I think the idea has major potential, but I'll hold out for at least a year or two, and inevitably they have to come out with a new and improved version, with a battery that lasts at least 48 hours... right??
@madamehardy I never like the humungous lump on your wrist fad in watches to begin with -- not just in smart watches. I wear a GearFit and it is the perfect size for me.
@spitfire6006006 I stopped wearing a normal watch long before I had a cell phone. People are too fucking worried about what time it is. And I hate having that kind of shit on my wrist. I have some problems with the whole idea of time anyway, but that's another rant.
@joelmw I try not to care about time too much, but in the evening, when I want to maximize my walk through the city but still have a train to catch… well, it gets pretty important. That's when my watch gets the vast majority of its use.
As a dedicated watch-wearer whose watch is one of the few most useful things he owns, the thing that always annoys me about this "debate" is the degree to which people overgeneralize ("watches are obsolete!") from their own valid-but-nothing-like-universal personal preferences ("I don't find a watch comfortable/useful/necessary"). But of all the arguments against wearing a watch -- a position that really wants no argument at all, since people are as free to eschew them as any other personal accessory -- BY FAR my new favorite is: "I have some problems with the whole idea of time"
Not particularly impressed with "smart" watches yet. They don't have much function without a smartphone... And cost too much for a notification reader..
They're cool, as long as you get the PalmPilot of watches, instead of the Apple Newton of watches.
Pebble is much more suited to the job than the apple watch. 18 hour battery life for something you wear on your wrist is just idiotic. I'll keep my 5-7 days battery life with fairly quick recharge time, thanks.
Also, if you're trying to completely replace your phone, it'll take a lot longer and much better battery technology before it is usable for that task. They'll get that right eventually... Maybe... I just use it for some light controlling of my phone, Google Authenticators, ability to check who is calling or texting, and to triage incoming requests without dragging the massive phone out of my pocket.
@PocketBrain I was lucky to get 2 nano refurbs a couple years ago. Decided to go all out on the watch bands with the Lunatik - they only have the Black leather left. Really beautiful. Get tons of compliments on it & when I turn it on people start asking if it is a beta of the Apple watch.
@billchase2 yes, completely different, but they were very popular and apple killed them. I'm assuming they didn't want to compete with their own lower-tier product. And the nanotechnology has a three-axis accelerometer they only used to count steps. They could have done a lot more with the little guy.
I bought a LG G watch, $80, with a $50 Google Play credit. I sold the Google Play credit on eBay, so my net cost on this was less than $50. For the price, it's fantastic. I wear it everyday, use it as a pedometer and to monitor my emails. Occasionally I'll use it to dictate text messages while driving. The fact that I can change watch faces on a whim is rather amusing, and the notifications are useful.
The battery is ok, charging is it annoying. Due to the pin charging system they use, I've had to clean the contacts once, and I expect I'll have to do that every 2-3 months. When I want to send a text message, it will sometimes randomly fail, and it can be very difficult to see if it sends while I'm driving. The watch is supposed to vibrate on a successful send, but it does not consistently do that.
The voice recognition is erratic. It seems to depends on the current data connection. So while using Wifi it's great, but while driving it can vary from useless to perfect.
Overall I like it, but I doubt I would pay more than a $100 for a smartwatch in the near future. It's enjoyable and useful, but I don't expect it to last much more than a year.
Watches are more of a fashion statement for me, functionality isn't really a concern past telling the time. I hear a lot of people rave about the pebble's battery life, but I've tried one, and it's really boring. It's an ugly, plastic, expensive watch, and it doesn't even have an LED screen. It's a dull, grey customizable watch face. I'll stick with mechanical watches until they really impress me.
@Prophet The Pebble that's being funded now is a color e-ink screen. But I'd take even b/w e-ink with its low power draw and visibility in sunlight over a backlit LCD or OLED any day.
I don't understand all the complaints about the 18 hour battery life. I've been awake for more than 18 hours straight probably fewer than five times in the last twenty years.
@SSteve I'm awake more than 18 hours straight at least once or twice per week. Or, even if you're not, say you stay overnight at your significant other's house. In addition to your phone charger, do you really want to have to pack a seperate watch charger? Especially if it's a spur of the moment kind of thing. If this thing just used a lightning connector, so it could share a cable with an iPhone, it wouldn't be quite so bad, but to have to add another proprietary cable... I'll pass, until at least the 2nd or 3rd version. Hopefully they get it right eventually.
