Smartwatches. According to the consumer technology
space in the past year, they've been the next big thing.
Smartwatches have been around for a while -
Microsoft's SPOT connected device model delivered
data over FM radio to Fossil, Suunto, and Tissot
watches. In 2004.
Motorola, too, had a smartwatch, though the
MOTOACTV came out in 2011 and paired with a
smartphone. BlackBerry paired up with InPulse in
2009 for a smartwatch, and its makers eventually
went on to launch Pebble - an iOS- and Android-
compatible follow-up in early 2013. But why is that
suddenly everybody from Samsung to LG to Microsoft
to Sony is working on a smartwatch?
Because Apple is rumored to.
It may be cynical to say that. But there's no denying
no doubt that Apple's been a trendsetter in consumer
technology over the past several years. The iPhone
ushered in the era of capacitive screen slate
smartphones, the iPad showed how to build a tablet
people will buy, and now Apple's competitors fear
that they'll release a smartwatch and it'll take them
years to catch up. Again.
The peoples watch
After working the venture capital process for
$375,000 in funding, Pebble Technology turned to
Kickstarter in April 2012 to raise additional funding
(and awareness) for their Pebble smartwatch. The
funding goal was set at a modest $100,000: 870
pledgers at the $115 Kickstarter backer pricing. Afters
37 days of funding, Pebble smashed Kickstarter
records with more than $10 million in pledges from
68,929 backers.
Pebble uses a low-power ePaper display and pairs with
Android and iOS phones over Bluetooth, and gets 7
days on a charge. In addition to telling time, Pebble
can act as a fitness distance tracker, golf rangefinder,
and music controller, and displays notifications for
email, callers, social networking, and more from the
paired phone.
Of course, everybody's working on a smartwatch,
whether or not they've publicly said so, or already
released or unveiled it, like Sony and Samsung.
The question we have to ask is what can these
smartwatches do for us, and do they make it any
easier? Thanks to the ever-shrinking size of sensors,
processors, radios, and other components, building a
decent smartwatch is easier than ever. It's the smart
part that's hard.
What can these smartwatches do for us, and do
they make it any easier?
User interface design is hard enough on a 4-to-6-inch
smartphone. When you're working on a 1.5-inch
screen it's a different game entirely. Apple's iPod
Nano, for example, has a touch screen, but doesn't
work much like their iOS handhelds. The Samsung
Galaxy Gear's user experience is very different than
that of the Galaxy S4 or Note 3.
There's also the matter of what it does. Should it just
forward notifications from your phone, or are there
things the watch should do on its own too? Should it
be a fitness tracker or a navigator or a phone handset
(wristset?) in addition to telling the time? And how do
you make it so the battery lasts for days without
recharge? There are a lot of hurdles to overcome -
hardware, software, and design - but I think
smartwatches will get there eventually. It remains to
be seen whether or not it'll be something I want to
wear. And I love watches!
space in the past year, they've been the next big thing.
Smartwatches have been around for a while -
Microsoft's SPOT connected device model delivered
data over FM radio to Fossil, Suunto, and Tissot
watches. In 2004.
Motorola, too, had a smartwatch, though the
MOTOACTV came out in 2011 and paired with a
smartphone. BlackBerry paired up with InPulse in
2009 for a smartwatch, and its makers eventually
went on to launch Pebble - an iOS- and Android-
compatible follow-up in early 2013. But why is that
suddenly everybody from Samsung to LG to Microsoft
to Sony is working on a smartwatch?
Because Apple is rumored to.
It may be cynical to say that. But there's no denying
no doubt that Apple's been a trendsetter in consumer
technology over the past several years. The iPhone
ushered in the era of capacitive screen slate
smartphones, the iPad showed how to build a tablet
people will buy, and now Apple's competitors fear
that they'll release a smartwatch and it'll take them
years to catch up. Again.
The peoples watch
After working the venture capital process for
$375,000 in funding, Pebble Technology turned to
Kickstarter in April 2012 to raise additional funding
(and awareness) for their Pebble smartwatch. The
funding goal was set at a modest $100,000: 870
pledgers at the $115 Kickstarter backer pricing. Afters
37 days of funding, Pebble smashed Kickstarter
records with more than $10 million in pledges from
68,929 backers.
Pebble uses a low-power ePaper display and pairs with
Android and iOS phones over Bluetooth, and gets 7
days on a charge. In addition to telling time, Pebble
can act as a fitness distance tracker, golf rangefinder,
and music controller, and displays notifications for
email, callers, social networking, and more from the
paired phone.
Of course, everybody's working on a smartwatch,
whether or not they've publicly said so, or already
released or unveiled it, like Sony and Samsung.
The question we have to ask is what can these
smartwatches do for us, and do they make it any
easier? Thanks to the ever-shrinking size of sensors,
processors, radios, and other components, building a
decent smartwatch is easier than ever. It's the smart
part that's hard.
What can these smartwatches do for us, and do
they make it any easier?
User interface design is hard enough on a 4-to-6-inch
smartphone. When you're working on a 1.5-inch
screen it's a different game entirely. Apple's iPod
Nano, for example, has a touch screen, but doesn't
work much like their iOS handhelds. The Samsung
Galaxy Gear's user experience is very different than
that of the Galaxy S4 or Note 3.
There's also the matter of what it does. Should it just
forward notifications from your phone, or are there
things the watch should do on its own too? Should it
be a fitness tracker or a navigator or a phone handset
(wristset?) in addition to telling the time? And how do
you make it so the battery lasts for days without
recharge? There are a lot of hurdles to overcome -
hardware, software, and design - but I think
smartwatches will get there eventually. It remains to
be seen whether or not it'll be something I want to
wear. And I love watches!
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