I want a watch that just handles phone calls, music, and has some sensors - apps and browsing and stuff can be done better on tablets. If it's a wifi hotspot on my wrist that would also be very nice.
I have a phone, in my pocket, which is small enough to carry (in my pocket) and does almost all of what I expect a general purpose computer to do.
I'm also old. Harumph.
I want a really good GPS athletic watch, which I have. It tells time and reports it to me in lots of different and specifiable ways. It tells me where I am and where I've been in lots of different and specifiable ways. It's waterproof to 50m.
If I need to know that I got a text when I'm out running, biking or walking, I'll bring my phone. But then, I don't walk around with my head down and my hand in front of me, palm up.
I stopped wearing a watch (ubiquitous Casio black plastic one) the last time a watchband broke on me due to the repeated stress it experienced every time I took it off to type with a wristrest/palmrest.
Still wondering a bit about this aspect, although it apparently does not affect/bother everyone.
Smart watch is as bad as a smart phone: it requires your hand to be before your eyes.
It is also smaller and less powerful than a smartphone, and probably has worse battery life. It might be a nice fashion accessory, but I'm indifferent towards these.
When something like Google Glass becomes usable and affordable, I'd like to get it. Otherwise, I'll just pull out my smartphone, as I do now.
I used to buy $10 casio watches and lose them after a month. Since carrying a mobile phone that tells you the time I have not bought another watch. Not even sure why I would need a smartwatch
Same here. So far I don't see any killer feature that would make me want a smartwatch.
Somehow I get a feeling that doing anything more complex than reading a simple message (be it an email, SMS, notification, whatever) would just be slower than if I would take the smartphone out of the pocket and do it the proper way.
I might feel different though if I were into running/cycling/whatever.
If they made a smart watch that could do time/calendar, phone calls, text messages, emails, and turn-by-turn navigation - all without requiring tethering to a smartphone - I would buy one and probably not even have a smartphone.
I know I'm an anomaly, but I only use my phone to remain contactable and for GPS navigation until I get back to my desktop. A smartphone that didn't have to tether would suit me well, but there doesn't seem to be anything out there like that.
I think that's reasonable. If my watch could do everything my phone could do, I'd rather wear a small watch than carry a larger phone. Then again, I'd prefer glasses over a watch.
So much. Motorola had me literally, physically on the edge of my seat when they announced 360.
I fully realise that there probably is no reason to have one. Especially in the beginning when they're still figuring it out but there may never be one. It is such a cool gadget though. And the round screen with the ambient dial totally sells it.
I had a "smart watch" at one point...a Fossil Abacus WristPDA, which actually ran Palm OS 4.0 and had 8 Mb of storage, a fair amount for a Palm device. It was cool, but certainly not as usable as a regular Palm PDA...but you can probably guess what its main issue was: Battery life. The thing sucked down energy like an eight-armed alcoholic, and had to be plugged into the charger every night to avoid dying and completely losing the current time (something you never want to have happen in a watch, and which brings to mind the "You had ONE JOB" meme). And the only way to charge it was with its special USB cable that had an add-on wall wart power supply.
(It also had one of those black rubber watchbands, custom-designed for the watch, with storage for its tiny stylus in the buckle. And, when the band cracked and broke, as those kind of bands inevitably do for me, there was no way to replace it.)
When I got my first iPhone, that watch was one of the three gadgets it replaced. I'm not convinced its modern-day counterparts would work out any better.
I almost wonder if Apple already did the market research on smart watches and realized nobody really wants one, and then they did a head fake and convinced all their competitors that they were going into development on this product with all their might. Competitors tie up engineering talent and resources producing a device to compete with something that Apple has zero plans of actually manufacturing. It would be an evil genius move.
> Yeah, but remeber all these jokes before iPad came out. Who the hell needs this gigantic iPhone..
(1) it was more of a gigantic iPod Touch, not a gigantic iPhone,
(2) I don't actually remember that many jokes about "who needs" it, though: I remember lots of techies griping that they preferred a tablet to not have iOS style restrictions (because, techies), and jokes about the name.
