Sign in / up

back to article Smartwatch face off: Pebble, MetaWatch and new hi-tech timepieces

If the rumours are to be believed, Apple and Microsoft are both developing "smartwatches" - wrist-worn gadgets that do rather more than simply display the time. The Apple rumours kicked off after smartwatch-pioneer Pebble’s Kickstarter campaign generated kilometres of column-inches, and with Cupertino on the case, it wasn’t …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.

Page:

  1. CJR
    Go

    Touch and Talk

    I think one of the best useability features would be if the side of the watch facing the wrist was a touch interface like the side of the Google Glass devices...would be very nice...

    Want to scroll through an e-mail or text will enhance functionality.

    Second, the ability to use voice recognition to avoid digging into your pocket to respond. Select 'reply', talk to the watch, it pipes to Siri or Google voice(?) and displays the text for you to see on screen...then send with a tap...no phone hauled out of pocket!

    CJR

    0 0
  2. Charles 9

    I've given these things some thought. Perhaps not not, as they seem to be rather a nascent tech, but perhaps with a little polishing we'll see them find their place.

    0 0

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. Ben Norris

    Understating the Motoactv

    Most of theses are just screens or indicators for a host android device. The Motoactv is a fully functional android device in its own right.

    Writing it off as a mere fitness mp3 player is pretty shortsighted when the future is more likely to be a miniaturised of that than any of these other glorified screens.

    0 0
  5. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Does it have a calculator?

    That's what I really want in a watch

    Save me carrying an HP48G around everyday

    0 0
  6. Darren Barratt
    FAIL

    Research fail

    I'm fairly sure that pebble uses eink display, not LCD.

    0 0
    1. Toxteth O'Gravy
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Re: Research fail

      No, it's LCD. Described as "e-paper", yes, but not E Ink. I know, I have one in front of me now.

      0 0
  7. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

    They seem to be getting better very slowly. I have yet to see a real killer app for these, but maybe one will come along.

    I will just stick with my current watch. I only ever buy a watch when the previous one breaks in such a way that repair is no longer economical. Given that my current (only my third) watch is a year old, and on average, my watches last about 19 years (OK, N=2 statistics), there could be some really enticing options available when I am up for my fourth watch.

    0 0
  8. graeme leggett Silver badge

    Extension to existing device or device in its own right

    What does the market acutally want?

    A watch that does more than just time functions?

    A watch that generically interfaces with another system - tablet, phone, PC, Home Entertainment system, building automation?

    An alternative display/interface for your phone that displays the time?

    Intriguing. Personally I haven't worn a watch in years. a) I'm always around devices with time displays (PC, deskphone, wall clocks, mobile phone b) diving watch broke, replacement proper watch had dodgy metal strap that I never replaced, cheap and cheerful holiday watch fell apart c) didn't want to risk watch near the strong magnets in our analytical instruments

    0 0
  9. Stephen Clifford

    It's all being done backwards...

    I just feel that 'Smartwatches' are actually a 'backwards' way of doing this. What I want is some personal network connected doo-dah (like a watch, or to get all 'Star Trek:TNG' - a badge) that'll be my own hotspot. It'll handle the network and it knows who I am so when another device is near it it works with it'll automatically configure that device with my own setup.

    So, you have your 'watch' which is also the mobile network connected doo-dah. You pick up a tablet and the watch tells the tablet 'Hey - this is Fred. His email address is 'fred@hotmail.com' and, and he uses GDrive for cloud storage and these are all the account settings'. Then when I'm using the tablet everything is automatically setup for me. 'Handset' mobile phones will just become a pocket tablet as the watch doo-dah does the actual mobile networking stuff (if you have a hands-free headset you can talk without a 'phone' at all - or you can pretend to be a secret agent by talking directly into the watch).

    And taking it further, you can use the doo-dah to walk into a '21st Century' version of a phone box (without the dodgy smells) and the doo-dah tells the phone box who you are and that you're a Skype, or Facetime, or Gtalk user and it sets itself up to access your details on that service. It could even have billing details.

    And for businesses it'll make hotdesking far more flexible.

    That's actually probably all not too far off - with mobile-wifi hotspots, NFC, bluetooth and cloud based services now. However, it would probably involve the co-operation of the big companies to work together on some sort of standard or else you'll just end up with the Google, Apple, MS watch which refuses to work with the other services.

    0 0
    1. Charles 9
      Reply Icon

      Re: It's all being done backwards...

      Nice thought, but wireless comms are battery eaters. That's one reason for beefy phone and tablet batteries. Plus that bigger battery means heat.

      That's why the tech is limited to low-level communications: it minimizes the battery draw (and thus the heat).

      Perhaps a more limited version of your idea. Use the watch as an arbiter or initiator. The watch or whatever can act as a central focus for a limited but useful batch of data such as how to communicate with your devices and so on (each device could provide some credentials, etc.). Then when they get near the device, the device verifies it, passes along the credentials to the other devices (so just a a quick burst of data), and they can now talk to each other without having to go through the device.

      0 0
  10. Van

    It's time

    Gotta love so may people missing the point. This is about tech hitting the wrist for convenience just like the original sundial>clock eventually got smaller to be wearable. Imagine having to still carry a clock around with you and remembering where you left it.

    I don't wear a watch, but as someone who hates carrying, misplacing, dropping and searching for a mobile phone. Having a communication device scaled down and wearable on my wrist does appeal.

    We wear keys on our wrists when we go swimming or visit wellness centers. Sky divers and sea divers use their wrists to hold the equipment they need.

    I can't grasp how anyone writes this off as bad idea.

    0 0

Page:

This topic is closed for new posts.