@Headly Yes. I've also worn a watch virtually every day of my life since I was in grade school. Tough habit to break. When you're in a meeting where it's frowned upon to pull out your phone, you can probably get away with a quick glance at your watch. The idea has potential, but it's not quite there yet.
@DJP519 My point was is that most smart phones only last about a day it you actually use them, so any impromptu overnights youd require phone charging cables if you don;t want a dead phone in the morning. I'm not gonna drop $1,000 on one of these, but I will drop $400 to be on the bleeding edge.
@Headly But I have a car charger for my phone, and a charger at the office. If the watch used the same lightning connector, it wouldn't be a problem. But having to buy a car charger for a watch just seems absurd.
@SSteve compared to watches that don't need any charging and can instead just be forgotten about on your wrist, I'd say it is an issue. Those finely engineered mechanical ticking waterproof watches still have some edge in technology over "the technology watch". I mean, if it's mainly fashion, why not get something like an opal bracelet?
I bet Christopher Walken would be proud to stick that $17K Apple watch up his pooper and smuggle it out of the Hanoi Hilton. However, I'll be damned if you'll ever catch me wearing the stinkin' thing.
Technology companies, including Apple, are using the form factor of 20th century accessories instead of boldly creating new paradigms. Wearable devices need not look like they were created by Cartier or Timex.
I'm looking for a watch that will work for me.. No! Literally, go out-find a job and give me the paycheck every week. Now THAT would be some kinda watch!!
I have a cool phases of the moon watch, with stars and the sun... I bought in Germany when I worked there a number of years ago. My favorite and never replaceable by a dumb smart watch. So take that Apple!!!
@plastrd I have stand-alone internet-capable smart watch (Chinese obscure brand). Pedometer, email, call, everything. I am not in the least bit technical; maybe that's why I bought it - didn't know better. :)
I purposely quit wearing a watch ~10 years ago. I realized I was constantly looking at it, not because I wanted to know what time it was, but because it was just something I did. I realized that I spend ~99% of my day with a clock in front of me (whether on the corner of the computer screen, in the vehicle, or in my house), and that small percentage of remaining time I had a cell phone in my pocket.
@joelmw At church, I put the cell phone on 'silent'. ...and if you're just using it to signal to the preacher that he's taking too long, looking at your blank wrist still gets the point across. ;-)
@Headly Guilty. ...but I'm usually checking Facebook or something else, rather than looking at the time. And that wouldn't change whether or not I had a watch.
@smyle Actually, the Apple Watch does a pretty good job of realtime notifications and replies. I don't want an apple watch to tell time - I want one to track my hikes and runs, control the lights in my house, control my media server, check my front door cam, lock/unlock my front door, check the status of my car's charge level, make calls without taking my phone out, pay for stuff instead of tapping my phone, etc, etc. I'm pretty excited about the possibilities here. For example:
@Headly Different strokes for different folks. I love new gadgets, but I don't see anything about this one that makes me say "Wow, how did I ever get along without that?"
Which, btw, by most reckonings, "Yah" is actually part of my name, but I didn't break down the Hebrew because my experience is that most people either don't care and/or don't even pay attention that long.
I've been really excited about the Watch, but yesterday's announcement was kinda anticlimactic. I'm looking at the Pebble Steel, because as others have mentioned, the regular Pebbles are fugly. Still not sure. I'm a watch wearer and collector, so that's part of it, but as a geek, I want function. I may have to wait for Watch 2.0, however difficult that may be. Not sure Pebble is there, yet, but I'm a sucker for Kickstarter campaigns! Lol
Honestly, I think that the wristwatch is one of the most poorly implemented designs in all of human history. It certainly isn't worth putting up with for the current time, I don't like the "fashion statement" and it disappoints me that there's been less innovation in terms of wearable technology.
We have the capability for projection interfaces (for both input and output) that would make this archaic device obsolete. Really, I don't get the fixation on watches--especially among certain of my friends who think their big baubles are stylin'. Like a big gold chain to me. I don't get the saggy pants with the exposed ass either.
Google glasses (especially for those of us who have to wear glasses anyway) or contacts strike me as more of the right direction. But if there were more demand, I'm sure we'd have devices that could be attached pretty much anywhere and would do a shitload more than some silly little watch.
