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What happened to smartwatches?

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moggio said:
The only watch anyone ever needs:

cas.jpg


Costs a fiver, classic design, water-resistant, backlight, stopwatch. I've had mine over 10 years and not changed the battery once.

Better than an Apple Watch in every way.
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No 1 watch of terrorists worldwide.. the sign of al-Qaida according to the CIA.
 
What is the USP for a smartwatch?

Jobs managed to sell the smartphone quite easily:

An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator… An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator… An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator… Do you get it? These are not three separated devices. This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone.
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Can you get that for smartwatches?
 
Sold mine. Realized that I find easier access to notifications really annoying, but I do like being able to tell the time.

Got an automatic watch now. Absolutely love it.
 
Bboy AJ said:
This is like saying "my phone lasts weeks without charging it unlike those dumb smartphones. What do I need a smartphone for, anyway? Just to make and take calls!"

Life was better when my OG iPhone first arrived. No one else had one. It was special. Now every grandmother and gaffer has one. Yet they fail to see the appeal of new, developing things smh
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your tag lol
 
moggio said:
The only watch anyone ever needs:

cas.jpg


Costs a fiver, classic design, water-resistant, backlight, stopwatch. I've had mine over 10 years and not changed the battery once.

Better than an Apple Watch in every way.
Click to expand...

Telling the time is the least important function of a watch
 
A year after its launch, it’s now clear that pretty much no one needs an Apple Watch

I didn’t preorder the Apple Watch, or stand in line the day it came out. But I read every article about it, and when someone suggested that it would complement my “personal cloud,” I eventually felt compelled to buy one. I wear it every day, possibly out of determination to get something out of the $400 I spent on it, but when someone asks me if I think they should buy one, I usually tell them no.
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^ Basically the thought of everyone who still wears one.

Having a mobile device whose purpose is to give you info on another mobile device you're carrying is an incredibly flawed concept.
 
Have an Apple Watch. I think the problem is most of the things it tries to do is emulating a phone, and it's worse at those things than the phone.

The few stand-out features are nice tho (raise wrist to see incoming notifications)
 
I like my moto 360 sport. I can leave the face always on and still have 50+% when I put it on the cradle at night. I also like the daylight mode that makes the screen easy to see in strong sunlight.
 
Korey said:
A year after its launch, it’s now clear that pretty much no one needs an Apple Watch



^ Basically the thought of everyone who still wears one.
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I don't have an Apple watch but I use the shit out of my Pebble Time Steel...

It's great seeing texts, emails, Facebook updates, and similar without having to dig my phone out of my pocket. Seeing who's calling is great also. It's especially great when in a meeting, I can know who is calling and whether it's warrants leaving the room to take the call.

You can even prepare canned texts so you can respond to texts right from your watch and no one knows any better, it's great. I don't know that I'd ever go back to a regular watch.

Mine gets 7-10 days per charge, though. If I had to charge every night my opinion might have been different.
 
GorillaJu said:
Because if you're gonna put something that tells time on your wrist might as well put something cool on it that comes from the tradition of beautifully intricate mechanical time-telling works of art, not a tech product made in a factory in China and sold in a white cardboard box in the mall.
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Yep, pretty much. I can only understand buying a smartwatch if you're kind of a person that's too lazy to take your phone out of your pocket. ;p
 
I think the flaw with smart watches is that I have to change my ways into using it, instead of naturally supplementing what I normally do. Looking at my watch isn't a lot more convenient than looking at my phone either.

For example, the transition from feature phones to smart phones. It was so convenient to get rid of dedicated music / mp4 players because the use is similar: take it out with my hand, press some buttons. Similar form factors too (held by one hand). Becoming a media player just naturally led it to becoming an online media player, and eventually just online browsing. Open my phone, type stuff on my browser then boom I got the info I need.

Compare that to taking out a laptop, waiting for it to boot up, looking for a wifi spot (data connection on laptops weren't common), type stuff, then close it and put back in bag after use.
 
Smart watches work well as sports trackers...and that's about it.

They just seem pointless. Sure, you can read a message on it, but how often does that happen and you don't then want to reply?
 
xrnzaaas said:
Yep, pretty much. I can only understand buying a smartwatch if you're kind of a person that's too lazy to take it out of your pocket. ;p
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Screw that noise. I get over 60 emails a day. i like being able to skim them as they arrive without pulling my phone out every time, that doesn't make me lazy.
 
