16 on my CMF Watch Pro 2.
I’m currently an iPhone user and I have an Apple Watch but wanted to test this out. I’m having some notifications issues myself similar to what you discussed in the video. Something I just noticed though, as I use focus modes daily, it’s still pushing through notifications that I’m not supposed to get at times.
I'm seeking a useful smart watch for a senior that is a fall risk. I can't tell if all or which ones detect falls, automatically call a contact, wait a while then call 911 for emergency aid..
Literally just got the watch today, like you I had notification problems. After some digging, found out notifications don't work for RCS messages, only for SMS 🤨
Oh interesting, so that would address at least PART of my issues. The other aspect is the random connection/disconnection issues that killed any notification stream entirely.
The notifications would be a deal breaker for me. I am one of those people that only need a "dumb" smart watch. As long as it can do basic fitness tracking and give me my notifications I am fine. This maybe would have been a decent watch 5 years ago, but at this point I feel like you would be better off buying a 2 year old Galaxy watch for probably the same price that would likely give you more features.
@@kindofanmolyou're right, I'm seeing prices on Amazon for the Galaxy 5 watch range from $94 (for refurbished-acceptable) up to $124 (for refurbished-excellent).
As someone coming from a Samsung Gear s2 from 2015- everything here still sounds like an upgrade, and its within my price range. I dont see any issues tbh
I needed a dumb smart watch that looks good with good battery life. Does everything I need which is mostly count my steps, occasional notification and tell me the time.
Have you tried putting the app in the whitelist apps that shouldn't be killed or closed in the background? I think thats one of the factors that caused untimely notifications.
Thank you, I'll look into that. If that's what is required, I hate to say it but most people won't know to do that and Nothing will have a problem on their hands. Another point of resistance.
Depends. I have contacts at some companies (the case with Nothing). Some companies reach out to me with the chance to review their new tech. And sometimes I reach out when a company has a new tech that I'd like to check out.
I wouldn't say I'm complaining about what the watch doesn't have as much as I am pointing out how half baked what it does have actually is. If you are going to include features, make sure they work as expected. Otherwise it's just empty promises.
Desde que vez que el analista no es capaz de cambiar el bicel en unos segundos sabes que su analisis no puede ser tomado muy seriamente, pero bueno criticas que no se pueden revatir aunque estamos hablando de un smarwatch de entre 50 a 60 dls. Creo que es justo por lo que pagas.
I recently got one of these for myself. It's perfectly suited to my needs. I need it for 4 things: -The time -Notifications (editable canned responses to messages are more than plenty for me) -step tracking -find my phone These 4 things work like a charm so far. Everything else is icing. The experience has honestly been seamless. Were I an obsessive health metric tracker, I would feel differently, but as a utility watch the CMF Watch Pro 2 is EXACTLY what I needed to replace a broken hybrid watch. My only complaints at this point: - the watch doesn't integrate health data with G Fit -The default band is TRASH - The aluminum bezel looks and feels like plastic. Also, not related to only this one watch, but why would anyone ever answer a call from their wrist? 😝
@Techsploder Admittedly, it has been a very long time since I had a Wear OS device, but this watch has more features than my Wear watch did, even with app support. The only "more" that I could think that I would need is SIM support? The message responses work in multiple apps. The remote shutter works. The screen is pretty with more than enough face options for my needs. To me it comes back to the lack of fidelity and universality of the fitness features being the one shortcoming that I can clearly see ...Oooh, on device storage for music. I would never use it, but I can see a run enthusiast using it.
I googled this issue and stumbled upon a cmf community thread that complained about the disconnects on the first watch. After no fix for 4 months, they apparently fixed it. And now it looks like a second round for the second watch. You would think these programmers would have gained some experience by now.
Untrue. My notification data stream, my health data, etc. All accessible via the watch. Even if it requires a connection to the phone, once paired via Bluetooth that data is there when it's near the device. That is enough to set off privacy advocates. There's no excuse.
@@dav1dw well, and to be fair, it's not as much about health stats for ME... All of my text messages and emails stream to the watch and those are readable... Well, emails just the subject (and not the body which is another potential complaint) but text messages appear there in full. And guaranteed that will be sensitive to many people.
