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Worth buying a smart watch this christmas?
blueisthecolour
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I've got to say that i'm really interested in the idea of a smart watch. I love my Galaxy Note 2 but it's size means that I don't carry it around with me at work or at home, and it's usually on silent meaning I miss calls and texts all the time. And it would be good to look at the time without taking it out my pocket
But i'm unconvinced with the smart watches i've seen so far. The technology doesn't seem to be quite there yet and the prices of some are ridiculous (galaxy gear, i'm looking at you).
Does anyone currently have a smart watch that they think is decent? Are there any coming out in the near future?
But i'm unconvinced with the smart watches i've seen so far. The technology doesn't seem to be quite there yet and the prices of some are ridiculous (galaxy gear, i'm looking at you).
Does anyone currently have a smart watch that they think is decent? Are there any coming out in the near future?
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That new Qualcomm Toq sounds like it would be a hit but for more silly money tricks.
Maybe the Pebble is the best bet at the moment.
Yeah, I got the notification about the Toq which made me start this thread. At $349 though i'm expecting it to be at least £249 here.
I agree that so far it looks like the technology isn't mature enough.
It could Fire up sales.
If we going be using for video calling which is one of the big advantages of the watches you going want at least a solid 720p front facing camera inside.
Something else is I'm not sure how many people actually want to talk into there watch.
Another is design they don't look like a professional watch to me which I know sounds a small problem but in my line of work it is actually quite important. Think different sizes for males and females is a good idea not sure if any are doing that yet.
Even after that I not sure I will get one I like a watch to actually have proper hands on it. It just looks right to me not a massive fan of digital clocks. I know you can get it to display in analog mode but it still doesn't honestly look that good.
It is very much a "version 1.0" device as LostFool said above, but it's great and I'm glad I got it.
Not all smart watches have as poor battery life as the Galaxy Gear...
The Pebble lasts for a week. Which, given what it does, is actually very good.
^^ This. I have a pebble. early adopter toy really but best of the bunch at the moment i'd say
And I suspect KitKat lowered RAM requirements back to 512MB, and made it modular, as a forerunner for the Android Smartwatch/WatchPC.
RAM uses continuous power too, so low RAM can also mean lower power.
Interestingly, I only just realised that the Sony Smartwatch 2(for Sony, a 3rd generation watch device), like the Qualcomm also uses a transflective display. It may mean it works better with outside light than inside !
Thanks for the tips so far.
To be honest I'd just like something that I could read texts/emails from and notifies me of calls.
All the most desirable and expensive watches are the old fashioned mechanical type of watches. Essentially I think people consider a watch as a piece of jewellery/fashion item
I think the mobile phone has killed or at least changed the market for cheap but very functional digital multi function watches.
I'll stick with my automatic mechanical watch which never needs winding or ever needs a battery change.
Yup, definitely the best available at the moment
Pebble will do that for you, and more
Invent a regular-looking watch with a face that doubles as a "touchpad", hook it up to a phone that's outputting to something like Google Glass and you'd really be onto something IMO.
In which case the REAL v1.0 of smartwatches - devices like the SE MBW-100/150 (which also look like a real watch) are just as good.
Battery typically lasts a week (considerably more when bluetooth is off), they can inform you of incoming calls (great for those who are too lazy to pull the phone from the pocket), read incoming texts, have AVRCP so can control the music player.
And if you can find one, they'll be considerably cheaper.
These other devices are effectively v2 of smartwatches, and to be honest don't offer much more in the way of truly useful functionality.
Says who?
What would actually make it useful for you?
I find this a bit hard to believe, but they've apparently sold - or at least shipped - 800,000.
http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/11/19/5121212/samsung-galaxy-gear-smartwatch-sales-figures
It's not meant to replace your whole damn phone. Equally, I could name an awful lot of things that would be accomplished more easily taking your laptop out of your bag than trying to use a phone or tablet.
Wearable technology makes a lot of sense but I'm not sure the masses are ready for something like Google Glass. When they start to get the smart watch right it should be a huge market but I'm not sure the technology is quite there just yet. If the battery life can be extended and voice recognition/AI improve it could take off. If it doesn't happen in the next couple of years it will come back after a few more years when the technology catches with what people want.
I think that any company who thinks like this might be disappointed, unfortunately.
People don't buy Rolexes and Breitlings because of what they do. They buy them because of what they are.
The sort of person who spends £1,000 on a hand-built Swiss watch isn't going to be inclined to buy a lump of mass-produced plastic Korean tat to put on their wrist just because it does some tricks and costs £1,000 as well.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there IS a market for these things but the manufacturers need to realise they have to get people to buy them on merit rather than simply assuming the market will adopt them because people already buy expensive watches.
Bit of a discrepancy with the Guardian article.
A good watch is more an expensive piece of jewellery these days.
You're probably looking at 5-7k at least for a low end brietling or rolex, you're paying for the meticulous attention to detail, craftsmanship and man hours it takes to build one of these.
I think the smart watch will be aimed more at the sort of person who likes gadgety digital watches with stopwatches, heart monitors, altimeters, compasses and things like that.
Maybe the market is niche though as I can't see how the smart-watch could be an effective way of being used as a communication device. We will have to see.
It appears the 50,000 figure widely reported yesterday were not overall global sales.