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The Smart Watch is Dead. Long Live the Smart Watch!
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If you’re into tech at all, you’ve no doubt heard that we’re about to be inundated by smart watches from vendors of all types. Should we care? Should we be excited? I’m not so sure. Let me explain.
Seiko Data-2000 Circa 1983
Don’t get me wrong. I love me some gadgets. In fact, I was once the proud owner of a then state-of-the-art Seiko Data 2000 circa 1983. It had a detachable keyboard that communicated wirelessly to the watch. Don’t laugh — it was once the epitome of geek chic. But truth be told, it never was all that useful. Syncing the calendar was a pain, and using that little chicklet keyboard and teeny-tiny display did not make for a great user experience. But times have changed. Maybe the technology has caught up to the smart watch concept. Let’s look at what’s out there now.
The new wave of smart watch fever was ushered in by the Pebble. This Kickstarter project was announced with much fanfare, and released in January of this year. While it has had some success, selling over 85,000 units in the first 6 months, it hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm.
Undaunted, other vendors have waded into the market with their own smart watch offerings. Sony, once the darling of tech fans everywhere, recently released their SmartWatch 2. Samsung, one of the current darlings of tech fans everywhere, released their entry to the space too — the Galaxy Gear smart watch. Both have some advantages over the Pebble, but all share a common attribute — they’re all tragically clunky. Eerily reminiscent of that inelegant square from Seiko that I wore all those years ago.
There other choices, of course, from a variety of vendors. Some familiar. Some not. Some surprising, like the Toq from Qualcomm. However, in my opinion, none of them have cracked the code. At the very least, that tiny screen has to be useful, and the battery has to last more than a day.
The rumored Google smart watch may be on the right track with its focus on Google Now functionality. Those context-relevant cards might be just the thing to put a watch back on my wrist. But even if a Google smart watch hits the shelves soon, I’ll probably wait to see what Apple’s up to before putting down my hard earned cash.
Apple hasn’t admitted they’re developing a smart watch, of course. They never do, do they? But that never stops people from speculating. And if the rumors of an iWatch are true, it may be just the gadget I’ve been looking for to replace my old Seiko Data 2000.
How about you? Thinking of getting a smart watch? Which one? Why?
