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posted by martyb on Wednesday July 18 2018, @08:24PM   Printer-friendly
from the less-is-more dept.

El Reg:

Five years ago, a collective mania overtook the industry. Nobody could think of a clear reason why consumers needed an expensive "smart" watch when they already had a smartphone in their hand, pocket or bag. What value could it deliver? Even Google didn't seem sure: in its now notorious launch video, a punter used a watch simply to replicate features on their phone. But the industry convinced itself that wearables were another platform, and nobody wanted to be a sad second in this race. So the giants entered the market. Not because they wanted to, but as a hedge. Someone else might take a lead.

As we predicted in 2014, this was a solution looking for a problem. And an expensive one, at that.

Are wearable devices whose OS wakes up only when needed for smart features the answer?


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by DannyB on Wednesday July 18 2018, @08:46PM (11 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 18 2018, @08:46PM (#708989) Journal

    As a nerd I was really fascinated with the idea of a smart watch. I still sometimes think about getting one.

    As a practical matter, I realized at the time that it provides very little convenience over the phone I carry. And it brings some new inconveniences.

    Yet, from time to time, I still think about getting one. Cost is not (much of) an issue. But when I get right down to the practical ways it might improve my life? I can't really find any that matter.

    Back when I had my first flip phone, my Casio Databank watch battery died. I quit wearing it -- just for a few days -- until I can get a new battery for it. And I've never done that. After a few days of, ooh, got to grab my phone from my pocket to see the time instead of look at my wrist; the habit was formed. I suddenly realized what did I need a databank for? My contacts are in my phone. And a calculator. And phones only got better and better since then.

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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday July 18 2018, @08:50PM (2 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 18 2018, @08:50PM (#708990) Journal

    If I don't get a smartwatch, what could I get instead . . .

    A Yamaha Reface DX
    Makeblock
    Mindstorms
    Insteon modules

    (still have the DX7 I bought in 1986)

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:59AM (1 child)

      by anubi (2828) on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:59AM (#709176) Journal

      I ended up tossing my Timex Datalink watches.

      I got turned onto those from an article in BYTE magazine...and thought for sure that sooner or later the protocol specs would show up, along with LED driver code for our 8080 processors, as those things required one to place the watch in the light of a monitor running a program in a certain EGA mode in order to make it work, and it required WIN 3.1 I believe. Well, when those went by the wayside, due to lack of information of how to save the watch, it got tossed.

      All that remains is the memory of the experience and the lesson of how risky it is to buy proprietary technology. Had I bought some tools instead of those watches, now I am quite sure I would still have those. So, as far as I am concerned, a nicely made power tool will ace out a smartwatch any day at the checkout register.

      Unless I am really, really, really hard up, proprietary protocol -> no sale - not even at going-out-of-business prices. I consider it was junk the day it rolled out of the production plant that made it.

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday July 19 2018, @01:49PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 19 2018, @01:49PM (#709373) Journal

        Yep. I too have had a few (inexpensive) proprietary devices that quickly became trash. Good thing they were bargain basement prices.

        Like you, I now value openness extremely high on my requirements checklist. At least open enough to do what I want.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday July 18 2018, @08:58PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday July 18 2018, @08:58PM (#708992) Journal

    Wait until they start putting out holographic smartwatches like this one from Captain America: Civil War [youtu.be]. Bonus points if it can display a hologram in front of you while your arms are resting at your sides. Anything less is hot garbage, unless you're *truly* in need of a fitness tracker, in which case you can get cheaper and more lightweight stuff than WearOS or iWatch.

    If it takes 10-15 years to develop that kind of smartwatch, by that point we'll have run through the last of the currently planned process nodes, the thing will have triple the battery life, and the health features should be more tricorder-like.

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  • (Score: 1) by tftp on Wednesday July 18 2018, @09:49PM

    by tftp (806) on Wednesday July 18 2018, @09:49PM (#709022) Homepage
    Same here. I even looked through the available models online, read the reviews... and invariably the reviews are so-so. In the end I decided that I do not want yet another device to charge daily, often using cumbersome clamps. For the record, I already have a Garmin fitness tracker (an HR+) so that function in the watch is not needed.
  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday July 18 2018, @10:23PM (2 children)

    by sjames (2882) on Wednesday July 18 2018, @10:23PM (#709044) Journal

    That's the thing. Apparently to do anything vaguely useful, the smart watch has to talk to your phone. And if it can talk to my phone, that means I already have my phone on me. Just to make the justification weaker still, if I don't have a hand free to get my phone, I probably don't have a hand free to turn my wrist so I can read the watch and I definitely don't have two hands free to actually interact with the watch.

    The smart watch is clearly a solution desperately searching for a problem.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday July 18 2018, @10:29PM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday July 18 2018, @10:29PM (#709048) Journal

      Some, including the latest Apple Watch have built-in cellular [apple.com].

      Be careful what you wish for, since all of these are non-open surveillance devices as is.

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      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday July 18 2018, @10:42PM

        by sjames (2882) on Wednesday July 18 2018, @10:42PM (#709059) Journal

        That is, at least, moving towards something potentially useful for somebody (assuming it has a decent battery life). Still, more than I'm ready to pay for the small convenience since I'm already used to carrying my phone.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @10:41PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @10:41PM (#709056)

    I literallly bought one for the sole purpose of being an MP3 player for the gym. That and some nice Bluetooth sport headphones. Otherwise, the things are just useless.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:17AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:17AM (#709148)

    IMHO, the problem is that there aren't many uses for them that you wouldn't want something better. Having caller ID, a calendar and maybe GPS, most other things are either impractical due to small screen size or where you'd really want more processing power.

  • (Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Thursday July 19 2018, @06:05AM

    by suburbanitemediocrity (6844) on Thursday July 19 2018, @06:05AM (#709236)

    practical ways it might improve my life? I can't really find any

    Same with the whole iot hysteria. I built an internet connected coffee machine in the 90's (as an exercise to learn some tech (plip and slip), but then so what?

    Then there was the whole x-10 networking systems that came out in the 1970's (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_Wireless_Technology), neat, but ultimately something nobody used. I see a bunch of x10 clone devices advertised now and don't see how they will have a different fate.