Unboxing: Nixon “The Mission” Android Smart Watch

Announced back in March 2016 and eventually released sometime in August last year, the Nixon “The Mission” is probably one the very few smart watches out there that are built for extreme conditions.

Been looking out for this watch since January this year during my trip to the US for CES. Most of the Best Buy stores have run out of stocks and the few ones that have them only got the black and concrete color variants, not the orange that I really wanted.

On my 4th trip to the US (Las Vegas, California and twice in New York), I almost ended up getting the concrete when I discovered Nixon has a store in downtown SOHO.

The Nixon “The Mission” was built for the outdoors and rugged conditions and not for mainstream Android watch users. Even the packaging makes that statement. It comes in this rubber case wrapped in an orange-colored box (the colors depend on the design of the watch).

Inside the case are some documentation, the charging cradle and the watch itself. Even the charging cable is also rugged with a rubber cradle and a thick braided cord.

The Nixon store I bought this was complete with options for customizing your watch — the 3 metal faces, half a dozen stainless stell bezels, over 2 dozen straps and a custom laser engraving. You can basically mix and match the colors that you want for an extra $50.

I picked the standard orange set and just got myself an extra strap (concrete design) for $49 so I can switch them out once in a while.

The Mission runs on Android Wear 2.0 and powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 (ARM Cortex A7 1.0GHz quad-core), 512MB RAM and 4GB of internal storage so you can install apps and store music in it. It has Bluetooth, WiFi and built-in GPS.

The watch is built for rugged use so it can withstand pressures of up to 10 atmospheres, waterproof up to 328 feet, shock-proof to a height of 3.3 feet and resist extreme cold or heat. If you’re into snowboarding, snorkelling,  surfing or triathlon, this is the ideal smartwatch to wear.

The AMOLED display is about 1.39 inches in diameter and protected by Gorilla Glass. The body is a little thick at 16mm. It’s got really build quality and thw two-tone colors are dope.

Nixon’s “The Mission” is not yet available in the Philippines but it is listed in Amazon and Best Buy for $399.99.