A smartwatch is a piece of technology we were only dreaming about until a couple of years ago. Imagined in Star Trek and other science fiction works all those decades ago, we expected them to change communication when they came along.
Well, smartwatches have been around for a couple of years and they haven‘t really taken off as quickly as we would have liked. While we‘re extremely happy they exist and see them as a must-have for any tech junkie, there are very few we would actually buy ourselves as most still have inherent problems that aren‘t being addressed (even though you would have expected them to have been by now).
These are the biggest problems we regularly see with smartwatches, which we can‘t wait manufacturers to relegate to the doldrums of ancient memory.
Unwanted On / Off Responses
Most smartwatches on the market today come with a bright LCD or AMOLED display and makes the promise that you don‘t need to press a button or the screen to interact with it. Most have the capability of waking up when you lift your wrist, to about chest level. Or so we thought.
Very few smartwatches actually do this consistently and reliably ““ the Apple Watch is one example. The movement detection for most watches isn‘t fine tuned to the point that it knows you actually want to look it. Some struggle to recognise this action and you will have to tap the display to wake it up anyway, while others think any minor movement of you wrist means you want to glance at it for one reason or another.
Phone Connection Drops
An integral part of smartwatches these days is having to “˜feed‘ off of your smartphone to see which apps have notifications, when you are receiving calls, or when you are dictating a reply to a message. Very few work as standalone device, which means you always need it to be connected to your phone to be anything more than a colourful digital watch.
We have found that many smartwatches struggle to say connected indefinitely, but the bigger problem is when you leave or forget your phone on the desk while taking a quick stroll through your office or home. It will obviously disconnect when you are out of range, but the frustration is that many times it won‘t automatically connect to the phone once are you in range again.
It might seem like a minor gripe, but it is a huge inconvenience when you have set your phone to silent while the watch is connected and suddenly in your phone rings at full blast because the connection to the watch has dropped.
Notifications Get Lost
Many people think of smartwatches as nothing more than a second screen for notifications, which in many cases is true. This would lead you to the logical conclusion that they are extremely competent at pushing notifications to your wrist. The actual fact is that every now and again some notifications get lost.
All smartwatch platforms have the uncanny capability to be bemused by an app every now and again, and you don‘t see your notification. While most times it isn‘t a huge problem, that one time your boss needs something urgently and you don‘t see the message can be troublesome.
Battery Life
I don‘t think this would take anyone by surprise. The battery life of modern smartwatches simply aren‘t where it should be. Sure, watches like the Pebble Time battery life of 4-5 days, but ones like the Apple Watch of LG G Watch R have big, bright displays and they barely get you through the day.
Not only that, but the added stress on your phone means its battery life is also diminished. This is a no win situation.
One Handed Usability
The advent of smartwatches was supposed to herald the era of use without needing your other hand for inputs. If you‘re walking around with a coffee in one hand and a smartphone in the other, you wouldn‘t want to use that hand to interact with your watch. Because of the software interfaces on almost all wearables these days, though, you will almost certainly have to in order to change or update anything on your watch.
Android Wear has made some improvements of late with the Lollipop update and is certainly the best ecosystem in this regard, but it isn‘t close fully freeing up that second hand yet.
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