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Smartwatch sales are tanking

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Re: Smartwatch sales are tanking

#61

Post by nemothekid »

dublinben wrote: post #48
choward wrote: post #42

The biggest issue for me with the "smartwatch" is that they don't have feature parody with dumb watches. I've had many watches in the past and the battery lasts for years. I can also turn my wrist and see the time instantly. Who would have thought? What I get now is some piece of crap that needs to be charged every night. So I basically have no features while I'm sleeping. I can't just wake up in the middle of the ni…

I would say that most smartwatches are indeed a parody of real watches. They certainly do not have feature parity with their traditional competitors.

I saw that typo too. I assumed auto-correct boned him, and opted to skip the english lesson.

Re: Smartwatch sales are tanking

#62

Post by bobajeff »

BoorishBears wrote: post #20
carsongross wrote: post #5

Seems like they will stay a niche until they can replace phones entirely, and perhaps even past then. A lot of people just don't like having something strapped to their wrist and/or want a large screen. As a watch guy (and most watch people are guys) the first smart watch I've been excited about is the upcoming gear S3: http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/gear-s3/ Because it looks like a real watch and has the rotat…

Back in 2007 I remember seeing smartwatches that could replace phones (make calls, text, Internet, even take pictures) for sale in Ghana The problem is a watch can only be so big before it's too big, but input and battery life on small devices sucks (for now)

Well the over all problem here is that today only Apple and Samsung even make money on Smartphones. Not Sony, not HTC, not Motorola, not not LG, not Xiaomi, not Huawei neither of those make money from selling phone hardware.

If they can't do that then first of all Why and more importantly what's driving innovation in hardware?

Re: Smartwatch sales are tanking

#63

Post by loansindi »

dkokelley wrote: post #55
choward wrote: post #42

The biggest issue for me with the "smartwatch" is that they don't have feature parody with dumb watches. I've had many watches in the past and the battery lasts for years. I can also turn my wrist and see the time instantly. Who would have thought? What I get now is some piece of crap that needs to be charged every night. So I basically have no features while I'm sleeping. I can't just wake up in the middle of the ni…

For you I'd suggest checking out what Pebble has been doing. Battery life is about 7-10 days on some models, and has an 'always on' display.

This would have been my response. I've got a Pebble and I charge it ~2hrs a week and the time is always visible.

Re: Smartwatch sales are tanking

#64

Post by steaminghacker »

pyrophane wrote: post #52
carsongross wrote: post #5

Seems like they will stay a niche until they can replace phones entirely, and perhaps even past then. A lot of people just don't like having something strapped to their wrist and/or want a large screen. As a watch guy (and most watch people are guys) the first smart watch I've been excited about is the upcoming gear S3: http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/gear-s3/ Because it looks like a real watch and has the rotat…

I own the Gear S2. I've also owned the Apple Watch (S0) and the Moto 360 2nd gen. The interface on the S2 with the rotating bezel works really well. It is the only time I really felt like my smartwatch was an actual watch and not just a "device" strapped to my wrist. The cellular functionality was also handy in a pinch, as it offered some communication utility if I left my phone at home. That being said, I don't thin…

I use mine for taking notes. sometimes it's really useful, say when I'm driving or just walking down the street. I'd like to see improvement in voice rec though, as sometimes it goes badly

Re: Smartwatch sales are tanking

#65

Post by drivingmenuts »

Why do I need a smartwatch, when I have a perfectly acceptable smartphone that does about 10x10 things more than the smartwatch will ever be able to do?

If I just needed to know the time, I'd buy a watch. If I need to know the time and make a call, I'd buy a smartphone.

Which I did.

Welcome to the future. We don't really solve problems - we just invent new ones and call the old problems solved.

Hell, I don't even remember what problem smartwatches were supposed to solve!

I'm going to go get off my own damn lawn.

Re: Smartwatch sales are tanking

#66

Post by niftich »

newswriter9 wrote: post #12

I don't get it. Decades of science fiction depicting Heads-up-Display glasses and wrist-strapped laptops, with people wishing and wishing we lived in such a world. Now here we are and society isn't going in for it. Bluetooth head sets, smartwatches, Google Glass, none of it is sticking. Even though smart phones are becoming cumbersome due to size and inability to use hands-free or even one-handed well. Are we ever go…

Bluetooth headsets made you look like you were talking to yourself, breaking essentially all social norms. There's a reason they (and those who used them regardless) were widely mocked.

Google Glass was obscenely expensive, invitation-only -- circumstances around its availability made it clear it's a tech demo for technology 'futurists', and not a product within reach (or intended for) the general public. Naive defaults about it recording everything caused a privacy storm; behavior on part of its users led to widespread derision.

Smartwatches in their current form are solutions looking for a problem. It's obscene that notifications and fitness are the only two use-cases most makers were able to identify.

All these devices are plagued by voice control: speaking to your device in public is neither very considerate to those around you, nor privacy-preserving. The fact is, even if speech recognition systems are working well, most people are uneasy issuing content-rich commands, like entire bodies of emails, in public earshot. Until someone solves this shortcoming reliably, none of these devices will see widespread public appeal.

Re: Smartwatch sales are tanking

#67

Post by r00fus »

I predict Apple is very happy with the smartwatch market being down, much like Microsoft loved it (back in '99) when internet stocks were down. They are an iPhone company, and probably prefer (as a company) to defer threats to that incumbency.

I own an Apple Watch, and a Pebble before it, but honestly until more devices are addressable by such devices, it's usability is limited.

I think it may also have something to do with the relative popularity of Alexa and pervasive voice input in general - though I shy away from those due to privacy concerns. I mean, why wear a watch and tap for Siri when you can just call out for Alexa (and now Google) to ask about weather?

(edited for clarity)

Re: Smartwatch sales are tanking

#68

Post by milesokeefe »

problems wrote: post #7
sua_3000 wrote: post #2

had one and returned it. They don't provide much value beyond real-time notifications & a fancy pedometer.

Yeah, this is why I went with the Pebble over the others - it gets the realtime notifications and the fancy sleep tracker and pedometer - and due to eink, can keep its screen on without the need to be charged every night. That's all I wanted it for, that's all it does. And most importantly - it's priced like that's all it does.

Pebbles haven't used e-ink since the first version.

But they seem to get equal or better battery life out of the Transflective LCDs currently used, which operate on a similar principle as e-ink, in the sense of how the light reaches your eyes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transflective_liquid-crystal_d...

Re: Smartwatch sales are tanking

#69

Post by steaminghacker »

milesokeefe wrote: post #50
steaminghacker wrote: post #29

Haven't they figured out yet that telling the time is the thing that smart watches do the worst. instead, i want a band. I'm still waiting for an Android Wear band. i want something a bit like the Microsoft band 2 [1], but slimmer and a smaller screen. something as a notification device and to take voice notes. but i don't need it to replace my watch because it's not "on" when i look at it. For telling the time, I'll…

Pebble doesn't have that problem.

can i do voice recognition on a pebble?

Re: Smartwatch sales are tanking

#70

Post by jotux »

choward wrote: post #42

The biggest issue for me with the "smartwatch" is that they don't have feature parody with dumb watches. I've had many watches in the past and the battery lasts for years. I can also turn my wrist and see the time instantly. Who would have thought? What I get now is some piece of crap that needs to be charged every night. So I basically have no features while I'm sleeping. I can't just wake up in the middle of the ni…

Have you seen the Mondaine Helvetica? https://www.mondaine.com/watches/mondaine-helvetica/helvetic...

Traditional look, smart features, and 2-year battery life.

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