@joelmw Gotta disagree. The wrist of the one place on the body where you can wear something and easily view it and access it with your other hand. WHen you're hiking or running, using your watch to switch songs, check progress, etc is so much easier than grabbing your phone. I don't know if you watched the thing yesterday, but there are companies working on apps for the Apple Watch that will let you do home automation things, check security cameras, etc. To me that's the cool stuff. I'll probably wait a few months to see if there are any major flaws, and if not I'll get one of the aluminum ones - they're only $400.
@joelmw you have some strange ideas my friend (bet this isn't the first time you've been told that). I never tried them out but I didn't like the idea of Google glass, and it seemed that enough other people didn't since it's basically dead, but I love wearing a watch. Part of it is that it's something my SO gave me that I get to wear every day. I also like being able to tell time at a glance without lugging out my 6+. I don't consider myself a very fashionable person but I get the fashion component to it, I can recognize when someone is wearing a nice-looking watch. I like watches but I have no interest in a smart watch. I've even had my share of "time is a construct" conversations and I still like watches. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@JonT But imagine a warehouse full of employees who'd go over to the shelves with IP cameras and as soon as they looked at those boxes, Google Glass would put up a huge alert, "NO, THEY SOLD LANTERNS THAT DAY."
@joelmw@JonT Actually, I disagree with both of you. (Although I'd like Google Glass to be useful and it sounds like Google took it off sale and gave it to the Nest team to figure out how to do that.) Anyway, the Android watch for me is purely about convenient notifications. I totally can be a little too tied to my phone and, if it's in my pocket, it's great to see the notification without committing to dealing with it right then, because few things need to be. Everything in the FYI and heads up categories is a lot easier to deal with on the wrist than on the phone.
@Headly Okay, I might have been a bit hyperbolic. It's just never really worked for me. And I definitely believe we can do better. That's the bottom line for me. I'm all for gadgets, but at this stage in the technological evolution, putting something on my wrist feels like a step backward. I'd do it for $20 and a shitload of functionality (whatever Apple or Pebble has would do). But, damn, really, I just think we can do better.
@JonT Yeah, I've heard that a time or two. ;-) I just try to be honest. I can appreciate where you're coming from. Thanks for getting that I gotta be me. :-)
@editorkid Yes, but imagine all of that without having something strapped to your wrist and without having to raise your arm and look down. Hey, honestly, I'm eager for a stable brain implant. Probably not in my lifetime, alas. Unless we can figure out the transfer of consciousness or some sort of near-immortality. Still hoping. And, really, I wanna be a cyborg is what I want.
@Headly@JonT@editorkid See, but what I want is all of the functionality of the smartwatch without having anything on my wrists. Maybe my ancestors were shackled? I'd settle for something that just appeared on the back of my hand, even a tattoo of some sort. Hell, that'd do: an electronic tattoo that interfaced with my smartphone. Problem solved.
@Headly@JonT@editorkid So this is obviously a little clunky, but it's more a conversation and initial--and low-cost--exploration of an idea. This guy is headed in the right direction and I find this sort of thinking lacking in consumer technology.
@joelmw I guess we're both weird. I never wore a watch until the first Pebble; everything I want to watch or listen to is Tivoed or torrented (and my boss gets to work later than me), so the actual time at any moment rarely matters to me. I rarely have to raise my arm, and looking down isn't a burden for me if the watch isn't already in my field of view. (As for the video you posted, I don't have sound at work... I'll try to remember to look when I get home.)
@joelmw It's 2015 - material science, etc just isn't that advanced. I'd rather have something on my wrist than have to reach into my pocket for my phone every time it buzzes....
Oh, and to dovetail into what @Headly was saying, maybe someday I'd think of apps as useful, but really all I want right now is a second notification screen. Many of my phone's apps have installed sub-apps on my watch and I've never used them. One of the reasons I'm interested in the new Pebble is that Android Wear is moving too far into the apps model, honestly.
@editorkid You're an evil person. First you convinced me to buy the Lytro. Now you're working on me to get the watch. Stop it. I feel myself caving (though I still wish--and truly believe we can right now--do better than the wrist bond).
@joelmw Yes and no. The other two (3?) I could have ignored completely, so you win for that, but I'm not sure which rule you would have broken... Then again, if you're not cheating, you're not trying.
