AT LAST... AN ALTERNATIVE

For years now the battle has been raging. Android versus iOS. Apple versus Samsung. Galaxy versus iPhone.

At the top end of the smartphone market , there's really only been two heavyweights and they've been going at it hammer and tong for a pretty long time, virtually uncontested.

In cyber land, a long time is measured in months, not years, but Samsung and Apple really have been the double act at the head of the market for nearly a decade.

Recently LG and Sony have come close, technically speaking, but only two brands consistently have customers queuing for each new generation of their flagship handsets.

Huawei may be about to change all that...

The P8 is a very, very good phone.

I'll start with what's wrong with it, because there isn't much.

First, no wireless charging. I know I keep bleating on about this but seriously, now Samsung has proclaimed wireless charging to be the way of the future and has started building it into its phones, any competitor who opts out is kidding themselves. Hell, Nokia/Windows phones have been charging wirelessly for years.

My other pet peeve any regular readers are probably bored silly by is no landscape mode for the default home screen. I think any display over 5 inches is easier to use sideways and and when almost all the apps auto rotate, being bound to a portrait profiled home screen just seems so... iPhoney. In fact, a quick glance at Huawei's EMUI home screen and you'd be forgiven for confusing it with iOS's now very dated grid of uniform tiles.

Of course, thankfully Android offers many alternatives and even Huawei asks you if you'd prefer to use Google Launcher right from your first use.

(I use Nova Launcher by the way, no problems getting that to auto-rotate)

Another feature which various manufacturers seem to move towards and then mysteriously away from is dust and water resistance. Sadly, there's no indication the P8 would survive much of a dunking, although it is sealed up pretty tight. Unlike some handsets, there's no removable back to acess the battery, although there are slots for both sim and microSD cards on the side, meaning there's not much incentive to splash out on the 32gb model when you can expand the 16gb version with a microSD up to 128gb.

One more little niggle, then I'll get onto the good stuff. The P8's navigation buttons are on screen, like an LG, not physically on the phone like a Samsung. This isn't too annoying, as they disappear when you're watching video (a swipe will bring them back) but I'd like them to disappear when using other apps as well, or at least have that option. On the plus side, you can change the order they appear in.

Now... Let me tell you how good this phone really is.

Let's start by talking battery life. I've read other reviews suggesting the P8 only demonstrated mediocre charge life but I've found the opposite to be true. This could be due in part to the built-in battery saver function which prompts you to turn off apps that are running in the background, consuming power. I know you can download similar apps to perform the same function, but the P8's stock app seems to do a pretty effective job. 

This handset looks and feels amazing, by the way. The lines are minimalist and smooth, it's very slim and the display stretches almost to the very edge of the phone. Unlike almost every other device, the camera lens and flash are completely flush with the back, tucked subtly in the top left corner.

The camera performs well - in fact, critics have accused it of performing TOO well, bizarrely claiming some photos look too colourful! As for nighttime shooting, initially I did struggle to capture a pic that wasn't overexposed, but then I simply turned off the flash and clicked on the little light bulb symbol instead. This lit up my subjects the whole time I took the photo and provided a much better image, a really effective function I've never come across before. 

As for performance, apparently there's all sorts of twin octa-core processing going on I can't begin to understand, but the upshot is, everything worked extremely smoothly, just as you'd expect from a modern, high-end phone. My browsing experience was effortless and the stock email and messaging apps did the job without any fuss. 

One feature that really excited me was the default Huawei Swype keyboard. Usually I find the limited functionality of most stock keyboards so frustrating, it's not long before I resort back to my preferred option, SwiftKey. The P8's Huawei Swype keyboard has me hooked though, apart from the tiny space bar it's almost perfect, especially the long list of suggested words at the top instead of just the 3 options I get with SwiftKey. 

The P8's connectivity also impressed me, once again prompting me with the battery saving option to turn off the WiFi when out of range of a known network. Again, while I can download an app to do this,  with the P8, it's built in. 

All in all, I found the P8 to be a great phone, matching top-of-the-range handsets from other manufacturers in most areas and even outperforming them in some. 

