Martian Alpha T10

Martian Alpha T10

The Martian Alpha T10 ($279) is not a Timex, not yet a smartwatch. At first look, it's a military-inspired wristwatch. Look closer, though, and you'll find a small, thin OLED display near the bottom of its face. It's not much of a screen—and it makes reading text messages a longer process than it should be—but the Alpha T10 is good at delivering notifications, locating your phone, and taking calls. It can't run apps, and it has only the most rudimentary fitness tracking features, so it's no  killer. But for an analog device with a foot in the digital world, it's a decent—albeit pricey—option.

Design and Display
The Alpha T10 is about as the same size as most other recent smartwatches we've tested. Its measures 1.69 inches in diameter and 0.55 inches thick. That's roughly equivalent to the , which measures 1.81 inches around and 0.44 inches thick. It uses a 24-hour military-style time dial encased in a nylon resin case (the part of the watch that acts as a base for the watch face) that feels tough to the touch. The watch face numbers look simplistic, but are raised stainless steel, which is a classy touch. The wristband is made of a comfortable and smooth rubbery silicone with a stainless steel clasp. 

The 0.7-inch, 96-by-16-pixel OLED display is located on the bottom of the watch face. It displays text messages and social media updates by scrolling the text left-to-right in a rather slow ticker-style fashion. This was cute at first, but quickly wore out its welcome as I found myself staring at the watch, waiting for a message to finish scrolling by when I could've just reached into my pocket for my phone and read the note in its entirety. Still, it's nice to see the text come in on your watch and know that you can always check it on your phone later. 

Back to the design. The watch has an upper command button, a middle adjustment crown, and a lower select button used for making selections, all on the right side of the watch. The lower button also doubles as a Power switch. Holding it down for about five or so powers the watch on or turns it off. An RGB LED in the watch face's lower left corner indicates the power status and doubles as an ineffective flashlight. 

A micro USB port for charging resides on the upper left corner, and a micro USB cable comes included. Unfortunately, the tiny flap that protects the port fell off almost immediately, under very little pressure, so I don't have high hopes for it lasting a very long time.

The Alpha is rated IPX-4 for water resistance, so it can withstand splashes and even the shower (hence the importance of the charging port protective flap), but it shouldn't be submered in water for long periods of time. I would take it off before going for a swim.

The watch uses a rechargeable lithium polymer battery good for five days of use (which powers all of the smartwatch features), with a seperate analog watch battery that will last up to two years. I obviously couldn't test the analog battery, but the rechargeable battery definitely lasted the full five days without needing a recharge, which is great a great result in this product category.

Pairing, Features, and Performance

To set the Alpha's time, simply pull out the crown and rotate it, just like you would on a traditional watch. Pairing with your phone is pretty easy as well. First download the free, rather bland-looking Martian app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Then enable Bluetooth on your device, and follow the simple on-screen instructions. The Alpha is compatible with Bluetooth 4.0 devices running iOS 7.1 and above, as well as devices running Android 3.0 or later. 

You can control which notifications you receive with the Martian app. iPhone users have the ability to receive every notification that is shown in Apple's Notification Center. Android users, meanwhile, can receive notifications from any installed app that provides push notifications. The app also provides an alert filter, which lets you decide which notifications make it to the watch's display. If you only want to receive text messages, you can do that. But if you want to see everything, you can do that too.

The Martian Alpha also allows you to customize vibration patterns for notifications, so you'll know what kind of message you're receiving without looking at your wrist. You basically program sequences of vibrations and pauses, like Morse code for text messages—it works pretty well. You can also tap the watch glass to dismiss incoming notifications, or to recall the most recent message you received in the last five minutes.  

You can speak into a microphone embedded in the watch case in order to place calls, set reminders, or have text messages read aloud. The mic requires you to speak pretty loudly, so it isn't all that convenient, and the sound that comes back out of the watch is rather tinny. It certainly isn't the greatest microphone/speaker combo in the world, but I was able to carry on entire phone conversations with listeners on the other end unaware that I was using a watch to talk to them.  

By clicking on the side buttons, you can activate the dim flashlight feature, or enter Camera mode, in which you can use the watch as a remote trigger for your smartphone camera, which is pretty useful. A Leash mode causes the watch to vibrate if you travel out of Bluetooth range of your paired phone, and a Find Phone option triggers an alarm to sound on your connected phone, even if the volume is turned off. I was only able to move about 30 feet away from my phone before losing connection, which seems rather short considering Bluetooth 4.0 should reach up to 100 feet. I also found the tone of the Find Phone alarm to be a little too low.

There's an accelerometer, so you can also count steps and track distance by linking the Alpha to health and fitness apps like Runmeter. It's a nice addition, but for more substantial results, you'll want to go with a dedicated fitness tracker like the splurge-worthy  or the inexpensive .

Conclusions
The Martian Alpha T10 is a watch made for those that value a traditional, military-inspired aesthetic, but appreciate modern digital features. And in this regard, it mostly succeeds. The Alpha delivers notifcations to your wrist, and it works well enough as a speakerphone and a remote trigger for your camera. But if that's all you want, $279 is a pretty hefty price to pay, especially when the  is still available. You'll lose the speakerphone, but for $129, that seems like a fair trade.

If you want more advanced options from your smartwatch, like a larger digital screen and downloadable apps, our current Editors' Choice is the . You don't get the analog look of the Alpha T10, but there's a fully digital screen and a thriving app ecosystem.