@joelmw Oh, no, I get it. Until I decided the second screen had value to me, I hated the idea of wearing a watch. I mean, I go back to the days when if you wanted to know the time, you'd have to call the phone company's Time Lady. Now our phones just tell us what she'd say.
So have you taken the Lytro out for a spin yet? Any thoughts on it?
@editorkid I've played with it a little. When my kid was in town recently we all went to the Nasher (a sculpture museum in Dallas). I took several pictures there. I haven't played with them much. I think I'd really like the additional pixels. Seems like the original is best for small macro photography. It's kinda fun. I need to play with it more.
I think of the Time Lady frequently actually--"at the tone . . . "--and the clocks (we still have two or three) that sync to an atomic clock somewhere. Kinda trippy how obsolete all of that is. Actually, it annoys me that there are still clocks in my house that I have to change back and forth between DST and/or that might run a little off. WTF is this, the 20th century?
I wear a GearFit daily at work-- love it. Vibration alerts for appointments, texts, calls etc. are easy to feel, but unlike a phone on vibrate, can't be noticed by anyone else. Much easier & more acceptable to check my watch to see texts/emails/who is calling in the middle of a meeting than constantly looking at my phone. For me, sleep tracking/heart-rate monitoring & pedometer on this watch are just ornamentation that get less use than the time/notification functions, but they are there if important to you. Battery life (I recharge every other night) is the only con. That and the sure knowledge that support/development was practically over the day it launched, since Samsung will always be focusing on the next generation, but I knew that going in.
The only watch I wear is an analog watch that has a button that lights up the face so I can see what time it is. I wear this watch to movies since I think it's rude to leave a cell phone on during a film.
I've owned a Pebble for over two years and have been very happy with it. However, I'm an iPhone user so I can't use it to its full potential. Yes, I will be preordering an Apple Watch in exactly one month.
If I were to buy something to strap on my wrist (other than the cheap HR monitors I bought last night to leave in my gym bag for those occasions I actually do cardio and the HR monitor isn't working on the machine I'm using) it would be an Apple watch.
However, my phone is distracting enough to my real life. I do not need anything else to distract me.
Nor do I need something else to remember to charge nightly (or weekly in the case of others.)
I am interested in smart watches, but don't want to look like I am wearing one. I still wear a watch due to its ease of use, and it being one of 2 pieces of jewelry that men can wear with anything. The other is a wedding ring.
@bruceoite those are some cool looking watches. The pre-order price is relatively reasonable too, I'd honestly be happy with a non-smart version of those.
I own a Pebble. It's fantastic. The battery lasts a long time.
The Apple Watch will tank for the opposite reason. 18 hours is far too little, and in a year its life will be even shorter.
@Fej I'm a proud Pebble owner as well. And the new Pebble Time looks even more fantastic.
@Fej Me too! Kickstarter edition even!
@thismyusername Kickstarter edition, as well as a pebble steel for christmas. In for the Pebble Time Steel too.
I think the idea has major potential, but I'll hold out for at least a year or two, and inevitably they have to come out with a new and improved version, with a battery that lasts at least 48 hours... right??
I've got a Pebble steel and I love it. Its better then any other smart watch right now solely because of the battery life.
@Crud I'd rather have a pedal steel.
@madamehardy um... ok
@madamehardy This my favorite album with pedal steel. Unfortunately, this video isn't in sync with the audio so you might want to close your eyes.
I have a dainty girl-type wrist. Smart watches are designed for a bigger diameter than my wrist. Meh.
@madamehardy That's pretty much where I am. The tech is just too bulky right now. Latest Pebble seems most plausible, but, meh.
@madamehardy I never like the humungous lump on your wrist fad in watches to begin with -- not just in smart watches. I wear a GearFit and it is the perfect size for me.
I'm not interested until they're truly standalone devices.
With holographic displays or some other tech that allows them to replace smart phones.
@TerriblyHuang You will need dilithium crystals or Mr Fusion.
Eh, I don't like wearing extra things, I stopped wearing a normal watch the day I got a cell phone
I stopped wearing a watch when I discovered all of the affordable ones are made of nickel.
@spitfire6006006 I stopped wearing a normal watch long before I had a cell phone. People are too fucking worried about what time it is. And I hate having that kind of shit on my wrist. I have some problems with the whole idea of time anyway, but that's another rant.
@joelmw I try not to care about time too much, but in the evening, when I want to maximize my walk through the city but still have a train to catch… well, it gets pretty important. That's when my watch gets the vast majority of its use.
