How interested would you be in buying an iWatch?

[waggy]

this thread got this far w/o even mentioning the reasoning behind iWatch rumors?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android/

nice. i think i would use that

 

[TuxDave]

I'm curious what you think Pebble needs. I'm holding off on Pebble to see if the developer support materializes because that will make or break Pebble as a platform but assuming developer support does materialize Pebble seems like exactly what I'm looking for.

"... accessing the GPS on your smartphone to display speed, distance and pace data"

A standalone GPS would be a good start. When I run, I leave my phone behind.

 

[pm]

"... accessing the GPS on your smartphone to display speed, distance and pace data"

A standalone GPS would be a good start. When I run, I leave my phone behind.

I like having my phone. I use it for audio books to listen to, or music, and I use it to set my pace (I use the app Endomondo to tell me every 250m my laptime, pace and total elapsed time and distance) and I like having the history of my runs. Plus once I get over about 10 miles, I like having the phone just so my family can reach me if they want/need to.

It would be nice if it was lighter and a bit smaller though.

 

[Slufa111]

Only things I would be concerned about is battery life.... Waterproofing...

 

[Mopetar]

it would really depend on what it did. if all it did was couple to your phone so you didnt have to pull your phone out of your pocket, then no. also if you had to pay $30 a month for data, then no. if it had its own cellular/wifi and it was say, $10 a month then yeah.

At this point the technology isn't there for it to do anything beyond pair with an iPhone and act as a proxy display for it. It won't have its own cellular chip, or probably even WiFi. Either would eat up too much battery life. Add that on top of any kind of display with a decent resolution and it wouldn't last the day.

These, among other problems, make me wonder if it's just something that Apple is playing around with at this point. Unless they've managed to solve the power issues, this thing is too far ahead of its time.

At a minimum they need to make it at least partially power or charge itself form a person's body heat. Next they need a decently flexible surface, or this thing isn't going to work on anyone who has a larger or smaller wrist size than what it was built for. Then they need a display that can be read in various lighting conditions and a chip that's extremely low profile and low power.

I don't think that they have any of those problems solved in a way that would make this a compelling device for the mass market. In five years they'll probably have the chip, if only because of Moore's law. Perhaps by then the rest of the pieces will have fallen into place as well and something like this will be possible.

 

[Slufa111]

The garmin watch I have has way-points, GPS and ability to navigate back to a certain way-point...I don't exactly think an IWatch is beyond its time.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

At this point the technology isn't there for it to do anything beyond pair with an iPhone and act as a proxy display for it. It won't have its own cellular chip, or probably even WiFi. Either would eat up too much battery life. Add that on top of any kind of display with a decent resolution and it wouldn't last the day.

These, among other problems, make me wonder if it's just something that Apple is playing around with at this point. Unless they've managed to solve the power issues, this thing is too far ahead of its time.

At a minimum they need to make it at least partially power or charge itself form a person's body heat. Next they need a decently flexible surface, or this thing isn't going to work on anyone who has a larger or smaller wrist size than what it was built for. Then they need a display that can be read in various lighting conditions and a chip that's extremely low profile and low power.

I don't think that they have any of those problems solved in a way that would make this a compelling device for the mass market. In five years they'll probably have the chip, if only because of Moore's law. Perhaps by then the rest of the pieces will have fallen into place as well and something like this will be possible.

ya, i think youre right that the technology just isnt there yet for cellular watches.

 

[sgrinavi]

Poll fail -

Goes from "Very interested" to "Not interested"? And what's the difference between "take my money and "Very interested" ?

IMO if the price and functions were "right" I would consider it - so maybe include

 

[lothar]

Poll fail -

Goes from "Very interested" to "Not interested"? And what's the difference between "take my money and "Very interested" ?

IMO if the price and functions were "right" I would consider it - so maybe include

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=34645413
Saying you're very interested doesn't mean that you would end up buying it. It means that you could, depending on the features or price.

A) Will buy it regardless.
B) Very interested depending on features or price.
C) Not interested because I already have a watch that does what I need and I don't need another one.
D) I don't wear watches, period.

Why are these options so hard for you to understand?

 

[openwheel]

I will keep my Planet Ocean 42mm and GMT II Pepsi. Thank you very much.

 

[Red Storm]

I'll take Google Glasses over an iWatch.

 

[openwheel]

last thing I want is another asset with depreciating value. An iWatch would be an outrageously terrible buy compared to a real watch with mechanical movement.

At least Google Glass is innovative (super pricy though).

 

[Kaido]

Done right, I think it could be interesting. It would need to be fairly compact so as not to look ridiculous, like most existing uber-watchings. And inductive-style charging would be nice, so you wouldn't actually have to plug it in (like the new Nokia Lumia wireless charging system - toss the watch on a pad to charge at night). I think some key features would be:

* Speakerphone & vibration function
* See who is calling, answer/block
* Read text messages
* Time & weather display
* Newsfeed (something like notification center - email headers, RSS headers, etc.)

