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Wearable devices are the next big thing. And some experts say smartwatches will step up the game. But so far, we have seen poor reception from consumers. Globally, only 1.9 million units were sold in 2013. Could the recent release of Samsung's Gear Live and LG's G Watch change that fate?
Samsung's Gear Live and LG's G Watch are powered by Google's Android Wear. Clearly, these new devices shows huge improvement from the existing versions. And yet a lot were still disappointed. Yes, they can perform tasks such as accessing apps, taking photos or videos, checking email, sending text messages and the latest do online search through Google's voice recognition service. But still they cannot make phone calls on their own. And the battery life is a letdown.
With Android Wear, certainly we see plenty of potential for Gear Live, G watch and other future wearables. We can expect the smartwatch as a remote control for other devices and possibly a security passkey.
It seems to me that these features will not change the tide. Now, let me ask you. What features would be required for a smartwatch to hit it big? What would attract you to buy and wear it?
Read more : http://www.gizmobeast.com/tech-news/would-gear-live-and-gwatch-make-you-buy-a-smartwatch.html
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Sunday July 13 2014, @01:42PM
For me to consider purchasing a smart watch, it would need to avoid being a dramatic step down from this. I have yet to see anything tempting.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday July 13 2014, @07:30PM
And I suspect your current watch never has to be charged.
My current watch has been in the drawer for better than 10 years.
I just stopped wearing watches all together. I found that there were clocks everywhere I am,
and they are all more accurate than any watch, and a cell phone in my pocket is always spot on.
I just got out of the habit of wearing a watch, the snagging on pockets, the grinding of my
laptop's case and keyboard.
I can't see me going back to a watch, smart or not smart any time soon. The cell phone in
my pocket is too small to so much serious work on, and I can't imagine something smaller
being any better.
The smartwatch is useless without the smartphone. Charging two things every night is going to be
more of a hassle than just taking my phone out of my pocket and looking at it.
They offer nothing that I need.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday July 13 2014, @08:09PM
"My current watch is waterproof to >100ft"
What exactly is the scenario where you're taking your watch anywhere near that depth? I mean, seriously, I hear this sometimes and I just don't see any of you ever having been to the bottom of a lake and come up going "Oh damn, 75 just wasn't enough, well I've learned my lesson!" A Pebble watch will easily survive the shower and the swimming pool. I suspect it easily passes your requirements, even though they won't be able to boast the same sticker that Casio of yours teased you out of an extra $10 with.
"accurate to ~1 minute/year"
You don't set a Pebble watch. It gets its time from your cell phone. Your cell phone gets its time from the tower. Not only do you not have it drift over the course of a year, you also don't pull it out and set it twice a year from the time zone change. You'll find it behaves when flying to different time zones does, too. I would be shocked if any other Smart Watch didn't operate this way as well.
"lasts multiple years between charges"
I know some people where this is a hard and understandable requirement. It's a question of if the Pebble's features are of use to you. If you're not all that thrilled about getting a new email notification or having your watch buzz when somebody's calling you, then having to charge it is going to annoy you. But, if like in my case, these notifications are very useful, then you're not going to be interested in a watch that can run for 10+ years on one battery charge because it doesn't do all you need it to do anymore. The thing is I gotta charge my cell phone anyway, I just charge my watch next to it. It's not like you have to get out a jeweler's screwdriver to open it up to charge.
"and it's secure."
I hate to tell you this but your watch is going to tell anybody the time, including anybody who steals it. ;) Okay, kidding aside, the Pebble watch doesn't talk to your phone that much. You can answer or hang up a call and I think you can tell your phone to start playing music, and that's about it. I could see having this concern with the Smart Watches that do more with the phone, but so far we haven't had a hair-raising cautionary tale to tell.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by Arik on Sunday July 13 2014, @09:08PM
Ok, let's take accept that as a given for the sake of argument, you have one way in which it is not *significantly* inferior to my watch, since I agree, 100ft is probably overkill, and while it's nice I would not necessarily pay extra for it.
"You don't set a Pebble watch. It gets its time from your cell phone. "
Which suggests to me that it is horribly inaccurate on its own. Hey, I have a smartphone already. It serves as an overpriced alarm clock, and its clock requires frequent correction because it's the cheapest POS they could possibly find and they figured it doesnt matter, it will get the time from the tower.
Well I spend most of my time outside of the range of towers. And even when I am in range of one, I dont necessarily want to be pinging it. Why should I pay extra for a device that has to stay in constant communication with a cellphone tower in order to do the same job my existing device does just fine without that requirement?
These devices are supposed to serve us, not the other way around.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday July 13 2014, @09:43PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by Arik on Sunday July 13 2014, @11:27PM
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Tork on Monday July 14 2014, @01:23AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by Arik on Monday July 14 2014, @02:28AM
Yeah, I can do a Captain Kirk impression too.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Tork on Monday July 14 2014, @05:58AM
And if you had read what *I* had written, you'd have seen that my answer refuted it... meaning that I did, in fact, read your post. You have invented a quirk in the device and described a behaviour that isn't, as I can tell you from being an owner of said device, happening at all. You've picked a strange time to thicken your skull.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 14 2014, @12:28AM
Pebble watches are waterproof to 5 ATM. That's 150 feet, or 50 more than the original poster requested. I've taken mine into the ocean.
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Wednesday July 16 2014, @10:16AM
Well, the 5 ATM-rating is marketspeak for "will survive the kitchen sink and if you stay on the surface while swimming", if you enjoy doing things that takes you even a few meters below the surface (ie, jump into the water and similar) it will probably leak if exposed to it repeatedly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Resistant_mark#Water_resistance_classification [wikipedia.org] for a nice table that describes what it practically means (the entire article is worth a read). Note that it isn't up until 10ATM that it starts to list things that involves any kind of movement in the water, like expected if used when sailing, snorkeling or surfing...
Also, "waterproof" is generally a phrase that shouldn't be used when it comes to watches (even getpebble.com lists it as "5 ATM water resistance").