As a dedicated watch-wearer whose watch is one of the few most useful things he owns, the thing that always annoys me about this "debate" is the degree to which people overgeneralize ("watches are obsolete!") from their own valid-but-nothing-like-universal personal preferences ("I don't find a watch comfortable/useful/necessary"). But of all the arguments against wearing a watch -- a position that really wants no argument at all, since people are as free to eschew them as any other personal accessory -- BY FAR my new favorite is: "I have some problems with the whole idea of time"
@matthew Time is an illusion. Lunch time doubly so...
Not particularly impressed with "smart" watches yet. They don't have much function without a smartphone... And cost too much for a notification reader..
They're cool, as long as you get the PalmPilot of watches, instead of the Apple Newton of watches.
Pebble is much more suited to the job than the apple watch. 18 hour battery life for something you wear on your wrist is just idiotic. I'll keep my 5-7 days battery life with fairly quick recharge time, thanks.
Also, if you're trying to completely replace your phone, it'll take a lot longer and much better battery technology before it is usable for that task. They'll get that right eventually... Maybe... I just use it for some light controlling of my phone, Google Authenticators, ability to check who is calling or texting, and to triage incoming requests without dragging the massive phone out of my pocket.
Myeahhhh... $350 minimum for the Apple watch? I bought an iPod nano plus watch band for about a hundred bucks a year ago.
That's funny, they're asking more than twice what I paid now! LOL, I wonder why???
@PocketBrain I was lucky to get 2 nano refurbs a couple years ago. Decided to go all out on the watch bands with the Lunatik - they only have the Black leather left. Really beautiful. Get tons of compliments on it & when I turn it on people start asking if it is a beta of the Apple watch.
@PocketBrain While I agree that the Nano functions well as a watch, they're two completely different devices.
@PocketBrain Thats like asking why a loaded Porsche Carrera costs more than a stripper Toyota Camry.
@billchase2 yes, completely different, but they were very popular and apple killed them. I'm assuming they didn't want to compete with their own lower-tier product. And the nanotechnology has a three-axis accelerometer they only used to count steps. They could have done a lot more with the little guy.
I bought a LG G watch, $80, with a $50 Google Play credit. I sold the Google Play credit on eBay, so my net cost on this was less than $50. For the price, it's fantastic. I wear it everyday, use it as a pedometer and to monitor my emails. Occasionally I'll use it to dictate text messages while driving. The fact that I can change watch faces on a
whim is rather amusing, and the notifications are useful.
The battery is ok, charging is it annoying. Due to the pin charging system they use, I've had to clean the contacts once, and I expect I'll have to do that every 2-3 months. When I want to send a text message, it will sometimes randomly fail, and it can be very difficult to see if it sends while I'm driving. The watch is supposed to vibrate on a successful send, but it does not consistently do that.
The voice recognition is erratic. It seems to depends on the current data connection. So while using Wifi it's great, but while driving it can vary from useless to perfect.
Overall I like it, but I doubt I would pay more than a $100 for a smartwatch in the near future. It's enjoyable and useful, but I don't expect it to last much more than a year.
@Zelucifer I would go 80 for one of those LG G watches... how did you get such a deal? (they go for 229 on google play store)
@thismyusername Black Friday/Christmas time offer from Best Buy
Watches are more of a fashion statement for me, functionality isn't really a concern past telling the time. I hear a lot of people rave about the pebble's battery life, but I've tried one, and it's really boring. It's an ugly, plastic, expensive watch, and it doesn't even have an LED screen. It's a dull, grey customizable watch face. I'll stick with mechanical watches until they really impress me.
@Prophet The Pebble that's being funded now is a color e-ink screen. But I'd take even b/w e-ink with its low power draw and visibility in sunlight over a backlit LCD or OLED any day.
@Prophet Good point. Kinda like makeup. I live without both.
I don't understand all the complaints about the 18 hour battery life. I've been awake for more than 18 hours straight probably fewer than five times in the last twenty years.
@SSteve I'm awake more than 18 hours straight at least once or twice per week. Or, even if you're not, say you stay overnight at your significant other's house. In addition to your phone charger, do you really want to have to pack a seperate watch charger? Especially if it's a spur of the moment kind of thing. If this thing just used a lightning connector, so it could share a cable with an iPhone, it wouldn't be quite so bad, but to have to add another proprietary cable... I'll pass, until at least the 2nd or 3rd version. Hopefully they get it right eventually.
