4 ms·

Seems like they will stay a niche until they can replace phones entirely, and perhaps even past then. A lot of people just don't like having something strapped

Seems like they will stay a niche until they can replace phones entirely, and perhaps even past then. A lot of people just don't like having something strapped to their wrist and/or want a large screen. As a watch guy (and most watch people are guys) the first smart watch I've been excited about is the upcoming gear S3: http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/gear-s3/ http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/gear-s3/ Because it looks like a real watch and has the rotating bezel for input, but I recognize I'm a tiny market. I hope it doesn't set my wrist on fire.

bobajeff 10y ago
Yeah that's me I'm waiting for them to come out with one that's a replacement for a phone not some unjustifiably expensive accessory for a phone. That or just make phones smaller. My favorite flip phone is smaller than even the smallest iPhone. I'd probably still use it today if my network still supported 2g.
sosuke 10y ago
I saw the Fossil Q (https://www.fossil.com/us/en/wearable-technology.html https://www.fossil.com/us/en/wearable-technology.html) in the wild the other day and it looked very attractive. I love that bezel input idea! I hadn't seen the Gear S3
- tgb 10y ago
  What does the "charging not required" claim mean for the hybrid watches? They claim a 6-month battery life. What do you do afterwards? Replace the battery?
  - sosuke 10y ago
    There are several types of self charging watches out there. Solar are some, kinetic watches. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_quartz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_quartz I think that means it will sit on a shelf unworn for 6 months
BoorishBears 10y ago
Back in 2007 I remember seeing smartwatches that could replace phones (make calls, text, Internet, even take pictures) for sale in Ghana The problem is a watch can only be so big before it's too big, but input and battery life on small devices sucks (for now)
- bobajeff 10y ago
  Well the over all problem here is that today only Apple and Samsung even make money on Smartphones. Not Sony, not HTC, not Motorola, not not LG, not Xiaomi, not Huawei neither of those make money from selling phone hardware. If they can't do that then first of all Why and more importantly what's driving innovation in hardware?
j_syk 10y ago
The gear S2 has a similar rotating bezel, though it's less obviously looking at it. The strap design on the S2 is awful- too easy to break. Good to see they are moving to normal watch bands. One thing that would keep me from buying a samsung again is if they stick with SVoice instead of letting you use Google voice search (especially with Google Assistant)
Mahn 10y ago
> until they can replace phones entirely I.e. never? I mean, I can picture making phone calls or dictating SMS by voice with a smart watch, but people are not going to be browsing the web or taking pictures with a tiny wrist device when they already have a 5-6" inches display device on their pockets, and almost no one would ditch the latter for the former if they had to choose. I think it's likely that smart watches will continue to be niche devices for the foreseeable future, at very least until someone figures out a killer feature that sets them apart from smartphones.
- annerajb 10y ago
  Unless people resort to another device like mounted glasses for web viewing and picture taking. Or a ipad for bookreading, web browsing and picture taking.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >I.e. never? I mean, I can picture making phone calls or dictating SMS by voice with a smart watch, but people are not going to be browsing the web or taking pictures with a tiny wrist device when they already have a 5-6" inches display device on their pockets, and almost no one would ditch the latter for the former if they had to choose. People might also not have 5-6" devices in their pockets, but special glasses with HUDs or smart contact lenses...
  - aetherson 10y ago
    If we're assuming the existence of non-sucky smart glasses or contact lenses [1], why exactly would anyone use a smart watch? [1] Smart contact lenses are such a crock. Seriously, guys, how do you think you're going to power these things?
    - toyg 10y ago
      Bulk. It makes sense to keep glasses as light and small as possible, whereas a watch can be relatively bulky without being socially unacceptable. So you could have just enough electronics for glasses to display information and record, then have the watch store or compute the resulting data. It could basically split smartphone features into two gadgets that are easier to carry around. For that, though, we still need quite a few leaps in miniaturization.
pyrophane 10y ago
I own the Gear S2. I've also owned the Apple Watch (S0) and the Moto 360 2nd gen. The interface on the S2 with the rotating bezel works really well. It is the only time I really felt like my smartwatch was an actual watch and not just a "device" strapped to my wrist. The cellular functionality was also handy in a pinch, as it offered some communication utility if I left my phone at home. That being said, I don't think I'll get the Gear S3. The biggest problem is that while the S2 works great for displaying notifications, the lack of phone apps makes it difficult to take any action on most of them without switching to your phone. On top of that, I found it extremely difficult to get text into the watch to do things like respond to texts with anything other than a pre-selected message template. The T-9 keyboard was awkward and S Voice didn't work well at all (in part, I'm sure, to the quality of the microphone embedded in the watch). I don't think smartwatches will be much more than notification mirrors until the ability to quickly input text gets better, probably through improved voice dictation. One other thing about the S3: I really don't understand their choice to offer cellular connectivity only one the Frontier model. That feature is one of the main things that would attract me to the device, but I don't like the styling on the frontier.
- steaminghacker 10y ago
  I use mine for taking notes. sometimes it's really useful, say when I'm driving or just walking down the street. I'd like to see improvement in voice rec though, as sometimes it goes badly
samastur 10y ago
I am another watch guy, but I disagree that the main problem is that people don't like wearing them (although there certainly is no shortage of such people). Last year there were 1.2 BILLION watches sold (http://www.statisticbrain.com/wrist-watch-industry-statistics/ http://www.statisticbrain.com/wrist-watch-industry-statistic...). On whole smart watches sold as well as Swiss did even though they are on average significantly cheaper. I don't know why they are not selling, but clearly combination of their advantages and disadvantages is not compelling enough compared to alternatives.
verytrivial 10y ago
Anyone else remember graffiti input on PalmOS[1]? It strikes me that even a low resolution digitiser (32x32, maybe less?) would still resolve those characters. That gets you SMS entry and contact search, maybe? [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti_(Palm_OS) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti_(Palm_OS)
- steaminghacker 10y ago
  It was great. but writing on a micro screen is no fun. press and swipe are about as far as it should go with wrist touch interfaces.

