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iWaste of time

iWaste of time

Technology News |
By eeNews Europe



The Apple Watch as they call it requires an iPhone for WiFi connectivity and GPS data, so it is clearly to be sold as a satellite to Apple’s own products, unlike Samsung’s bulkier Galaxy Gear 2 smart watch or many other Android-compatible connected watches such as the LG G Watch, the Moto 360, or the cheaper and less power-hungry Pebble (with a bi-stable e-Ink display instead of the light-emitting LCDs or OLEDs).

Regardless of its sleek design, at US$349 the watch is not precisely cheap for a peripheral that’ll need charging every night at best for if you wish to rely on the time it indicates (Apple remained elusive on battery life).

Considering that all of today’s smartwatches require you to have a smartphone nearby (with a clock on it), they only act as secondary displays which need to be recharged about a thousand time more often than today’s regular battery-operated watches or infinitely more than automatic movement watches that are wound by the wearer’s motion.


When you spend over USD300 $ in a watch, you would want something not only with good craftsmanship, but that gives you time with precision and elegance, unconditionally, that is without wasting your time charging it or tethering you to yet another power cord (even a wireless charger has to plug somewhere).

That is especially true when the smartwatch’s market position flirts with the jewellery side, with a variety of materials to choose from, including a premium 18-karat gold version at an even higher price-tag. So when Apple CEO Tim Cook says such a product will redefine what people expect from a watch, I look at mine, check the time (the only feature it has apart its fashion statement) and sigh, “what a waste of time”.

What an irony when the whole purpose of a wearing a smartwatch is the alleged productivity gains of not having to reach for your smartphone.

Sure you can’t dismiss technology on the first clunky prototypes thrown at you, and the good point about all these competing smartwatch launches is that they tentatively shrink what we already know as smartphones (which themselves are shrunk computers).

So far, it is nearly as if these wearables were corded, but if someday such devices can run on energy harvesting, then we’ll get something worth wearing casually.

 

 

Related articles:

Thoughts on energy harvesting for wearable equipment

Powering wearable devices – watch out for safety first

Circular P-OLED display gives wearable device classic style

Two-inch Super AMOLED display fits Samsung smartwatch plans

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