@DJP519 Since my wife and I have lived together for 26 years that spontaneous sleepover scenario doesn't apply to me. Good for you, though, tiger!
@DJP519 do you have your phone with you?
@Headly Yes. I've also worn a watch virtually every day of my life since I was in grade school. Tough habit to break. When you're in a meeting where it's frowned upon to pull out your phone, you can probably get away with a quick glance at your watch. The idea has potential, but it's not quite there yet.
@DJP519 My point was is that most smart phones only last about a day it you actually use them, so any impromptu overnights youd require phone charging cables if you don;t want a dead phone in the morning. I'm not gonna drop $1,000 on one of these, but I will drop $400 to be on the bleeding edge.
@Headly But I have a car charger for my phone, and a charger at the office. If the watch used the same lightning connector, it wouldn't be a problem. But having to buy a car charger for a watch just seems absurd.
@SSteve compared to watches that don't need any charging and can instead just be forgotten about on your wrist, I'd say it is an issue. Those finely engineered mechanical ticking waterproof watches still have some edge in technology over "the technology watch". I mean, if it's mainly fashion, why not get something like an opal bracelet?
I bet Christopher Walken would be proud to stick that $17K Apple watch up his pooper and smuggle it out of the Hanoi Hilton. However, I'll be damned if you'll ever catch me wearing the stinkin' thing.
Technology companies, including Apple, are using the form factor of 20th century accessories instead of boldly creating new paradigms. Wearable devices need not look like they were created by Cartier or Timex.
@eyewerks do you want something more like this?
Cybernetic integration is still too far off. Wake me when we're in robot bodies.
@SpeakerDoc I've wanted to be a brain in a jar since before Futurama even.
@SSteve AAARROOO!!
I'm looking for a watch that will work for me.. No! Literally, go out-find a job and give me the paycheck every week. Now THAT would be some kinda watch!!
I have a cool phases of the moon watch, with stars and the sun... I bought in Germany when I worked there a number of years ago. My favorite and never replaceable by a dumb smart watch. So take that Apple!!!
Absolutely love my Moto 360. Lets me keep my phone in my pocket and only pull it out (heh) for important things.
The poll is worded like smart watches haven't already existed for quite a while.
@plastrd I have stand-alone internet-capable smart watch (Chinese obscure brand). Pedometer, email, call, everything. I am not in the least bit technical; maybe that's why I bought it - didn't know better. :)
I purposely quit wearing a watch ~10 years ago. I realized I was constantly looking at it, not because I wanted to know what time it was, but because it was just something I did. I realized that I spend ~99% of my day with a clock in front of me (whether on the corner of the computer screen, in the vehicle, or in my house), and that small percentage of remaining time I had a cell phone in my pocket.
I don't see that changing anytime soon.
@smyle Church.
@smyle So now you probably spend 99% of your time taking your phone out of your pocket and staring at that...
@joelmw At church, I put the cell phone on 'silent'. ...and if you're just using it to signal to the preacher that he's taking too long, looking at your blank wrist still gets the point across. ;-)
@Headly Guilty. ...but I'm usually checking Facebook or something else, rather than looking at the time. And that wouldn't change whether or not I had a watch.
@smyle Actually, the Apple Watch does a pretty good job of realtime notifications and replies. I don't want an apple watch to tell time - I want one to track my hikes and runs, control the lights in my house, control my media server, check my front door cam, lock/unlock my front door, check the status of my car's charge level, make calls without taking my phone out, pay for stuff instead of tapping my phone, etc, etc. I'm pretty excited about the possibilities here. For example:
@smyle I think he means "Preach on, I like what you're saying".
@Headly Different strokes for different folks. I love new gadgets, but I don't see anything about this one that makes me say "Wow, how did I ever get along without that?"
@smyle What @YahSah15 said.
@YahSah15 Yah(weh), is that you? (I'm curious about your username. Is the story posted somewhere?)
@YahSah15 For instance: https://meh.com/forum/topics/explain-your-username#5418ae3a575f266c085a1b87
Which, btw, by most reckonings, "Yah" is actually part of my name, but I didn't break down the Hebrew because my experience is that most people either don't care and/or don't even pay attention that long.
@joelmw I'm sorry, you were saying?