bobajeff 10y ago

Yeah that's me I'm waiting for them to come out with one that's a replacement for a phone not some unjustifiably expensive accessory for a phone. That or just make phones smaller. My favorite flip phone is smaller than even the smallest iPhone. I'd probably still use it today if my network still supported 2g.

sosuke 10y ago

I saw the Fossil Q (https://www.fossil.com/us/en/wearable-technology.html https://www.fossil.com/us/en/wearable-technology.html) in the wild the other day and it looked very attractive. I love that bezel input idea! I hadn't seen the Gear S3

tgb 10y ago
What does the "charging not required" claim mean for the hybrid watches? They claim a 6-month battery life. What do you do afterwards? Replace the battery?
- sosuke 10y ago
  There are several types of self charging watches out there. Solar are some, kinetic watches. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_quartz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_quartz I think that means it will sit on a shelf unworn for 6 months

BoorishBears 10y ago

Back in 2007 I remember seeing smartwatches that could replace phones (make calls, text, Internet, even take pictures) for sale in Ghana The problem is a watch can only be so big before it's too big, but input and battery life on small devices sucks (for now)

bobajeff 10y ago
Well the over all problem here is that today only Apple and Samsung even make money on Smartphones. Not Sony, not HTC, not Motorola, not not LG, not Xiaomi, not Huawei neither of those make money from selling phone hardware. If they can't do that then first of all Why and more importantly what's driving innovation in hardware?

j_syk 10y ago

The gear S2 has a similar rotating bezel, though it's less obviously looking at it. The strap design on the S2 is awful- too easy to break. Good to see they are moving to normal watch bands. One thing that would keep me from buying a samsung again is if they stick with SVoice instead of letting you use Google voice search (especially with Google Assistant)

