Wearable technology is getting more important nowadays, as all of our everyday objects are getting smart. While we're still far from having helmets with HUDs and the like, the smartwatches have been around for a while and are now much more than simple toys. Vector Watch, the company behind the smartwatch we're reviewing, is a relative newcomer to this game, and has a different approach to this type of product than most manufacturers. Read our review to know their Vector Luna watch fares amongst the competition. Is it any good? Is it worth buying?
Unboxing the smartwatch
When we received the Vector Luna and saw the box it came in, we immediately understood that the designers at Vector have a great understanding of elegance. The Luna comes in a cube-shaped box that has a clean, minimalistic design, with some of the watch's main features printed on it.
As a matter of fact, there is a cardboard wrap that can be removed to reveal the box itself: this is even more elegant and is of premium quality. It is a black box, with an embossed, golden button and the Vector logo printed in gold on it. The box is closed with a magnet, which is a much more interesting and durable solution than the usual cardboard edges.
When opened, the box reveals the watch itself, which is wrapped on a foam holder and placed inside a piece of cardboard: it all looks very elegant, the cardboard even has a silk strap that can be used to easily get it out of the box.
Under the watch there is another, folded cardboard holder that has the watch's USB charger and a warranty slip inside. There are no other accessories included, although that is quite understandable, as there are no accessories available. What kind of accessory could you imagine for a smartwatch, anyway? There is no manual either, but you can download that from the Vector website.
The Vector Luna's packaging is of great quality and elegance. Unboxing the watch is a great experience on its own. You feel that you are handling a watch of high quality that is luxuriously crafted.
Design and quality
The Vector Luna smartwatch is available in a total of nine different color and strap variations. There are six different Lunas that have leather straps (Steel with Black Leather, Rose Gold with Black Croco, Champagne Gold with Black Croco, Steel with Tan Leather, Brushed Black with Brown Leather and Flat Black with Black Silicone) and three with steel bracelets (Steel with Steel, Rose Gold with Rose Gold and Brushed Black with Black Steel). These editions differ only in the color of the watch and the type and color of the strap or bracelet, not the features or the price. You can view a gallery with all of these options, here.
We had the Rose Gold watch with Rose Gold bracelet for testing, and the first thing we had to note about it that it might be a bit too much in terms of a luxurious design. The vivid gold color with a hint of red is very shiny and extravagant. It can be a very good choice if you really want to show off your latest gadget as you will be surely noticed wearing this one. The rest of the designs available for this smartwatch are much more modest, having darker, silverish colors.
The second thing that caught our eyes - and possibly the one that had the biggest impact on us - was that this watch is rather large. The timepiece is circle-shaped and has a diameter of 44mm or 1.73 inches, it is made of stainless steel and has a rose gold finish, while the front is made of mineral glass and it looks quite durable.
Not only its diameter is big, but the case is also quite thick and heavy: combined with the 22mm (0.86 inches) bracelet, the Vector Luna weighs no less than 157 grams or 5.54 ounces. This might not seem that much, but it can be a strain for your wrist at first, and it will surely need some time to get used to.
While wearing it for the first time, we had to take it off after about 3 hours, to let our wrist rest for a while. After a couple of days we got used to its size and weight, but it is still a considerable burden for your hand.
It is also worth noting that, due to its size, you can't really have your shirt's sleeve cover the Luna, unless the shirt has more buttons to adjust it. This is not necessarily a problem, but you should know that you will stand out of the crowd, wherever you go.
Both the case and the bracelet are made of high quality steel that seems to be extremely durable. It is shiny and easy to clean. Also, it's very evident that no cheap materials were used in its m anufacture. The steel bracelet can be adjusted to fit your wrist, but you might want to ask a watchmaker to do it for you, as it's not very easy to remove the links from it. The leather straps come in two sizes, and the Vector Watch website has a handy guide to help you choose the right one for you.
Taking a closer look at the case we can see that it's a clean and simple timepiece with not many features. On the front side there is the Vector logo below the watch face, which can be configured to your liking - but we'll talk about that a bit later. The backside has one important connector, that can be used to charge the watch. This uses a magnetic technology, the charger simply snaps to the watch, which makes it much easier to connect and disconnect it, and of course it's way cooler than a standard microUSB connector.
On the right side of the watch you can see its controls, three buttons. The top and bottom ones are basically up and down arrows, that can be used to change the watch face, while the middle button is used for opening notifications and apps. This basically covers all of the physical features, as the right side is completely empty.
The Vector Luna is an elegant and clean smartwatch, made of very high quality materials. It comes in more subtle and flashy variants, so it can suit anyone's style. The case and the steel bracelet are rather heavy and take some time to get used to, while the watch is surely something that makes its user stand out from the crowd.
The smartwatch experience on the Vector Luna
First things first: after using the Vector Luna for a couple of days, we must say that it is not such a feature-filled gadget, like the Apple Watch or the Samsung Galaxy Gear. In our opinion, the Vector Luna is more like a piece of elegant fashion accessory, or maybe even jewellery, with some smart features that make it much more than just a watch. Still, it's good to keep this in mind, when considering a purchase.
