Wearable tech is one of the hottest trends of the upcoming
2014. The brightest item that raises discussions nowadays is the watch, or more
precisely, smartwatch. There are various concepts and ready gadgets on the
market but we don't have a watch that comes close to an image of a perfect
smartwatch, a product that will be loved by worldwide audience, a device so
good in every way that people would choose to replace their beautiful
wristwatches with it. The recently presented Galaxy Gear by Samsung has too many
shortcomings to gain instant recognition. Let's try to draw a picture of a
perfect smartwatch. What would it be like?
Mobile
You have a smartphone and it's most likely that you own a
tablet. Perhaps you have a separate mediaplayer (such as an iPod). Do you like
the idea of one more device's battery being charged daily? The creators of the
Galaxy Gear thought that it wasn't much of a problem. Our opinion is on the
contrary. We got used to batteries of smartphones that might not last the day,
but we don't want the same for our watches. Charging once a week? Maybe.Once a
day? That's a cheerless prospect.
It's hard to make touchscreen-based mobile tech truly
mobile, and manufacturers haven't succeeded yet. Such a smartwatch as the
Galaxy Gear is currently a gluttonous energy consumer. There's one solution
that can help - wireless charging. This means we'll have our smartwatches
charged without noticing it. At least there won't be another wire to bother us.
Universally designed
That's a very subjective point since tastes differ, and the
design of the Galaxy Gear cannot be liked by everyone. It's a laborious task to
design something that will look good on your wrist when you wear your suit. It
should be mentioned that we have different arms and choose watches of different
sizes and styles to fit our own.
Compatible
The existing examples of such watches are basically
complementary to more functional and powerful devices and services of their
ecosystems, they are aggregators of features and information from other smart
devices. The Galaxy Gear is currently compatible with a limited number of
Samsung's Android smartphones and phablets. Such limitation is no good news if
you want your product to go mainstream, with all the diversity of Android devices.
And if Apple finally decides to launch a smartwatch, the question of
compatibility will be not that laborious to handle, since Apple knows how to
polish its products and services.
Time-proof
We got used to a year-long cycle of smartphones' and tablets'
life, especially in the Apple case. But do we need a newer version of a
smartwatch in just a year after we bought the current one? Especially if the
platform updates will make serious complications in use, say, two to three
years after. People often get used to their old wristwatches and don't like
changing them. If you are one of such people, would you treat a smartwatch
differently?
Functional (not more than it's necessary)
Smartwatches are synced with mobile devices and are simply
accessories, but they should be independent in their own right. We don't need
high-end specs and energy draining processors. It's better to rid of
unnecessary functions that work much better on a smartphone. You don't have to
invent new things to be managed by a watch, just make sure it does what it does
the best, and does it way better than other mobile devices. Would you like to
read and send emails on a 1.3''-1.5'' screen? Look through to-dos/reminders?
That's much better.
It's just a way of wrapping old functionality into a better
form factor. You don't have to have everything in it to make a successful
product. Just a notification that you've received an email is not the perfect
feature for a smartwatch. The richer the screen, the more the functions, but
isn't it more convenient (and informative) to check social network
notifications and respond to them using our smartphones? Especially if the
problem of battery life isn't going to disappear. Visit https://www.twdfitness.com
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