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I'm curious what percentage of smart watch wearers, having sported one for a while, view their devices as essential to having them on their person every single

by deveac 13y ago

I'm curious what percentage of smart watch wearers, having sported one for a while, view their devices as essential to having them on their person every single day. Did the anticipated use cases map with reality? Execution-wise I see a lot of complaints, but I wonder how much of what they're getting right is still "wrong".

shriphani 13y ago
Watches have ceased to have real use in modern society? For most people (or rather me and my immediate society at least), a watch is now a piece of jewelry. A pebble is thus more of a want than a need.
- ghaff 13y ago
  Different strokes etc. I suspect that it is partially an age thing. I've always worn a watch and like being able to glance at my wrist casually and see the time--and it's just a cheap digital Timex, nothing jewelry-like. (And, in general, I hate jewelry; a watch is the only thing I wear.)
bifftannen 13y ago
I don't know if I would call it essential, but it is very nice. When I was debating to purchase one, the main argument was I don't wear a watch, and I generally don't like anything on my wrist or hands. The only time I'd wear a watch is camping, since I generally don't have a phone that is powered on on camping trips. This particular watch also has a barometer to help with rapidly changing weather. I bought a Pebble, and wear it everyday. I don't miss much of anything anymore from my phone. Sometimes I'd put my phone down somewhere and forget it for a couple of hours, or not feel it when I'd vibrate in my pocket. One of the other reasons I didn't really wear a watch is I'd get bored of the watch face and want to purchase another watch. I can change watch faces easily now.
Kiro 13y ago
I can definitely call it essential. There have been days when I've forgotten it at home and it's crazy how much you miss it.
apetrovic 13y ago
I can't say it's essential to have it on the wrist every single day, but I found it nice to have. And yes, my anticipated use-case almost completely maps with reality. Now, before I explain myself, a bit of disclaimer (apart from the obvious - I'm not a native English speaker ;) ). I like to wear a watch, taking out the phone from the pocket to check the time don't work for me. Also, for various reasons I usually can't ignore notifications from my phone (my employer is in different time zone than me, I have small kids, etc). So this is my use case, I have no doubt that other people have different expectations/needs. The original Pebble looked too plasticky to me, Samsung watches are abominations, we all hear that Apple and Google is cooking something but v1 from Google is usually a disaster and v1 from Apple is usually pricey, shiny and pretty limited, so I ordered Pebble Steel in early January. My experience so far: - I stopped checking the phone every now and then, especially during the conversations/meetings - if there is some notification, I'll see it on my wrist. No more "did the phone vibrated?" moments. - Having notifications delivered to my wrist is super useful when I'm home, and the phone is not in my pocket. - Even more useful having a smartwatch is when I'm driving - instead of pulling the phone from the pocket and trying to stay on track, I can just glance on the wrist and see is it something important or ignorable. All of these use cases is something I anticipated, and so far I'm happy. But not everything is smooth: - I have an iPhone, the Pebble app on iOS don't work always as expected. So I developed a habit to run the app in the morning, to prevent it to be kicked from the memory. - Someone would expect to have basic watch functions on the watch. Pebble don't have a stopwatch, so I need to run third-party app to measure time. Which is nice, but Pebble OS don't support multitasking, so if I exit the app (accidentally or on purpose - maybe I want to check time), stopwatch stops. Same for timer applications. I would be nice if the OS have some basic hooks for such essential functionality - Alarms are dumb. I can have working-days-only alarms on my old G-Shock, but I can't have it on smartwatch? - Currently I can't buy a plastic/rubber/silicone wristband for my Pebble Steel (because of "smart" case design), so I can't swim with my watch.
- deveac 13y ago
  So use-case wise you think the implementation is on point, it just needs better execution it sounds like...
wvenable 13y ago
I bought it just because I wanted a smaller platform to do some hobby development on but getting notifications on my wrist is really fantastic. I feel more connected but much less bothered.
parktheredcar 13y ago
It's very good for delivering information from the smartphone without having to reach in your pocket. Any notification has its text delivered to the watch. On the other hand I haven't found it to be terribly useful at taking input. Awkward buttons with awkward placement on the wrist, it's just easier to pull out the touchscreen. Still, just as a satellite screen it's really nice to have. Sure, I could technically live without it just as I could technically live without a smartphone, but I have chosen to wear mine every day for the last year or so.

