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Thursday, March 19, 2015

Why I Love Wearing A Smartwatch, And Why You Should Wear One As Well


Forbes

Why I Love Wearing A Smartwatch, And Why You Should Wear One As Well


While they were never the headline stars of Mobile World Congress last week, smart watches are rapidly becoming the accessory to have, both for manufacturers and consumers. Strapping a second screen to your wrist, with either a touchscreen or some well thought out buttons, is the new geek fashion. The Fossill Wrist PDA and SPOT watches failed to capture enough love, but the current crop of Samsung GearsSony SmartWatches, andPebbles, are ready to win over the general public.

I make no bones about the fact that I’m happy to try out every bit of early adopter technology that is going. From the early days of the PDA, through smartphones, and the rise of the tablets, I’ve been out there on the edge. Having a smartwatch is something that fits with my tendency to experiment with the latest technology.

The last few months have seen more people interested in my smartwatch. The chirps and alerts from my social networks, breaking news from the BBC, and the fitness applications are all starting points for enlightened questions. Smartwatches are no longer branded with the pocket protector or the propeller hat, but are becoming fashionable and mainstream. This change in attitude will help drive sales over the next year, and this will be helped by the utility that the current crop of smartwatches exhibit.
Samsung Gear 2 and Gear Neo smartwatches (image: Samsung Press)
Samsung Gear 2 and Gear Neo smartwatches (image: Samsung Press)
Thanks to my smartwatch, I’ve found myself picking up my smartphone far less during the day. There’s no need for me to keep checking my social networks, my email inbox, or any of the important connected services I subscribe to. If there is something important, then my smartwatch will give a little chirp (and in most case a quick vibration) and a quick glance will let me know who is reaching out to me, and I can decide very quickly if I need to interrupt my current task and switch focus. The advantage of the smartwatch is I only have to deal with that single interruption, there are no further distractions, alerts, or graphics trying to catch my attention. For the majority of alerts, my smartphone stays in my pocket and I can keep writing, reading, or researching. The time to make the decision on an incoming alert on a smartwatch is typically less than a second, which is a magnitude faster than checking my smartphone’s screen.

The smartwatch gives me a feeling of connectedness coupled with independence. It puts me back in control of the messages that are coming at me throughout the day. It’s all very well saying ‘just have some discipline’ but it’s human nature to be distracted and to see who is reaching out to you. I can be confident of not missing anything important, while removing all the other distractions that soak up my productive time during the day. The smartwatch unchains me from all but the most important moments online.
There there is the smart watch application scene. Smartwatches are already being used by the fitness app suppliers. RunKeeper supports the Pebble smart watch, Runtastic works wonderfully with Sony’s SmartWatch, and Samsung has highlighted the in-build sensors in the Gear 2 range to measure your heart rate, count steps, sleep, and stress levels. I might not be the greatest runner in the world, but having my MP3 controls on my wrist is far more accessible than pulling out the latest five-inch screened smartphone. Developers are only just getting to grips with the smartwatch revolution, so these wrist based apps, while being incredibly useful, are still on touching the tip of the creative iceberg.

It’s not just the technology, because smartwatches are now  entering an era where fashion is just as important as function. With the launch of the Pebble Steel at CES this year the smartwatch moved out of square boxes and into a more acceptable look. While the smartwatch class of 2014 will improve on the software and functionality on our wrists, the biggest impact will be in the design of the watches and an adoption of a contemporary look from the manufacturers, from all-encompassing macho metal designs to taking on the explosive colors of the Swatch range.

I’ve never been one for fashion, so I’m going to claim the ‘retro’ label and let everyone else get on with it.
Pebble Steel
Pebble Steel
The point is this. Although smartwatches have been trailed as the next big thing for a few years now, they have finally reached the point where the physical hardware such as screen technology and battery usage; the software, both the first-party watch OS and apps, the smartphone clients, and the third-party apps; and the practical designs for the modern world are all meshing together to create a compelling package that has a positive impact in the real world.
SmartWatches are now at the tipping point of being genuinely useful. As 2014 continues, this situation will only improve. Now is the time to start enjoying yourself on the new frontier.

The American Information Consumer: SMARTWATCH METADATA

Ernest Karhu
Bear Market Economics




SMARTWATCH UPDATE:

Now that I've had my own smartwatch for about a week now, I wouldn't part from it for one minute.

Why is a smartwatch a valuable adjunct to the smart phone? The answer for me is META DATA or META INFORMATION that my smartphone cannot and does not provide. Just imagine if your smartphone acted like your smartwatch does. It would be absolutely useless or non-functional (as a smartphone).


If the primary reason that you have a personal computer, laptop, tablet and/or smartphone is connectivity to information (which saved me trips to the library or having the latest and greatest version of the Encyclopedia Britannica in your home, which I had as a kid, plus my regular trips to the local public library). Today you can have it all and more, at your fingertips and on your wrist. I do.


But now I have direct access to the metadata along with electronic subscriptions and my smartwatch provides the META DATA I've never had access to in all those years. I would hate to lose this new vital step.

How did I accomplish this? I found an Android smartwatch application  that essentially connected to every notification that my smartphone already accessed. Now my smartwatch is humming and providing the metadata for the data my phone accesses. That's not something my phone can tell me nor would I want a phone that did. But this is why I bought my smartwatch and why I need it now more than ever.

The next step in the evolution of information technology WILL BE a META DATA ORGANIZER, but I know now that I will still NEED, PREFER, WANT and USE mt smartwatch.

This might not obviously make sense to you if you've never had or worn a smartwatch. It didn't occur to me until I had one on my wrist.

Although I've read most of those articles providing 100 reasons why you should NOT buy a smart watch and the articles suggesting the top 10 reason why you need one, none of them suggested or mentioned METADATA.

Well now I have...