First and foremost, I wear a Watch. So I do not mind having something on my wrist. For those who do, I don't know what to tell you.
Okay, now you can read on.
At the moment, my analog watch is mostly for fashion. I hardly look at it to tell me the time. I do not wear any other jewelry or piercings, so the watch is really that to me. A fashion accessory.....
But I know it could be so much more!
Since I wear a watch that only tells the date and time, I would rather something smarter on my wrist. I am very intrigued by the thought of a smart watch. A dumb watch is really a waste of wrist space.
I pull out my phone to reply to a text message, check the weather, track my calories and set reminders. Pretty much everything. I would love to not have to do that.
The wave of smart watches that came out last year were sort of smart. They did notify there users of text messages, calls, alarms and calendar alerts. They could track your fitness. I was intrigued.
However, Android wear looked very clumsy to use. I hated the flat and cartoon like U.I and I also hated the pane type management. I know the stand-alone fitness trackers were good, but I didn't want to manage another electronic that only did the "fitness" things.
I was seeking that all in one, simple, intuitive experience. A watch that would gently notify me of a text message or news headline. Not with a loud chirp or ring, but a vibration.
I keep my iPhone on vibrate, I hate text message pings and call rings.
I wanted a watch that could track my walks, calories throughout the day. A watch that not only told me the time and date but told me what was on my calendar. A watch I could use as a timer or alarm.A watch that could tell me the temp outside with a simple glance and with a simple tap give me a five day forecast.
As of today to do everything above I need to reach into my pocket, unlock my phone, hit the appropriate app and tap through a set of options. Seems alot for just a few simple tasks. I know.....first world problem.
As of April 24th, 2015 with the Apple Watch I could just lift my wrist, tap or swipe up and use the digital crown to do all the above. No fumbling around in my pocket, no unlocking.
But thats not all. I believe theres an epidemic.
A zombie epidemic, but not the science fiction kind. When you walk down the street what can we see. The blue glow of the faces of smartphone users walking with their head down. Walk into a restaurant, what do we see? A family of four, or a group of friends glued to their smartphone screens.
Maybe they pulled their smartphone out to just take a call, or to check a text message, but then what happens?
They have their phone unlocked and all their lovely tempting apps just staring right at them. They might check Facebook, their twitter feed, Instagram feed, snapchat etc.
Everyone reading this knows what I am talking about!
Now I know what some are saying. The smartwatch is just another gadget that will be notifying you and drawing your attention in all different directions.
But....
If you get a text message on your watch, it just requires a flick of the wrist. It prevents you from pulling your phone out of your pocket. It stops you from being tempted to cycle through all your social media apps.
Like flies to a light, we are drawn to our smartphones, and once they are out, we can't stop starring.
The smartwatch can get us back to life, we can be gently notified of our busy lives right on our wrist, we can go about our day and not have to think about fitness tracking, it will just gently remind us of our progress.
It will be the vaccine to cure the smart-phone zombie epidemic.
This to me is the watch's killer feature and I get it!
The Apple Watch, I believe is the first to do it right. Not the first to do it.
Thanks for listening.
