Smartwatch
- Thread starter timberfox
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Jack
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- Nov 11, 2007
I've had the Samsung Gear (not the new Gear 2) almost since it came out in 2015. I love it!
It's a great toy/gismo, it does great things around notifications, decent health stuff, takes calls but it's a bit quiet and tells the time!
A charge lasts about 4 days.
Would I buy the Gear 2. I'd buy the top version, the Classic.
However the Samsung bastards are charging £300 in the UK, it's $300 in the States and I saw it online on sale in Dubai for £160 so Samsung can do one.
It's a great toy/gismo, it does great things around notifications, decent health stuff, takes calls but it's a bit quiet and tells the time!
A charge lasts about 4 days.
Would I buy the Gear 2. I'd buy the top version, the Classic.
However the Samsung bastards are charging £300 in the UK, it's $300 in the States and I saw it online on sale in Dubai for £160 so Samsung can do one.
timberfox
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- Jan 5, 2008
I was actually seriously considering the S2 gear classic but a colleague says the operating system samsung use means less apps and makes everything more difficult
I really just want it for fitness tracking as well as getting texts and e-mails.... and telling the time
I really just want it for fitness tracking as well as getting texts and e-mails.... and telling the time
Jack
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- Nov 11, 2007
The operating system is Tysen (sp). When I first got the watch there weren't that many apps but it was fun watching them come on line, 100s a week. There's now 1,000s probably 10s of thousands. Some are better than others as you might expect with watch faces becoming a bore!
Difficult? I'm not sure what he'd mean by that. I can't think of any other apps I'd want on my phone and they're all easy to use.
Lothian Buses could do with getting their finger out. More and more cities buses are providing a link, via the phone, to their apps.
I get the full text of a text but emails only the headline and a few lines. I have templates for replying to texts but replying via a keyboard on the watch you'd need teenie weenie fingers and I don't bother.
One thing I found useful ish on holiday was a mapping/satnav app but it blootered the phone and watch battery.
It's a great wee toy!
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I wouldn't be keen to match a 3rd party watch to my phone.
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- Feb 6, 2003
You don't seriously fiddle your wrist in public trying to read text messages on a tiny screen like a Leith version of Dick Tracy do you?
Jack
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- Nov 11, 2007
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- Oct 6, 2006
Can you reply to texts on the watch?
If not then it's completely pointless being able to read them on it, imo.
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2002
Mate at work has the new one , looks pretty nice
timberfox
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- Jan 5, 2008
I believe you can reply with the watch via voice command but of what I've seen Samsung's voice command is pretty bad?
egb_hibs
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- Jul 2, 2002
I'm with you. Genuinely don't get the sales pitch; take a tiny, and therefore much less usable replica of the smart phone you already have in your pocket, and strap it to your wrist. You then have...
...a tiny, and therefore much less usable replica of your smart phone strapped to your wrist, and a watch that will run out of batteries if you don't charge it once a day.
Winner. :hmmm
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2002
I quite like having different watches for different occasions.
Got a smart but 'classic' watch for work and a couple of TW Steels for holidays- wearing one right now on this balmy evening.
Watches for courses I suppose.
If I ever decide to have a masturbation watch I'll get one of these 'smart watches'.
Presumably they are self winding.
Got a smart but 'classic' watch for work and a couple of TW Steels for holidays- wearing one right now on this balmy evening.
Watches for courses I suppose.
If I ever decide to have a masturbation watch I'll get one of these 'smart watches'.
Presumably they are self winding.
Jack
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- Nov 11, 2007
One at a time guys ;-)
Yes you can reply in one of 3 ways
By template
By voice command, see below
By a teenie we ... see above
4 get your phone out.
Having said that it's often useful to know you have a text and what it says without the need to reply instantly.
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Yeah. See above.
While I like the style and stuff it will never, in my opinion, be better than a nice toy.
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Mmmmmm. It's decent if it's quiet and you're consistent. Voice recognition has a long way to go. I've tried quite a few.
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You, or indeed I, get used to the limitations fairly quickly. As I said mine will go 4 days before it needs a charge in normal use. Battery life is not an issue.
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With so many, too feckin many in my opinion, designs to choose from it could be suggested you are among the automatic no people referenced by eeg on another thread. Just saying likes.
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A normal watch, like me ;-) has one face.
The thing about these watches is that you can have a plethora of faces, including the one that one keeps behind the door, available for any occasion.
