[k-mcgrady]

>> "but I don't see it as a smart watch"

Neither does MS. I read an interview with one of the product leads on The Verge and he said it is not a smart watch. He envisions you continue wearing your watch on one are and this primarily as a fitness tracker and productivity device on the other.

[nilkn]

The thing is that this seems to have all of the most useful features of nearly all current smartwatches. If it can deliver text, Hangouts, email, and calendar notifications to your wrist as claimed, then that alone accounts for the majority of smartwatch usage. The Cortana integration accounts for nearly the rest, though unfortunately that's only available with a Windows Phone. Here's to hoping that it will be possible to add Google Now support for Android phones.