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Google Reportedly Making a Smartwatch, Too
judgecorp writes "With Samsung and (reportedly) Apple already making smartwatches, Google has now joined the party, according to a (paywalled) report in the Financial Times. The Google Watch is apparently being made by the Android group, and could have some synergy with Google's other wearable tech — the Glass spectacles. The distinctive thing in Google's patent seems to be having two displays — one for public data and a flip-up one for more private stuff."
Smartwatches are idiotic! Who would buy a smartwatch except some gullible Apple hipster?
Smartwatches are idiotic! Who would buy a smartwatch except some gullible Apple hipster?
Smartwatches are idiotic! Who would buy a smartwatch except some gullible Apple hipster?
(An Android-based smartwatch comes out)
ZOMG smartwatches are teh roXorz! (Buys and wears one)
The idea of a smart watch when you already have a smart phone sounds to my old man ears like sneakers that blink lights when you walk. Maybe you have to be young to want blinky sneakers.
Microsoft Reportedly Making a Smartwatch, Too, Kinda, Okay-So-It's-Really-Just-A-Surface-Pro-Ducktaped-To-Ballmer's-Forearm
What doesn't Google make these days?
Tools for protecting our privacy?
You know there is a lot of energy to be harnessed kinetically by rapid repeated forearm motions caused by the creepshots and the virtual naked filter...
"Look, someone's making a touchscreen phone, quick, lets make one too!"
"Look, someone's making a touch tablet, quick, lets make one too!"
"Look, someone's making a smart watch, quick, lets make one too!"
OK this is getting sickening, you can stop now.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
It's not exactly rocket science.
The interest in the Pebble shows there's a market. Sony's had a smartwatch out for quite a while, although apparently while it's great when it works, their software is buggy as hell. Too bad, because they jumped in early enough that they could have owned the market.
The trend towards larger and larger phones means that the whip-out-ability of the average smartphone has been rapidly dropping, to the point where pulling out your phone to check the time isn't even close to handy or discrete. On top of that, with always-on connectivity and a boatload of online services, the notification/interruption rates are increasing.
So there's arguably a place for a small, always visible "front end" that allows the phablet to live in a pocket or purse until the larger display is needed.
Log in or piss off.
When the rumor mill said Apple was making one, I thought it was really stupid. Now I think it's really cool.
I realize I thought the same thing about smartphones, then tablets. "I have a computer and a flip phone that makes calls. What do I want with a portable computer with no mouse?" My reaction just a few seconds ago was "What do I need a smartwatch for? I have a smartphone that tells me the time!"
Sigh. Time to raid the kid's college fund again.
An RSS reader?
I can think of lots of applications for a device attached to your body, and telling time is far down on that list.
(Since I work mostly within view of computers I haven't worn a watch in my professional life ever. Nowadays with smartphones, the need is even less.)
Can bone conduction work with a watch-like device? You could hear your phone ring without disturbing anyone else, and if you could identify the ringtone you could tell how important the call is.
Would body measurements be useful? Heartbeat, temperature and blood oxygenation seem obvious. Would it help your doctor rule out certain diseases to know the characteristics of the fever - spiky/continuous, low/high level, exact date of onset?
Could the device make fitness measurements? Tell how much exercise you're getting per week, let you know when to get out more and which type of exercise best meets your goals?
If there's an embedded accelerometer, can the instrument detect tossing/turning at night? With the blood oxygenation, could it detect sleep apnea? Snoring? Other sleep disorders?
Could the device detect dust levels in the manner of a [non-radioactive] smoke detector? Would this be useful for people to monitor their allergies?
I once worked with a scientist at Berman Gund laboratories (Boston) who was amazed [at the time] that you could put a microprocessor on a lanyard connected to a light sensor mounted on the patient's eyeglasses. He wanted to see if the progression of Retinitis Pigmentosa correlated with the amount of light entering the patient's eyes.
Light sensors are now cheap and tiny.
Does the amount of light in a user's environment correlate with depression? With SAD? Does fluorescent light correlate with depression? Does brightness matter or total daily duration?
Will it have a GPS receiver? Could it display an arrow and distance information?
Lots of applications here. Telling time is almost an afterthought.
My "smart watch" performs basic watch features (the time, stopwatch, alarms) as well as altitude, relative atmospheric pressure, temperature (can't be on the wrist for that), and a compass.
Smart enough, and it basically lasts forever as it is solar powered enough.
BlameBillCosby.com
Until recently I had no tablet because I had no need for one. But recently I bought a refurb. Nexus 7 for $162, because since having a baby, I need to be where the baby is. For the 3 months after he was born I had pretty much no access to electronics outside of work. If I want to consume some content, the phone is too small, laptop too clunky, and desktop is somewhere else in the house.
Thus the tablet is a perfect fit, it serves up the content at an ideal screen size as I walk around the house, and is held in one hand (especially important!), and serves as the video baby monitor I can take with me around the house.
Tablets had no purpose in my home...until they did.
Watches are probably going to be a harder sell. Possibly useful as a hands-free extension for smartphones, but I'm not a heavy phone user (living on a 150mb per month data cap), so it'll take a long time for me to find a use for a smart watch. But I'm sure there are plenty of people who can make use of them.