On the back of a very expansive topic for the just released and now out of stock Apple Watch....
Have device makers found the killer function yet?
Yo my mind the only two really successful wearables are the Pebble Watch and Fitbit. The former being very simple and having good battery life, the latter being targeted towards fitness very specifically.
I personally have a 1st gen Galaxy Gear, before it moved over to Tizen OS it was a cut down, crap version of android. Since the upgrade/move it has opened up a lot of apps which make it useful. I have always believed the only way wearables succeed is if they offer a concept that compliments how consumers go about their daily business. Some of the most recent releases have a rather poor UI (Gear/Apple Watch amongst others), which doesn't lend to easy navigation.
If you think back to when the iPhone and iOS were first released, it was designed with usability in mind, anyone could pick up the phone and work its basic functions. Then we had Android which was great for a techie like us on here, in later years its usability factor increased. iOS and Android effective met each other in reverse.
I don't see that happening with wearables, Samsung and Apple have basically tried to ram a new UI/OS down the back of people's throats, we then have Google trying to convince the whole world how great Android Wear is, yet still struggling.
I would agree with the consensus around the Apple Watch, the 1st gen isn't the one to be buying simply as its the first one. I suspect inspite of its success Apple will return back to the fold and this time next year offer a roundface.
That said even pebble and fitbit suffer from this, I want a watch to look like a watch, roundface nice leather strap and functions that compliment how I use my phone, I suspect few will feel differently to myself. LG and to a lesser extent Motorola seem to be the only manufacturers who grasp this, being honest I never liked the look of the Moto 360, G Watch R certainly is catching my eye, although I don't know when its released (the metal strap version).
Is this market like the early days of touchscreen smartphones? Will it grow and develop, offering us new oppurtunities to change how we do things?
Or
Will it just be another flash in the pan with very little substance?
Have device makers found the killer function yet?
Yo my mind the only two really successful wearables are the Pebble Watch and Fitbit. The former being very simple and having good battery life, the latter being targeted towards fitness very specifically.
I personally have a 1st gen Galaxy Gear, before it moved over to Tizen OS it was a cut down, crap version of android. Since the upgrade/move it has opened up a lot of apps which make it useful. I have always believed the only way wearables succeed is if they offer a concept that compliments how consumers go about their daily business. Some of the most recent releases have a rather poor UI (Gear/Apple Watch amongst others), which doesn't lend to easy navigation.
If you think back to when the iPhone and iOS were first released, it was designed with usability in mind, anyone could pick up the phone and work its basic functions. Then we had Android which was great for a techie like us on here, in later years its usability factor increased. iOS and Android effective met each other in reverse.
I don't see that happening with wearables, Samsung and Apple have basically tried to ram a new UI/OS down the back of people's throats, we then have Google trying to convince the whole world how great Android Wear is, yet still struggling.
I would agree with the consensus around the Apple Watch, the 1st gen isn't the one to be buying simply as its the first one. I suspect inspite of its success Apple will return back to the fold and this time next year offer a roundface.
That said even pebble and fitbit suffer from this, I want a watch to look like a watch, roundface nice leather strap and functions that compliment how I use my phone, I suspect few will feel differently to myself. LG and to a lesser extent Motorola seem to be the only manufacturers who grasp this, being honest I never liked the look of the Moto 360, G Watch R certainly is catching my eye, although I don't know when its released (the metal strap version).
Is this market like the early days of touchscreen smartphones? Will it grow and develop, offering us new oppurtunities to change how we do things?
Or
Will it just be another flash in the pan with very little substance?