@Headly It doesn't surprise you that I get that a lot. ;-p
@joelmw No, not that, although I'm familiar with some Hebrew and Greek words and phrases. It's a play upon words in an obscure dialect.
@YahSah15 yes sir?
@JonT Yes, sir! :)
I've been really excited about the Watch, but yesterday's announcement was kinda anticlimactic. I'm looking at the Pebble Steel, because as others have mentioned, the regular Pebbles are fugly. Still not sure. I'm a watch wearer and collector, so that's part of it, but as a geek, I want function. I may have to wait for Watch 2.0, however difficult that may be. Not sure Pebble is there, yet, but I'm a sucker for Kickstarter campaigns! Lol
Honestly, I think that the wristwatch is one of the most poorly implemented designs in all of human history. It certainly isn't worth putting up with for the current time, I don't like the "fashion statement" and it disappoints me that there's been less innovation in terms of wearable technology.
We have the capability for projection interfaces (for both input and output) that would make this archaic device obsolete. Really, I don't get the fixation on watches--especially among certain of my friends who think their big baubles are stylin'. Like a big gold chain to me. I don't get the saggy pants with the exposed ass either.
Google glasses (especially for those of us who have to wear glasses anyway) or contacts strike me as more of the right direction. But if there were more demand, I'm sure we'd have devices that could be attached pretty much anywhere and would do a shitload more than some silly little watch.
@joelmw Gotta disagree. The wrist of the one place on the body where you can wear something and easily view it and access it with your other hand. WHen you're hiking or running, using your watch to switch songs, check progress, etc is so much easier than grabbing your phone. I don't know if you watched the thing yesterday, but there are companies working on apps for the Apple Watch that will let you do home automation things, check security cameras, etc. To me that's the cool stuff. I'll probably wait a few months to see if there are any major flaws, and if not I'll get one of the aluminum ones - they're only $400.
@joelmw you have some strange ideas my friend (bet this isn't the first time you've been told that). I never tried them out but I didn't like the idea of Google glass, and it seemed that enough other people didn't since it's basically dead, but I love wearing a watch. Part of it is that it's something my SO gave me that I get to wear every day. I also like being able to tell time at a glance without lugging out my 6+. I don't consider myself a very fashionable person but I get the fashion component to it, I can recognize when someone is wearing a nice-looking watch. I like watches but I have no interest in a smart watch. I've even had my share of "time is a construct" conversations and I still like watches. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@JonT But imagine a warehouse full of employees who'd go over to the shelves with IP cameras and as soon as they looked at those boxes, Google Glass would put up a huge alert, "NO, THEY SOLD LANTERNS THAT DAY."
@joelmw @JonT Actually, I disagree with both of you. (Although I'd like Google Glass to be useful and it sounds like Google took it off sale and gave it to the Nest team to figure out how to do that.) Anyway, the Android watch for me is purely about convenient notifications. I totally can be a little too tied to my phone and, if it's in my pocket, it's great to see the notification without committing to dealing with it right then, because few things need to be. Everything in the FYI and heads up categories is a lot easier to deal with on the wrist than on the phone.
@Headly Okay, I might have been a bit hyperbolic. It's just never really worked for me. And I definitely believe we can do better. That's the bottom line for me. I'm all for gadgets, but at this stage in the technological evolution, putting something on my wrist feels like a step backward. I'd do it for $20 and a shitload of functionality (whatever Apple or Pebble has would do). But, damn, really, I just think we can do better.
@JonT Yeah, I've heard that a time or two. ;-) I just try to be honest. I can appreciate where you're coming from. Thanks for getting that I gotta be me. :-)
@editorkid Yes, but imagine all of that without having something strapped to your wrist and without having to raise your arm and look down. Hey, honestly, I'm eager for a stable brain implant. Probably not in my lifetime, alas. Unless we can figure out the transfer of consciousness or some sort of near-immortality. Still hoping. And, really, I wanna be a cyborg is what I want.
@Headly @JonT @editorkid See, but what I want is all of the functionality of the smartwatch without having anything on my wrists. Maybe my ancestors were shackled? I'd settle for something that just appeared on the back of my hand, even a tattoo of some sort. Hell, that'd do: an electronic tattoo that interfaced with my smartphone. Problem solved.
