Tag Heuer has released a new edition of its premium Connected smartwatch, with some major hardware upgrades to help justify its price tag. The Tag Heuer Connected Calibre E4 boasts a new processor, Bluetooth 5.0, and improved battery life (the company says the watch should last all day on a single charge, with several hours of workout tracking).
There's a good range of fitness tools on offer, the most impressive being guided seven-minute workouts, with animations to follow on the AMOLED display.
The Connected Calibre E4 comes with a leather or rubber band and a brushed steel or titanium case. As Yahoo Finance notes, it's also available in two sizes - a first for Tag Heuer. In addition to the standard 45mm model, there's also a 40mm version for smaller wrists.
Future-proof
All of this comes at a steep price, starting at $1,800 / £1,550 (about AU$2,500) for the steel 42mm model, and $2,050 / £1,700 (about AU$2,900) for the 45mm version. Opting for the full titanium model will boost the price to $2,550 (about £1,900 / AU$3,600), making it one of the most expensive Wear OS watches around.
That's no surprise; ever since the first Tag Heuer Connected watch made its debut in 2015, the series has been all about adding a touch of luxury to the sometime utilitarian world of smartwatches.
Thankfully, there's some future-proofing here. The Connected Calibre E4 is sold with Wear OS 2 installed, but will be upgraded to Wear OS 3 when Google's new watch operating system eventually lands.
Analysis: good watches come in small packages
There are lots of reasons to choose a bigger smartwatch: more data can be displayed on the screen at watch, it can hold a larger battery and/or solar cell, controls are less fiddly to operate, and you can get more creative with the interface when there's extra space available.
However, a watch measuring 45mm in diameter (or even more) isn't for everyone, and can look overwhelming on smaller wrists, so it's good to see companies tackling the challenge of fitting components into a more compact case.
Apple Watches are available in two sizes, as are most Garmin devices, including the rugged Garmin Instinct 2 that launched earlier this week. Now Tag Heuer has joined in too, proving that luxury smartwatches can be modestly sized.
That's good news for anyone who might have settled for a basic fitness tracker even though a fully fledged smartwatch or running watch may suit their needs better.
- On a budget? Check out the best cheap fitness trackers
