| Smart watches are not a niche product in 2020. Apple shipped 31 million smart watches in 2019, more than the entire Swiss watch market combined (according to The Verge). Samsung and Garmin sell millions of watches too, and almost every serious outdoorsy type person wears at least one of these brands as a fitness tracker. That's where you're missing the point. Smart watches have become popular because of the fitness component, and have also shown great versatility beyond that, including invoking a voice assistant and screening notifications. I haven't taken my phone off silent in years, I will only have my watch on vibrate and a select few apps filtered to send notifications to my phone. The rest are not of immediate consequence, so I don't get them "in real time". Plus, if the watch is off my wrist, it vibrates my desk just like a phone. Notifications are dismissed automatically after a timeout, or a button to dismiss. I find my glasses come off for far more serious activities than my watch. I never intended for my watch to be a phone replacement where I can respond to messages, but it's sure good at letting me know a message needs my attention. A few things a watch offers you while lifting, specifically: - rep counting - heart rate monitoring - music, without a phone, by pairing a BT headset directly to the watch A few more things smart watches are great at: - forget your wallet in the car? Contactless payments. Or, buy a bottle of water in the middle of a run or bike. - sleep tracking - leave your phone in your pocket more and enjoy life - don't even bring your phone on a run, built in GPS tracks for you - don't even bring your phone on a bike, same reason - built in topo maps for hiking When you think about it, smart watches are /far/ more useful than they seem because of all the tech and sensors packed into a device that (potentially) lasts days at a time. And I think most people get that, which is why smart watches are already a huge industry. |