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Whether this will be useful all rests on the quality and differentiation of the haptic feedback. For example, imagine walking down the street towards your dest
by lhnz 12y ago
Whether this will be useful all rests on the quality and differentiation of the haptic feedback.
For example, imagine walking down the street towards your destination and feeling the right side of the watch vibrate to signal that you should turn right.
If your watch can communicate contextual information related to your intention and local then it will be superior to (1) wearing a socially inappropriate device like the Google Glass, (2) being called out to by a device, (3) fumbling in your phone in order to then open the correct app.
Apps that correctly use haptic feedback should be able to silently and subtly give users superpowers without forcing them to clumsily interact with a product.
I actually wrote about the benefits of this back in 2012 [0], though I was talking about phones and notification fatigue back then (and not leveraging Future Interface style stuff.)
[0] http://sebinsua.com/your-thigh-as-an-interface-from-your-phone-to-your-mind http://sebinsua.com/your-thigh-as-an-interface-from-your-pho...
- tolmasky 12y agoThe overriding feeling I had during this keynote is that every feature that I found cool in the watch I would much prefer on my phone. Cool watch app? Wait, actually that would be cooler and more usable on a big screen... Haptic feedback? Agreed, awesome idea, but no reason it can't be on my phone and buzz my leg instead of my wrist.
- Kurtz79 12y agoI think interface wise Cook has the right of it when he says they didn't just strap a reduced iPhone on the wrist. It's clear that they spent a large amount of time and effort with the haptic feedback and the crown. But functionality wise... well I completely agree with you. I can't see anything a smartphone cannot do, better and more efficiently, with the exception of the heart rate sensor. Some functions in particular seem very awkward to me: I cannot see a reasonable way of using it as a phone or an audio player, in public, without bluetooth earphones. With mobile phones, mp3 players and smartphones the value proposition was clear, but what is the killer application for smartwatches ? That said, I would be far from surprised if they sell like hotcakes.
- crazychrome 12y agoagree. What's the killer App for it? Maybe it's the HealthKit related things, but they hardly appeal to core Apple buyers: young people! It'll be a historical change if Apple starts to add oldlies into its base.
- aaronem 12y ago> no reason it can't be on my phone and buzz my leg instead of my wrist There's a much higher density of tactile nerve endings in your wrist than in your thigh; even if you can reliably feel your phone vibrating in your pocket (I can't!), that's no guarantee you'd be able to discriminate finely enough for haptic feedback to be of use, especially since the phone's orientation in your pocket is not guaranteed.
- jlebar 12y ago> Haptic feedback? Agreed, awesome idea, but no reason it can't be on my phone and buzz my leg instead of my wrist. It's frequently lost upon this crowd (I'm guilty of this myself) that half of the population in the West frequently wears clothes which lack pockets.
- UrMomReadsHN 12y agoPhones already do this. My android phone vibrates when I have walking directions on and I need to turn.
- ChristianBundy 12y agoYour statistic confused me until I realized you were [assumedly] referencing females who keep their phones in their purses/bags.
- hayleyanthony 12y agoPlease try to say women, not "females." I don't think you meant anything by it but when you always see that usage, (common in tech spaces) it starts to feel a little dehumanizing.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- dzhiurgis 12y agoa.i. males in medical community?
- wmeredith 12y agoOh lord, get over it. Female is degrading now?
- yusefnapora 12y agoWell, it does make you sound like a Ferengi.
- mooism2 12y agoRe haptic feedback: I'm forever feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket when it isn't vibrating... and still manage not to notice when it does vibrate. Perhaps I would perceive the signal more accurately if it was on my wrist instead of my thigh.
- wildpeaks 12y agoUntil you start having the same phantom vibrations in your wrist as well.
- 72deluxe 12y agoIs your wrist sensitive enough to determine whether the right or left of your phone has buzzed if you're walking?
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- ionforce 12y agoMight be one if by land, two if by sea.
- alttab 12y agoIn my experience, Google Glass turns you into a walking celebrity, and has been as far from "socially inappropriate" as it can get. I'm not in San Fran, which seems to be the only place that pours haterade.
- coldtea 12y agoActually they have thrown out people even in Paris McDonalds for wearing a Google Glass. And just try wearing it in some sensitive areas (e.g night-clubs, expensive restaurants etc) around the world and see what happens...
- boyaka 12y agoSo it's socially inappropriate because it's not allowed by a gigantic corporation (that films everything we do at their restaurants), as well as stuck up fancy institutions that will scoff at your shoes and not let you in for that?
- tga_d 12y ago>Actually they have thrown out people even in Paris McDonalds for wearing a Google Glass. The incident you're thinking of was Steve Mann being assaulted and thrown out for wearing his own custom digital eye glass, about a year before the Google Glass developer release. I also haven't heard of frequent incidents involving "sensitive areas". Some incidents, yes, but definitely not enough for me to categorize it as a trend.
- Schwolop 12y agoUnless what you're describing was a later repetition of a 2012 incident, that was actually Dr Steve Mann being kicked out for wearing his EyeTap - which is physically bolted to his head and cannot be removed easily. Nothing to do with Google Glass at all.
- threeseed 12y agoSeriously ? Other geeks maybe interested in your new toy but nobody would be thinking that your social status has been elevated in anyway. In fact it is the complete opposite. The early adopters of Google Glass have cemented its reputation as a geeky, invasive, awkward, Star Trek like toy for socially inept young men.
- bendyorke 12y ago> (3) fumbling in your phone in order to then open the correct app. This isn't directly tied to you or your argument, but whenever people talk about about smart watches, 'fumbling with your phone' seems to come up. I can't recall the last time I thought of checking my phone as a hassle or felt like I was 'fumbling with it'. That being said, I am excited to see what developers come up with for smart watches (either platform) and am interested to see how the haptic* feedback performs. * I know Apple is calling it the Taptic Engine, so I'm not sure if we're supposed to be calling it taptic or haptic feedback, especially since it's not entirely haptic