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Comment by mjevans | Hacker News Reader

I suspect people /want/ a smart watch so they can feel like Dick Tracy and Roger Smith (Anime, Big O).

The reality is that the smart watch is little more than a smaller screen attached by wireless personal area network to the real computer; which has a better (bigger, brighter, larger buttons) and more responsive screen.

I stopped wearing a normal watch once I had a decent pocket chronometer (a comparatively primitive simple pocket flip phone).

I think that's the marketing problem here; it isn't clear to the average consumer what the use case, if any, actually is.

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Mainly because you feel like an utter prat walking down the street talking to your wrist. Had an original G Watch and truly felt like the biggest ck saying "Ok Google, remind me to do XYZ".

It had 3 uses: 1) seeing who's ringing and dismissing calls in meetings where you left the ringtone on 2) being able to read full message threads through the notifications without having to "read" them in the apps (sneaky for Messenger and Hangouts) 3) pretending you're not a tourist by getting navigation directions on the wrist rather than being obvious and looking at your phone.

Suffice to say, I now wear a nice normal watch that I love dearly.

yeah what possessed them to make people say "ok Google". I might as well say, "I'm an idiot". Was it not possible to make it start listening for commands when you activate it/turn wrist etc.

> I stopped wearing a normal watch once I had a decent pocket chronometer

I continue to wear one because it is easier to check the time that way than dig the thing out of my pocket, turn it on, get it to recognize my thumb or demand a pin, etc., especially when driving.

And, of course, because I'm old and not hip.

I'm young and not hip and I wear a conventional watch almost every day.

Haha, I have a "Mad Men" style Samsonite briefcase that my father gave me in the 1970s. Here's a picture of one:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/57044295/samsonite-briefcase-wi...

It works great as a case for my laptop. It's fun being unhip :-)

Edit: I've used modern soft laptop bags, but they tend to develop tears and small holes through which things fall out unnoticed. Urgh. The Samsonite doesn't have that failure mode.

Stuff from that era that still exists might as well be indestructible. A little bit of survivorship bias, but it's hard to find anything that well made at any price now.

I have a Pebble and the main use case is that my phone never rings or makes any noise at all. Anytime I get an email, text, or phone call I'm notified on my wrist. It's a huge improvement and I feel somewhat naked without it.

Smartwatches will always be a secondary display and should be marketed as such.

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