SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @09:50PM (5 children)
I saw a bearded hipster wearing one as a rebellion against other hipsters' pocket watches... and we know hipsters are like a cross between cockroaches and sheep.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @11:38PM (1 child)
that's it, I know what they need to get the hipster market: Smart Pocket Watches.
I know, you're welcome. Send my checks care of this station.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday July 19 2018, @07:08AM
Sounds like a cell phone on a chain...
Come to think of it, that might actually be handy - a compact clam-shell two-screen phone. Big enough when open to get the basics taken care of, with a USB-drive style mini-loop to attach it to a chain, lanyard, etc. to protect it from being dropped or misplaced
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @12:17AM (2 children)
I'm never around hipsters so I have to ask: where did they keep the pocket watches? Just in their regular pants pocket? Did they wear a vest and keep it in the watch pockets in the vest? Did they keep a long chain on the watch and hook the other end to something, like their belt?
I know this probably sounds sarcastic, but I'm really asking honestly. I have a pocket watch that I keep for sentimental reasons, but it sits in a desk drawer because damned if I can figure out how to possibly wear it, other than by dressing up like an old time western train conductor.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @01:23AM
Remember that hipsters are usually millennials, so the way they wear their pocket watch depends in part on their gender that day.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday July 19 2018, @12:06PM
I once had one that clipped to my belt loop. Got it because wrist watches were uncomfortable with long hours typing at the keyboard.
Washington DC delenda est.