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

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."

Comments

Time?

[addie]

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.

Re:Time?

[JustOK]

You're wearing it wrong.

Re:Time?

[Anonymous Coward]

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."

Re:Time?

[dintech]

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.

Re:Time?

[dgatwood]

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. :-)

A battery that doesn't suck.

[dclozier]

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

eInk

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

NTP

[RandomFactor]

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

It's not standalone

[Bogtha]

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.

Medical uses

[Okian Warrior]

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.

iFisting

[Hognoxious]

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!

Capacity to Find Cell Phone

[LionKimbro]

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.