Most of us thought we were getting an actual computer in tablet form.. (was a big disappointment when I realized what it was... or... more correctly... what it wasn't)
Yes, I do. I want one so that I don't need to look at my phone every time I want to see if I have any notifications. Especially as an Android user, it can be a pain in the butt to see them and seems like a waste. Getting your phone out constantly is generally seen as rude, and it can be distracting, and I'd like my phone to have less of a stranglehold over my attention.*
The Moto 360 looks great. The only issue I have with smart watches is battery life. It does seem pretty crap to have to charge a watch.
* EDIT: Yes, I could just ignore notifications more, or turn them off, but generally I've configured it so that the notifications I get are ones that I actually want.
On the occasions that I wear a watch, I deliberately go for analog. I like analog technology, I like gears, etc. I recognize that I'm a severe outlier for this in my age group of 25-35, though.
75 comments
[ 4.5 ms ] story [ 164 ms ] threadI'm also old. Harumph.
I want a really good GPS athletic watch, which I have. It tells time and reports it to me in lots of different and specifiable ways. It tells me where I am and where I've been in lots of different and specifiable ways. It's waterproof to 50m.
If I need to know that I got a text when I'm out running, biking or walking, I'll bring my phone. But then, I don't walk around with my head down and my hand in front of me, palm up.
I'm also old. Harumph.
Still wondering a bit about this aspect, although it apparently does not affect/bother everyone.
It is also smaller and less powerful than a smartphone, and probably has worse battery life. It might be a nice fashion accessory, but I'm indifferent towards these.
When something like Google Glass becomes usable and affordable, I'd like to get it. Otherwise, I'll just pull out my smartphone, as I do now.
Is there a killer feature that a smartwatch would have over my phone which I'm unaware of aside from form factor?
I'd like there to be a reason to buy one, because I like shiny tech things, but I'm not sure I even have a use case.
Guess what the late Steve Jobs said about this? "People don't know what they want until we show it to them."
Somehow I get a feeling that doing anything more complex than reading a simple message (be it an email, SMS, notification, whatever) would just be slower than if I would take the smartphone out of the pocket and do it the proper way.
I might feel different though if I were into running/cycling/whatever.
I know I'm an anomaly, but I only use my phone to remain contactable and for GPS navigation until I get back to my desktop. A smartphone that didn't have to tether would suit me well, but there doesn't seem to be anything out there like that.
I fully realise that there probably is no reason to have one. Especially in the beginning when they're still figuring it out but there may never be one. It is such a cool gadget though. And the round screen with the ambient dial totally sells it.
(It also had one of those black rubber watchbands, custom-designed for the watch, with storage for its tiny stylus in the buckle. And, when the band cracked and broke, as those kind of bands inevitably do for me, there was no way to replace it.)
When I got my first iPhone, that watch was one of the three gadgets it replaced. I'm not convinced its modern-day counterparts would work out any better.
(1) it was more of a gigantic iPod Touch, not a gigantic iPhone, (2) I don't actually remember that many jokes about "who needs" it, though: I remember lots of techies griping that they preferred a tablet to not have iOS style restrictions (because, techies), and jokes about the name.
-- freely quoted from somewhere
That how i feel about watches, so i don't have any. Phone is enough if i have to catch a Train or wake up for work.
The Moto 360 looks great. The only issue I have with smart watches is battery life. It does seem pretty crap to have to charge a watch.
* EDIT: Yes, I could just ignore notifications more, or turn them off, but generally I've configured it so that the notifications I get are ones that I actually want.
The Swatch pager watch. It could receive pager messages. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xyNFzEc8eE4
The Microsoft / Timex Datalink. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Datalink
Both persuaded me that I just want my watch to tell the time, and maybe the date, and nothing else.
Apple actually has a patent for it. And somebody recently announced headphones like that.
Also there was a rumour headphones will include iBeacon to find it when you loose it (BS IMHO).
As per Bluetooth, audio has substandard audio quality (and truth to be told all iPhones do too).