Re: Smartwatches
Yes. Just a shame there's all the additional bollocks on there doing things that one doesn't need, sucking up battery power the whole time.
i don't want a quad-core mini-puter on my wrist - I already have a perfectly serviceable, better-spec'd one in my pocket.
I don't want it monitoring my heart-rate - i take my watch etc. off when i go to the gym anyway.
i don't want to talk to my watch - i can already talk to various bits of tech on my person anyway, and while it's novel, the novelty value wears off quickly, and after that isn't really useful and makes you look a bit of a tit.
It doesn't need a touchscreen - the entire thing can be controlled with three simple buttons like the Pebble.
It doesn't need complex apps, or its own storage, or GPS, or anything else. These are all just fripperies that suck up power and take away from its primary function.
Just a screen, a battery, a vibration motor and a small speaker, a Bluetooth 4LE connection to my phone, and enough processing umph to display a text message / call notification, and the facility to control the playing of music.
Anything else is - to my mind at least - a waste. Make them cheap, simple and usable and you might get people buying them. As it stands, they'll go the way of the 3D TV.
If Pebble made a circular version of the Pebble Steel in a choice of black or chrome, that fit a standard 22mm watch strap, and included wireless charging, and nothing else, they'd have my money just as quickly as i could type my card details into the website.
i wish i had the technological and manufacturing wherewithal - I'd Kickstarter such a device right this second.