I think even if smartwatches were to not take off as much as some companies want to, having useful connected wearables is definitely where the technology is heading toward. I would presume that the watch form factor would work well but other forms may be just as good. Augmented Reality glasses connected to some form of computing (phone most likely) would be pretty neat
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We used to have tiny mobile phones, and over time they’ve got bigger and bigger. So going back to a small screen on your wrist - I’m not convinced.
I know a lot of people happy with their fitbits; if you want fitness data surely a fitbit instead of a smart watch?
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Stomp on, stomp off, The Stomper™.
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I’m surprised the watch fad isn’t over yet.
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Depends on what you count as a smart watch. Apple Watch? Nah, never bothered. $15 Chinese clones? Didn’t bother. But I’m on my third fitness band.
The first was an off-brand I got at the RadioShack store-closing sale. Wasn’t great. My wife gave me a Fitbit Charge, which I really liked, and which I do consider to be a smartwatch - it has a small display that tells me callerID info as well as tracking my walking, sleep, etc. It cracked, and they replaced it with a Fitbit Alta - a bit thinner, better display, doesn’t have the altimeter the Charge used to track stairs, but roughly equivalent.
Then there’s the older TI Chronos watch that goes with the TI Launchpad, which is TI’s equivalent to Arduino. It can measure heartbeat, and can radio sync to the Launchpad, and I hacked with it a bit.
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I got a Pebble Time and a Pebble Time Steel during the Kickstarter. I love them. I think the best use I’ve found for them is that when I am in traffic it’s easy to answer a text by dictating it to my watch (Dick Tracy-style) without having to shout at the top of my lungs to my phone (and if I don’t answer a work text I’ll just get more and more of them, so better to staunch the bleeding early.) It’s also handy because it shows me my email, notifications and calendar events silently in meetings. I really love having the small screen.
I do know, though, that if they didn’t have a 7- or 10-day battery life (respectively) then I would probably grow to hate them. It’s bad enough that I have to charge both of them at least once a week, but I have cables at my desk at work and home to charge it while I’m sitting there if need be, so it’s not a big deal. I’ve never used the fitness functionality, but the last few OS iterations for the Pebble Time series my watches tend to degenerate into SOS mode after a couple weeks since I turn off the Pebble Health stuff, requiring a factory reset and repairing with my phone. That’s going to get old eventually, especially since Pebble’s idea of troubleshooting when you put in a support request is to stop using your smartwatch for anything smart and see if that fixes it. Gee, thanks.
So… I guess it’s a mixed bag, like any other technology.
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I think an Apple Watch would be good for you. The Series 2 battery life is really, really good - a huge upgrade from S1. I can track a 30 minute workout and still have 75% battery left at the end of the day. of course YMMV, but my Series 1 was down to 30% under similar use. Overall, I’m very happy with it.
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If I were to make a wild guess, I’d say the next version of the Apple Watch will include an extremely slim and stripped down fitness model, something that eliminates the need for the Crown and the large screen to focus on fitness tracking and health.
Pity smartwatches can’t do this: http://20thcenturytoycollector.com/wp-content/gallery/joustra-diaclone-kronoform-new/takara-kronoform.png
(Even though mine works very well, it’s too fragile for casual wear.)
The only piece of jewelry I have culturally states that I am married. That’s all I need. But I totally get that others might have the need to adorn themselves. Art is cool.
Turns out, I grew up to hate talking on the phone.
My buddy has one of those! Except I don’t think it controls stuff in their house. And I think he can’t take it off. Actually, I think he’s just on parole. Forget I mentioned anything.
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I used to have one of those. I remember it used to fall off the strap all the time…
A friend of mine wears her fitbit on her ankle for a few reasons. And everyone thinks it’s an ankle monitor.
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I finally just lost the horrible tan line from my Swatch.
Why would I go back there with a smartwatch?
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Is this a smartwatch? No data connection, but it has a thermometer and an altimeter on board. They come in handy for what I do with it.
That’s about as ‘smart’ as my watch ever goes.
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Mine outlasted the strap.
Nope it’s not a fad so it isn’t over. It’s not going to be the same revloution/obsession that there’s been with mobile phones though. I stopped wearing watches a long time ago started wearing them as fitness trackers + notifications from my phone. I’ve never used apple watch or android watch (it’s overkill). I had the basis and then the peak now I’m garmin because reasons =/ I’d never go back to wearing a swatch or some other piece of dumb tech.
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iPhone is to the Powerbook like the AppleWatch is to the Newton.
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All watches are useless, including smart watches. The only reason to wear any kind of watch is if you enjoy the experience of having a thing on your wrist. Maybe you like how it looks, maybe you like winding it, maybe you like it as a status symbol. But for utility, there’s just nothing. That makes the reasons to buy a smart watch pretty flimsy.
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And when the battery does run out of juice? It’ll continue to function as a traditional watch, courtesy of its secondary analog watch battery. How about that? A watch that actually functions as a watch.
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I actually have tried wearing my AW on my ankle - when you’re doing kettlebell snatches, any sort of watch is going to be destroyed. problem is, even with the long sport bands, it really is just too small for my ankle.
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