Attack of the Killer Smartwatches

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
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Have you felt the urge to jump on the smartwatch bandwagon which by all of the media hype, will be the next big thing in the tech world? You aren’t alone if you decline to be counted among the ones who say why? and what’s the big deal here?. Four industry heavy hitters are rumored to have Smartwatches in the works; Apple, Samsung, Google and LG. All of this hype and not a sign of a smartwatch: just media frenzy or reality?
 
I've wanted a linked watch to my smartphone since I got it. Why every phone maker doesn't provide a simple linked watch that would show simple things like call alerts/alarms/texts and of course the time. You know all the things we would like to see before we start to fumble for our phone.
The watch doesn't need to be smart, just linked to my phone which is.
 
I have a "smart" watch lol. It has GPS, heart rate monitor with ANT+, cadence for my mountain bike, calculates my strokes and distance when I swim, gives me date and time. Also cost as much as my phones lol. Its called the Forerunner 910XT. Its also much more useful than these watches.
 
Gadget watches have always failed to take off... because nothing screams NERD louder. Sorry, I don't see that changing. Also I'll keep my tag.
 
That seems like a significant "maybe" market. If one looks around at wrists, there's a pretty clear division between those that wear them and those that don't which appears to be age-centric. Younger people don't appear to have or bother with watches whereas older people do. (I won't get into the things that cause this, but you can invent those on your own.) That said, younger people do show a tendency to adopt tech gadgets more readily. So where does a smart watch fit into the picture as a marketable product? I honestly don't see them finding significant sales.
 
So pocket watch > wrist watch > cellphone with clock (back into pocket) > and now cellphone wristwatch thing. Interesting.
 
Watches were cool tech 20 years ago. I, for one, do not miss them.
 
They are just trying to milk a market that simply isn't there anymore. At least I hope so.
 
Watches were cool tech 20 years ago. I, for one, do not miss them.

So you would rather pull out your entire phone to check who is calling/texting/what time it is/turn of any reminder alarm ect..? Really :rolleyes:
 
I wish we had watches like the one on Minority Report. Technically with OLED displays it could be done.
 
I wear a Casio Mudman and they are built like tanks. Tons of useful features and will take abuse continuously. I can not understand the practicality of buying one of these "Smart" watches when we all own smartphones.

I doubt these watches will be as tough and reliable as my Mudman and will cost far more (you can buy a Mudman for under $100 on Amazon).

Label this under "I don't give a shit" tech.
 
I wear a Casio Mudman and they are built like tanks. Tons of useful features and will take abuse continuously. I can not understand the practicality of buying one of these "Smart" watches when we all own smartphones.

I doubt these watches will be as tough and reliable as my Mudman and will cost far more (you can buy a Mudman for under $100 on Amazon).

Label this under "I don't give a shit" tech.

The "Smart Watch" isn't to replace a "Smart Phone", it is to relay info from the phone to your watch for quick access.
 
I wasn't aware this was such an arduous task.

Depends what you consider arduous. Why haven't we all been carrying 3"x5" clocks in our pocket for 200 years? Why do people wear Bluetooth headsets? Why do people buy fancy expensive watches with gadget crap when a cheap Bluetooth watch could relay this data, and much more (cell calls/texts ect..)from their smartphone (that everyone has) for a fraction of the price?
 
Don't hipster's buy tech first then complain when it gets popular? ;)


Mudman shill'er says what now?
I'm reasoning for the 200 year old design of the wrist watch, keeping its tried and true usefulness, while leveraging the tech that is the smartphone we all have buried in our pockets. What are you voting for again?
 
That seems like a significant "maybe" market. If one looks around at wrists, there's a pretty clear division between those that wear them and those that don't which appears to be age-centric. Younger people don't appear to have or bother with watches whereas older people do. (I won't get into the things that cause this, but you can invent those on your own.) That said, younger people do show a tendency to adopt tech gadgets more readily. So where does a smart watch fit into the picture as a marketable product? I honestly don't see them finding significant sales.

That's because younger people grew up with smart phones, but consider that the watch started like a smart phone as a pocket watch and evolved into the wrist watch which once it was in became standard for a long time until smart phones killed it off.
 
