Hacker News Reader

For me, and I hate all sorts of smart objects with a passion, a smartphone's killer apps (that is, what makes me own the hateful thing) are:

* GPS navigation (when I drive - or walk somewhere abroad)

* Camera

* WhatsApp (glorified SMSes, yeah, with the drawback of those damned groups - but, well, it works much better for messaging)

* Email (occasionally, not happy occasions since it sucks for email)

* Web (same reservations as email)

* The hateful parking app that still beats pushing coins into parking ticket machines

That's a lot of stuff for someone not really liking these things.

Since a smart watch is too small to do all these things and a tablet does nothing I really need on top of these things, and none of these things sufficiently better to justify its larger size, I hope there won't be a compelling reason to own either. A phone however has just the right form factor because I can now not have all those other things (a camera, a GPS navigator, a tablet/laptop, small change for bloody parking machines, etc.) without having to carry a bag with some device (and I used to walk around with a small bag but things get stolen from such bags unfortunately; so now I walk around with a wallet in one pocket and a smartphone in another like an idiot.)

Sorry, I was too concise for my own good. I agree with you, all those things are essential on a smartphone. What I was trying to say, and this was unclear, was: if you look at stuff that wasn't on the phone from day one, that genuinely came as a third-party app, the one that I think is a killer app for, say, greater than 30% of everyone is Uber or Uber-alikes.

Messaging, navigation, and camera are all great to have. We knew that from day one.

Agreed, to an extent, though you underestimate the hateful parking app :-)

> 3. And part of the reason for #2 is that if you're really getting lots of meaningful notifications, you're going to want to act on some of them, and the watch form factor is just fundamentally bad for acting on anything.

Yes! I've had a pebble for quite some time now and while they've significantly upgraded their API and device functionality they most recently added the ability to reply on your watch, which IMO is absolutely useless. Why anyone would want to fiddle on their watch for a minute or more when they can send the same message in a fraction of the time on their phone is beyond me.

There's also a fundamental problem here: you don't want to be subject to the tyranny of notifications, but the people making apps want you to. They'll find any and all reasons to push a notification to your watch so that you will engage with their app.

I agree with your analysis of the watch as a notification device. But with regards to the smartphone - the major killer apps it had we're: solving boredom(browser+games), better communication tools(facebook), and gaining access to lots of info everywhere(browser). Some of this things are based on strong psychological needs and many of them are addictive, so you got killer apps.

In theory, glancable notification might have been addictive, but after trying it it appears that it isn't for most people. But it's not to say we won't have killer apps for the watch.

The thing that i find most damning for the watch is that we lack even visions of killer apps for the watch, while we certainly did have visions about the phone before it appeared - people did want to browse on the go.

The only interesting and realistic vision of the watch i've read is that it would be an identity device(easier payments, opening doors, etc) and a UI for our home automation devices plus a notification device.

It's not a very interesting vision, it's just buys people a little bit of extra comfort and isn't really useful unless in very specific context(like running). But who knows, maybe that combined with the fashion, being a status symbol and apple's involvement will sell well.

Yes, mea culpa. I was paraphrasing an argument I'd made before, and I made the comment about killer apps within a context in my own mind of saying much of what you just did. But that context did not go into the text.

I agree with you entirely about the vision of killer apps on the watch.

I also don't get a lot of notifications to my phone. But my younger coworkers do. They are frequently fiddling with their their phones to keep track of any number of ongoing text conversations, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, notifications from social games, etc.

Let's set aside whether you or I want to live that way, or if we think it's rude. It's their reality. A smart watch might be really useful for those folks if it works well.

That's the key--if it works well. The first iPhone didn't do much that any other smart phone did. It just did those things way better. Same with iPod and MP3 players. It seems at least possible to me that a similar jump is possible with smart watches.

I don't "get" the "Watches save you from distractions" pitch at all. It only works if you're willing to ruthlessly pare down the notifications that you receive. (else your wrist buzz as much as your phone) And, further, you have to be ready to admit that most of the notifications that remain usually don't require immediate response from you. (else you'll just be wasting time trying to respond via watch, or pulling out your phone for a proper response)

If you're in a place where these things can be, or are, true, you can change the settings on your phone and be done with it.

I have a Pebble and I much prefer getting my notifications there. Even while sitting at my desk, working on code, if I get an email it notify my Pebble. I quick glance down will determine whether or not I need to switch over to my email client.

>If there is a killer app suited to the watch form factor, it hasn't made itself known yet, and it may not exist

The only "killer" feature I could see a smartwatch offering is way down the line when smart cars are around i.e. being able to lock/unlock your car from your wrist, locate it in a carpark easily with your wrist, get notifications if it's being stolen direct to your wrist or, being able to start/stop the ignition from your wrist, etc.

That would be convenient. No more keys and you wouldn't have to pull out your phone to carry out these basic operations. Further down the line, I can see something like being able to tap your wrist and your self-driving car starts itself, unparks itself and comes to your location being a super use for it.

But these are quite a way off and even then the cars with these technologies will be far too expensive for the average person currently eyeing up a smartwatch.

Some of those features are available on my LandRover right now and am hoping they will be on my Apple Watch soon after:

http://www.landrover.co.uk/ownership/incontrol-and-bluetooth...

That looks very cool.

I think your critique of notifications is good, but there is a bit more to the Apple Watch.

(As far as notifications go, iOS already allows you to respond to a phone call with a selection of canned text messages. I find them useful when I can't talk and I could see this type of reply being useful for a non-trivial subset of notifications.)

As I see it, there are three main features of the Apple Watch:

1. Notification & quick reply device 2. Fitness tracking 3. Payment device (ApplePay)

Are those three features (and/or the myriad of smaller features) enough? We'll have to wait for people to actually use it to find out :-)

I'm not sure I agree with point #3, I think that remains to be seen based on the creativity of not only Apple but the entire community. I totally agree though making digestible and actionable content is hard on a small device.

Maybe it's a shallow example but canned text responses are something that was a great adaptation of the thought: 'well we don't have the affordance to provide a keyboard to the user'. I expect to see other things like this get iterated on.

Bottom line I think we'll just have to wait and see how this thing matures, if it does at all.

> if you're really getting lots of meaningful notifications, you're going to want to act on some of them.

Sure. But the problem is for every 1 meaningful notification we are getting 10 that just deserve a glance and 10 that could be answered with just a "I'll call you back", "Yes/No", "Sounds good" type response. Just look at your phone's notifications how many actually required a thoughtful response ?

1. So you are not the target demographic. OK.

2/3. Isn't acting quickly on notifications exactly what Apple has been working on?