In my opinion, smartwatches are overrated. When the current dominator of the market, the Apple Watch, was released, I found some features undoubtedly appealing, but couldn’t imagine viewing photos or reading emails on a screen so small. Also, the unattractive square screen instantly diverges the gadget from the look of an analog watch, a look that I have always liked.
Considering all this, I had decided not to get a smartwatch unless one came along that really excited me, and looked really nice. Last week I was introduced to the soon-to-be-released Vector Watch. A few things instantly caught my attention and piqued my interest.
First, the watch looks like a watch. At a quick glance, it could easily be confused with an analog watch, thanks to a classic shape and a screen that stays on all the time. Instead of instantly identifying you as a future-obsessed wrist-computer wearer, Vector looks classy and decidedly non-high-tech. Second, the watch does not try to pack in too many features. Instead of jamming everything a phone can do into a watch, Vector focuses on what a watch is best suited to, and leaves out the frills.
Primarily, of course, Vector tells time. You can choose between eight or ten watch faces, easily downloadable in the companion app. All the faces imitate analog styles except for one bold digital face. Scrolling through them is as easy as pressing the up and down buttons on the watch’s side (the face is not a touch screen!). Most of the faces also leave room for additional data to be displayed. I set mine up to display the date as well as how far I’ve walked today, but you can also show weather info, calories burned, or your next meeting (it syncs with your phone calendar). 
The main other purpose of the watch is to allow you to use your phone less and glance at notifications. A gentle vibration occurs any time I get a notification on my phone (you can also decide which apps alert your phone and not your watch), and I can either flick my wrist or press the main side button to view it. If I let it sit or didn’t feel the vibration, a helpful thin circle is displayed around the face to let me know I have an unread notification. This simple feature has helped me pull out my phone much less during the day. I can now tell instantly if a notification needs my attention or can be dismissed and addressed later.