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Ask Slashdot: What Features Belong In a 'Smartwatch'?

Posted by Soulskill on from the anything-james-bond-had dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "If the rumors are true, and Apple is indeed hard at work on a newfangled timepiece (dubbed the 'iWatch'), what unique features could such a device offer a public already overloaded with all sorts of handheld devices? Answer that question, and you're perhaps one step closer to figuring out why Apple — again, if the rumors are true — decided to devote millions of dollars and the precious hours of some very smart people in the effort. This article suggests voice control (via Siri), biometrics, mobile payments, and other possible features, but there must be loads of others that someone could think up."

23 of 322 comments (clear)

  1. Time? by addie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hopefully the ability to accurately tell time. But with the way phones these days work at making calls, I won't hold out much hope.

    The whole idea of an iWatch just gives me a headache.

    1. Re:Time? by JustOK · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're wearing it wrong.

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      rewriting history since 2109
    2. Re:Time? by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Informative

      All I know is that the reported iPhone time is generally anywhere from a couple of seconds to over a minute off the time reported from an NTP-synced computer.

      I can't speak to an iPhone, but I know my cell phone takes its time from the actual carrier.

      So it's well within the bounds of reason that yours is doing the same -- and if your carrier is using a clock which is slightly different from your NTP-synced computer, that could account for the drift.

      One of the things that's really nice about that, is when I travel it picks up local time and I don't need to set it.

      And, slightly more on topic ... I'm clearly not the target market for this product. I can't figure out why I'd want a voice activated watch, or biometrics, or mobile payments on my watch. Then again, I wouldn't want those features on my cell phone either. This just feels like one of those technology for the sake of it products.

      I'm sure there's features a lot of people will say are the coolest ever and be willing to plunk down money for it. Me, I prefer a device meant to do one thing well instead of 10 things half-assed -- which is why I own actual cameras, music players, and GPS nav units instead of something which kinda does most of those things.

      It's cool in a Dick Tracy kind of way, but I prefer my watches to just be watches.

      Of course, I'm sure "hey baby, want to see my iWatch" would be an awesome pickup line. So there is that. ;-)

      But, as much as I absolutely hate the term, the iWatch and iPhone combo seems like it would be a flashing sign that says "hipster douchebag".

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:Time? by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Informative
      Sony came out with this kind of thing several years ago for the Ericsson phones, called Liveview. It was basically a remote display for the phone using bluetooth. I bought one assuming it would work on Android phones in general, and of course it didn't.

      It was supposed to support things like Facebook and show you email alerts, along with being a basic watch. It came with a watchband and a clip housing, one of which (I forget which) completely covered the USB charging port and you had to pop it out to plug it in. It was almost working as a watch, but the limited button UI was a mess and difficult to remember/use.

      Interesting concept, poor implementation.

      What is most important is that it show the time (synced to the local phone network so it is accurate). Second would be incoming SMS/email (so you don't have to pull a phone out of your pocket to get messages.) Music player control. It has to have an inductive charger plus a standard USB, so you can recharge it away from home or just drop it on the charging pad at night when you aren't.

    4. Re:Time? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      You must mumble, because I don't have a problem whenever I've asked Siri the time.

      That's so odd. When I ask "Siri, do you have the time?" I always get "Not for a man like you."

    5. Re:Time? by dintech · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Considering their track record with DST changes affecting alarms, especially around iOS updates, I don't trust Apple to make a timepiece you can rely on.

    6. Re:Time? by Snotnose · · Score: 3, Informative

      I can't speak to an iPhone, but I know my cell phone takes its time from the actual carrier.

      If you have CDMA your phone needs to be within something like 10 milliseconds of the carrier's time. I imagine GSM has similar requirements.

    7. Re:Time? by alen · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Take a look at Nike fuelband and pebble smartwatch

      It's a watch, biking computer, biometric device, you use it while working out, etc

      It's for people who do more than sit in front of computer screens all day and night

    8. Re:Time? by dgatwood · · Score: 4, Informative

      The time stamp used in CDMA packets doesn't have anything to do with the OS-level system clock. You certainly could synchronize the system clock to a time value provided by the cellular chipset, but there's no inherent reason that you must do so. The time being shown on the phone's screen could say 3:00 last year and it still wouldn't affect telephony. :-)

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  2. working GPS and maps.... by who_stole_my_kidneys · · Score: 3, Interesting

    it should work better than a compass , If im in the woods it should be able to tell me where i am and how to get home if Im lost. and a incredibly long battery life.

  3. Chemical sensors by i+kan+reed · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I would love sciency things like being able to determine ozone levels, pH of the air, nitrogen/oxygen mix, alcohol detection. But that's why I'm not in charge of choosing sensors for phones.

  4. Bluetooth! by bobthesungeek76036 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Everything is better with Bluetooth!

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    Karma: Bad
  5. How about a SPY WATCH? by dav1dc · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How about some James Bond-esc features, like a: laser cutter, knife, garrote wire, etc. ??

    ^_^

  6. I want my Dick Tracy watch by Earl+The+Squirrel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I want a souped up Dick Tracy watch... with not just a speaker, but video... like this

  7. A battery that doesn't suck. by dclozier · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe I could live with charging it weekly but on a daily basis? forget it.

  8. eInk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think an e-Ink screen is an absolute must. You'll be looking at your watch often in broad sunlight, and with e-Ink, the screen could be on all the time and not take much power when it's idling.

  9. NTP by RandomFactor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I mean really, it is a time piece after all...

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    --- Mercutio was right.
  10. It's not standalone by Bogtha · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A smart watch only really makes sense as a convenient interface to a more powerful machine. The features important to it are therefore input and output, along with a connection to your phone. So a display, a microphone, and a button are the obvious ones. A smart watch will probably have fewer features than a non-smart watch.

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    Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
  11. Multiple devices by gmuslera · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A separate bluetooth headset should take care of the phone interaction. I would put sensors there (at very least, for pulse), as a small screeen for displaying fast information (time, weather, notifications, playlist controls, etc, and a "remote desktop" for your real phone, that could be big enough to not have it always in your hand.

    Phones are getting big, maybe splitting the interaction with several separate devices could be the way (and yes, something similar to Google Glass could be in the kitchen too)

  12. Medical uses by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How about a self-contained package which holds all of the wearer's medical records? (Yes, sort out the security issues first.)

    How about continuous monitoring of heart rate, blood oxygenation, and temperature?

    Rather than go to the doctor "with a fever", the doctor could tell if the fever was low-grade, "spiky", how long it has been going on, &c. Perhaps the specific fever character could be used to disambiguate between certain diseases. A patient could tell if the fever was only certain times of the day (allergic to something at work?) or in certain places.

    Blood-oxygenation monitoring and heartrate could be used to diagnose sleep apnea, tell how much exercise the person is getting. Motion monitoring could diagnose sleep disorders.

  13. iFisting by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apple fanboi 1: take your ring off, it's scratching my bunghole!
    Apple fanboi 2: I'm not wearing a ring.
    Apple fanboi 1: OK, take your watch off!

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  14. Re:Small display + Siri is the key by nospam007 · · Score: 3, Funny

    " But with Siri -- especially as Siri improves -- you don't need any buttons at all."

    Talk to the hand.

    Great.

  15. Capacity to Find Cell Phone by LionKimbro · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One of the biggest advantage of a watch, is that it is practically ALWAYS on your body.

    So it should have a virtual button somewhere, to ** ring your cell phone ** for you, so that you can find it.