by deveac 13y ago

shriphani 13y ago

Watches have ceased to have real use in modern society? For most people (or rather me and my immediate society at least), a watch is now a piece of jewelry. A pebble is thus more of a want than a need.

ghaff 13y ago
Different strokes etc. I suspect that it is partially an age thing. I've always worn a watch and like being able to glance at my wrist casually and see the time--and it's just a cheap digital Timex, nothing jewelry-like. (And, in general, I hate jewelry; a watch is the only thing I wear.)

bifftannen 13y ago

I don't know if I would call it essential, but it is very nice. When I was debating to purchase one, the main argument was I don't wear a watch, and I generally don't like anything on my wrist or hands. The only time I'd wear a watch is camping, since I generally don't have a phone that is powered on on camping trips. This particular watch also has a barometer to help with rapidly changing weather. I bought a Pebble, and wear it everyday. I don't miss much of anything anymore from my phone. Sometimes I'd put my phone down somewhere and forget it for a couple of hours, or not feel it when I'd vibrate in my pocket. One of the other reasons I didn't really wear a watch is I'd get bored of the watch face and want to purchase another watch. I can change watch faces easily now.

Kiro 13y ago

I can definitely call it essential. There have been days when I've forgotten it at home and it's crazy how much you miss it.

apetrovic 13y ago

I can't say it's essential to have it on the wrist every single day, but I found it nice to have. And yes, my anticipated use-case almost completely maps with reality. Now, before I explain myself, a bit of disclaimer (apart from the obvious - I'm not a native English speaker ;) ). I like to wear a watch, taking out the phone from the pocket to check the time don't work for me. Also, for various reasons I usually can't ignore notifications from my phone (my employer is in different time zone than me, I have small kids, etc). So this is my use case, I have no doubt that other people have different expectations/needs. The original Pebble looked too plasticky to me, Samsung watches are abominations, we all hear that Apple and Google is cooking something but v1 from Google is usually a disaster and v1 from Apple is usually pricey, shiny and pretty limited, so I ordered Pebble Steel in early January. My experience so far: - I stopped checking the phone every now and then, especially during the conversations/meetings - if there is some notification, I'll see it on my wrist. No more "did the phone vibrated?" moments. - Having notifications delivered to my wrist is super useful when I'm home, and the phone is not in my pocket. - Even more useful having a smartwatch is when I'm driving - instead of pulling the phone from the pocket and trying to stay on track, I can just glance on the wrist and see is it something important or ignorable. All of these use cases is something I anticipated, and so far I'm happy. But not everything is smooth: - I have an iPhone, the Pebble app on iOS don't work always as expected. So I developed a habit to run the app in the morning, to prevent it to be kicked from the memory. - Someone would expect to have basic watch functions on the watch. Pebble don't have a stopwatch, so I need to run third-party app to measure time. Which is nice, but Pebble OS don't support multitasking, so if I exit the app (accidentally or on purpose - maybe I want to check time), stopwatch stops. Same for timer applications. I would be nice if the OS have some basic hooks for such essential functionality - Alarms are dumb. I can have working-days-only alarms on my old G-Shock, but I can't have it on smartwatch? - Currently I can't buy a plastic/rubber/silicone wristband for my Pebble Steel (because of "smart" case design), so I can't swim with my watch.

deveac 13y ago
So use-case wise you think the implementation is on point, it just needs better execution it sounds like...

wvenable 13y ago

I bought it just because I wanted a smaller platform to do some hobby development on but getting notifications on my wrist is really fantastic. I feel more connected but much less bothered.

parktheredcar 13y ago

It's very good for delivering information from the smartphone without having to reach in your pocket. Any notification has its text delivered to the watch. On the other hand I haven't found it to be terribly useful at taking input. Awkward buttons with awkward placement on the wrist, it's just easier to pull out the touchscreen. Still, just as a satellite screen it's really nice to have. Sure, I could technically live without it just as I could technically live without a smartphone, but I have chosen to wear mine every day for the last year or so.