It looks sexy and best of all, it's at least $200 cheaper than its big-name rivals. 

Click here for more details on the Huawei P8

AN END TO HOME PRINTING FRUSTRATION

Okay, I know I'm supposed to be faffing with phones, not printers, but I've stumbled across something pretty significant when it comes to the home printing market.

The ink situation with home printers is out of control. Anyone who has ever thought it was a good idea to produce their own Christmas cards will be familiar with the panic I have experienced when you get halfway through printing them out, only to have to replace a cartridge because you're out of cyan. Whatever that is.

Of course, you don't have a replacement cartridge because you only changed it last week when you were trying to run off that personalised calendar featuring photos of your holiday. In fact, for some reason that used up TWO cartridges... and it was only 12 pages long.

These stupid things aren't cheap either. In fact, due to loss-leading specials and other cash-back offers, in many cases it's actually become cheaper to replace the whole printer than one of the cartridges.

Not only does that seem to defy the laws of economics, but throwing out an entire printer once a month can't be great for the environment - or the capacity of your wheelie bin for that matter.

There has to be another way, and it turns out Epson is leading it...

As satisfying as it may be to hurl your existing printer out of a 2nd storey window next time a cartridge runs out mid-calendar, if what Epson claims it's latest range of EcoTank printers can do is true, your empty cartridge outrage may be at an end.

As the name implies, the key to the EcoTank is the little compartment you can see to the right of the L565 pictured above. It contains 4 separate tanks which feed the print head directly. Basically, that means you can bung a lot more ink in your printer.

In fact, Epson says you get 2 years worth straight out of the box. Yes, you read that right; not 2 weeks or 2 months, but 2 YEARS. 

I decided to put this outrageous suggestion to the ultimate test; the dreaded SCHOOL SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT - but we'll come to that shortly.

First, there IS a little bit of setting up to do with these printers, but it's not as scary as you might think.

I won't go into the usual driver installation and Wi-Fi connection because that was all fairly straight-forward and went pretty much according to plan. It's probably worth noting though, all 3 of Epson's EcoTank printers, the L365, the L455 and the L565 are Wi-Fi capable and I had no problem connecting to a variety of devices, including iPads, Android phones and Windows PCs.

At first glance, having to fill the 4 tanks manually does seem a little daunting - like superglue, printer ink has always had an unnerving ability to find its way into places and onto surfaces you never expected or wanted it to go.

Epson has certainly done its best to make the process as foolproof as possible. The bottles containing the ink have nozzles specifically designed to rest at the top of their tanks so you can fill to the brim without accidentally dipping into anything you shouldn't. Then everything's sealed up with rubber stoppers and safely tucked away. For 2 years.

Make no mistake; You WILL end up with ink on your fingers. I consider myself reasonably tech savvy. I'm not afraid of opening things up, taking them apart and putting them back together again. But no matter how hard I tried, I still couldn't empty the contents of the supplied ink bottles into their respective reservoirs without spilling some on my digits.

Oh, I got better at it as I went along and like most operations of this nature, it's a confidence thing. I started with the black ink and because I was a bit nervous about squirting indelible darkness all over myself and the printer, that's almost exactly what happened. My advice to anyone else carrying out this procedure is to have a tissue/cloth handy, to tip the bottle up and into the tank quickly and even more importantly, remove it and set it right-side-up just as quickly. Any hesitation, and you'll end up with black, yellow, red and blue fingertips like I did. Surgical gloves may be the answer... or maybe you just need to be slightly less of a klutz than me.

The printer then runs an automated priming process which mysteriously takes up to 20 minutes. For me it was less and apparently that's only when you first take the printer out of the box. There's no priming involved next time you fill up.

The good news though; in theory, that should be it for the next 2 years. What's more, when a colour DOES run out, you only have to replace that one, not all 3 colours as you do with most colour cartridges. At just $20 a bottle, this is starting to make a lot of economic sense.

But can it really go the distance? Remember that science fair project I mentioned? I let my 11 year-old have her way with the L565, and it just kept going. There were photos, there were title boards, there were pages of (somewhat questionable)results. The trusty Epson just kept printing, When she accidentally cut the top off one page and she was about to try and glue it back together, I simply said, "Don't be silly. Just print another one."