Actually heck I will just repost this here since its funny I brought this up in the mobile section and on top of that I had posted earlier on another forum, then later I saw this post.

Ever since we watched **** Tracy we have always known that people have predicted a future with watch like all in one devices. The all in one device has essentially materialized as the what we now most often call a smart phone.

Next year looks like Samsung and possibly others will try to push some sort of use for flexible displays. But really what can they do? Even if you think about a pad of paper or post it notes, no one rolles them up, we keep them in a flat form. So unless flexible displays can recover from a real crease I cant think of any good long lasting use for them except... the watch.

Now every time I bring this up people shake their heads in disbelief. Then they come up with all sort of reasons why it wont work or it will suck and it will be a total flop. But then again those are often the same people who said the Galaxy note would fail, as they could not see the growing trend that people don't actually do much phone calling on their phones anymore. It is certainly for most people the minority of time spent.


Argument 1, it has a small screen, first of all the iPhone has a small screen and moves 10s of millions of units. Second with flexible displays you could make it more efficiently use the area of your wrist than any smart watch like device before. I could easily see people getting watch phones that have the same display area has iPhone or previous era smart phones.

Argument 2, it would look stupid talking into it. To this I ask did you really think about it? Placing the mic near the bottom would only make it about an inch different from where you hold your current phone.

Argument 3, no one likes the form, or it would look stupid. Well I am sure people thought the first wrist watches were stupid as compared to pocket watches, but now most people will think you look stupid if you carry a pocket watch. The parallel is nearly perfect, the pocket watch evolved into a wrist watch and eventually almost completely replaced the pocket watch. While I am not sure that this will be the case with watch phones I think there is a compelling case to be made that a watch phone could very well be a fashion accessory just like glasses, which have come back in style after contacts tried to knock them out. There are also lots of very gaudy and large watches that are viewed as good looking or fashion statements and I see no reason watch phones could not do the same.

At the very least I would like to see this as an option, it just seems like the trends of the phone eras have mostly and unfortunately been set in the North American market and not so much innovation but power of pushing and pulling from carriers has sculpted that market. So even if a great watch phone is produced there is a high likely hood that the carriers wont be willing to take it unless its produced by one of the biggest players, Google, Apple, or Samsung.
 
Rudy, your nuts. If you need info, its on your wrist. If you need a big screen, its in you pocket. No one needs big/heavy/weird on their wrist. All that powers it is in your pocket/purse/hip.
 
Rudy, your nuts. If you need info, its on your wrist. If you need a big screen, its in you pocket. No one needs big/heavy/weird on their wrist. All that powers it is in your pocket/purse/hip.

Clearly the answer is the augmented reality contact lense display. See you in 2050 ;)
 
All of this hype and not a sign of a smartwatch
You just aren't looking in the right place. There's the pebble.

I don't have one and haven't tried it, but I know its out there.
 
Mudman shill'er says what now?
I'm reasoning for the 200 year old design of the wrist watch, keeping its tried and true usefulness, while leveraging the tech that is the smartphone we all have buried in our pockets. What are you voting for again?

I'm a shill'er because I have experience with one line of hardened survival type watches? Amazing conclusion you've reached :rolleyes:

First off I recommend the Casio Mudman because I've used it for years now , beat the living shit out of it climbing , skiing , backpacking across deeply wooded area's , rafting down some pretty intense rivers , I've lived in the mountains across the country for weeks at a time and I've even walked a good portion of the Application Trail (one day I hope to walk the entire trail in one go which is 2,200 miles long).

I'm smashed , banged , submerged and done just about everything else I can think of to my watch over that stretch of time and it keeps going. I've seen people invest thousands into much more elaborate watches made to survive virtually any condition break after a few days in the wild because of a simple fall. This is the first time I've even talked about my love of the outdoors on this forum in fact because this forum is mainly based around things that rarely interact in with my second favorite hobby.

