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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: 2) by boltronics on Thursday July 19 2018, @12:34PM
Yeah that sounds crazy. It might make sense if GPS+GLONASS is on all the time, or the backlight is permanently on a higher setting.
My watch claims to work for 2 weeks in normal watch mode, but I've never been more than 2 days without switching to GPS tracking for a run or ride so I get a bit over a week on a charge. I just charge it each Friday night since I'll usually do longer runs over the weekend.
It's GNU/Linux dammit!