It always seemed to me that smartwatches were the tech industry's desperate attempt to manufacture the "next bid thing." Like Apple did with smartphones.
 
Not gonna pay hundreds just to not have to reach into my pocket to see an e-mail. And I got a regular watch for time and date.
 
xrnzaaas said:
Yep, pretty much. I can only understand buying a smartwatch if you're kind of a person that's too lazy to take your phone out of your pocket. ;p
Click to expand...
I'd love to have whatever career you have in which you aren't getting slammed by messages all day and never have to go to meetings... ...or never get messages when in a hurry and don't want to stop moving to dig your phone out. We aren't allowed to walk while using our phones where I work, so checking on my phone requires coming to a complete stop, stepping out of the way of others who are walking, then pulling out my phone just to see that someone poked me on Facebook... I get several messages of some sort per minute on average on a given day... A smartwatch isn't about being lazy, it's about being efficient.

krang said:
Smart watches work well as sports trackers...and that's about it.

They just seem pointless. Sure, you can read a message on it, but how often does that happen and you don't then want to reply?
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All the time, especially working group chats. I check my watch to see if what they are talking about is relevant to me, if not i keep doing what I'm doing. The same goes for Facebook notifications, emails, etc... It lets me see if it's worth my time or not.
 
It's a convenience that saves you maybe 2 seconds. The only benefits they'd have is constantly monitoring your vitals if you're into that sort of thing.

My phone tells time and is just as easy to access.
 
Cell phones really stole the utility from watches and reduced them to fashion pieces. Fitness trackers have managed to enable everything needed in a wrist device without all the drawbacks of modern smart watches. They come with the added bonus of making people feel healthy just by strapping one on too.
 
moggio said:
The only watch anyone ever needs:

cas.jpg


Costs a fiver, classic design, water-resistant, backlight, stopwatch. I've had mine over 10 years and not changed the battery once.

Better than an Apple Watch in every way.
Click to expand...
Looks like utter trash tho. Wouldn't be caught dead with that on my wrist.
 
Malvolio said:
Cell phones really stole the utility from watches and reduced them to fashion pieces. Fitness trackers have managed to enable everything needed in a wrist device without all the drawbacks of modern smart watches. They come with the added bonus of making people feel healthy just by strapping one on too.
Click to expand...

This.

Smart Watches are a accessory, you don't need it. Fitness trackers are cheaper and they serve a purpose.
 
Nostremitus said:
I'd love to have whatever career you have in which you aren't getting slammed by messages all day and never have to go to meetings... ...or never get messages when in a hurry and don't want to stop moving to dig your phone out. We aren't allowed to walk while using our phones where I work, so checking on my phone requires coming to a complete stop, stepping out of the way of others who are walking, then pulling out my phone just to see that someone poked me on Facebook... I get several messages of some sort per minute on average on a given day... A smartwatch isn't about being lazy, it's about being efficient.
Click to expand...

Even more effective: deactivate these things if they are so distracting for your work. My personal phone will only leave through the most important stuff when I'm at work.
 
Personally I don't think the tech is there for Smart watches. They can't do enough by themselves without being tethered to a phone, battery tech can't support long term usage and using one isn't very intuitive from the couple I've tried out. Maybe in a few years and hopefully they start designing them to look nice as most of the smart watches, even the Apple Watch have been pretty fugly.
 
Somewhat useful smartwatch capabilities:

Transit app for tracked time to arrival for next buses and trains
weather apps
call notifications
activity tracking

Bands like Fitbit can do the last two in a smaller, cheaper, longer battery life form factor. As for the first two, they aren't worth suffering the high cost and poor battery life.
 
Brandson said:
Somewhat useful smartwatch capabilities:

Transit app for tracked time to arrival for next buses and trains
weather apps
call notifications
activity tracking
Click to expand...
All things that can be done much cheaper by not buying a smart watch and just checking your phone.

But I can see if you're someone who keeps their phone hidden in a bag or something.
 
I have an Apple Watch, and it's really more about marginal convenience than breakthrough technology. I like it, but it's far from being an ubiquitous device.
 
