Does Anyone Even Want a Smartwatch?

The answer, as always, is yes and no.

Something no one seems to understand, is that the smartphone revolution didn't happen because we suddenly had touchscreens and processors powerful enough to have a relatively decent OS. We'd had that for years beforehand; someone would've gotten it sooner.

It was the fucking user interface.

That's all iOS did. It got the UI right. It didn't take 10 awkward actions to check your mail. You didn't have to go through complex menus to add contacts to your address book. You could browse the internet, have it be the real internet, have it feel like the real internet- and it felt manageable with the ability to zoom in and out, and properly move through web forms.

Smart watches, similar to Google Glass, are starting from zero again. They're brilliant ideas, as brilliant as the smartphone was before them. They're obvious, which is why they're brilliant. What isn't obvious, is how you make the entire experience simple.

So, are smartwatches going to take off? Probably not right now. Neither is Google Glass. There's a lot of talented UI guys involved with both, but you can't get it just half-right. It needs to feel right, and every way it feels wrong needs to feel like it's wrong in its own way, and not because it doesn't do it the way something else does. And right now, no one has either figured out that much.

Honestly, I feel like this is one of the "the internet won't be anything worthwhile in 5 years" articles, so I definitely think something like a smartwatch will make it into our lives. That being said, I'm pretty scared of that fact, because in my life I try to win back my focus and try to be more mindful about the things I do, a smartwatch won't help with that. It's just another outlet (or input) that takes away our time from creating and shifts it to consuming.

I don't want one. I'm old enough to remember the trendy digital watches of the 1980s and how quickly the novelty of being able to tell the time in Tokyo and New York, or being able to do calculations, or being able to play a beepy tune wore off. Yes on a modern smart watch the multimedia experience will be much better, but I'm still doubtful about the usefulness and ergonomics. You could maybe do wrist based videoconferencing - as predicted in the 20th century - but just the relative angle of your wrist to your face probably won't make it a very flattering experience.

One possible useful function for a smartwatch would be as a wireless storage device. That would mean that you don't need to upload anything to "the cloud" and can be pretty sure of having your data with you at all times. That's not much better than storing data on a phone though.

I've always hated wearing anything on my arms or wrists, even including log-sleeve shirts. I was thankful for the day I got to ditch my watch in favor of a cell phone, and I have no intention of going back.

(I used to teach a children's sailing class, so I needed to tell the time in order to know when to sail back to the docks.)

I got a silver Pebble Steel about a month ago and I'm completely in love with it. Small, discrete, smart and elegantly designed, it gives me notifications without ever becoming too much. So yes, functionality is limited, but more to the point it is focused. If I want something more I can always just reach for my phone - so I don't have to contend with the overlap.

The Pebble allows me to have my Android phone on silent, displaying who's calling without having to pull the phone from my pocket, as well as emails, hangout and sms messages. Oh and by default it displays the time. This is perfect for my usage.

As opposed to the new batch of "Gear" products, the epaper display is always on, looks razor sharp, and the battery is fantastic lasting from 5 to 7 days. When my watch gets a low battery warning, I have what must be a full charge of a Gear device remaining!

I've wanted a watch for about 15 years now. I don't think adding more features my phone already has is going to change the status quo.

Main reason I've never got around to buying a watch: I always have my phone.

In fact this brings up another thought ive been kicking around for a while: wearable computing and whether they will "fly" with audiences, the truth is, they already do - phones, whether you consider clothing or not is pretty much on your persons 24 hours a day. Its basically underwear for a lot of people. Watches, while not "smart", are computers to some extent. I think smart watches, are a natural progression but I dont see them being the next "mobile" like some would have you believe.

No, I don't want a smartwatch.

First of all it doesn't help they are in their infant stage (meaning: they suck), I also don't feel the huge need to be even more connected than I am today.

In fact I am doing the opposite. I'm trying to leave my phone more often as it takes away my attention at times when I should give attention to other things / people.

I find it's kinda rude when I'm at a dinner or meeting and people sit there watching their own little screen instead of actually beeing part of what's going on in the real world.

I'm guessing another screen won't make it any better.

A smart watch no.

A smart wearable maybe, but definitely not attached to my wrists. It's too uncomfortable (25 years since I wore a watch) and monitoring my vitals doesn't matter to me, maybe when I'll be old.