I shut your review off at the Crown section. Guess this biased, paid, attempt at a negative review ... forgets to mention Bezel red dot line up etc. Haha so pathetic. Hope people weed through these badly attempted negative Reviews. NOTHING objective here. Move on people.
I discovered the red dot only after the review was published. Hey, ya win some ya lose some. Too bad you turned it off, you would have seen how the notification system was completely borked. Hopefully they address that with a software update. Anyhoo. Thanks for watching regardless!
I had an old Garmin vivosmart hr, but the battery finally died .. So i figured i would get a new step counter.. I looked at few amazfit bands and stuff like that.. but for the price, i picked this one.. But im also not looking for a smart watch, I mainly just use the step counter too see roughly how much i've walked today, then when im walking the dog it's nice to be able to switch songs or see notifications without having to get the phone out of the pocket.. Some reviews said though that the notifications could be a bit buggy, but i hope they just fix that with the next update or some.. It will arrive in couple of days, so in a week or so i will either be happy or not ;)
@@JasonHowell haha well it's not gonna be too bad if the watch sucks, then ill just strip it for parts for my diy projects ;) I can find a use for that display on the watch :)
@@JasonHowell Well .. I've been using the watch now for 12 days .. So far, im very happy! I dunno if there were issues with early runs of the watch or the software before, but i've not experienced the issues many complain about with notifications, they have been excellent ! And I really like that the app let's me choose which apps get to send notifications to the watch.. I've tried using the GPS 5-6 times and no issues there either, actually surprisingly quick to locate me.. The watch is pretty comfortable and light so no complaints there, in the 12-13 days i've owned the watch, i've gotten 2 firmware updates, so im very happy they are active in development.. However the 2 main "issues" i have are pretty small... 1) limited selection of watch faces, that would be ok if they would let users create and share faces 2) The watch is a bit thick (tall) so it often bother my sweater that get's stuck on it.. Theory? So i've thought a bit about the connection issues some other people have... Maybe the modules inside the watch are sensitive to interference.. I live in a tiny town in the northest part of Iceland, so there is very little interference for other devices, or maybe the GPS is just weak and has issues with tall building and things like that.. But that would still not explain the notification issues , but there are soooo many posibilities software vise there that im counting that one 100% software realated.. could be the firmware it had before (when i got my watch there was already avilable update, and then another couple of days ago) but without getting more info from a bunch of ppl (like phone models, android version, other installed apps) it's hard to say, but im still happy that i dont have thoses issues (currently i have it set to forward notifications from sms, gmail, insta, tele and my bank app and no delays on them so far)
7:50 the firmware is not based on android. it is a custom rtos likely based on zephyr os
10:45 notification issues are likely related to android's battery optimization settings
I just came across your channel and you're already one of my favorite tech creators of all time, your videos are really high quality in every aspect and are really enjoyable to watch. Thank you Jason
Well that was incredible to read, thank you so much for the compliments and I'm so happy you found me over here!
Honest answer to your question, I got it because I wanted a good looking watch with decent battery life. Literally just that. Don't care about GPS or sensors, to the point I swapped the band for a NATO strap which goes between the watch and the wrist, so sensors are permanently obstructed. The ability to use any 22mm strap was actually a solid point for me, because it's the same as my dumb watch.
@@ElClaudio solid! Thanks for sharing, sounds like the right device for your situation!
@@JasonHowell yeah I love it so far, I just hope it ages well because I refuse to baby it
Which nato strap btw any pics?
Love these honest reviews gl for the channel
Thank you for watching and commenting!
For $69 or £59 here in the UK this watch does all I need it to. I have absolutely no need for fitness stuff, GPS trackers, HR monitors. Why as soon as the smartwatch come out it had to be attached to health? As long as I'm breathing and upright it's a good day for me! Good looking watch that lasts over a week and notifies me of calls and messages? That's all I want.
Right on! Enjoy the new watch.
A smartwatch is more than a notification band, that's why....
I have one main request when it comes to a smartwatch: to be able to disable all RF. The second one is that the watch be able to function independent of a smartphone.
I wanted so much or the CMF Watch Pro 2 to be my everyday watch because of its beautiful aesthetic; it just looks so damn nice on the wrist, and it has really pretty watch faces (with matching always-on faces). But here's where it fails for me:
1. You cannot set up the watch without the phone app; you can't get past the second screen when you turn it on without it's companion phone app (the first being language selection).