Pretty crazy, right?

Given the project was due in the next day and we were still working on it at 9:20pm, I'm sure glad the L565 lived up to its reputation. No breakdowns. No empty ink tanks. No stress. It just kept going.

Since then I've been printing with gay abandon. The 14 year-old needs her piano music photocopied for her competition? Not a problem. Even when Dad is too useless to line up the pages properly, thereby missing off all the key signatures, no biggie - we'll just copy them again.

Obviously we won't really know if it'll go the full 24 months until this time in 2017, but by then I'LL probably be obsolete, let alone the printer.

One thing's for certain. A little plastic bottle takes up a lot less space in my bin (and ultimately our landfills) than an entire inkjet printer and that's got to be a good thing.

http://www.epson.co.nz/ecotank/

GET SMART ON A BUDGET

How often do you hear people say, "I don't need all those bells and whistles. I just want a phone that does the basics?"

That probably means they want a cheap phone and they're prepared to put up with the limitations.

Now Vodafone is offering a genuine smart phone for under $200, and there aren't as many limitations as you might think...

Meet the Vodafone Smart Prime 6, perhaps the first telco-branded phone in history actually worth switching on.

When I DID switch it on, there WAS a bit of a wait while it booted, but once I was up and running, I found navigating around the phone simple, clear and pretty smooth going.

The Smart Prime 6 runs the latest Android OS, Lollipop, and it runs it pretty well. At first glance I couldn't really tell much difference between this phone and the LG G3 I reviewed back in February. In fact, just like the G3, Vodafone's phone gives you the option of a double tap on the screen to wake it up, instead of fumbling for the power switch.

Although this phone fits into the budget price range, there really are some higher-end features included, like a genuine quad-core processor which means actions like streaming video, even via Chromecast can be carried out pretty smoothly. In saying that, too many apps doing too many things at once did cause some lagging.

Storage space is the big issue here, but it's an issue you can manage. The latest Samsung Galaxy S6's come with 32gb as standard - that's certainly more than I've ever used on a phone, even WITH an extra SD card.

Make no mistake, the Vodafone Smart Prime 6 is no Galaxy, and a big part of the difference between the two is storage space. The Smart Prime 6 comes with a paltry 8gb, not very useful, given the Lollipop operating system takes up almost 4gb by itself. This means you'll definitely need an SD card if you want to take any photos or store any music at all.

You'll need to install any new apps onto that SD card as well, or your storage will be eaten up in no time. At least you have that option; iPhones and Samsung's GS6's don't even have SD slots so you're stuck with the storage they come with.

What you need to remember when loading or moving apps onto an SD card, is any widgets associated with those apps will disappear and/or stop working, which took me a little while to figure out. In saying that, it turns out you can move apps between the internal storage and the SD card relatively easily using the Apps manager under the Settings menu.

If that last paragraph has your head spinning, then this may not be the phone for you, which is a shame, because in most other respects it's a very straight-forward handset to use.

An SD slot isn't the only feature you get on the Smart Prime 6 you won't find on the latest Samsungs or Apples; you still get an FM radio, something I think is a big draw card for data-conscious users who aren't into paying to stream their favourite station when they can just tune in for free.

What the Smart Prime 6 lacks in on-board storage, it more than makes up for in battery life. Once I got past my constant frustration of YET ANOTHER phone that doesn't do wireless charging, I was very impressed with how long a single charge lasted. I've read other reviews criticising the screen definition and brightness, but I had no problem with this at all, and if that's what helps make the battery last so long, I'm more than happy with the compromise.

That display is a full 5 inches by the way, which I believe to be about optimum for a smart phone these days. Any bigger and the thing just starts getting too damn long to put in your pocket. While it isn't quite as super-slim as some of it's big-name, high-end rivals, the Smart Prime 6 is slim enough. It has a stylishly curved edge, an attractive chrome bezel around the screen and an equally good-looking, metallic-feel back cover. It certainly wouldn't appear cheap or out of place in the middle of the table at the cafe next to phones other people may have paid a thousand dollars more for.