Probably I could use a wearable computing device attached to my cloths. By the way, most cloths have been presciently engineered to hold those devices. They have pockets. I've got a smartphone in one of them, which is much less a phone than it is of anything else (internet browser, email client, video player, clock, game console, ebook reader and more) so I'm already into wearables together with a good chunk of the human population.

I can see me replacing a smartphone with something functionally equivalent that spares me the need of reaching to it. Not glasses, they won't be as light as the prescription glasses I'm wearing. Maybe VR contact lenses interfaced to a base device in a pocket (inspired by Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End) but unfortunately my eyes started to refuse contact lenses years ago so I'm waiting for direct neural connections :-)

Obviously I have the benefit of hindsight, but...

I don't think it's a matter of waiting for the right guys (e.g. Apple) to crack the smart watch and make it a hit. Not that Apple couldn't, but I think that's looking at reality wrong.

Smart watches that exist now aren't hugely popular, not because the interface is bad, but because nobody knows what they should do. "You get notifications? That's it?"

When Apple made the iPod, they didn't start with a form and end with a function. No one was asking, "When will brick-shaped things that fit in your pocket be big?" There was a function -- portable players of digital music files -- that needed to be done well. iPod was arguably the first MP3 player that solved that problem. That it is brick-shaped and fits in a pocket is a result of the required function, it wasn't the goal.

Ditto the iPhone. You could argue that "mobile phone" as an end form was pre-determined, but it's semantics. The use cases, the functions, were what needed solving. The end form has very little in common with mobile phones before it.

The talk around smart watches is backward. "We have this form -- a watch with a microprocessor and probably Bluetooth -- but what can it do?"

  - Maybe it's for exposing notifications on your wrist.
  - Maybe it's for giving a view of the phone in your pocket on your wrist.
  - Maybe it's for measuring biometric data.
  - Maybe it's for identifying yourself.

Maybe.

Are these functions in need of a form, or a form in need of some function? If the former, is a watch the best form anyway?

(I have a Pebble. I even wear it most days. I like it. But if it broke, I wouldn't buy another.)

My buddy has a pebble watch and I actually think it's pretty cool. That being said, I have two major problems with smart watches:

1. I'm looking for ways to get disconnected these days; I don't want another gizmo that tracks my existence and pushes useless information at me. The article nonchalantly throws in how the smartwatch is gaining traction from SV due to its potential as yet another platform for people to buy stuff on , as if making a customer's life better has somehow become an afterthought. Why don't companies even pretend to care anymore?

2. Most importantly, automatic watches are amazing and one of the coolest things about owning a watch is marveling at the intricacies of it. There's a certain 'magic' missing from digital watches that I hope future smartwatch makers learn to replicate. Things like IEEE 802.15.4 give me hope that there's a way to bring these two worlds together.

I think most people don't even know they want a smart watch yet because they've never seen an actual "smart watch" (everything on the market right now is shit). It will probably evolve to the point where the word "watch" doesn't even make sense anymore, like the word "phone" does today. People need to stop thinking about using a watch for telling time. That's the least of the problems an always-on wrist-device needs to solve.

Personally I'm interested in all the sensors they can possibly cram into it. If they can figure out how to get blood pressure readings from it, I'll wear it 24 7. Judging from this [1] it seems a wrist device can do BP measurements.

[1] http://www.healthline.com/health-news/tech-blood-pressure-mo...

I have been consciously using Google Now on my Android phone more and more to add notes, send messages, ask for directions, find out where I parked my car, find out the world cup scores, track incoming package deliveries, catch up on Tour de France news, etc.

The more I use it, the more utility I gain from it, but the more I find it a pain in the ass to pull out my phone (perhaps while driving, or walking, or cycling), unlock the phone, then go "OK Google. Take a note. Remember to look up details of Facebook mobile like button." or "OK Google. Message Tom mobile. On my way, see you soon."

Now knowing that there are Android wear devices out there I think "damn this would be so much easier with a watch." I'd really like to buy one now, but I think I'll hang out for the Moto 360.

I doubt there's much utility in a smart watch for those that don't utilize Google Now to the fullest.

I was backer for pebble, and i have been using it now more than one year. My behavior with phone has changed. Nowadays if I’m getting mail, txt or call, i will glance pebble screen (phone is silent mode all the time) what it is about or who is calling. Usually it is not something what i need to take action right away, will respond to it later. When i look others who take the phone out, unlock it, read message and put it back, this seems so annoying in a meetings.

