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I turned off all the features on this $200 smartwatch, and now it’s the minimalist ‘dumb watch’ of my dreams

The Ticwatch 2 is a beautiful smartwatch, but it's better off just telling you the time. The same could be said for most other smartwatches out there.

The Ticwatch 2.

My first thought after unboxing the Ticwatch 2 was, "Wow, what a beautiful watch."

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And it is: It's entirely black with a smooth rubber band, oversized brushed metal face, and a sleek look that's modern and sophisticated.

I loved my new watch. And then I remembered it was actually a smartwatch, which meant I had to pair it with my phone, tell it my weight — ack — and allow it to hide me for not meeting my step goals.

The prospect of introducing another computer into my life seemed exhausting.

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I gave the Ticwatch a fair shake, though. I downloaded the app, set up Bluetooth pairing, and entered a few fitness goals. I dutifully stood up when it told me to, enjoying the subtle, conspiratorial buzz at my wrist. I enjoyed the thickness of the watch face, the weight of it, and even the feeling like it could easily be a very chic house arrest bracelet.

I even kind of liked that it bugged me with Slack messages I had already read on my actual computer. "You're still learning," I thought. "One day you'll actually be smart."

But in my heart of hearts, I knew I didn't really want it to be smart. Its intelligence seemed unnecessary — annoying, even — when all I really wanted was to look at something pretty.

So I unpaired it, took away its gesture commands, disabled messaging and calling, and fiddled with the watch face until I found a digital display in a cool, modern-looking layout. In short, I turned it into the minimalist "dumb watch" of my dreams.

Life is better these days. Sure, without its prodding, I'm often not standing up for an hour at a time. And yes, perhaps I don't feel shamed into walking home instead of taking the subway in order to meet my rigid step goals. I'm not as connected to my emails and messages as I could be, and I'm wearing a $200 product as a simple digital watch, something that could easily be achieved with a $22.99 Timex version from Walmart.

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My problem was that the Ticwatch did too much. Its frequent need to be charged required outlet space I couldn't spare, its capabilities neither replaced nor complemented my iPhone's, and it constantly distracted me by lighting up and begging for my attention. And that's not a knock on the watch itself, which is a perfectly fine smartwatch — it's the problem with the smartwatch industry as a whole.

So for now, I'll keep enjoying my beautiful, dumb watch.

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