LG G Watch | Hacker News Reader

LG G Watch

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58 pointsmycodebreaks54 comments

Unfortunately this is exactly what I feared smart watches would look like. It looks like a house arrest ankle monitor more than a watch. If they can get cut the thickness by a factor of 3 and the width/height by about half, I would be interested, but as it stands there is no way I'm walking around with a chunky box strapped to my wrist.

You've seen this, right? https://moto360.motorola.com/ Although not that that thin, it does look like an actual watch and not a house arrest ankle monitor, IMO.

I'm male and not particularly small, 6'2" 195lb. The moto360 is specced at 1.8" diameter (unclear if that is the screen or the entire device). Either way, the top of wrist is 2" across, so yea, it's better, but your still talking about a device that is huge in comparison to my wrist. I can't imagine how any of the current generation of devices are even thinking about the smaller end of the male population let alone the average wrist of the female population.

Big chunky watches happen to be in style right now, particularly for women: http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/womens-watches/ceramic

My thought is this. It's an early adopter device. Early cell phones were bricks, portable computers were suitcases, both seem to have caught on pretty well despite early release form factor issues. New devices push the limits of tech to hit the market then get refined. It'll happen here too.

The difference is that bulky cell phones and back-breaking Osborne portable PCs were tolerated because they offered something unique. You didn't already have a slightly different kind of phone or PC with you.

The current smartwatches are not like that. They're basically just additional screens for the phone that is already in your pocket. The convenience factor of not having to dig up the full-fledged device doesn't amount to much if the wearable is so bulky that it's an inconvenience in itself.

They could be useful for sport activities. For eg: I could maybe see it replacing my cycling computer if it provided a heart rate monitor + support for extra speed/cadence/power sensors via ANT+ or Bluetooth LE

Agree- in this case I'd be most interested in GPS, heart rate and no dependency on a phone (don't want to have to carry my phone on runs).

This is almost the opposite of what I want from a casual watch- for it to offload absolutely everything to my phone and essentially be a second screen and nothing more. Keep size to an absolute minimum.

See to me it does. I currently have a Pebble and I was caught off guard by how much it has changed the way I use my cell. I don't carry my cell around the house anymore nor do I dig it out 100 times a day to check the latest alert. That change in use is much more substantial than I expected. I actually get frustrated with repeated alerts on my phone when I don't have the Pebble on. Now how much the extra functionality of these new touchscreen models will add I don't know but I do know I frequently wish my Pebble offered a little more interaction. I'm sure there is a sweet spot somewhere and this is early days for the form factor.

I agree that this generation of watches is a little too big for me to want to wear one. But there are plenty of men who wear non-electronic watches much bigger than these for the sake of fashion and status. Check out this NYTimes article which discusses a U-Boat watch that is 2.5 inches in diameter: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/fashion/mens-watches-keep-...

To me, that looks extremely ridiculous, including on Tom Cruise.

Honestly, given the fashion designs I've seen for many of the "higher end" watches available from department stores, this doesn't seem that large by comparison.

But personally, I stopped wearing a watch over a decade ago because I hated the feeling of wearing one and I constantly damaged them by accident (catching them on a door, etc.).

1.8in is about 45.7mm.

It's on the larger side, sure, but 46mm is a pretty common diameter for fashion watches these days.

They are gigantic though.

Sundar Pichai had one on his wrist for the keynote today - It looks better than the LG watch, but it's still large enough that my first reaction to seeing it was "wow that's a huge watch".

i'm definitely waiting until next-gen before i consider buying one.

Flexible displays would absolutely solve your problem and Apple has been rumored to be exploring them, but I'm not sure the technology exists yet.

Seeing them swipe through the interface in the demos makes me think this is another pre-iPad time (where everyone knew it was coming and competitors rushed their products to market). If the only value-add is having a wearable notification viewer (plus some other features that are a subset of smartphones), it's not going to be successful.

It just feels like anything Google had an existing service/product for, like Google Now, got juryrigged on to the wrist. Rather than actually figuring out the jobs-to-be-done that a wearable can uniquely solve.

I always thought that Google Now was built (in part) for devices like wearables.

Do you think Apple's device interface won't involve swiping?

Agreed. It would be cool to an application that takes advantage of the fact that your watch is relatively publicly accessible. Ideas would include the silly "mood watch" that you can set to indicate to others if you're feeling social or busy or stressed. Or a matching app to help you find someone that you haven't met before. Your watch is a small bit of shared communal knowledge traditionally and it would be fun to see applications that take advantage of that socially.

It just seems like a second screen for your phone. I can't imagine anyone, Apple included, making something that isn't just that, a second phone screen/interface. Maybe my imagination isn't big enough, maybe the actual tech isn't there yet. This segment, touch-screen wearables, doesn't excite me yet.

I hope it goes the other direction - your phone, tablet, tv etc evolve into dumb screens for your watch, which will quickly if not already be powerful enough to output movies, books, apps, work etc onto your preferred display.

Me too. I love the Ubuntu Phone approach -- one device that does it all

Watches have tiny batteries, or they are huge.

That's true right now but massive improvements will be made in the near future, on top of that when you look at screens being independent of the device you're eliminating the biggest power drain from the watch.

