2 ms·

The killer feature of modern watches is the vibration alarm - you can wake up even if you use earplugs/headphones/noise machine and you won't wake up anyone els

The killer feature of modern watches is the vibration alarm - you can wake up even if you use earplugs/headphones/noise machine and you won't wake up anyone else along with you. Health stuff like sleep tracking is likely useful for the vast majority of population, at least to everyone who needs time and thus lives on a schedule of some sort, without the possibility to fall asleep and wake up whenever one feels like it. I too don't see how the ability to run apps is of any value so I use "sports" watch instead of a "smart" watch, which gives me better screen and better battery life in exchange of a smaller number of apps I won't ever run. Though the battery life is not an issue and smartwatch users I know charge their watch while in the shower.

markdown 2mo ago
> The killer feature of modern watches is the vibration alarm - you can wake up even if you use earplugs/headphones/noise machine and you won't wake up anyone else along with you. I came here to say exactly this. That's not the reason I bought a smart watch in the first place (I didn't even know that was a feature), but it's the only reason I still use a smart watch now over my old Seiko.
- annzabelle 2mo ago
  It's a lot of why I got a Coros watch (the other reason is for running/health tracking). I stay in hostel dorms pretty regularly, and being able to wake up for that 6am flight without waking up the whole room is so nice.
dataflow 2mo ago
> The killer feature of modern watches is the vibration alarm - you can wake up even if you use earplugs/headphones/noise machine and you won't wake up anyone else along with you. Probably depends a lot on the person. A phone already does that for me, and doesn't have the associated uncomfortableness of wearing a watch while I sleep.
- pandaman 2mo ago
  Indeed, I didn't see studies so my theory is that most people find sleeping with a phone in the bed much more uncomfortable than with a watch on the wrist.
  - dataflow 2mo ago
    Phone in the bed? My phone is not in the bed. It still wakes me up when vibrating.
    - pandaman 2mo ago
      If it's not in the bed then its vibrating not going to reach you, what wakes you up is the noise it makes while vibrating on some surface and this noise is heard by others just as well.

markdown 2mo ago

> The killer feature of modern watches is the vibration alarm - you can wake up even if you use earplugs/headphones/noise machine and you won't wake up anyone else along with you. I came here to say exactly this. That's not the reason I bought a smart watch in the first place (I didn't even know that was a feature), but it's the only reason I still use a smart watch now over my old Seiko.

annzabelle 2mo ago
It's a lot of why I got a Coros watch (the other reason is for running/health tracking). I stay in hostel dorms pretty regularly, and being able to wake up for that 6am flight without waking up the whole room is so nice.

dataflow 2mo ago

> The killer feature of modern watches is the vibration alarm - you can wake up even if you use earplugs/headphones/noise machine and you won't wake up anyone else along with you. Probably depends a lot on the person. A phone already does that for me, and doesn't have the associated uncomfortableness of wearing a watch while I sleep.

pandaman 2mo ago
Indeed, I didn't see studies so my theory is that most people find sleeping with a phone in the bed much more uncomfortable than with a watch on the wrist.
- dataflow 2mo ago
  Phone in the bed? My phone is not in the bed. It still wakes me up when vibrating.
  - pandaman 2mo ago
    If it's not in the bed then its vibrating not going to reach you, what wakes you up is the noise it makes while vibrating on some surface and this noise is heard by others just as well.