Like most things I tend to use a fraction of what's available. I have my everyday face and a Hibs crest on the wrist that I change to for match time.
A smart masturbation watch might count strokes but might be confused with the pedometer. If that happened at your age it could be a long walk back!
Enjoy your holiday!
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2003
It took a few years of availability before smartphones became the norm.
I haven't worn a watch for years so probably not the easiest convert to a smart watch but I think they're becoming pretty popular. When people become more accepting of voice command as the new interface (think Star Trek computer) that'll be when wearables really come into their own.
As Jack mentioned, voice command has a bit to go but I reckon Google is getting really close to something that not only understands what you're asking but can actually deliver.
Also, it's not just reading texts, it's all sorts of things. An example was tonight Google Now advised me that the flight I was waiting for was delayed 15 mins. I don't actually know how it knew I was waiting for that flight and the delay wasnt announced in the airport. I got that via my phone but I reckon that and most other things I did on my phone today could be handled in a watch with voice command. Obviously it would require me to not feel like a twat talking to my watch.
I haven't worn a watch for years so probably not the easiest convert to a smart watch but I think they're becoming pretty popular. When people become more accepting of voice command as the new interface (think Star Trek computer) that'll be when wearables really come into their own.
As Jack mentioned, voice command has a bit to go but I reckon Google is getting really close to something that not only understands what you're asking but can actually deliver.
Also, it's not just reading texts, it's all sorts of things. An example was tonight Google Now advised me that the flight I was waiting for was delayed 15 mins. I don't actually know how it knew I was waiting for that flight and the delay wasnt announced in the airport. I got that via my phone but I reckon that and most other things I did on my phone today could be handled in a watch with voice command. Obviously it would require me to not feel like a twat talking to my watch.
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2002
Smartphones?
I remember the first phase of mobile phones..... My boss made me carry his. It was in a fcukin bag that weighed a ton. He used to get people to phone him when we were out so that I had to stand like a fcukin telephone box handing him'his phone' when it rang.
Fcukin Jambo.
I still see him occasionally, and he'd probably get folk to phone him on my Smartwatch just so I would still have to stand there like an eejit with him spraffing at my outstretched arm.
My phone often tells me how long it takes to get home........ How does it know I was even going home? Weird.
I didn't know.
I remember the first phase of mobile phones..... My boss made me carry his. It was in a fcukin bag that weighed a ton. He used to get people to phone him when we were out so that I had to stand like a fcukin telephone box handing him'his phone' when it rang.
Fcukin Jambo.
I still see him occasionally, and he'd probably get folk to phone him on my Smartwatch just so I would still have to stand there like an eejit with him spraffing at my outstretched arm.
My phone often tells me how long it takes to get home........ How does it know I was even going home? Weird.
I didn't know.
egb_hibs
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- Jul 2, 2002
They'll fix voice commands before they fix battery life - the most annoying problem in technology!
SKII
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- Oct 26, 2004
Perhaps of interest, there's new H[SUB]2 [/SUB]technology being trialed for the iPhone that they think will keep your phone charged for a week.
The battery works by reacting H[SUB]2[/SUB] gas with O[SUB]2[/SUB] gas in a small, very thin, fuel cell - generating electricity. There are small amounts of heat generated and waste water that will both need to be dealt with via vents on the back of the phone but it has seemingly been proven to work in a modified iPhone 6 and they are doing further tests. It is a British firm that have come up with the idea. The phone would be topped up using a small amount of H[SUB]2 [/SUB]gas - given it's flammability, there's bound to need to be a fair bit of testing before it might end up on the market.
timberfox
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- Jan 5, 2008
After a bit more research it looks like the huawei is getting a update for its unused built in speaker for notification sounds and making phone calls.
Think this is the one to go for
This new battery technology sounds brilliant, be a long time till its out if it's successful
Think this is the one to go for
This new battery technology sounds brilliant, be a long time till its out if it's successful
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- Feb 6, 2003
Google's voice commands are superb. I mind when one of the adverts came on the tv and I gave it the 'big fuuuuuuck off, maybe if you speak in a posh southern English accent'. Got the mobile out and said in my thick Leith accent 'where do hibs play?' and a voice came out saying 'HIBERNIAN FC'S HOME IS EASTER ROAD STADIUM IN EDINBURGH' followed by pics of the Leith San Siro, option to say the world 'call' to automatically phone it, map and it's wiki page. Google Now really is superb. Still wouldn't use it in public tho where I could I was calling someone nevermind use it in my wrist like an undercover agent.