Mahn 10y ago

> until they can replace phones entirely I.e. never? I mean, I can picture making phone calls or dictating SMS by voice with a smart watch, but people are not going to be browsing the web or taking pictures with a tiny wrist device when they already have a 5-6" inches display device on their pockets, and almost no one would ditch the latter for the former if they had to choose. I think it's likely that smart watches will continue to be niche devices for the foreseeable future, at very least until someone figures out a killer feature that sets them apart from smartphones.

annerajb 10y ago
Unless people resort to another device like mounted glasses for web viewing and picture taking. Or a ipad for bookreading, web browsing and picture taking.
coldtea 10y ago
>I.e. never? I mean, I can picture making phone calls or dictating SMS by voice with a smart watch, but people are not going to be browsing the web or taking pictures with a tiny wrist device when they already have a 5-6" inches display device on their pockets, and almost no one would ditch the latter for the former if they had to choose. People might also not have 5-6" devices in their pockets, but special glasses with HUDs or smart contact lenses...
- aetherson 10y ago
  If we're assuming the existence of non-sucky smart glasses or contact lenses [1], why exactly would anyone use a smart watch? [1] Smart contact lenses are such a crock. Seriously, guys, how do you think you're going to power these things?
  - toyg 10y ago
    Bulk. It makes sense to keep glasses as light and small as possible, whereas a watch can be relatively bulky without being socially unacceptable. So you could have just enough electronics for glasses to display information and record, then have the watch store or compute the resulting data. It could basically split smartphone features into two gadgets that are easier to carry around. For that, though, we still need quite a few leaps in miniaturization.

pyrophane 10y ago

I own the Gear S2. I've also owned the Apple Watch (S0) and the Moto 360 2nd gen. The interface on the S2 with the rotating bezel works really well. It is the only time I really felt like my smartwatch was an actual watch and not just a "device" strapped to my wrist. The cellular functionality was also handy in a pinch, as it offered some communication utility if I left my phone at home. That being said, I don't think I'll get the Gear S3. The biggest problem is that while the S2 works great for displaying notifications, the lack of phone apps makes it difficult to take any action on most of them without switching to your phone. On top of that, I found it extremely difficult to get text into the watch to do things like respond to texts with anything other than a pre-selected message template. The T-9 keyboard was awkward and S Voice didn't work well at all (in part, I'm sure, to the quality of the microphone embedded in the watch). I don't think smartwatches will be much more than notification mirrors until the ability to quickly input text gets better, probably through improved voice dictation. One other thing about the S3: I really don't understand their choice to offer cellular connectivity only one the Frontier model. That feature is one of the main things that would attract me to the device, but I don't like the styling on the frontier.

steaminghacker 10y ago
I use mine for taking notes. sometimes it's really useful, say when I'm driving or just walking down the street. I'd like to see improvement in voice rec though, as sometimes it goes badly

samastur 10y ago

I am another watch guy, but I disagree that the main problem is that people don't like wearing them (although there certainly is no shortage of such people). Last year there were 1.2 BILLION watches sold (http://www.statisticbrain.com/wrist-watch-industry-statistics/ http://www.statisticbrain.com/wrist-watch-industry-statistic...). On whole smart watches sold as well as Swiss did even though they are on average significantly cheaper. I don't know why they are not selling, but clearly combination of their advantages and disadvantages is not compelling enough compared to alternatives.

verytrivial 10y ago

Anyone else remember graffiti input on PalmOS[1]? It strikes me that even a low resolution digitiser (32x32, maybe less?) would still resolve those characters. That gets you SMS entry and contact search, maybe? [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti_(Palm_OS) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti_(Palm_OS)

steaminghacker 10y ago
It was great. but writing on a micro screen is no fun. press and swipe are about as far as it should go with wrist touch interfaces.