A smartwatch is a portable device that's designed to be worn
on the wrist, just like a traditional watch. Smartwatches, however, like
smartphones, have touchscreens, support apps, and often record heart rate and
other vital signs.
The Apple Watch, as well as a number of other Android Wear
models, have more and more consumers seeing the value of wearing a mini
computer on their wrist. After all, humans have been wearing timepieces for
centuries, so it makes perfect sense to package the latest mobile technology
into this convenient form factor.
Whether you’re new to smartwatches in general or are looking
to find the perfect device for you, this overview should give you a solid
understanding of this emerging wearable category.
Short
History of the Smartwatch
While digital watches have been around for decades, tech
companies only recently began releasing watches with smartphone-like abilities.
Apple, Samsung, Sony and other major players have
smartwatches on the market, but it’s actually a small startup that deserves
credit for popularizing the modern-day smartwatch. When Pebble announced its
first smartwatch in 2013, it raised a record amount of funding on Kickstarter
and went on to sell more than 1 million units.
What Do
Smartwatches Do?
It’s important to assess your needs, aesthetic taste and budget
when choosing a smartwatch, but at the bare minimum a smartwatch should display
messages and notifications from your smartphone.
Beyond that, look for the following features in a
smartwatch:
Apps: Beyond
displaying notifications from your phone, a smartwatch is only as good as the
apps it supports. Luckily, both Google and Apple-powered watches will give you
plenty of choices. For example, the Apple Watch will launch with an Uber app,
letting you hail a cab from your wrist, along with airline apps that will let
your watch act as a digital boarding pass.
Good battery life:
A smartwatch is supposed to make life easier, so you shouldn’t have to recharge
it constantly. Look for a model with long enough battery life to get you
through at least one day. Some models, including the Pebble Steel, will last
for several days, but the downside is a black and white (rather than color)
display.
Answer messages by
voice: Things get really get good when you have the ability to answer
messages without taking your phone out of your pocket. Google’s Android Wear
operating system, which you’ll find running on smartwatches from LG, Motorola
and many others, allows users to reply to texts by voice.
Fitness tracking:
If you’re a hard-core athlete, a dedicated fitness band is likely a better
choice than a smartwatch. Still, many smartwatches include a heart rate monitor
and a pedometer to help track your workouts.
What's Next
for Smartwatches
Smartwatches are slowly but surely becoming more mainstream
gadgets. While the popularity of the Apple Watch is helping the category grow,
so are developments and design tweaks that make smartwatches work more
seamlessly with a user’s smartphone.
Companies face another challenge in bringing smartwatches to
the mainstream design.
Most people won’t slap just any old watch on their wrist, so
it’s important that these wearables look good in addition to offering advanced
functionality. The LG G Watch Urbane, Motorola Moto 360, Pebble Steel and Apple
Edition are all examples of smartwatches with classier-than-average looks, and
you should expect many more fancy models over the next few years.
While some smartwatches, such as the Apple Watch Edition,
will set you back more than $1,000 USD, good-looking options will increasingly
become available at much lower price points, too.