It's interesting that you mention google Now , because I feel like that is the service for something like a smartwatch. Very little user interaction required, and it actually does push out useful information.

It kinda dissapoints me that there aren't more exploration into pebble-style e-ink screens. Having to charge my watch every day is annoying to say the least.

But I would like a good wearable notification viewer.

> Having to charge my watch every day is annoying to say the least.

I used to think the same thing about smart phones when I only had little Nokia; now I don't even think about it.

If you're referring to the iWatch, then what fantastical, overwhelming innovation are you anticipating out of Apple that would make Android Wear irrelevant? Referring to it as a "wearable notification viewer" makes me think you've failed to take note of Wear's voice control features; also keep in mind that the Moto 360 is rumored to include a heart rate monitor.

Wear's UI seems solid and Google Now is a perfect fit for the wrist. I fail to see anything wrong with the platform other than the lack of an Apple logo.

This looks interesting, but for me personally, I prefer mechanical watches. Watches are jewellery (since clocks and screens are all around us, at every minute of the day), we already carry smartphones, a smartwatch seems superfluous...

Not to mention, even if I did want a smartwatch, this one is too ugly to wear. And not ugly in a cool way either...

No pictures? A page entirely filled with renders doesn't instill confidence. This is something I'd expect from a kickstarter campaign, not a big manu.

> Sorry! Devices on Google Play is not available in your country yet.

Bummer. Can't see anything.

Sorry this is not expertly done, I took screenshots and stuck it together in mspaint but it should give you a pretty good idea :)

http://imgur.com/947pJlM

Fellow I/O attendees, do you plan on choosing the LG G or the Samsung Galaxy Gear as your take home device? I already use an S4 for my phone so I'm inclined to go with the Galaxy Gear. But I think the LG G is a little more aesthetically pleasing. Thoughts/opinions?

Note that the Gear has a heart rate monitor, while the G does not. I think I will choose the LG for the aesthetics, though.

LG, looks better.

The Samsung has a nicer screen and heart rate monitor. The battery is smaller, but I imagine I'll have the 360 before I care.

I get the vibe that Googlers prefer the LG. Samsung isn't exactly the most inspiring company, but I think I'll go that way for the more retina screen and HRM.

I know this is completely unfounded, but the tagline "Always with you, always-on." is a little unnerving in this context.

But this is coming from a guy with a bit of Post-it on all the front-facing cameras he owns.

The price tag seems a bit steep but this is the sort of device I would like to have when riding my bicycle or running in the city. Something light, that has Google now so I can send a text to my friends without taking my phone out of my bag.

This said, I share a criticism with some in this thread: The watch is not exactly appealing to my eye.

It'd be nice if they added a way to spawn Android Auto on your device's display. Then, you could mount it to your handlebars and have a glanceable voice-activated UI while riding as well.

Ordered one. Supposedly ships next week though I'll probably not get it before the 4th.

I decided to embrace the rectangle. Round UI is going to be tough to do right, except for UI built for roundness. Text is too rectilinear for roundness. Charging two things on the nightstand isn't going to be more onerous than charging one thing.

Cables and outlet splitters everywhere.

Great looking design, just not interested in ANOTHER gadget that needs to be recharged daily.

I was curious too about the battery life and then pleasantly surprised.

"When asked about battery life, reps told me that it should last 36 hours in always-on state, and even longer if you opt to turn the screen off -- there's a companion app that you can download onto your Android device, and it gives you a few settings."

From http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/25/lg-g-watch-hands-on/

My Citizen Eco-Drive gets charged through solar power in daily use. It is one less think I need to charge on a daily basis.

I have a Pebble and it lasts several days (whenever I go on holiday, I don't bring the charger) and yet because it is another device I find myself charging it daily anyway. I plug my phone in, my tablet in, and then my watch in every night.

The difference with a watch is that I don't really want to take it off my wrist all the time just for charging. If there was some kind of wireless charging mechanism then I'd happily wear one. And I'm not talking about the wireless charging pads where you still have to take the watch off to charge -- we need something that can charge the watch just by being inside the room or house.

Perhaps inductive charging can make this process less annoying - an inductive charge-plate on the nightstand, dump all your gadgets there without plugging anything in.

Earlier rumors were that the Moto 360 will use Qi charging. Qi still usually requires per-device charging positions and semi-precise placement to work, though. It's just a "just dump it in this general direction" technology, unfortunately.

I'm mostly just disappointed that this tiny peripheral costs more than the last few phones I've purchased. Nexus 4 and Moto G have destroyed my expectations. For that price I'd expect it to be a fully-functional phone.

I'd probably add it to my basket if it were under $120-150 and looked really nice. For $230 I can deal with the minor inconvenience of taking my phone out of my pocket.

Meh.

http://www.iconbit.com/products/108011/

Just my 2 cents. The carousel presentation for both smart watches are really disappointing.

Do you have to turn it on to see time or does it wake up on certain hand movement?

From the article: "The G Watch never sleeps. Its Always-on display allows you to check the time and see new information at a glance without touching it."

I believe Android Wear does gesture detection, so if you make your wrist horizontal it will wake the screen.

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