Wired:
At this point, the smartwatch is a category getting ahead of itself. It’s a device that precedes its purpose. But that’s not necessarily a problem. No one really knew what Twitter was for when it started, either.
And no one really has yet, have they?
I’m convinced Apple made up and leaked the Smart Watch as a hoax to make everyone else flounder spending millions on creating stupid products.
I use my Pebble as a music remote and SMS/Email alert for my iPhone. The former is surprisingly useful, simply because it’s illegal in the state of California to drive while operating your phone in-hand in any way. This way, I just press the buttons on my Pebble and I don’t have to worry. Is it something someone needs to have? Certainly not, but Pebble has found modest success despite its seemingly limited functionality.
The fact that you have to press buttons makes it useless for me. For me, the point of a watch is I can just glance at it and see the time. If I have to press buttons, I might as well look at my phone.
Also, it’s illegal to drive while operating your phone because it’s dangerous. Having to press buttons on your Pebble certainly isn’t making you any safer, just legal; for now.
I know what Twitter is for.
It’s a way to keep annoying people segregated from the rest of the Internet, voluntarily, so I don’t have to see them talk.
It’s great.
Not everyone – just Samsung.
Only Samsung would be stupid enough to fall for that.
(On the other hand, well, “Phone Watches” existed before then and stuff do. They suck, but people have thought along those lines since Dick Tracy.
Combine that with calculator watches and then smartphones, and the idea is obvious.
Just not, well, how to make it not suck.)
You know the time is always shown on the Pebble, right? The button presses only come into play if you changing screens or altering music playback. And your logic about buttons equating to removing a phone from one’s pocket makes zero sense, but personal preference is personal preference. If that’s how you feel, I won’t argue it.
But the nice thing about my watch is that I don’t even have to remove my hands from the wheel or look away from the road ahead. The inherent danger of using a phone while driving is the diverted attention from the continuously changing conditions of the road– hence “distracted driving.” You’ll have to explain to me how my hands not leaving the wheel and my eyes not wandering from the road is still a danger. There’s more danger in changing music with the radio tuner than changing it from the watch on my wrist.
I know what smart watches are for. All the tourists who buy crap from those knockoff vendor tables I see on the streets of Manhattan.
The first Pebble I saw was very early on, and I remember having to push a button to activate the display. My mistake.
However, I don’t understand your argument about hands never leaving the wheel. How do you press the buttons without taking a hand off the wheel. And actually there’s not more danger in changing music with the radio tuner because the buttons don’t move. You develop muscle memory. Your hand wearing the watch could be in various places on the wheel. At best, it can only be equal. But if you are using it to access SMS/Email, as you said, then you will be removing your eyes from the road to read the message, and that is dangerous.
Why would muscle memory be active for a radio tuner but not my watch? My hands move to 12 o’clock on the wheel, I move my right thumb and tap the top button (to restart the song) or the bottom button (to skip it) on the watch that is on my left wrist. Hands then return to 9 and 3, and my eyes have never left the road. Works like a charm every time.
And I never said I checked my email or texts while driving– I explicitly called out the music remote as a feature I use while driving because of current laws. I fully support curtailing distracted driving, but I also like being able to change my music without having to convert my library to cassette.
…I have an older car.
HA!!! And, like any rational forger, Samsung jumped all over this like a cheap suit. Don’t EVER expect to see an Apple Smart Watch… What’s the point??