Joni said:
Even more effective: deactivate these things if they are so distracting for your work. My personal phone will only leave through the most important stuff when I'm at work.
Click to expand...

I use these things for work, how would deactivating them be in any way beneficial?

I'm talking about work related emails, texts, Facebook messages, and even Kakao Talk. In order to be able to receive the important things, the less important things have to be able to come through as well. The smart watch lets me tell the difference. It's that, or carry multiple phones around... ...and that's just ridiculous.
 
I like watches, I tried two smartwatches (OG LG and ZenWatch 2). They are fun and all but not "there yet" for me to wear them everyday. Sure, you get notifications and that's fine but you can't really do anything with them. I'm not the guy who talks to his watch so reply by speech isn't doing it for me.

But it's not just that, doing stuff like skipping songs or changing audio volume are just as or even more cumbersome than taking out your phone. All in all it's just not worth the money for me. Right now. I still think they could be pretty cool eventually though.
 
Nostremitus said:
I use these things for work, how would deactivating them be in any way beneficial?

I'm talking about work related emails, texts, Facebook messages, and even Kakao Talk. In order to be able to receive the important things, the less important things have to be able to come through as well. The smart watch lets me tell the difference. It's that, or carry multiple phones around... ...and that's just ridiculous.
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I'm in that case very surprised that they allow the use of personal accounts for work messages. But even then, Facebook allows you determine notifications by group and by person. Still a lot more efficient.
 
I have an apple watch and wear it every day. Has flaws but I'm sure they'll work those out on the next iteration.
 
jellies_two said:
It isn't the time thing
I much prefer looking at the time on a watch, mechanical preferably, vs looking at my phone.
Even if the phone had a permanent e-paper time display I would still prefer to look at a watch.
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Agreed. I carry my phone in my pocket anyway, I have to pull it out to check the time? Ridiculous.

I've always worn a watch though and I'm in my forties so it's hard to change. Smart watches, I kind of expected this kind of response to them, seems like it was the tech blog and journalism scene that was clamoring for them the most
 
Apple brought back the Milanese loop.
 
I have a Gear S2 classic and I love it, yes I have to put it on the charger when I go to bed, but I'd put my watch on the bedside table anyway. Alongside the Note 5 I have it works flawlessly. Today for instance I'm driving along and get a buzz on my wrist, take a look and it's telling me the road is closed ahead due to an accident, turn off avoiding the problem. I see it as triage for my phone, I can take a look at what my phone was trying to tell me without taking it out, unlocking it etc.
 
brian577 said:
Pebble Classic user. I enjoy the convenience of not having to pull my phone out to do something as simple as checking the time. Not to mention check the news, weather and yes, I enjoy getting texts on my phone. It's not as fancy as an Apple Watch, but the screen stays on all the time it lasts a week on a single charge. Oh, and it can find my phone if I lose track of it. It's just really convenient to have.
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Yeah, I have a PT. I like being able to see a notification without pulling put my phone. Good for when driving and I get a text.
 
I got an Apple Watch after my normal dress watch broke. I like it but I agree that it's not necessary to have.

I have an iPhone 6 Plus which I don't think is too big to carry around but receiving/reading e-mails and text messages and being able to reply to the latter in many cases (due to making custom text replies) by just turning my wrist is convenient. I also like getting sports and weather notifications too. Better than getting my phone out of my pocket just to see them.
 
I have a pebble steel and its a nice novelty, certainly useful if its rude or inconvenient to get your phone out, but its not revolutionary, its not essential.
Battery life is an issue, the pebble last a long time 3-5 days and takes a small amount of time to charge, but even that is a little inconvenient and sometimes when you wake up and your watch is dead, you just take a normal watch - i'd hate to have something with as poor a battery life as say an iWatch

cost alone is ridiculous and coupled with the battery life you have some huge barriers to get over
 
When trying to relax i don't need something on my wrist that constantly reminds me of shit and that will hardly serve its primary function of constantly showing time.

I have disabled about 95% of all messages/alerts on my phone, so then the smartwatch just becomes a watch, a function it sucks at and does worse than basically all other watches in existence.

I actually got LGs top model in xmas present from my wife, but I returned it.
 
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