While the smartwatches on the market today are really nice and revolutionary, the sales of the watches are still slowly accumulating. It really is expected that about 1.2 million smartwatches will ship this year, a paltry number compared to the estimated 1.5 billion smart phone users on earth. What could be the reason behind this? Chances are that the current smartwatches do not have the critical components or features that will make them a runaway success.
Euromonitor’s head of consumer electronics, Loo Wee Teck, commented current smartwatches are simply not that great a person proposition yet.
“Smartwatches try to replicate the smartphone experience on a minuscule wrist-sized screen, which means inferior usability or otherwise seek to check and extend the functionality of smartphone onto an inferior screen”
So what will make the perfect smartwatch?
I have condensed it down to five components that require to be addressed before we are able to see this class of wearable electronics take off. These five components are design, functionality and reliability, apps, power consumption and battery life and lastly, durability. Why do I think that these are essential? Well let’s look at them one at a time.
Design
The look of the smartwatch could be put into three separate parts, namely the watch body, the watch face and finally the wrist strap.
The first thing that people look at would likely function as watch body. Is it too bulky, does it look cool and fashionable? The perfect body should be ideal for both casual and formal wear. For instance, the Pebble with its nice clean sporty look would blend well sports attire but might look a little out of place when worn with a suit and tie. The newer contenders just like the AGENT or Vachen however, could possibly be worn with normal casual attire or formal wear.
The watch bodies should be at a reasonable size as well. How big is the dive computers created by Suunto are a pretty decent size without being unwieldy. They could be worn like a normal wristwatch and most divers do that.
Most guys do not mind larger watches however, many ladies do. Should there be two watch sizes? Perhaps this would be a good solution, in the end, we’ve had watch sizes for men and women all this while. However, add an excessive amount of bulk to the watch also it becomes one chunky thing on the wrist that appeals to no-one. The difference in watch size could imply that more goodies can be crammed into it. A more substantial batter will be the most welcomed and perhaps some sensors as well?
Of https://mysmartwatch.se/foer-aeldre/ should match the watch face it really is displaying. The watch face, just like the body, should be able to match different dressing needs aswell. This is easier because the watch face can be changed with the press of a button. Which means this is something that the watch makers or third party developers will need to take note of. While the watch body might have an over-all design that fits most dressing needs, the watch face should match a specific theme. A formal classy watch face for more formal occasions to large sporty display for sporting needs, there must be enough watch faces to appeal to different users and their needs.
Pebble made this possible by releasing an SDK for alternative party developers to create their very own watch faces. This has lead to a huge library of watch faces for the Pebble. Vachen took a different approach. They develop their own watch faces but promise over 100 watch faces available upon the launch of the Vachen watch.
Last but not least, the watch strap. Similar to the two other areas mentioned, the watch strap ought to be able fit most dressing situations and there are two possible ways to do that. The first way will be like the design fundamentals of the watch body in a way that the watch strap would look good whether it’s worn with casual or more formal wear. A good example of this design method would be the watch straps of the Agent watch. It features an accent-stitched watch strap that looks chic enough for normal wear however the stitching adds that extra bit of class that makes it blend with formal wear aswell.
A second option would be for the strap to be easily replaceable. While the Pebble and Agent use standard 22mm watch straps that are easily changed with a small screw driver, this might still be a bit too troublesome for a few, particularly if you change straps often or come in a rush. The Sony SmartWatch and Motorola MotoActv offer an interesting alternative. The watch body includes a spring-loaded clip that is used to clip onto the watch strap, enabling really quick changes. The only real downside of the method is that the clip adds a substantial amount of thickness to the body.