The State of Smartwatches in 2020 - Is there any point?
Smartwatches were supposed the next big thing…in 2014. I still remember driving in my car on my commute from Sunderland to Durham listening the (relative) surprise of the launch of Android Wear. I remember analysts and commentators talking about the seismic change to “wearables” as the next big thing in tech.
Google hadnt been first to the smartwatch game. Samsung had released the OG Galaxy Gear Watch with the Note 4 in 2013 and a fat of third party companies were getting in on the act. Pebble, Fit-Bit etc.
Android Wear (now Wear OS) was the first to be based on Android and controlled by Google. A flurry of devices came, the Galaxy Gear had multiple versions, the LG etc etc
TBH, I was a bit sceptical. It seemed to be a “manufactured” category. What I mean by this is that whilst mobile phones/smartphones had grown organically with progression from the Nokia 3210 days, to sliders, thin phones, flip phones (Moto Razer for example), touch screens and then the seismic shift to smartphones with BlackBerry and of course the iPhone. There was a sense that a product category existed, and companies were competing to make the best product and the consumer was all the better for it. Phone shipments rocketed, smartphones became the norm and internet access became a basic human need (along with food water and shelter).
But in a a capitalist society based around growth, something more was required. Columns and inches were written, Videos published about how this was a “gamechanger”. And of course Apple was about to “invent” the smartwatch with the Apple Watch.
Galaxy Gear S2
It just didnt happen. he public too didn’t seem to be too enamoured with them, I rarely saw “one in the wild”.
But I’m a techie…
So after resisting the magpie urge, I decided to take the plunge in 2016. By then Samsung had dropped Android Wear for Tizen (which worked surprisingly well). It seems the market was maturing and we were getting watches which looked like watches note just mini-smartphones on out wrists (LG Watch anyone?) Although to be fair the OG Moto 360 was first to that.
So I went for the Gear S2 (as shown above). It looked like a watch, ran smoothly, though the battery life was pants. A day max. The app store was a bit bare but I liked the rotating bezel, which seemed to work much better then touchscreens on Android Wear watches.
The problem? It worked best with samsung devices (it did work with others but the health features werent there and there were other severe limitations). It was now another device to get ready and charge. Half the time for sterility reasons they had to be removed in theatre and i wasnt so much into the (basic) health tracking that was there. After about a year, in 2017 I decided that this was an unnecessary piece of kit, sold by big multi-nationals to shore up a saturated smartphone market increasingly dominated by Apple and Samsung. it was surplus to requirements and so I got rid of it.
in late 2019/early 2020, I decided to revist them. I was seeing a lot more Fit-Bits and Apple Watches (the Series 4 seems to be where they really took off). Plus “proper” watch makers like Fossil, Garmin etc were really getting into it. So i decided to try the device in the opening picture. The Mobi TicWatch.
I’m not going to delve into a full review as that deserves a piece of its own. But I will say this. Connectivity is much better. Google Fit gives me a multi-device platform for health tracking (I was on a mission to get health so was often at the gym). Battery-life was 2 day+ (so no remembering to charge everynight) . it looked nice, and its dual LED screen meant even if you did lose battery, it was functional as a simple timepiece.
WearOS still isnt the best or most intuitive. But I found myself getting used to it. When I forgot it at home, I’d glance at my wrist to check notifications only to realise it wasnt there. Similarly if I’d forgotten at the gym then I’d look at my wrist to play the next song on my playlist (Eye of the Tiger!) and then realise i didnt have it. Plus it had the fantastic ability to connect to my phone so i could answer the phone on my wrist Star-Trek style (#80skid #Nerd)
The fitness aspect with Google Fit have also matured nicely and it again comes in handy for step-counts and heart rate monitoring.
I’d got used to life with it. In a way that we are now completely used/dependent on our smartphones, in certain situations this was happening too, e.g. driving and knowing what notification can be safely ignored or I have to pull over and answer.
They weren’t the next big thing, they weren’t the indispensibale future of tech. But slowly they have found a niche, it just took longer then the manufacturers wanted.
When you think about it, they are 6-7 years into their product cycle. The feature-phone also was about 7 years, and the smartphone a bit quicker at 4 years. In fact (despite the big companies efforts’) they just followed a regular pattern in technology.
Me? I’m keeping my TicWatch, might even upgrade. I dont wear it all the time. But I miss it when i forget.
