Suunto 7 Review: Productivity on the Wrist with Google Wear OS?

The watch is arguably the first ever piece of wearable tech in human history, so it is fitting that in the era of connected tech, the smartwatch is also the most contended space for innovation.

These days what many companies like Amazfit and Withings are opening a new niche in the market where the smartwatches are less 'smart' and more 'watch' in terms of functionality and build. On the other hand there is the direction of Apple and Samsung is taking, where the function of the watch is being pushed to converge with smartphones.

This latter direction is where the Suunto 7 is taking, where it goes above and beyond of what a watch, or even a fitness tracker can do. With this approach, the watch has the potential to significantly replace a lot of your day-to-day screen time on your phone. Just as smartphones took our eyes off our PCs, this seems like the logical next evolutionary step for wearable tech.

So can the Suunto 7 successfully take my eyes off my phone? I spent the last few weeks using the watch and here are my findings.

Flagship level screen

From the moment the watch is turned on, the high resolution and fluidity of the animation immediately shows off the capability of this Wear OS watch. My first impression is that the display is on-par with current flagship smartphones in the market at the moment. This was further reinforced when I began swiping the screen, which had the same sensitivity and even momentum of a quality smartphone interface. This is in fact crucial in providing a user experience that made me feel like this is an extension of my phone around my wrist.

The display itself is using an AMOLED panel, which produces the deep blacks and saturated colors that one would expect. The screen brightness is also rated at 1000 nits, which is up there with the brightest smartphones there are. Because of this the Suunto 7 screen is perfectly visible even under direct sunlight - an important feature to have in a watch that was made to be used comfortably outdoors.

The screen also has a 326 pixel per inch resolution, which is the magic number Apple calls a 'retina display'. This means very sharp and readable texts when you're reading messages, notifications and any other information. The software also got the font size right, where it's actually bigger than the normal text shown on my phone, and at the same time small enough that I'm getting enough of the sentence to read the message in context.

Signature Suunto tough exterior

Even though the Suunto 7 is packing serious hardware, it's is not a watch made only for the introverted 'tech geek' type. It has a glass fiber reinforced polyamide case which feels both premium and tough; stainless steel bezel and buttons (I have the rose-gold variation) surrounding a gorilla glass covered screen; and a heavy duty ribbed texture silicon strap.

The last time I reviewed a Suunto was a Traverse Alpha, and it had a similar tough exterior. I remember speaking to a construction leading hand that swears by Suunto and showed me his personal Traverse that has obviously had it rough: covered in dirt, cement and scratches - but a flawless screen and fully functioning. Suunto in my experience makes extremely tough watches, and the Suunto 7 is no exception. It's both exquisitely made and will take a lot of punishment from even the most active of lifestyles.

Looking less at the phone

Frankly speaking, I have always been skeptical about these highly functional smartwatches. I always felt the screens are too small to get any real productive work done. After using the Suunto 7 for a few days, I have to admit, my opinion has been swayed.

The Suunto 7 has done many key things right to make this happen, starting from its larger screen:

One finger typing?

As mentioned previously the animation and response of this watch is on-par with smartphones, this is coupled with a 1.39" screen, which makes reading and even typing easy.

The other day while wearing the watch, a staff at the bank saw it, and his immediate comment is: "Wow that's quite a big screen. It must be easier to type on it than an Apple Watch." For those who experienced typing on a smartwatch, you will immediately get where he was coming from. During my time with the Suunto 7, I have answered many Instant Messages using the on screen keyboard on the watch, and it was unexpectedly usable.

The Google keyboard input auto-correct is good enough that I just need to tap roughly where each letter is on the miniature keyboard, and it takes care of the rest. Composing a message quickly single-handedly (single-fingeredly) was easy and it definitely saved me from taking out the phone, unlocking it, and getting bombarded by a flood of notifications before I could write the message.

Real-time synchronized notifications

Another thing that worked very effectively is how synchronized the watch and phone notifications were. To access notification it's a matter of swiping up from the bottom of the watch face, which gives me a list of all the current notifications on my phone.

The excellent implementation of the notification comes in when I swipe to clear each notification, I can actually see the notification also being cleared on my phone in real-time. This means notifications never double up, plus I can leave some messages as reminders for when I do look at my phone later.

Market leading battery life

As mentioned earlier, battery life is one of my biggest reservations about the 'power' smartwatches. From my experience with the Traverse Alpha, it had a battery that easily lasted 2 weeks, which shows how serious Suunto is in making their watches energy efficient. But how far can they go with a watch that is running much more serious hardware and a more powerful OS?

After using the Suunto 7, I was glad to find that it had one of the longest lasting batteries for a smartwatch running the Wear OS. Though on its official product page it says the battery lasts up to 2 days, in my experience it lasts on average for 2.5 days. For my use, I had the watch connected to my phone at all times, running all the notifications, tracking some walks during errands at work and I also check the time on my watch quite often. Still, the Suunto 7 easily lasted me more than 2 days, which is better than even most smartphones.

Who is the Suunto 7 for?

I recently looked at the Palm Phone, which was designed to get people to focus on their phones less and on focus on their life more. For me, that's how the Suunto 7 is. At a turn of my wrist, I can easily reply urgent messages and clear ones that are not. This is a smartwatch that performed well as an extension to my phone worn on my wrist, and while wearing it, I did leave my phone in my pocket a lot more.

With elegant polished stainless steel buttons and bezel, aesthetically this watch doesn't seem out of place when worn in a dressier occasion. But make no mistake; it is a tough watch that you can take on adventures either in the business world, or in the wild.

David is a tech enthusiast/writer who is often on the move and is on a mission to explore ways to make his overhaul flights more enjoyable. This is a contribution to an ongoing IBTimes review series on gadgets for Business Travellers.