Hibs1875 - know nothing about their watches but Huawei make the best value smartphone's out there. Plenty bang for hardly any bucks.
Hibs1875 - know nothing about their watches but Huawei make the best value smartphone's out there. Plenty bang for hardly any bucks.
egb_hibs
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- Jul 2, 2002
Still don't get it - any response to your voice commands is going to be on a screen so tiny as to always be less useful than a smart phone, or else an audio output again better served by phone and earphones. Sure there will be little 'touch' outputs it can do, notifying you by vibrating or whatever - but I am sceptical that these can ever be more than marginal use or prompts to go and consult a screen.
In some scifi day - though possibly not that far off - when it's part of a whole integrated setup of in ear, in eye, and on wrist gizmos - maybe it would work well as part of that whole, but on its own I'm not convinced. It's also never going to be aesthetically a winner for my personal tastes.
southfieldhibby
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- Oct 12, 2002
Them or 1+, who have created a crazy demand and superb market by simply limiting the number of handsets. You need to be 'invited' to buy one! Decent bit of kit for a good price,though.
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- Dec 12, 2003
The shift will be pretty massive which is why people have trouble getting their head around it, but imagine you ask the phone something and it answers you or does the thing. For a massive number of interactions, you either don't need a screen at all or a small one is fine. Consider these interactions:
How old is the prime minister?
Do I need an umbrella tomorrow?
Is my flight on time?
Set an alarm for tomorrow at 6am.
How do I say "hello" in spanish?
What time is it in New York?
Book a taxi from home to work tomorrow at 8am.
Turn on the heating at home at 5pm, 22 degrees.
Navigate to Dundee by car.
Listen to the Frozen soundtrack
Send a WhatsApp message to Jimmy. Say "you going to the football?"
Open and read most recent email from Alfie.
Reply to alfie. Say "Bolt, ya radge"
What time is it? ;-)
What's in my fridge?
Order some more beer.
Most of the above is possible or really close to it now.
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2002
I can hardly read my phone, can hardly see my Fitbit so there's no danger I could use a smartwatch unless it was of trigger happy proportions.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
egb_hibs
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- Jul 2, 2002
im with you - it's just 'why watch over phone' - a device geared to voice input -that I'm not sold on. As I say I can see it working when watch is part of an integrated system which it will undoubtedly become - but not as it stands (and I doubt ever for me over phone as an alternative).
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- Dec 12, 2003
I suppose the thinking goes that if the watch can do everything a phone can (and I appreciate we're not quite there yet) that it has the advantage of being worn ie. it's not loose in your pocket, it's always available in the same place, not getting dropped, broken, lost and stolen. Being attached to you also gives it the benefit of doing stuff that the phone can't. If you need a screen for something, you can also have that (and they do already talk to each other) but it's no real burden to wear a watch.
I'll also need more convincing before I start wearing a smart watch but I'm open minded about it in future. I can definitely understand why the main players are heading in that direction.
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- Jul 3, 2002
Or you could just look at your phone?
Or it could be suggested that I prefer aesthetically pleasing items on my wrist. Just saying likes.
vasco de gama
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- Dec 20, 2006
I know several people here that work for various companies Elon Musk runs and they say batteries are possibly his number 1 thing. He is obsessed with creating a world where everyone can live 'off the grid', probably on a distant planet that his SpaceX vehicles will take us to. I don't know much about this kinda thing but I think at the moment the focus was Lithium-Ion batteries but that could be very old news.
I only recently 'upgraded' to an already prehistoric smartphone and the battery life is a drag - basically need to recharge everyday. My father-in-law got a smartwatch for his Christmas which I set-up for him. From what I can tell he uses it to tell the time and to signal when he has to hunt around the house for his phone cos he's gotten a text.
egb_hibs
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- Jul 2, 2002
battery power is one of the biggest challenges in hi tech despite its rather unglamorous nature. 'Moores law' in computing, which has held pretty true over decades, states that computing power doubles every two years (to be specific it's about number of transistors in a chip or something). The result is your phone having more power than a mainframe of a relatively short time ago. Battery power has proceeded on nothing remotely like this trajectory and is a massive limiting factor versus other advances.