2. Once the watch is set up, you cannot disable RF/bluetooth. Well, you can, but only using power saving mode, which goes to a default single watch face and no other functions.
I want to disable the radio on this watch for multiple reasons:
1. for health
2. to extend the battery
3. I work with RF sensitive equipment
I would proudly keep it on my wrist if Nothing added an airplane mode, or whatever they want to call it, so that I can turn off the radio but keep the functionality of the watch the same. Most other smart watches have this feature. Also, allow me to setup the watch standalone, without needing a phone, and I'm sold.
I love mine. Its basic. But i prefer battery life over bells and whistles. Plus the price is great👍
Excellent! So happy it's working out for you! Enjoy.
the bezel has a red dot under it to indicate where to twist it in
yyyyyeah I know that now haha. I wish I realized it then.
Thank you for making this independent review of the watch.
Of course, my pleasure!
@@JasonHowell Now I have decided not to buy this watch.
yes, delete all messages at the bottom of your messages, all at once, the heart rate measurement also works synchronously with my Garmin HRM Pro, but you have to tighten the watch strap
I bought this watch mainly for the looks and for watch faces. Something a bit different to my Apple Watch SE. Not really into fitness etc so it’s perfectly suitable for me. Batt life was a plus point.
I saw there is a red mark in the underneath of the bezel to match it with watch red mark to put the bezel flawlessly..
Eagle eye! I hadn't seen that before. It's pretty tucked away. Nice catch!
Nailed the review. I myself have the same frustration with the GPS feature.
Ahhh good to know it wasn't just me.
you should do a second thought video! i heard many bugs are fixed!
As a first smart-ish watch it’s been pretty good for me, but after owning for only 3 weeks the bezel has a few scratches. They used to have both the flat and round bezel on the Nothing/CMF store but now they only sell the rounded bezel as a bundle with the cheap wrist bands. Seems strange for them to brag so much about the bezels in their ads and then not really offer that option to customers.
That is strange!! Thanks for the report, good to know about the scratches. I was really suspicious that it might be susceptible to scratching easily.
Despite enabling all app and Bluetooth permissions for the CMF app and turning on WhatsApp notifications within the CMF app, I am not receiving WhatsApp notifications from my iPhone 16 on my CMF Watch Pro 2.
That's frustrating! Notifications were the Achilles heel of my experience though I had heard things had improved with updates.
I’m currently an iPhone user and I have an Apple Watch but wanted to test this out. I’m having some notifications issues myself similar to what you discussed in the video. Something I just noticed though, as I use focus modes daily, it’s still pushing through notifications that I’m not supposed to get at times.
@@GabbiHilson ahh that's interesting, not adhering to focus mode on the phone.
I am contemplating the purchase of one. Which color would be more advisable, blue or dark grey?
blue is the strap colour, not the watch part. you can change the watch bezels and the strap. pick whatever colour you like. it's the same watch.
I'm seeking a useful smart watch for a senior that is a fall risk. I can't tell if all or which ones detect falls, automatically call a contact, wait a while then call 911 for emergency aid..
I do not believe this has any sort of fall detection.
Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your day.
Literally just got the watch today, like you I had notification problems. After some digging, found out notifications don't work for RCS messages, only for SMS 🤨
Oh interesting, so that would address at least PART of my issues. The other aspect is the random connection/disconnection issues that killed any notification stream entirely.
Nice video sir i am giving my self a birthday gift u earned a sub 🎉😊
Oh right on, welcome!!
Hey great video, but does it allow us to access media control during a workout??
That I'm not sure of.
The notifications would be a deal breaker for me. I am one of those people that only need a "dumb" smart watch. As long as it can do basic fitness tracking and give me my notifications I am fine. This maybe would have been a decent watch 5 years ago, but at this point I feel like you would be better off buying a 2 year old Galaxy watch for probably the same price that would likely give you more features.
Yep, deal breaker for me too. Hopefully addressed in a future update.
In what world can you get a Galaxy Watch5 for $69?
@@kindofanmol Galaxy watch 4 and 5 are on Swappa for under $100 right now. I would say that is comparable. Galaxy watch 4 for $49.