The main features of the Vector Luna are notification handling, activity tracking and access to other content using apps. Of course it also works as a watch, with a configurable display: the different display styles are called faces, and there are a couple of them readily available with your watch. You can choose from a variety of analogue and digital watch faces to suit your style, and you can even choose all of them and change with the press of a button.
Time display via the different faces is accompanied by so-called streams: many watch faces support these, which are dedicated locations on the watch face where you can have all kinds of information displayed. For example, you can see a step, calorie, distance or sleep time counter, or even weather information.
Among the different watch faces there are also some that can be used as a stopwatch or a timer. No matter which face you use, the most important feature of the smartwatch - and the one you will undoubtedly use the most - are notifications.
The watch warns you with a gentle vibration if something important is happening on your smartphone: it notifies you of text messages, emails, calendar events, incoming calls and many other s. In our experience, this worked very well, we have seen basically every notification that appeared on our smartphone, so the Luna really makes sure that you won't miss anything. A ring also lights up on the watch to show that there are notifications you haven't seen yet, and you can just have a glance at them after flicking with your wrist, or review them later with the press of the middle button.
While the notifications are useful, you can also display some other information by using the streams we mentioned earlier: you can, for example, see the current weather, your upcoming events, the number of steps you took, stock market information or the time zone. There are also different kinds of apps you can use: for example the Music app lets you see and control the music played back on your smartphone, you have Nest to control your smart thermostat or use BBC , The Economist or ESPN to see content provided by these websites. Unfortunately the list of available apps is not very long, but Vector Watch promised to open up development for third-party apps this year, so there will probably be many more of these available in the future.
Of course, since the smartwatch has no touchscreen, it would be quite impossible to configure everything using the gadget itself. But you don't need to, as there are apps available for all major smartphone operating systems, including Android, iOS and Windows Phone. The app lets you configure the different faces and streams available on the smartwatch with the Watch Maker feature. With it you can drag and drop the faces and streams to set up the display just the way you like it. You can access the store to download additional faces and apps you don't yet have - the list is not very long at the moment, but at least everything is free of charge.
The Activity page is a central hub where you can check the number of steps you took, how many calories have you burnt, the distance you have covered and the number of hours you have slept.
These are all nice features, but not very exact: for example, if you just sit in one place for a while, the Luna might decide you're sleeping and start counting the time you've slept. Of course, the smartwatch is not a medical device, so you should not rely too much on the data provided by it.
The Alarms page lets you set up multiple alarms, so you can have the Luna have you remember something, or wake you up in the morning with some gentle vibrations instead of a terrible, loud ringtone from your smartphone.
The Settings page is where you can configure how your watch works, set which apps you would like to receive notifications from, enter your biometric information which will make calorie information a bit more accurate and update the smartwatch software.
Another handy feature of the Vector Luna is that you can register a free account when setting up the smartwatch, and this way you will have all your information synchronized. This can be mostly useful when getting a new Vector watch, but it will also come handy if you need to reset the smartwatch for some reason. The sync feature stores all your settings with your online account, so it works as a backup, from where you can restore everything quickly and easily.
The smartwatch communicates with your smartphone via Bluetooth: it uses the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) standard, so it won't affect your smartphone's battery life much. One downside is that you will need to have the Vector app running on your smartphone all the time, and it can be a bit annoying to see a permanent notification on-screen all the time.
As for the smartwatch's battery life, it is really hard to judge it accurately: the Vector smartwatch tagline is "The smartwatch with a 30-day battery life", which might even be true. The screen is black-and white, doesn't have a powerful backlight, the vibrations aren't very powerful and there is not much that could heavily drain the battery. We had the smartwatch for a week, so we cannot confirm whether it can really keep ticking for a full month, but if we extrapolate one week's battery use, we get something like that, so the one-month battery life is probably quite accurate.
The Vector Luna has most basic smartwatch features like a notification system, activity tracking and support for apps. Its smartphone application is a great way to easily configure it and it works on all major mobile platforms: iOS, Android and Windows Phone. Unfortunately, there aren't many apps available for it yet, but opening up the platform for developers this year is very promising, so there is a solid chance to make the Vector Luna even smarter than it currently is.
Verdict
Using the Vector Luna for a week was quite a unique experience. We really like watches, as they can be a good looking accessory for anyone. Although the unusually large size and the color of the Luna we had for tasting made it really flashy, it was still obvious that this is more of a high-end fashion product with some added smart features than a real smartwatch.
This also makes the Vector Luna unique amongst its competitors. Of course, all major manufacturers try to come up with a special design for their smart gadget, but the Luna is much more than this: it brings something more extravagant, something you have previously seen only on classic luxury watches.
Of course this quality has its price: the average price of the Vector Luna is around 320 USD, which makes it one of the most expensive smartwatches currently available. It's still far from costing as much as the standard Apple Watch, but it's more expensive than a 2nd generation Motorola Moto 360 or a Samsung Gear S2, and costs almost twice as much as the Samsung Gear 2.
If you are looking for a stylish accessory that complements your lifestyle and matches your character, while also offering some smart features that no classic watch does, then the Vector Luna smartwatch could be the perfect choice for you. However, if you need a smarter gadget with more features, lots of compatible apps, and a color screen, you might want to take a look at other manufacturers' products.
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