[DigitalSea]

Will smartwatches ever be a real thing? Everyone in the developed world has a mobile phone, do we need another device that does the same things albeit rather limited that our phones are already capable of doing? I like the idea of Google Glass, but a smartwatch, really?

[parktheredcar]

Having had a pebble since shortly after they started shipping, I have found that it's helpful to be able to glance at a summary of each notification that comes in so I can address the urgent stuff and ignore the less important ones. This is only for me personally, but quickly glancing at a sentence vs pulling out the phone (,turning on the screen, getting distracted by other things on that screen) is far less disruptive to whatever task I'm currently working on.

Of course there are plenty of downsides. Constantly glancing at your watch is just as rude if not worse than looking at your smartphone in a meeting, conversation, etc. As you mentioned, there is the high cost for a fairly dumb device. Charging it. And depending on the person, every notification is wedged that much further in to your daily life which is probably not for everybody.

I'm not sure there is a lot of value in a super interactive smart watch that allows you to write texts, make calls and take pictures. The interface seems to be small enough that it's kind of prohibitive among other things. But as a read-only satellite device that displays information from a smartphone/tablet/etc, a smart watch can definitely be a thing.

[twistedpair]

The long running hardware design fallacy is that the new form factor must have all the features of the precursor. Remember ~2000 when all smartphones attempted to run a Windows desktop, poorly?

Despite all of efforts in the wrist space, the Pebble is the best in my mind. Why do you want a stylus? Who would type emails on their wrist? My Pebble kicks butt as it reduces the needs I have for my phone, just as the smartphone and tablet reduced the need to find a desktop, but didn't replace them.

[YeahKIA]

Glance is the feature I love a lot on my Nokia as well. The glance screen allows me to look at things like time on my phone without even turning it on.

[VLM]

I had a feature kind of like that on a flip phone about a decade ago, a really small second screen you could look at without flipping open the phone, to see who's calling or the current time, and battery level.

All you need do is standardize android phones to have a secondary screen on the other side that never turns off or needs to be unlocked, eink or whatever. Then transition that small screen to also display on your wrist.

[snogglethorpe]

That's great idea! Standardizing on an interface that can be implemented by standard phones as well means there'd probably be much better and more widespread support.

I suppose they could even support the "small secondary screen" interface on phones without a physical secondary screen, by simply displaying its contents inside the lock screen.

I used to have a foldable phone with a small secondary screen like that as well; it really was nice, and would be even better if it didn't need a button-press to activate (e-ink or whatever), as turning on the screen is always about 80% of the effort when I just want to see the time... [they can't make the button too easy to press after all, to avoid accidental activations...]

[jonnathanson]

If smartwatches are ever going to be a thing, they're going to have to not look like watches. Who wants a clunky, dorky looking watch like the Samsung version? Maybe a few of us geeks in the Valley, but certainly not mainstream and appearance-conscious consumers. I imagine I'd have had my ass kicked if I wore something like that to high school.

(Nike got it right with the Fuel Band: if you're going to put something on your body, it becomes as much a fashion accessory as a gadget. Design counts.)

Furthermore, the watch is going to have to do something that smartphones can't. It needs to go above and beyond, taking full advantage of whatever areas wearables can take advantage of. Google Glass I get. The possibilities there are fantastic (if the design leaves a bit to be desired). But a watch? It had better do more than just display the weather and run awkward, one-handed variations of Android apps on a smaller screen.

I'm not convinced there is a market for a smartwatch, such as it is. But if there ever will be, it'll be something entirely different from what we've been seeing so far. The technology exists to make thin, translucent, bendable screens -- so in theory, you could have a smart "bracelet" that is entirely a screen. That's somewhat more interesting, at least design wise. But we still need real-world functionality that a smartphone can't replicate.

So far, most of these smartwatch specs remind me of the Segway: a very minimal improvement in quality of life at a tremendous cost in personal appearance. That math rarely works out well for consumer products.

[mynameisvlad]

> Maybe a few of us geeks in the Valley, but certainly not mainstream and appearance-conscious consumers. I imagine I'd have had my ass kicked if I wore something like that to high school.

I get your point, but using high school as an example is detracting from it. We're not in high school anymore, nobody is going to get their asses kicked for wearing something. I'm sure if the most popular guy in high school showed up with the Samsung watch, he wouldn't get his ass kicked, either.

[jonnathanson]

I think high school is a perfect example, actually. High schoolers are highly influential in popular culture, and many trends bubble up from there. "Getting my ass kicked" wasn't meant to be taken literally; it was more of a rhetorical device. But my point was that, for a device to be widely accepted, it has to be appealing as an accessory. People in high school are extremely image conscious. So are most people outside of high school, for that matter.

"We're not in high school anymore..."

You and I aren't, but millions of people are -- whether literally or metaphorically.

[Shivetya]

Mainstream people don't seem to have much of an issue walking around with a hearing aid, I mean blue tooth device on their heads.

As for the watch, make it work like science fiction where you can raise your wrist and talk and I bet a lot would join in. I would not mind having a wrist device, even if it only queried my phone in my pocket, which I give simple voice commands. Bonus points to being a real phone.

"How soon before it rains" "Call boss" "Time to next bus"

[mp01]

This sounds like a similar argument that was made against tablets a few years ago. Tablets aren't inherently much different than smartphones, but there are some things that just make more sense to do on a tablet.

[smackfu]

Standalone smart watches won't get anywhere, but I think there's a market for "second screen" smartphone accessories from the phone manufacturer. Just a screen with a basic processor that talks Bluetooth LE to your phone. It may be a niche, but I suspect these will destroy the current high-end GPS watch category.

[Kiro]

I have a Pebble and it has literally changed my life. I will never again leave the house without a smartwatch on my wrist.