Smart Watch Thread

[casterofdreams]

Two weeks ago I purchased a new smart watch. The particular watch I got was the LG Watch Urbane. Silver with 22mm leather straps. I have worn the watch for those two weeks and reached a verdict: it's nice to have and use but not quite necessary as far as the concept goes (all smart watches, even the Apple Watch).

Looks: this model has a silver chrome bezel (stainless steel) with a style of a typical dress watch. Case is a bit large so when worn it leaves gaps under where the strap attaches. In other words it is not curved to fit with your wrist. The strap is interchangeable with any other 22mm strap, metal or other material. I have the standard leather strap for now.

Screen: OLED screen is bright when adjusted via the settings but it turns into "nothingness" outdoors during the day. If you are a vampire or work nights you will be fine.

Battery: mixed bag. You can have the watch always on or on only with a tap. I have it always on. What it does is take the current face and removes detail while dimming the screen. It wakes back up with a tap. The screen flaw from above becomes the focus when outdoors. You have to tap to see the time in that case. When using it under light to moderate use with my screen settings I get two days out of it. When I am home I remove the watch and turn off the always on feature.

Software: runs well. Not lighting quick but fast enough. The app support is still in its infancy. The area where you have all apps is a single line going down and up. Can be cumbersome as more apps are downloaded. I installed a third party app that fixes that while adding a few things Google forgot. I also downloaded a couple of third party apps that, again, you would think it was fitted stock on the OS (calandar and calculator). Voice works well for text, call and email. You need to specify name if you have mutiple Anthony's for example as well as which line (work, cell, home). One big disappointment: maps. A lack of maps. With voice you can ask it to navigate to a point however the screen is used for general arrows or the like. No actual navigating like on Google Maps proper. If your phone is in your pocket the turn by turn voice will come from it so it may come in muffled.

So there you have it.

I made this thread so we can share tthoughts and impressions on this new type of tech.

[Anapan]

Too cool!

Let us know what apps you find that do neat stuff.

I've wanted one since I was a kid. I've had many calculator watches, a couple of TV watches, and a Tetris watch, but the capabilities and price of the new ones mean that I will wait to have the smartwatch I really want.

Mostly want I want one for is a good game of pacman with good control. I've already considered the PalmOs Fossil watches many times because of the joystick nub, but always talked myself out of it (bad idea, they're getting more expensive, and I will buy one). I was really considering the new android ones when I first saw the video of windows 95 booting, but then I saw the left-out pause was actually that long. Battery life and low clock speed and price make it a too-expensive novelty for me tho I really do want one. Touch screen controls and too-big wireless prehiperals do not make this an option for mobile gaming. If I did video chat/conferencing often this would definitely be a fun buy. Just like under powered smartphones that have difficulty making calls or texts through regular usage these watches have trouble being time keepers through regular usage.

Still I really want one... when they become viable for something other than one of the most expensive cellphone prehiperals you can buy.

I kinda think of them as one of those tiny USB2 screens you can buy for a PC. Seems good in concept but doesn't quite work for games or videos which is all I'd ever want them to do.

I know if I bought one I'd have a few days of great fun as I do with every new toy with a cpu, screen and a library of software, but I know I'd never actually use it for what it was meant for, only bringing it out to retry pushing it to it's limits as new software came out.

No matter what I want one. Penny from Inspector Gadget and Dick Tracey had them. These can do a lot of what their watches did and that makes them too cool not to buy, right?

[fastbilly1]

I have an original Pebble, and it is used most of the time to change the track of music on my phone while mowing the lawn. The first few weeks it was really cool to have. But after the novelty of daily wear wore off, it became regulated to lawn work detail.

[Opa Opa]

<- Proud wearer of a "dumb-watch"

I guess I need to look up what applications smart watches can run but, aside from the novelty, I think my smartphone has my portable computing needs covered right now.

I could see smart watch tech being used in fields like medicine. There are a lot of portable monitors being used. It would be great to scale down the bulkier sensors.

[CRTGAMER]

In my case dumb owner with dumb non smart phone.

I have been seeing all the hype about the Apple iWatch and good to see that there is competition. The ratio of consumers wearing a watch is small with the advent of the cell phone. The Cell phone screen as a browser is too small for me already, what more if the watch. I imagine battery life will be a huge issue due to the compactness.

I owned a Casio Caculator Watch so many moons ago. The buttons were crazy small, but geeky cool at the time. As in my preference with the Cell Phone, it had a real keyboard. Hey, Target still sells it, maybe might revert back into the 80s along with cargo pants!

[casterofdreams]

I've had one of those when I was a kid. Silver with metal links but the buttons were flat.

[ninjainspandex]

Do these "Smart Watches" work as a phone or do they need to be tethered to your Smart Phone? I fail to so the point of these watches if you still need your phone in your pocket.

[casterofdreams]

You do need your phone. It's still required to use most of the functions.

The phone will push notifications to the watch. How ever you have set up for notifications it will mimic on the watch (in other words what you have chosen to be notified about will carry over the the watch).

The phone is required for navigation however instead of using your phone while you drive you can tap on the screen of the watch and give it a command to navigate you. Less phone fumbling.

Some of the newer watches like the one that I have has WiFi enabled features. For example if I leave my phone home and its connected to wifi I can have it pushed to my watch all notifications so long as my watch is connected to a wifi hotspot. I haven't tried this feature out yet because I grab my phone before I leave over my watch at least.