The T-Touch Connect Sport family is a departure from the legacy T-Touch series and brings the surprisingly popular family of analog-digital high-performance sports watches into the smartwatch era. When I initially reviewed the Tissot T-Touch Connect Sport, I found a number of software limitations and general feature needs, which I have detailed. The good news is that Tissot’s software team is constantly updating the Tissot T-Touch Connect Sport firmware, as well as the T-Connect mobile app (still hard to find if you simply search for “Tissot” in any of the app stores) that is supposed to be used with the smartwatch series. Today, we’ll be talking about some of the new features that Tissot has released for this innovative product from the Swiss brand.
As someone who has reviewed many smartwatches (especially from older manufacturers), I can say with confidence that there is no one-size-fits-all product – all available hybrid smartwatch solutions have their pros and cons. The challenge facing engineers is significant. On the one hand, consumers want style, comfort, and autonomy (i.e., long battery life).
On the other hand, they want seamless integration, fast software, a huge list of features (many of which they don’t use), and a ton of app integrations and connections between their smartwatches and the other software they use. The reality is that engineers and developers have to balance a lot of competing factors. What Tissot wanted to do with the T-Touch Connect Sport was a) wow the industry with hardware that was unlike anything the competition had to offer; b) emulate the traditional watch experience as much as possible; and c) re-enter the Swatch Group into the competitive watch software arena.
In my original review of the Tissot T-Touch Connect Sport, I talked at length about the photovoltaic cell (produced in-house by the Swatch Group), as well as the T-Touch Connect Sport’s impressive solar charging capability and long battery life. Accordingly, it’s one of the most autonomous (long battery life, which also charges well in the light) and truly beautiful hybrid smartwatches on the market.
Tissot has gone to great lengths to ensure that the T-Touch Connect Sport is as elegant to wear as many classic watches, and looks attractive on the wrist. In this article, I photographed the black PVD-coated titanium version of the T-Touch Connect Sport (with a black ceramic bezel), Reference T1534204705104. As a reminder, the watch has a 43.8mm wide and 13.5mm thick case, and is water-resistant to 50 metres. Above the dial is a touch-sensitive sapphire crystal , and the watch uses easily interchangeable 21mm wide silicone straps (a matching titanium bracelet is also available , but not in black with a coating).
Tissot has made some major changes to the T-Touch Connect Sport software, but it has also made a lot of less noticeable changes to the T-Connect software, including how the watch tracks your data along with the information you can see in the app. This watch isn’t really designed to track activity on its own, but rather to collect data that can then be checked in more detail on a paired smartphone. Unlike other, more fully featured smartwatches, which allow you to access a lot more data from the device itself.
My favorite new feature on the watch is a fun tool, but it doesn’t go as far as it could. Tissot has added a neat “Solar Level” screen that shows how intense the current level of light hitting the watch face is . Presumably, the higher the solar level, the faster the battery is charged by the solar cell.
This is cool and interesting, but it doesn’t tell you how much sun your watch is exposed to or if you’re charging it efficiently. That is, the solar energy level simply shows the current intensity, without giving you any insight into how long the watch has been in good sunlight. If you recall, one of the reasons I mentioned this feature as important earlier is that it allows the wearer to not only know how efficiently they’re charging their watch, but also whether their body has been exposed to a lot of sunlight.
Other small but important new features include the ability to view the current battery life on the watch itself (previously only available in the app, now “secretly” activated by pressing your finger on the small digital display for about two seconds), as well as the ability to view the current time digitally (or set it as a different time zone). Tissot still deliberately separates the main time on the dial and hands from the functions and information on the screen area. In the future, I would like to see the hands more integrated into the digital display, similar to how they were on the previous generation of Tissot T-Touch watches.
Tissot has also refined the way the T-Touch Connect Sport works as a fitness tracker. Basically, the idea is that the watch tracks your activity and workouts (either passively or by activating the workout tracking features), and then you view the data and get additional insights via an app. For example, the watch has a built-in heart rate monitor, which doesn’t offer information that you can view from the watch (like your current heart rate). Instead, you have to look at your phone.
While keen athletes and sports enthusiasts will want a more robust activity tracking device, for many people who want basic features and don’t want to constantly change watches, Tissot offers a good combination of easy wearability with activity and exercise tracking features when the watch is used in conjunction with the T-Connect app.
Many of these compromises are made in the name of battery life and the aesthetics of the product. Battery life is the real positive side of this watch, ranging from six months (without recharging) to three weeks in normal sports tracking mode. In addition to solar/light charging, which is possible thanks to a highly efficient photovoltaic cell in the screen, Tissot allows the watch to be powered via a magnetic USB charger that plugs into the back of the case. I found the software to be a power sucker overall, as Tissot really wanted to emphasize the long battery life (which it did).
As with all hybrid and full-featured smartwatches, I like to ask myself, “Who is this product for?” Tissot doesn’t have the most expensive smartwatch or hybrid product on the market, but considering it’s a Swiss-made product from a traditional luxury watchmaker, it’s also not the most affordable product on the market. You’re mostly paying for the hardware, which is truly excellent considering Tissot is part of the Swatch Group, arguably the most competent watchmaking group in the world. It’s a good enough watch that you’ll likely want to wear it for years, even if the typical lifespan of a smartwatch for many consumers is less than a year.
Younger people, casual wearers, and those who mostly want a traditional watch with some new smartwatch features will be most happy with the Tissot T-Touch Connect Sport. The watch is stylish, well-made, comfortable, and fairly simple. Some people more experienced with smartwatches may lament the lack of some built-in features, but they can easily forgive this given how little fuss the T-Touch Connect Sport provides when worn regularly. I will continue to push Tissot to further develop the features and software for the T-Touch Connect Sport, and I remain very pleased that the Swatch Group and Tissot are serious contenders in the smartwatch and hybrid smartwatch arena. The price for this version of the Tissot T-Touch Connect Sport is $1,075 .