I'm not quite sure how the text message thing would work, because the screen would need to be Retina to have really clear fonts, but even then, you'd need a larger and/or wider screen for it to look halfway decent, without doing massive line-wrapping on longer messages. But for sure, something that could buzz on my wrist when I'm in a meeting or in class so I could glance down and see who's calling, read a text message, or check an email header would definitely be welcome - not have to slide the phone out.

A color e-ink screen would also be novel...that way it wouldn't have to light up the room when you get a notification and you're in a darkened room watching a PowerPoint presentation. Something with a backlight like the new Kindle Paperwhite would be slick. There's been a lot of interesting technologies as mentioned...the Nike Fuelband, the Pebble smartwatch, and other neat things like the Jawbone Up:

https://jawbone.com/up

A band that you could wear 24/7 to track your sleep, heartrate (pulse), step count (pedometer), etc., plus give you notifcations and stuff would be really slick. I could see that being pretty big, actually.

 

[JavaMomma]

If it looks like any of those pictures, not a chance.

Would be interested depending on looks/style/functionality.
Watches are half jewellery but it needs to do something useful, every "smart watch" to date is way to nerdy looking.

 

[Mopetar]

I'll take Google Glasses over an iWatch.

I don't think we'll have something like Google Glasses until companies have at least figured out how to do a watch. Component miniaturization is going to play an even more important part in making smart glasses that don't suck. Minimizing power consumption or finding ways to charge the device from body heat will be necessary or you'll have to tether to a power-pack or charge your glasses too frequently to make them practical for daily use.

 

[KeithTalent]

I'll take Google Glasses over an iWatch.

Agreed. Looks pretty damn awesome to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v1uyQZNg2vE

KT

 

[middlehead]

Need more poll choices. I might be interested in a smart watch of some sort, but not an iWatch.

 

[Munky]

I might be, if it wasn't made by Apple and its name didn't start with an "i".

On the other hand, I already have a nice watch that doesn't require firmware upgrades to fix issues which "dumbwatches" never had.

 

[lothar]

Need more poll choices. I might be interested in a smart watch of some sort, but not an iWatch.

That's a very valid point.
There are lots of people here that might be interested in a smart watch only if it's running Android and not iOS.
Galaxy Watch, Droid Watch, Razr Watch, Optimus Watch, Xperia Watch, One Watch, Pebble Watch, or whatever Android watch.

Sorry for missing this option.

 

[Slufa111]

They already have smart watches!

Why if it doesn't come from Google or Apple is it not labeled good technology suitable for average consumers? lol

Garmin! Timex!

 

[lopri]

* Speakerphone & vibration function
* See who is calling, answer/block
* Read text messages
* Time & weather display
* Newsfeed (something like notification center - email headers, RSS headers, etc.)

I'm not quite sure how the text message thing would work, because the screen would need to be Retina to have really clear fonts, but even then, you'd need a larger and/or wider screen for it to look halfway decent, without doing massive line-wrapping on longer messages. But for sure, something that could buzz on my wrist when I'm in a meeting or in class so I could glance down and see who's calling, read a text message, or check an email header would definitely be welcome - not have to slide the phone out.

A color e-ink screen would also be novel...that way it wouldn't have to light up the room when you get a notification and you're in a darkened room watching a PowerPoint presentation. Something with a backlight like the new Kindle Paperwhite would be slick. There's been a lot of interesting technologies as mentioned...the Nike Fuelband, the Pebble smartwatch, and other neat things like the Jawbone Up:

Those are really good points. Though I agree with others technology may not be there anytime soon. Having to "charge" watches on a regular basis may also put off people. And there are folks who don't wear watches to begin with.

 

[lothar]

They already have smart watches!

Why if it doesn't come from Google or Apple is it not labeled good technology suitable for average consumers? lol

Garmin! Timex!

Those aren't smart watches...Those are feature watches.

 

[Kaido]

Apple patent app describes flexible, wearable, watch-like AMOLED device:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/21/apple-patent-application-flexible-display-band/

circa August 2011 tho

 

[QueBert]

If this comes with Nike+ & Bluetooth I'm pre-ordering on day 1. If it has GPS that'd be a real nice bonus, but would still pre-order without it. I <3 Nike+ though so Apple/Nike make it happen!

 

[ControlD]

I might be interested in such as device, but only if it has bluetooth and GPS. I would have to think battery technology will have to catch up first for this to be feasible though.

I will most likely wait and see if Apple can pull it off first. I would say the last generation Nano could be seen as a first attempt at a semi-smart device in a watch-like form factor. The problem is, the last generation Nano was such a POS I'm in no hurry to try such a device again.