And that's what brings everything back into perspective, the price. This phone is only $149 (plus whatever you need to shell out for the essential SDmicro card - approximately $20 for 16gb) The functionality you get for that little money is the best I've seen by a long way. End of story.

HEY, GOOD LOOKINGS

We all know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but how about a phone?

With the Galaxy 6 and Galaxy 6 Edge, Samsung has taken a pretty giant leap towards making their flagship handsets... well... prettier.

Cosmetically, the Galaxy range of smart phones hasn't really varied dramatically for years. Obviously the handsets have had to grow in size to accommodate bigger screens, but then the screens moved closer to the edge of the phones and the last couple of generations haven't had to get too much bigger.

Now, the screen not only goes right to the edge, but bends all the way over it.

This means Samsung's latest Galaxy is actually slightly smaller than its predecessor, even though the screen is effectively the same size. Both S6 and the S6 Edge are definitely slimmer (ie: flatter) and lighter than the S5 and they both feature a metallic-feel back that sort of looks like some kind of brushed steel (it isn't, but it looks like it).

The Edge is of course what all the noise is about. If you haven't seen it, it's the one with the curvy screen. Don't be fooled though, it's not the whole screen that curves (like on Samsung's Gear Fit and Gear S smart watches). The screen simply spills over both sides - sorry; both EDGES.

In one fell swoop, this effect instantly makes the S6 Edge the coolest looking phone on the market. No contest. So if you want the coolest looking phone on the market, pay the premium and get yourself an Edge.

If, however, you just want a phone that works as well as the Edge, save yourself a couple of hundie and grab an S6 instead. Because other than the curvy screen, there's no difference. What's more, the curvy screen doesn't really DO anything. Oh, sure you can set it to light up different colours on the edge for when different contacts call or text, but that's kind of show-offy, isn't it?

If I'm to be completely honest, I felt nervous handling the Edge every time I picked it up. I'm not exactly Mr Coordinated and I felt like with all that screen everywhere, one slip and the phone would be in pieces.

Speaking of slipping, being so slim, both these devices slipped easily into my pocket, although they are still relatively long, so squatting with your phone in your jeans is still not particularly comfortable.

The other big shift in Samsung's Galaxy progression is the departure from a removable back cover. Like the A3 and A5 I focussed on in the last blog, Samsung have basically "iPhoned" these handsets, locking the battery away and moving to a nanoSim which fits in little drawer at the top. UNLIKE the A3 and A5, the S6 and S6 Edge have no SD slot, meaning, like the iPhone, you'll have to pay more for a 64GB handset than the entry-level 32GB one.

To be fair, 32GB is heaps of storage for a phone, but if you're a prodigious photographer or videographer, extra storage is no longer as simple as changing out a relatively inexpensive microSD.

So apart from their striking good looks, what really is the difference between the S6's and their S5 predecessor?

Not much. The S6's boast an "Octa Core" processor, but according to my (limited) research, it's really two different quad cores working together. Whatever the case, these phones can definitely multi-task with no problems at all. (HTC has a handset with a "true" octa core processor, but from what I've read, its battery life is terrible)

I can't say I detected the S6's working any faster than my S5, but they definitely seemed to transition between open/simultaneously running apps more smoothly.

The cameras, as usual, are another step up. Predictably, you get more megapixels and there were big improvements with things like contrast and performance in dark environments, which is something phone cameras usually struggle with. What I really liked about the S6 camera, is Samsung gives you the option of almost no options, for photographic numpties like me, or you can turn on all the advanced features if you're the kind of photo-geek who likes to tweak their own ISO or HDR. (Whatever they may be)

The really big plus for me, is at long, long, LONG last, Samsung have made these phones wirelessly chargeable. Why they didn't do this 3 generations ago, I have no idea. In fact, I was really impressed with the battery life and short charging times of the S6's generally - especially when you use the new 9-volt wall charger provided. Even if your battery does get low, this super-charger will have you up and running in next to no time.