@Headly @JonT @editorkid
@Headly @JonT @editorkid So this is obviously a little clunky, but it's more a conversation and initial--and low-cost--exploration of an idea. This guy is headed in the right direction and I find this sort of thinking lacking in consumer technology.
@joelmw The state of battery chemistry is the issue.
@joelmw I guess we're both weird. I never wore a watch until the first Pebble; everything I want to watch or listen to is Tivoed or torrented (and my boss gets to work later than me), so the actual time at any moment rarely matters to me. I rarely have to raise my arm, and looking down isn't a burden for me if the watch isn't already in my field of view. (As for the video you posted, I don't have sound at work... I'll try to remember to look when I get home.)
@joelmw It's 2015 - material science, etc just isn't that advanced. I'd rather have something on my wrist than have to reach into my pocket for my phone every time it buzzes....
Oh, and to dovetail into what @Headly was saying, maybe someday I'd think of apps as useful, but really all I want right now is a second notification screen. Many of my phone's apps have installed sub-apps on my watch and I've never used them. One of the reasons I'm interested in the new Pebble is that Android Wear is moving too far into the apps model, honestly.
@joelmw I have no argument that can stand up to a photo of Kate Beckinsale...
@joelmw Or smart nail polish, like photovoltaic paint. A separate screen for each nail, typing by the position of your fingers.
@OldCatLady That makes sense to me. I'd paint my nails for that.
@editorkid You're an evil person. First you convinced me to buy the Lytro. Now you're working on me to get the watch. Stop it. I feel myself caving (though I still wish--and truly believe we can right now--do better than the wrist bond).
@bakerzdosen I kinda cheated, right?
@joelmw Yes and no. The other two (3?) I could have ignored completely, so you win for that, but I'm not sure which rule you would have broken... Then again, if you're not cheating, you're not trying.
@joelmw Oh, no, I get it. Until I decided the second screen had value to me, I hated the idea of wearing a watch. I mean, I go back to the days when if you wanted to know the time, you'd have to call the phone company's Time Lady. Now our phones just tell us what she'd say.
So have you taken the Lytro out for a spin yet? Any thoughts on it?
@editorkid I've played with it a little. When my kid was in town recently we all went to the Nasher (a sculpture museum in Dallas). I took several pictures there. I haven't played with them much. I think I'd really like the additional pixels. Seems like the original is best for small macro photography. It's kinda fun. I need to play with it more.
I think of the Time Lady frequently actually--"at the tone . . . "--and the clocks (we still have two or three) that sync to an atomic clock somewhere. Kinda trippy how obsolete all of that is. Actually, it annoys me that there are still clocks in my house that I have to change back and forth between DST and/or that might run a little off. WTF is this, the 20th century?
I wear a GearFit daily at work-- love it. Vibration alerts for appointments, texts, calls etc. are easy to feel, but unlike a phone on vibrate, can't be noticed by anyone else. Much easier & more acceptable to check my watch to see texts/emails/who is calling in the middle of a meeting than constantly looking at my phone. For me, sleep tracking/heart-rate monitoring & pedometer on this watch are just ornamentation that get less use than the time/notification functions, but they are there if important to you. Battery life (I recharge every other night) is the only con. That and the sure knowledge that support/development was practically over the day it launched, since Samsung will always be focusing on the next generation, but I knew that going in.
The only watch I wear is an analog watch that has a button that lights up the face so I can see what time it is. I wear this watch to movies since I think it's rude to leave a cell phone on during a film.
I've owned a Pebble for over two years and have been very happy with it. However, I'm an iPhone user so I can't use it to its full potential. Yes, I will be preordering an Apple Watch in exactly one month.
If I were to buy something to strap on my wrist (other than the cheap HR monitors I bought last night to leave in my gym bag for those occasions I actually do cardio and the HR monitor isn't working on the machine I'm using) it would be an Apple watch.
However, my phone is distracting enough to my real life. I do not need anything else to distract me.
Nor do I need something else to remember to charge nightly (or weekly in the case of others.)
I am interested in smart watches, but don't want to look like I am wearing one. I still wear a watch due to its ease of use, and it being one of 2 pieces of jewelry that men can wear with anything. The other is a wedding ring.
I really love the look of the Kairos watches: https://kairoswatches.com/
They are mechanical watches, with a semi-transparent screen over them for smart watch capabilities.
@bruceoite those are some cool looking watches. The pre-order price is relatively reasonable too, I'd honestly be happy with a non-smart version of those.