THE WATCH IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE WATCH

The Apple is gone, but the Fitbit Flex is doing its job with no trauma or tantrums

Iloved my Apple watch, and often told people how it was the best piece of tech I’d ever owned, even if they didn’t care to hear about it. The breathing feature with its therapeutic haptics and blooming flower visual guide was my favourite, completely hypnotic.

It was pretty to look at as a device, with a rose gold casing — and it did its main job, which is fitness tracking, as was expected.

The reminders, prompts to move and the visual goal achievement awards were quite effective, too. It was smart at picking up workouts and heart rates.

With an interface linked to the iPhone it could be distracting at times, revealing unimportant messages and creating a bit of an addiction to social networks and e-mail. You could change the settings, but it forms a habit of quick-responding.

Being able to ping your phone if you couldn’t find it was a valuable function, as was the ability to activate the camera from a distance. Those are features I do miss.

But, you may wonder, why I am speaking about this device in the past tense?

Because it died.

And far too young for this level of tech, cost and spectacular features.

First, the glass screen cracked when it was just a few months old. It had a minor fall onto a hard surface, not more than a metre, but was clumsily dropped from a hand while it was being taken off for a charge which it needed daily.

It did not have a protective cover, a decision I made based on assurance from a sales assistant, who said the watch was hardy to wear even if you were doing minor construction. Maybe he meant the operation of a glue gun because it fell onto a small table with a ceramic top and chipped badly.

That was the beginning of the end. The screen slowly started to crack further, bleeding into the touch screen day by day.

One further knock, on a door frame, and it was a goner.

A year is surely not the life-span of such a device? The cost to replace the screen is about the same as buying a new one.

I’m not buying a new one.

I’ve replaced it with a simple Fitbit Flex. Rubberised black and skinny, with no visible intelligence.

It does the job, and is pleasantly quieter. It’s better for my sanity when all it can do is flash a few dotted lights and vibrate to tell me that my goal has been achieved, or to give me a small nudge if I’ve been sitting too long. A single pinprick light goes from green to red if the battery is low, and it only needs charging once a week.

If I want to analyse the data, the app works perfectly on my phone, which is an improvement over squinting at my wrist.

It is discreet with messaging and phone functions — privacy again!

Functionally, it seems more sensitive than its fancier predecessor, or my fitness seems to have improved slightly with a less pretentious device to track it. A lesson that simpler is sometimes better.

Rubberised black and skinny, with no visible intelligence