The big negative? Unlike the S5, these handsets are not waterproof (IP67). The official line from Samsung is they would have had to compromise the sleek design to keep water and dust out. A suspicious person might suggest they're holding the IP67 rating back for the S7, but that would be mere speculation. This meant although the latest incarnation of the S-Health app is more comprehensive than ever and the S6's connected with my Gear 2 Neo smart watch effortlessly, I never felt comfortable exercising with them in my sweaty armband and I certainly wouldn't have risked running in the rain. (That's my excuse for not running that day, and I'm sticking to it)

Once again, we seem to arrived at a point in smart phone evolution where the innovation and improvements are pretty minor and it's hard to justify an upgrade from the S5, especially if you've come to rely on the durability and peace-of-mind offered by the S5's IP67 water/dust-proofing.

However, if sexy styling, better battery life and wireless charging really rock your boat, Samsung have definitely come up with the goods.

IT'S WHAT'S MISSING THAT MAKES IT GOOD

Today's smartphone launches are usually all about hyping up the next technological breakthrough. Recent advances have included heart-rate monitors, fingerprint scanners, wireless charging and waterproofing.

The question is; while these are features you might want, are they features you actually need? Perhaps we've been lured into expecting our handsets to have it all, even when we'll never use hardly any of it.

Enter the Samsung Galaxy A5...

Perhaps the first thing you'll notice about the A5 is the feel - from the moment you pick it up you'll detect quite a difference between this phone and its big brothers, the S5 and the Note 4. In fact, at first sight, the thing most Samsung users will be asking is, "How do you get into it?"

The obvious answer is, you don't.

Unlike most Samsungs, the back won't come off your A5. Instead, you change the sim and SD card via two small ejector slots on the side.

At this point, iPhone users are wondering why you'd want to get into your phone anyway, and that's the basic difference between Android converts and Apple acolytes... us Androiders like to to fiddle. We want the flexibility to change the amount of storage space if we want, or even replace our own battery if need be.

While the A5's battery remains securely out of reach, once you've figured out how to eject the tiny drawers that receive the sim and SD card, you'll appreciate the more solid feel the non-removable back offers. Just a note, the A5 takes a nano-sim, not a micro-sim like many other Android phones. This'll probably mean a trip to your phone shop to clone your sim. (By the way, the secret to popping the little drawers out is poking a special tool in the hole. Or failing that, the end of a paperclip)

Another physical first impression is a real slimness and indeed a lightness to this phone. At a time when smart phones seem to grow more giant every generatuion, the A5 makes the jeans pocket a viable option again.

Despite being a smaller phone, the A5 doesn't really scrimp on screen-size - you get a full 5 inches which is plenty for most people, although perhaps not quite enough to effectively multi-screen two apps at once. Still, you can if you want.

Frustratingly, the stock home screen doesn't rotate into landscape mode automatically, so you'll need to download a 3rd party app to force it to. I've never understood why you'd want to browse the web in profile, but maybe that's just me.

Speaking of browsing, I found the A5 a little slower to use than my S5, but only a little. Waiting an extra split-second for an app to open isn't really a deal-breaker. What I did miss was a couple of stock apps I've grown quite attached to. Neither S Health or Gear Manager seem to be available for the A5 in the Samsung App store. So does this mean you can't use your new Samsung smart watch with this phone?

As it turns out, to my relief,  I was able to sideload a version of Gear Manager which worked perfectly well with my Gear 2 Neo. I didn't have much success with S Health though, so you'll have to cross that one off your list.

The camera is, as you'd expect with any decent phone these days, excellent. There aren't nearly as many shooting options available as there are on other more high-end devices, but if you're just a point-and-shooter, you'll be perfectly satisfied. If you needed any proof of who this phone is being marketed to, the fact the forward-facing camera is 5MP is likely to be pretty popular with the selfie generation.

What really impressed me was the way this phone displayed video - either streaming it or playing it from local storage. The A5 ran Chromecast flawlessly, and worked just as well with streaming apps like Google Play Music and iHeart Radio.

I was also very happy with the A5's battery life. Perhaps when you're not trying to power fancy accessories like heart-rate monitors, your battery lasts longer. It seemed to charge faster too. Unfortunately, although Samsung has promised wireless charging as standard on the S6 and S6 Edge when they came out later this month, the A5 doesn't have it, and because you can't replace the back, you can't add a wireless charging receiver either. This rules out the A5 as the perfect phone for me.

