S4U Assen - Hybrid watch face

Review by eFreeware

If you own a Wear OS 5 watch and have grown tired of the dial that came with it, the S4U Assen is the sort of purchase that makes sense. It is a hybrid watch face: analog hands over a realistic dial, with a small LCD panel tucked in to show the numbers a watch hand cannot. The developer, styles4you, sells it for $1.99 with no ads and no in-app purchases, so the cost is settled at checkout.

What makes it interesting is how much of it you can rearrange. There are 30 themes built from 13 LCD colors, plus separate index and ring colors, four styles of clock hands, three second-hand motions and two small hand styles. A dial you can bend that far is aimed at people who change their watch's look the way other people change phone wallpapers.

It has found an audience, with more than 100,000 installs and a 4.6 average from 3,213 ratings. That is a healthy record for a paid personalization app, and it suggests the formula works for the watches it supports.

What the hybrid dial actually shows

The core of the design is the split between the analog and digital halves. The hands tell the time the traditional way, while the LCD strip handles steps, heart rate, the day of the week and the day of the month. Unread messages also get a slot, which is handy if you would rather glance at your wrist than pull out your phone.

Beyond those built-in readouts, there are four complication slots you can point at whatever data you care about, and three shortcuts that open apps or widgets directly from the dial. A runner might park a workout shortcut there; someone keeping an eye on a health metric might use a complication instead. The layout is yours to decide.

There is also a small touch: tapping the battery indicator opens battery details, though the developer notes that not every smartwatch supports it. That kind of shortcut is easy to forget about, but it saves a trip through the settings menu when you are trying to work out whether you need to charge before heading out.

Making it yours without a phone

The customization is done on the watch itself. You press and hold the center of the display, tap the button to adjust, then swipe sideways to move between items and up or down to change the selected option. It is a standard interaction for Wear OS faces, and it means you can restyle the dial while standing in line.

The color system is the deepest part. The 30 themes are combinations drawn from the 13 LCD colors, and the index and ring colors are adjustable separately, so the hands, markers and outer ring can be tuned independently of the screen. Four hand styles and two small hand styles change the character of the dial considerably, from something close to a field watch to something more decorative.

The second hand has three motions: smooth, tension and a one-second step. The developer describes the stepped option as the best for performance, which is a fair hint that the smoother sweeps ask more of the watch. If battery life matters more to you than a gliding second hand, that is the setting to pick.

The LCD itself can be switched between showing digital time and showing the date. It is a small choice, but it decides whether the analog hands or the panel carry the primary time reading, and it changes how the whole face reads at a glance.

Always-on display and its trade-offs

The dial stays active in always-on mode, and there are three brightness levels to choose from in the customization menu. Colors carry over from the normal view, so the face does not suddenly change character when the screen dims. A newer option, AOD Layout, switches the always-on screen to a minimal arrangement instead.

The developer is upfront that always-on display reduces battery life, with the exact impact depending on how your watch is set up. Some watches also dim the AOD automatically based on the light around you, which is worth knowing if the dial looks fainter outdoors than you expected. Those are normal constraints of the mode rather than faults in the face.

The minimal layout is the sensible answer for anyone who wants the ambient screen to stay subtle. Between the three brightness steps and that layout switch, there is enough control to keep the always-on view from being a constant drain.

Before you buy: watch compatibility

This is the part to check first. The face is built for the Watch Face Format on Wear OS 5, which means API 34 or higher, and the developer states plainly that only watches running Wear OS 5 or above are supported. If your watch is on an older release, the face will not be an option until it updates.

The listed compatible hardware covers the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, Ultra, 7, 6, 5 and 4, provided the Wear OS 5 update has been installed, along with the Google Pixel Watch series and other Wear OS 5 or newer smartwatches. Checking your model against that list takes a minute and avoids a wasted purchase.

Installation runs through a companion app that comes with the purchase. If something goes wrong, the developer's advice is to make sure the watch is on the latest Wear OS version, open that companion app and follow the steps in its Install/Issues section. Direct email support is available at [email protected] for anything the steps do not solve. The most recent update, version 1.2.1, was a companion app release with minor fixes and refreshed images.

Who gets the most from this dial

The person who will enjoy the Assen most is someone who treats their watch face as a small ongoing project. If you like the idea of shifting the palette with the seasons, swapping hand styles when you get bored and assigning complications to match what you are focused on that month, the breadth of options here is the whole point. There is enough variety in the color and hand combinations to keep the dial feeling new.

It also suits anyone who wants analog looks without giving up data. A traditional dial is handsome but silent; the LCD panel means you can keep the classic silhouette and still see your step count, heart rate and the date without opening an app. That balance is the reason hybrid designs exist, and this one leans into it.

If you prefer to set a watch face once and never think about it again, most of what you are paying for will go unused. The face will still look good, but the customization is the product. The same goes for anyone on a watch older than Wear OS 5, since the face simply will not run there.

A considered pick for Wear OS 5 tinkerers

You pay once, you get the face and its companion app, and there is nothing further to buy. For a watch face with this many adjustable parts, that is a reasonable ask.

The case against it is mostly about fit rather than quality. It needs a Wear OS 5 watch, and a good chunk of its appeal rests on how much you enjoy fiddling with colors, hands and complications. If you are on supported hardware and you like that kind of control, the 4.6 rating across 3,213 reviews suggests plenty of owners have been happy with the result.

My recommendation is for Wear OS 5 owners who want a hybrid dial they can reshape to match their mood or their watch band, and who are comfortable customizing on the watch itself. If your watch has not made the jump to Wear OS 5 yet, wait until it has.

What's new

Version (1.2.1) - Companion App Minor fixes. Images updated.