[OT] SmartWatches

Alex Tweedly alex at tweedly.net
Tue Sep 10 19:43:13 EDT 2013


On 07/09/2013 22:07, Peter Haworth wrote:
> Just curious - is anyone rushing out to buy one of these things?
No, not rushing out to buy one now. In fact, I'd say the likelihood of 
me buying one within 2 years is just about 0%. But within 10 years ? - 
probably 50%.

Indeed, I think within 5 years the capability will exist to build a 
smartwatch that I would very much like to have - though whether it will 
be within my price range is another question. And of course my wish-list 
may be so different from what the manufacturers want to build that I 
never get one.

My needs (and/or desires)

1. Robust.
    - at least 10m water resistant or I won't even consider it; in 
practice 1 meter would be enough for me - but I probably wouldn't feel 
safe buying it unless it was safe for at least 10m.
    - wide operating temp range (Yes, I do sometimes sleep in a tent 
below -5C)
    - somewhere near to as scratch-, bang- and knock-resistant as my 
current mechanical watch

2. Power. Ideally auto-powered (cf Citizen self-winding quartz watches), 
but I'd settle for 24 hour battery life and easy charging (i.e. 
non-contact) on my bedside table within 2 hours.

3. Close to size/weight limits of reasonable mech watch

4. Voice activated for at least some functionality (yes, I know, I have 
a Scottish accent, so this will be a source of great frustration much of 
the time :-) http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/collections/p00hvv42

5. Good apps for mail, voice calls, browsing, calendar, etc.   - need 
quite a bit of improvement and/or adjustment from current phone/tablet 
versions.

6. Significant progress in availability and use of sensor and remote 
control apps. (e.g. TV / radio remote, walkie/talkie over wifi to other 
family members, etc.)

Given those as a minimum (and a huge wish list to go along with them), 
I'd be a customer.

Of course most of those could be done by your phone. But apart from my 
wedding ring, my watch is the *only* thing that goes everywhere with me 
- even the phone gets either accidentally left behind (or mislaid) 
sometimes, and it does occasionally get left behind deliberately. Having 
a watch that could replace 85% of the function (even if only 50% of the 
convenience) would make it possible to leave it behind more often. A 
phone is (today) still too heavy, intrusive and fragile

-- Alex.




More information about the use-livecode mailing list