Bad thing is that you can have too much stuff coming to your pebble, but anyway it is just matter of prioritizing what you want in your wrist.

Example i did get mail during writing this, quick glance and that back to writing.

The marketing for them, in my opinion, shouldn't even mention the word 'watch'.

Mobile phone manufacturers and tech journalists believe a smart watch is an extension of your phone, a second screen that saves you getting your phone out to do basic things. This is the vision that will, probably, sell quite well. On the other hand, the general population believe a smart watch is a watch that does some extra fancy stuff. That dissonance is something that is going to be very difficult to overcome while 'smart watches' just look like big, ugly watches that do things your phone already does.

The only thing I can imagine wanting one for, if it's small and light enough, is tracking progress while I exercise. Essentially a more advanced GPS watch with a heart rate monitor. Maybe you could put those zombie run games and stuff like that on it. And music ideally, if you could do wireless headphones.

Aside from running or biking though, I have zero desire to have my email and such even more in my face than it is on my phone. Any time I'm going to interact with it for more than 5 seconds, it's going to be preferable to pull out my phone, which only takes a couple seconds anyway.

That's not even the most interresting part. If the point of the Smartwatch is to make up of the marked for phone and tables being saturated, what will they do when the watches reaches the point that phones are at now? Cars? Not likely, that would just move profit from the classical car makers, but generate new consumption.

Perhaps at least some companies need to start think about a business plan that does involve ever growing consumption.

No, I don't want a Smartwatch, even though I'm sure it would go great with my non-smartphone.

I believe the fate of Android Wear style smart watches is highly intertwined with the proliferation and usefulness of 'contextual computing' (Google Now, etc).

Glanceable cards afford great tolerance for false positives. Combining this with advances in activity detection, indoor location tracking, and IoT opens the door for a new generation of personalized software well suited for casual wearable interaction. However it remains to be seen if the economics are there to create this brave new software ecosystem.

I didn't wear a watch since 1999 (Thanks to Mobile Phones). Started using LG G Watch since Google I/O.

Its pretty useful for day to day things.

Mostly:

1. Check who is calling without taking phone out of pocket. 2. Look at email to see if I want to take my phone out and check email. 3. "OK Google" is cool to quickly check next meetings etc..

I think most people who sound negative (I used to be one of them) did not use a smart watch.

I have one and it has changed my life for the better. I now think of the time before and after smartwatch, much like it was when getting a smartphone. The utility just has much more impact than I could imagine.

The general attitude on HN toward smartwatches seems very negative but this is not reflected on other tech sites I visit regularly where it's mostly positive.

> Then there’s the matter of having a $300 gadget strapped to my wrist, which creates anxiety of its own.

And plenty of people walk around with a $5000 autonomous machine on their wrist from Switzerland. It is those people who will never change to a smart watch.

I haven't worn a watch since high school (I can't stand wearing jewellery either, anything feels constricting).

I have no interest in yet another device that saps attention and I really don't get what it offers over a phone.

There are definitely people that are going to want a smartwatch. To me, a watch is a pure accessory, and i have yet to see a decent one (except for the Motorola 360).

Function-wise, i don't see the point of getting one at the moment.

Nope.

If I only have to charge it once a month or less, sure. Once every day or two is a nonstarter. I have enough trouble finding all of the plugs and keeping my phone charged.

I want one. The use case I'm interested in is using it in multi-factor authentication, so not interested in things like watch faces, notifications or games.

I want one but not what is out there right now and not from apple. Current models are too bulky, battery doesn't last and cost too much.

No.

I want a true virtual reality input that beams a 360 degree laser virtual display with a resolution of less than one arc-minute right onto my retina.

Maybe, if it's a beautifully crafted piece of jewelry that elegantly notifies on a subset of events received by your phone.

Moreover wearing watch trend is going down drastically, i dont think the smart watch trend will get its space.

I stopped wearing a watch way back, when I strap it on my wrist for formal meetings , I feel uneasy.

I want a ring with a laser projector, possibly into my other palm. A watch is too big and heavy.

I can't type wearing a watch, so not met. Sry.

If Apple sells one, I'll buy one. Unless it's really crap, which is possible I guess.

I don't care what features it has specifically. If there's something useful for me I'll get one. Will I end up wearing it full time? Who knows.