With the arrival of the first generation of smartwatches--Samsung Galaxy Gear, Pebble, and Sony Smartwatch--we have hit the rock bottom in innovate and design thinking.
These watches look cheap--flimsy plastic or ultra-thin aluminum or even stainless doesn't cut it as a fashion statement when larger and substantial is in.
The screens are too small to be user-centric--let along there being any room for a physical or soft keyboard.
You can't really read on it and you can't type on it (any significant form of email, texting)--except by voice command. Ah, let me talk into my wrist, no!
Also, for videos or gaming, the small rectangular screens aren't of any useful function--how much of Madonna's new wild getup can you see or how far can you fling that angry bird on your wrist?
Downloading music on the Gear, uh, also no.
Taking photos with a 1.9 megapixel camera on the Galaxy Gear at a time when the 8 megapixels on the iPhone is running way short is good for maybe a James Bond, but not anyone else.
Plus for smartwatches like the Gear, you still need to pair it with a companion smartphone for it to work, so you now have added expense (between about $150 for the Pebble and $299 for the Gear smartwatch) with no significant added benefit.
For the Gear, you also have a separate charger because the watch only has a battery life of about a day, while for the Pebble and Sony Smartwatch 2, you have between half a week to a week.
And believe it or not, the Galaxy Gear is not compatible with their own Galaxy S4 smartphone--oh, so very smart.
My 16-year old daughter said, "If they had this 10 years ago maybe, but now, who needs it!"
No, Google Glass has it right--concept yes, fashion still to be worked out--and the smartwatches for now, have it wrong, wrong, wrong.
If you buy it, you've bought yourself a very dumb watch.
Maybe the iWatch can save the day? ;-)
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Nathan Chantrell)