I don't know what's happened to the IP67 waterproof rating Samsung used for the S5, so I'd be careful not to drop this one in the toilet. However if you're looking for a reliable phone, with good battery life and excellent streaming ability, that slides easily into your pocket, the A5 is definitely worthy of your consideration... and if you want something even smaller, try the A3. Most of the same features with a 4.5" screen (and a much smaller price).

BIG SCREEN BENEFITS ON PHONE-SIZED DEVICE

One of the spin-offs of reviewing the G Watch R in my previous post, was I also got to play with LG's flagship handset, the G3.

As I confessed last week, until recently I wasn't even aware LG made phones at all, let alone a whole range of them. After spending a fair amount of time with the G3, I can tell you they seem to know what they're doing.

The G3 is a beautifully elegant thing to hold. The back cover curves to almost nothing at the edges and although it's plastic, the compound and finish LG uses has a metallic feel. Flip it over and you'll be impressed by the way the screen seems to stretch right out to the sides, with very little blank space. This means the overall size of the handset is a little smaller than the Samsung GS5 for example, while the screen is actually a bit bigger.

This is significant, as due to the large display, you'll get many of the benefits of a phablet like the Note 4, while still being able to fit the G3 in your pocket. Another way LG has reduced the size of the phone without affecting the functionality is by moving the home touch buttons off the bottom of the phone and putting them virtually on the display itself. What's more, they can be set to disappear; you just swipe them back when you need them. What's even more, they're customisable. You can change the order and the colour, you can even have 5 if you want, adding shortcuts like Notifications, QuickMemo+, QSlide or DualWindow.

Again, like Samsung's Galaxy Note 4, those last two options are all about making good use of the large display, giving you access to 2 apps on screen at the same time. The stock email app also displays messages in my preferred format, with a list of messages on one side and previews shown on the other.

Given most of the apps I was using worked better in landscape mode, I found it odd the home screen wouldn't display in landscape mode by default. On a phone where almost everything can be customised, strangely I had to download a 3rd party app to get my icons to turn around. Weird, but not a major.

There are two things that really make the G3 unique, but for the life of me, I can't decide if I like them or not. Due to the G3's skinny edges, there are no physical buttons to be found on them. Instead, the volume controls and on-off button have been nestled under the camera lens on the back. While this means you won't accidentally push them while handling the phone, because you use them without looking at them, I often found myself pressing the wrong one or the camera lens itself.

LG's other unique quirk is the Knock Code you can use to unlock or wake the phone. Rather than a pin number, a fingerprint or facial recognition, the G3 lets you choose your own knock, and you just tap the screen with the code.

Amazingly, it worked. Almost always, anyway. When it didn't, I just pushed the power button on the back... after accidentally pushing the camera and one of the volume buttons. I guess some good ideas take a bit of getting used to.

If you've read any other editions of this blog, you'll know I'm obsessed with wireless charging and that I'm perpetually astounded when it isn't installed as standard in any modern device. Thankfully, with the G3, it is. Why Samsung and Apple don't get this, I simply can't fathom.

Ultimately, there's no escaping the fact this is just another high-end Android phone. However, it does what it is supposed to, with a phablet-sized display, on a handset slim enough to slip into your pocket and that's not a bad trick.

SMART WATCHES ARE A REAL THING

Did you know LG makes phones?

Nup, me either.

So the fact they do smart watches as well really came as a surprise. Perhaps the most surprising thing of all is the G Watch R is actually a pretty decent piece of kit.

Obviously the first thing to impress is its appearance. Radically, this watch looks like a watch. The big problem any smart watch maker has to overcome is how do you construct something that works, but doesn't require a wrist the size of a tree trunk to support?

This was my biggest issue with Samsung's latest, the Gear S. Loved the curvy screen and the functionality, but ultimately it's a whole phone strapped to your arm, which isn't quite the fashion accessory most people are looking for.

