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Comment by jotm | Hacker News Reader

I don't see the point of these overpriced smartwatches and glasses that can barely do one thing (display notifications), but I want my future full AR/VR glasses, so I'm glad the early adopters pay for it.

Right now, what I'd want is a very simple, slim, long-lasting watch that would notify me of emails, messages, phone calls and notifications based on their origin (business account, work account, personal, random). It doesn't even need a display, different vibration modes and LED's would do fine.

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Fitbit Ionic has a five day battery life, give or take. But a smartwatch pales in comparison to how convenient Glass was to use: I used to be able to be read and reply to texts while doing anything, including driving, safely. And not having to interrupt a conversation when I noticed the incoming call or message was unimportant was fantastic.

The Fitbits look good, the Charge seems like what I'd want if it wasn't geared for fitness. I'd wear it all day long, unlike glasses... I guess if you already wear glasses, it's much easier.

The Ionic is in it's early stages, but is much more of a "smartwatch" than their previous models. I can do payments with Fitbit Pay on it, and it's their first to support third party apps, though there's only a handful at the moment.

I don't believe that you could read and reply to texts safely while driving. That simply isn't plausible.

Glass verbally reads you the text, you verbally reply to the text. Even if you glance at the screen, it's more like an overlay than a second place to look.

Comparatively, the center console of a car is drastically less safe to look at than a heads-up display like Google Glass. We seem to accept that center displays are largely safe to use (with some functions disabled while driving).

None of that means it is safe.

I didn't until I bought an Apple Watch and now I wear it every day and find it a very useful accessory.

I'm curious, what is it useful for? I've been thinking of getting one since it came out, but can't really imagine what I'd use it for after the coolness of the new gadget wears off.

Notifications (WhatsApp, iMessage, SMS). I get a lot of them.

Meetings (Google Calendar). I go to a lot of them.

To provide another data point, I use it to quickly check the weather before heading out, see when my next meeting is, get notified of important messages (such as from my wife), quickly send or respond to messages, track my heart rate and exercise, play music without needing my phone, etc.

My recommendation would be to try it. If you find it isn't useful you can return it, but my bet is that after 2 weeks you'll find it indispensable.

I'm thinking of getting one for a single application - Drafts.

It's basically a take-a-note app. You talk to the watch, it records and transcribes your message, storing it in an application that's similar to an email client. At the end of my day I would open my inbox and process my notes.

I've also been getting into time tracking and I think there are some apps for starting and stopping timers from the watch.

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but as an Apple Watch user I've found that apps on the watch are nothing like you would have hoped: they're slow and limited. I'm not saying that Apple Watch isn't useful–I'm just saying that in my experience, its value comes from things other than apps.

This review on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/SzZjAMOnPtk?t=240

Shows the watch app starting in about a second or two.

Cellular or non-cellular?

Original Apple Watch

I also have a question: If you are one of those folks that don't use the phone function on their phone often (mostly games and reading and timekeeper while i'm out of the house), and only gets occasional email... is it still useful?

Honestly, they've always looked like a less functional phone strapped to my wrist.

I have no idea. I used my phone all the time.

Fair enough. I figure I'm not the target market for these :)

It's great for fitness as well, if that's something that interests you.

There exist a lot of display-less smartwatches out there, I found this list which is mostly that [1]. Often they use the hands of the watch to display extra data and have very long lasting batteries.

[1]https://www.wareable.com/smartwatches/best-smart-analogue-wa...

Pebble watch?

Too big imo. Fitbit Charge without the fitness stuff, but with an email/sms/notification feature (+vibro) looks like what I'd buy :)

The Pebble company is no longer in operation.

You can still buy an older watch and play around with it if you are a hacker, but its probably a bad idea for the general consumer because it doesn't receive support/updates.

Mi band 2

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