Smartwatch, what problem are they trying to solve?

[Hugo Drax]

So far it seems that they are not great at the basic function of being a watch.

They are large, they need to be recharged all the time, the screen is not always on in order to conserve power and they require a smartphone to do anything.

What is the purpose of a smart watch that is supposed to be superior to a regular Casio watch and smartphone combo?

 

[Ns1]

removes the 5 second motion of pulling out your phone from your pocket, thereby reducing the risk of pulling the phone out of your pocket and dropping it on the ground and watching the screen shatter into a million pieces.

 

[lxskllr]

They can sell more things, and make more money.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

It's neat.

 

[KB]

The only purpose they serve is to increase sales for the companies that sell them and ego for the people that buy them.
Who checks the time that often and even needs a watch now a days? I have a clock on my wall, on my car, on my phone and on my computer if I need a timepiece and I rarely check either.

 

[NutBucket]

They can sell more things, and make more money.

The only purpose they serve is to increase sales for the companies that sell them and ego for the people that buy them.
Who checks the time that often and even needs a watch now a days? I have a clock on my wall, on my car, on my phone and on my computer if I need a timepiece and I rarely check either.

These two...except I wear a (regular) watch 95% of the time.

 

[Rakehellion]

So far it seems that they are not great at the basic function of being a watch.

They are large, they need to be recharged all the time, the screen is not always on in order to conserve power and they require a smartphone to do anything.

What is the purpose of a smart watch that is supposed to be superior to a regular Casio watch and smartphone combo?

It's like a Spork. Part fork, part spoon, not very good at doing the job of either one!

 

[tynopik]

don't think of it as a watch, think of it as a remote mini-display for your cellphone

 

[poofyhairguy]

removes the 5 second motion of pulling out your phone from your pocket

Exactly. This is a big deal. Not just for the time of the motion, but as a way to check your notifications in a situation where it would be rude/difficult to check your phone. I would pay $200+ for a smartwatch tomorrow if it gave me Google Now and my notification bar perfectly on my wrist.

 

[KeithP]

Smartwatch, what problem are they trying to solve?

It is the kind of thing that if you don't already know, it can never be put into terms you would understand.

-KeithP

 

[Hugo Drax]

It is the kind of thing that if you don't already know, it can never be put into terms you would understand.

-KeithP

So what you are saying is you have no idea either.

 

[Rakehellion]

Exactly. This is a big deal. Not just for the time of the motion, but as a way to check your notifications in a situation where it would be rude/difficult to check your phone. I would pay $200+ for a smartwatch tomorrow if it gave me Google Now and my notification bar perfectly on my wrist.

When is it difficult to check your phone?

 

[Ns1]

When is it difficult to check your phone?

When you're looking at porn on it.

 

[Imp]

removes the 5 second motion of pulling out your phone from your pocket, thereby reducing the risk of pulling the phone out of your pocket and dropping it on the ground and watching the screen shatter into a million pieces.

Don't forget: that 5 second motion is a MOTION. Every time that you pull your phone out, that's extra wear on your wrist and fingers. Think about what you could do with that extra wear you save... Lots of fapping.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

When is it difficult to check your phone?

I don't like pulling out my phone on crowded subways, It's also damn convenient to have a very very fast access to music controls on my watch without having to reach into my pocket for my phone. Also its much more convenient to quickly read emails and such and hangouts without needing to pull out the phone. Also very fast to send quick messages through the watch.

 

[Maximilian]

They can sell more things, and make more money.

Came to post that.

Its a solution to a shareholder problem rather than an end user problem.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Running or cycling, I don't want to pull out my phone. Lots of other occasions, a watch/smartwatch is more convenient.

 

[TwiceOver]

Because that's what TV and movies told us the future would be like.

I think the Moto 360 is sexy as all hell, but a 12 hour battery is a non starter.

 

[darkxshade]

Smartwatch, what problem are they trying to solve?

The stupid users!