@@kindofanmol you can get a 4 used for less than. 100 ..a 5 used 120 max ...
@@kindofanmolyou're right, I'm seeing prices on Amazon for the Galaxy 5 watch range from $94 (for refurbished-acceptable) up to $124 (for refurbished-excellent).
As someone coming from a Samsung Gear s2 from 2015- everything here still sounds like an upgrade, and its within my price range. I dont see any issues tbh
Right on, are you going to grab one?
@@JasonHowell I'm planning on it!
Not able to fit in that replaceable vessel? It is the simplest thing to do. So that confirms, as you stated, that you are indeed a clumsy individual!
I have the scars to prove it too.
I needed a dumb smart watch that looks good with good battery life. Does everything I need which is mostly count my steps, occasional notification and tell me the time.
Do the notifications work as expected for you?
Why I cannot find out your watch face dial in the dial gallery?
I don't know. It's definitely there.
Have you tried putting the app in the whitelist apps that shouldn't be killed or closed in the background? I think thats one of the factors that caused untimely notifications.
Thank you, I'll look into that. If that's what is required, I hate to say it but most people won't know to do that and Nothing will have a problem on their hands. Another point of resistance.
@@JasonHowell right again... where ios shines
GPS hardly ever works and all sensors are so bad, the heart rate is off by 30% sometimes
Eeeek yeah.
Do you reach out to these companies or do they reach out to you
Depends. I have contacts at some companies (the case with Nothing). Some companies reach out to me with the chance to review their new tech. And sometimes I reach out when a company has a new tech that I'd like to check out.
The bezels,have a red spot to align 🙄
I discovered that later! OH WELL.
Thank you for this amazing review! I was wondering to buy this one but now I am convinced not to 😅
I have heard that recent updates have addressed some of the notifications issues so things might be better. Nonetheless, thank you for being here!!
@Techsploder How about the tracking? I want to use it to track my fitness progress...
The notification is one thing but you complain about what the watch don't have. It's 69 dollar if you want all of that get a galaxy or Apple watch.
I wouldn't say I'm complaining about what the watch doesn't have as much as I am pointing out how half baked what it does have actually is. If you are going to include features, make sure they work as expected. Otherwise it's just empty promises.
Desde que vez que el analista no es capaz de cambiar el bicel en unos segundos sabes que su analisis no puede ser tomado muy seriamente, pero bueno criticas que no se pueden revatir aunque estamos hablando de un smarwatch de entre 50 a 60 dls. Creo que es justo por lo que pagas.
I recently got one of these for myself. It's perfectly suited to my needs. I need it for 4 things:
-The time
-Notifications (editable canned responses to messages are more than plenty for me)
-step tracking
-find my phone
These 4 things work like a charm so far. Everything else is icing.
The experience has honestly been seamless.
Were I an obsessive health metric tracker, I would feel differently, but as a utility watch the CMF Watch Pro 2 is EXACTLY what I needed to replace a broken hybrid watch.
My only complaints at this point:
- the watch doesn't integrate health data with G Fit
-The default band is TRASH
- The aluminum bezel looks and feels like plastic.
Also, not related to only this one watch, but why would anyone ever answer a call from their wrist? 😝
This watch is perfect if you aren't looking for it to do EVERYTHING and have specific needs, like you spelled out. Happy it's working so well for you!
@Techsploder Admittedly, it has been a very long time since I had a Wear OS device, but this watch has more features than my Wear watch did, even with app support. The only "more" that I could think that I would need is SIM support? The message responses work in multiple apps. The remote shutter works. The screen is pretty with more than enough face options for my needs. To me it comes back to the lack of fidelity and universality of the fitness features being the one shortcoming that I can clearly see ...Oooh, on device storage for music. I would never use it, but I can see a run enthusiast using it.
Which is that white watch face ??
Just one of the included ones!
I had some questions What is its display like? Its sensor accuracy is perfect And what is its call quality?

I think the notificationa and connectivity issues can be fixed by future updates.
I googled this issue and stumbled upon a cmf community thread that complained about the disconnects on the first watch. After no fix for 4 months, they apparently fixed it. And now it looks like a second round for the second watch. You would think these programmers would have gained some experience by now.
