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I'm surprised that anyone (apart from Apple) is bothering to make smart watches. I stopped wearing a watch years ago, because the extra information I got from
by foxylad 12y ago
I'm surprised that anyone (apart from Apple) is bothering to make smart watches.
I stopped wearing a watch years ago, because the extra information I got from looking at my smartphone covered the overhead of pulling it out of my pocket. I've enjoyed not having something strapped to my wrist, so any of these horribly thick smart watches are going to have to provide a compelling benefit to get anywhere near my arm.
Because of size and power issues, you can't actually read or deal with anything but the most trivial issues on a smart watch. So the main value proposition seems to be that they tell you you need to look at your phone, and that's not compelling enough for me.
Apple will get some sales, from those who need their status affirming - just like the people who still wear a Rolex watch. But I'm betting that all the other smart watches disappear fairly soon.
My pick for the next real user interface revolution? Smart hearing aids, using speech as the UI. Inconspicuous, and simple to use - particularly for our affluent ageing population, many of whom need the hearing aid part anyway.
- bequanna 12y ago>My pick for the next real user interface revolution? Smart hearing aids, using speech as the UI. Inconspicuous, and simple to use - particularly for our affluent ageing population, many of whom need the hearing aid part anyway. I like this idea. The best part? The elderly are already used to spending a few grand on these and the current functionality is limited to amplifying/filtering sound.
- oliv__ 12y agoI don't think anyone wants to be talking to their device constantly to get anything done. Google glass comes to mind...
- Eridrus 12y agoGoogle glass suffered heavily because it having a video camera that people felt invaded their privacy and it had a highly visible form factor. A solution similar to a hearing implant/headset doesn't have either of these issues.
- veb 12y agoHearing aids are already very smart. I got a cochlear implant a year ago, and it's fantastic. I've had moderate to severe hearing loss since birth. I wore hearing aids for the past 25 years with loads of different models, even brands so I know from experience. I got the Med-El Opus 2 and RONDO as the processor for my implant: http://www.medel.com/rondo/ http://www.medel.com/rondo/ Hearing aids are again, very smart -- they do things like increasing volume to hear voices (coded to whatever your hearing loss is) when you're somewhere noisy (next to a busy road, a pub and so on). They usually 'communicate' together, changing volume automatically as an example and very rarely need any tinkering: just turn them on to hear. Hearing aids and Cochlear Implants are some very fascinating tech, and very well made.
- fineline 12y agoOK, you clearly don't go surfing at lunchtime with a meeting afterwards that you don't want to miss. Like I just did. With a watch. And no phone. That said, a normal watch is fine for me, getting emails while in the water would be a hugely negative feature. Agree that there are many untapped opportunities in voice UI, not just for elderly but for people doing stuff such as driving, operating tools etc. (Again, not surfing!) After all, in the end video did not kill the radio star.