The Noerden Mate2 is a minimalist watch on its face. But dig a bit deeper and you’ll find a smartly designed hybrid smartwatch, complete with vibrating alerts and alarms, activity tracking, music control, and no battery to charge. I’ve been wearing the Mate2 for the last couple of weeks, and have put it through its paces in daily office life, workouts, on the trails, and around town.

Building upon the strength of the original MATE line, MATE2 retains its beautifully minimalist design. With a stainless steel frame and anti-scratch sapphire glass, it comes with breathable, interchangeable silicone bands. To bridge fashion, fitness, and tech, MATE2 offers an array of smart tech functions to stay connected with style. In addition to activity and sleep tracking, automatic time synchronization smooths world travel and music control lets you change or replay a song with a simple tap. MATE2 is a minimalist design hybrid smartwatch for people on the go.

First Impressions

The watch features super clean packaging and an easy-to-start app. A simple download from the app store, and you’re off and running. The well-designed app quickly and thoughtfully guides the user through a simple setup of the watch, including training on how to use the button to take photos, control music, and how to receive smart notifications. Additionally, the user has the ability to calibrate the hands, check the battery level, set activity, weight, and sleep goals, and check in on fitness stats. Finally, there’s no battery to charge! Put the watch on, and it’s ready to go.

On the Wrist

This thing is minimalist, clean, and solid. It doesn’t take up too much room on the wrist, but it’s definitely still there and has a good weight to it. The watch notably does not have a heartrate sensor. While this is a bit of a standout missing feature, it also means that there’s no reason for the watch to have perfect constant contact with the wrist. So for people like me who want a slightly looser strap, it’s just fine. Speaking of the strap.. the silicon strap that my watch came with is robust, flexible, comfy, and looks good. I’m fine with it, but again because it’s not necessary to rubber band the watch to your wrist, it’s easy to swap out with a leather or canvas strap. Finally, on first look, or second even, nobody would ever know this is a smartwatch – it’s so minimalist and slick, with no visible display, it’s hard to tell it’s tracking.

Feature Review

Time – Hour and Minute, set from the clock on your smartphone. It can’t be easier. That said, the face is a bit too minimalist for my tastes, which sometimes makes glancing a quick time difficult. I’d love a few more tic marks.
Activity Tracking – It tracks accurately, and syncs with its own app, which then goes on to sync with Apple health. It’s reliable, and I appreciate that it silently tracks in the background.

Smart alerts – I actually like that there’s no screen to light up with alerts – just a gentle vibration on my wrist for calls and text messages – nice.
Music Control – Kind of brilliant! Once configured, the watch uses its built-in accelerometer to detect taps on the face of the watch – without using a touchscreen. Tap twice to skip forward a track, tap three times to go back. Slick!
Camera remote control – It works! Load up the Noerden app and open the camera, then just click the button on the watch – or shake it – to take a pic.

Silent alarm – The vibrating alarm is a great option for waking up in the morning without waking somebody sleeping next to you – it works!

Should You Buy It?

If you’re looking for a minimalist watch to wear around town every day, want atomic clock (your cell phone) accuracy, and want a few extra activity tracking features too, then yep, go for it. This watch will look stylish in all situations, will track your motion, and won’t require maintenance. However, if you want a hardcore activity tracker, with real-time feedback, stats right on the watch, heart rate monitoring, and all of the other activity tracker features, then keep looking – this will leave you wanting. For it’s $135 price though, it’s a very nice looking watch that’s an easy daily wear.

Review Summary

Brand & Model: Noerden Mate2 (On Amazon)

Price: USD $135
Who we think it might be for: The minimalist office worker who is looking for a basic activity tracking smartwatch which never needs recharging or maintenance, except for an occasional battery change.
If I could make one design suggestion, it would be: A design with numbers on the face, or more indexes, to make telling the time accurately a bit more easily. A multicolored LED indicator to give the ability to signify different alerts based on the light color.

What spoke to me the most about this watch: It’s a connected smartwatch with no need to recharge the battery, or big chunky looks – slick and cool. I like it!