Now if you wanna take that shiny new smart watch out and do what I've done and prove that it can take a massive beating and keep on working then I'll be happy to swallow my pride with a mouth full of humble pie. But for me and many others like me , I bring my smartphone along with me on my trips and I'm often shocked by how frequently I get a decent signal (not everywhere mind you , but much more often than you would expect). My Galaxy Note 2 (Uh Oh I just mentioned another brand of electronics I like to use , better watch it .. I might be shill'in again! I'm such a hipster! :p) has a huge battery and I bring about 3 extra batteries with me. In total I can go a couple weeks before I need to find a place to recharge them if circumstances presented themselves.

For me a watch must be able to take a large amount of punishment and I would imagine that most people who might even want to consider buying a smart watch , will probably want it to be extra tough compared to a smartphone. I've killed probably 4 or 5 smartphones doing my trek's and for other reasons unrelated.

And that's all I really have to say. Recommending a brand , for the first time (personally) on a forum is not "Schilling".

And also again .. I still do not see the point in owning a "smart" watch that costs as much as Apple products do and does the same shit my smartphone does but without many of the benefits of a smartphone.
 
Depends what you consider arduous. Why haven't we all been carrying 3"x5" clocks in our pocket for 200 years? Why do people wear Bluetooth headsets? Why do people buy fancy expensive watches with gadget crap when a cheap Bluetooth watch could relay this data, and much more (cell calls/texts ect..)from their smartphone (that everyone has) for a fraction of the price?

Only tools wear Bluetooth accessories. Exceptions are extremely rare. Fancy, expensive watches are more jewellery than tech. Some stupid high margins there! This is why said corporations and many more are interested. They just want to milk something else. It's the "3D" thing for smartphones. Can't wait to see it fail miserably.

What I want is smart clothes, mainly footwear so I can keep my feet cool during the summer. Heat is killing me.
 
Watches trap moisture between metal and skin and annoy me.

Which is sad because I actually have a pretty nice collection. That I haven't worn in years because my phone tells time.
 
Ok, lets clear something up.

This, is a useless gadget that screams Nerd.
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This is a Watch..the two are not to be confused. There is a reason only 80 year old men have ever worn "smart" watches. They no longer need worry about never getting laid again.
rolex-submariner.jpg


Dick Tracy was a dork..there is a reason they aren't making movies out of him today. I am as much a gadget geek as anyone and even I can see how dumb of an idea smart watches are.
 
Don't hipster's buy tech first then complain when it gets popular? ;)

Yes, yes they do.

And i'm on the side of "there really doesn't seem to be a good market for such a thing".

Also, yeah, taking the phone a bit out of the pocket and peek at it isn't arduous at all.

Btw Funky you should probably take a small time out of the thread and cool a bit, as you are threading a fine line on some posts.
 
This whole thing looks, sounds, and feels like a gimmick device. The fact that it will relay info from your phone is kind of useless. If you do any task to do with your phone you have to pull it out anyway....i see no point except making society even more lazy than it already is.
 
Oh Jesus, its the calculator watch all over again. Listen my friends, just say no. For the love of god, if you ever want to touch a woman again, just say no.
 
You just aren't looking in the right place. There's the pebble.

I don't have one and haven't tried it, but I know its out there.

Yep, they are already shipping for those who got in on Kickstarter. Everyone else will have to wait a month or two.
 
Lot of hate for watches up in here...I agree that those calculator watches or any sort of crazy digital watch is lame, but there are some stylish actual watches that are classy as fuck.
 
Yep, they are already shipping for those who got in on Kickstarter. Everyone else will have to wait a month or two.
I have one and it looks like a normal digital watch except it can show me who is calling, txt messages and emails all without having to pull out my cell phone. Very light and uses e ink so the display is always on.
 
Lot of hate for watches up in here...I agree that those calculator watches or any sort of crazy digital watch is lame, but there are some stylish actual watches that are classy as fuck.

I've never known profanity to come across as particularly classy so I'd question the validity of a source of such an opinion given the presentation.
 
Something interesting I came across, it was sent out on the wire yesterday morning when they launched their Kickstarter; it's called Hot smartwatch. You actually answer your phone call from your watch via bluetooth by simply raising your hand to your ear! The've already raised $156,000 in just the first 2 days. you can check out the video at www.hotsmartwatch.com/kickstarter
HOTWatch1.jpg
 
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