I certainly hope so!
Oh that's interesting.
There's no security feature on this watch because there's not much useful data to steal or any apps to abuse.
Untrue. My notification data stream, my health data, etc. All accessible via the watch. Even if it requires a connection to the phone, once paired via Bluetooth that data is there when it's near the device. That is enough to set off privacy advocates. There's no excuse.
@@JasonHowell Fair enough. Guess I never considered my health stats that private anyway.
@@dav1dw well, and to be fair, it's not as much about health stats for ME... All of my text messages and emails stream to the watch and those are readable... Well, emails just the subject (and not the body which is another potential complaint) but text messages appear there in full. And guaranteed that will be sensitive to many people.
Notifications work fine for me. Its the best watch at its price and the mostly Chinese competition is not even close.
@@kindofanmol I'd love to know why they work great for you but were so bad for me.
I shut your review off at the Crown section. Guess this biased, paid, attempt at a negative review ... forgets to mention Bezel red dot line up etc. Haha so pathetic. Hope people weed through these badly attempted negative Reviews. NOTHING objective here. Move on people.
I discovered the red dot only after the review was published. Hey, ya win some ya lose some. Too bad you turned it off, you would have seen how the notification system was completely borked. Hopefully they address that with a software update. Anyhoo. Thanks for watching regardless!
What a shame! Beautiful design. Something deferent. Next level that doesn't work!
I've heard mixed reviews. Some people are loving it and totally satisfied.
I had an old Garmin vivosmart hr, but the battery finally died .. So i figured i would get a new step counter.. I looked at few amazfit bands and stuff like that.. but for the price, i picked this one.. But im also not looking for a smart watch, I mainly just use the step counter too see roughly how much i've walked today, then when im walking the dog it's nice to be able to switch songs or see notifications without having to get the phone out of the pocket.. Some reviews said though that the notifications could be a bit buggy, but i hope they just fix that with the next update or some.. It will arrive in couple of days, so in a week or so i will either be happy or not ;)
Cross fingers on that update!
@@JasonHowell haha well it's not gonna be too bad if the watch sucks, then ill just strip it for parts for my diy projects ;) I can find a use for that display on the watch :)
@@JasonHowell Well .. I've been using the watch now for 12 days .. So far, im very happy! I dunno if there were issues with early runs of the watch or the software before, but i've not experienced the issues many complain about with notifications, they have been excellent ! And I really like that the app let's me choose which apps get to send notifications to the watch.. I've tried using the GPS 5-6 times and no issues there either, actually surprisingly quick to locate me.. The watch is pretty comfortable and light so no complaints there, in the 12-13 days i've owned the watch, i've gotten 2 firmware updates, so im very happy they are active in development.. However the 2 main "issues" i have are pretty small... 1) limited selection of watch faces, that would be ok if they would let users create and share faces 2) The watch is a bit thick (tall) so it often bother my sweater that get's stuck on it..
Theory? So i've thought a bit about the connection issues some other people have... Maybe the modules inside the watch are sensitive to interference.. I live in a tiny town in the northest part of Iceland, so there is very little interference for other devices, or maybe the GPS is just weak and has issues with tall building and things like that.. But that would still not explain the notification issues , but there are soooo many posibilities software vise there that im counting that one 100% software realated.. could be the firmware it had before (when i got my watch there was already avilable update, and then another couple of days ago) but without getting more info from a bunch of ppl (like phone models, android version, other installed apps) it's hard to say, but im still happy that i dont have thoses issues (currently i have it set to forward notifications from sms, gmail, insta, tele and my bank app and no delays on them so far)
@@TheGFSdo you stil have connections disconnect issue?
@@2oo235 ive not hsad any issues with connectivity
Garbage watch just has a good battery nothing else. I went for 2 year old Samsung watch for this price which has so many features.
$69 is... not that much tbh.
Привет 🖐🏻
На часах и кругу есть красные точки
Это поможет Вам быстро сориентироваться.
Да, кто-то указал мне на это после публикации обзора. Спасибо за просмотр!
Got the watch for 37$ (₹3150)
Right on, ya like it?
Where'd you get it for that price point if you dont mind me asking?
Can I get ot for free 😋
No lag that i see.
Do you have one? How are you liking it?