 

[rh71]

remember when tablets were stupid and slow to take off?

I think the smartwatch will do better than the google glass though... at least it doesn't look silly and right in your face.

Frankly I just want them to invent a better source of power because this recharging every day is a PITA.

 

[Red Storm]

I actually owned the Moto 360 for 3 days (sold it today for a nice profit, but I'll be buying it again when the metal bands come out).

It's great. I usually get a lot of notifications every day (4 email accounts, daily hangouts chats, etc.) and the watch greatly cut down on the number of times I had to take my phone out. So much so that my phone ended up lasting much longer on a single charge than before because I wasn't turning it on nearly as much. And I don't just mean a ~5% difference, my phone is usually down to 80-something% by mid day, with the M360 handling all my notifications my phone was at 97%, I never once had to take it out of my pocket the whole morning yet I still replied to various emails and texts.

The watch was especially great during driving. My phone rests in my pocket, when it usually rings I have to fish it out to see if I need to answer the call or not, with the watch I just glance at my wrist and can answer/deny with a quick swipe.

The Google Now integration was great as usual. A quick glance at my wrist and I can see the weather, commute times to work and home, a step counter and heart rate, etc. the responses to voice queries was very fast, from sending texts and email replies to looking up the weather or sports scores, I was impressed.

I completely understand some people not getting it or needing it, and that's great. Nobody is forcing you to go buy one, so continue to enjoy checking and responding to notifications as you have been. Those of us who can put these devices to use will enjoy that we have them as an option.

 

[Ichinisan]

As I've said (for about a decade now): They're doing it all wrong!

It should be a watch FIRST. It should look like a watch. It should function as a watch. The time should always be visible and you shouldn't need to perform a gesture to make it show the time.

It should have some kind of auxiliary display that can display BASIC information from your phone.

• Incoming caller's name or number
• Current song playing
• If there's no music and no call, perhaps a number of notifications waiting to be addressed.

No camera.
No smartphone-like storage.
No smartphone-like processor (only an extremely limited ASIC capable of retrieving information to display -- THAT'S ALL).
Battery life should be closer to that of a watch than that of a smartphone.

Seriously. Why don't manufacturers and CE companies get it? Now they're going all the way back to full cell phones on your wrist with a 3G data connection.

 

[Ichinisan]

...

So, with a face glass that can be pressed like a button and the standard 4 side buttons, it can have all the same manipulation points as any digital watch.

Press the face to:

• answer/end call (if you have a bluetooth headset)
• play / pause music

Press and hold the face to:

• reject incoming call
• activate voice assistant (useful if you have a headset)

Extra playback controls would work exactly as they already do with most in-line clicker remotes:

• double-tap - next track
• double-tap and hold - fast forward
• triple-tap - previous track
• triple-tap and hold - rewind

If, for some reason, navigable menus was some kind of requirement, you could use the metal ring around the glass as an infinitely-spinning scroll wheel.

Otherwise, it could twist just a little each way for next-track, previous-track, volume, etc.

 

[Capt Caveman]

So, with a face glass that can be pressed like a button and the standard 4 side buttons, it can have all the same manipulation points as any digital watch.

Press the face to:

• answer/end call (if you have a bluetooth headset)
• play / pause music

Press and hold the face to:

• reject incoming call
• activate voice assistant (useful if you have a headset)

Extra playback controls would work exactly as they already do with most in-line clicker remotes:

• double-tap - next track
• double-tap and hold - fast forward
• triple-tap - previous track
• triple-tap and hold - rewind

If, for some reason, navigable menus was some kind of requirement, you could use the metal ring around the glass as an infinitely-spinning scroll wheel.

Otherwise, it could twist just a little each way for next-track, previous-track, volume, etc.

Garmin tried that with a series of their gps running watches. I have one. It sucks.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

They're trying to solve the problem of people under 30 not wearing watches and the problem of needing ever expanding margins for apple or Samsung.