This factor alone swings the advantage dramatically in the G Watch R's favour. Unlike its square-faced predecessor, at a casual glance LG's new device looks like any other men's diving watch. It ships with a black leather strap which becomes quite comfortable after a few wears, and is interchangeable with any other 22mm band.

While a circular face probably looks better, you've still got the challenge of fitting everything on it. Texts and emails simply aren't round - maybe reformatting them that way would be a solution, but in the meantime, you need a big screen to read them. The popular Moto 360 really IS massive - personally I think the size of G Watch R is a nice compromise.

The display quality is exceptional - I found it crisp, clear and easy to read in almost all light conditions. Frustratingly there's no light sensor though, which means a slightly complicated manual brightness adjustment if you're going for a run in the sun.

Only slightly complicated, because this watch is powered by Android Wear, which means you can literally tell it what to do. Say, "Okay Google," to fire up Google Now, then, "Change Brightness" and that setting appears on screen. It took me a few days to get used to controlling my watch by talking to it, but it worked pretty well most of the time.

Unfortunately, there are always commands you think will do something that just open Google searches on the watch screen instead. This gets a bit frustrating and can result in the disturbing situation of a man yelling at his wrist for no obvious reason. Voice commands aren't the only way to control the G Watch R, but it's quite fiddly remembering the sequence of swipes to do things manually. One very user-friendly feature is the home button being situated where the traditional winder would be, making it extremely easy to find in the dark.

Like the Samsung watches, you still need to pair the G Watch R with a handset, but because it's an Android Wear device, you can use non LG phones to run it. That's a plus, but it also may be the cause of a few issues as well. I was never really clear what my phone was driving and what my watch was driving. The Tizen-based Samsung watches have their own app store, allowing you to load independent apps like timers, alarms and remotes directly onto the device, whereas most of what you see on the G Watch R is actually happening on your phone... but then... not always.

If I set an alarm with the watch, that only happened on the watch. If I set one on the phone, the watch ignored it. What's worse, sometimes the alarm didn't happen at all, causing me to be late for work on more than one occasion. Because there's no specific media controller app built into the G Watch R, I couldn't always access what was playing on my phone, one of the features I find most appealing about wearing a smart watch in the first place. Unlike my Samsung Gear Neo, there's no IR Blaster on the G Watch R, so no chance of turning my telly on and off with it either. In saying that, for some reason Samsung dropped that off the latest Gear S too.

However, I was surprised by how many apps DID appear on the G Watch R's display, even when I wasn't expecting them to. My preferred fitness app, Endomondo worked just as well as ever, along with music played with Play Music and my podcasts on Podcast Republic. I was a little suspicious of the readings from the heart-rate monitor - generally showing much lower rates than what I was used to... unless I just wasn't working out so hard every time I wore that particular watch.

There were two things that really bugged me. Firstly, the strength of vibration notifications was nowhere enough. I'd say I missed about 75% of them. Annoyingly, even getting these notifications to vibrate in the first place seemed to involve setting the phone to vibrate as well, which didn't suit me at all.

Then there's the one overarching factor that puts me off using the G Watch R permanently; you can't make a call with it. How ironic to have a device that's voice controlled, but can't talk back to you. Don't get me wrong, the ability to compose texts and emails using Google Now was much more flexible than the template replies you're restricted to on some other devices, but I really missed being able to take and make calls with my phone still in my pocket.

To finish on a couple of more positive notes, the combination of the divers' watch appearance and its IP67 water-resistant rating made the device feel virtually indestructible, and I wore it with complete confidence when working out, running or gardening. Best feature though; the charging cradle. All smart watches need regular charging, that's just a fact of life. LG's magnetic charger makes it so easy. You can practically throw the G Watch R in the general direction of the charger and it all snaps together in a flash, unlike the Samsung Gears and their cradles, which you effectively have to be an origami sensei to master. I was impressed with how fast it charged too.

Don't be fooled, this watch is still too big for most women to be interested in wearing one themselves (at least not the ladies I asked anyway) but cosmetically, it's definitely a step away from nerd-dom towards fashion. The G Watch R is easy to charge, looks great and does what it does really well - just as long as you don't want to make an actual call!