Well, mostly features I want on a smartwatch are present on a smartband, which means... Fitness, fitness and fitness... If MSFT develop such thing, I will be more than happy. Problem is... No word from MSFT over smartwatches or smartbands...
Other than Pebble, I have no interest in other smartwatches. The Android Wear watches look nice, but the poor battery life is an extreme turn off. I don't want to charge my watch every night. At least with a Pebble watch, I can charge every 5 days or so. However, there is no Pebble app for WP (official or third party), so....
Exactly. No offense guys, but I don't get the hype by some of you. It seems to me you're more excited just because it's something new you don't have rather than something new that's actually good. Current smartwatches suck IMO purely because they still require your existing smartphone to work and have terrible battery life. And the majority so far are fugly. Like 1980's $10 Casio fugly.Yay, another gadget to carry a charger for and to have to stress over it's power supply. With my smartphone, tablet, fitbit, laptop, bluetooth portable mini-speaker, and dedicated e-reader (I'm a heavy reader) I think I already have enough gadgets to worry about charging. The last thing I want is another gadget to charge up. Call me old fashioned, but I'll stick to my automatic Swiss and German sports and dress watches. I'm fine with having to service a fine watch once every 6-8 years instead of having to plug a digital one up every 8-12 hours to a wall plug.
If I want updates, that's what my smartphone is for. I really don't need another gadget to duplicate the same information...especially when my phone is on me at all times. The only times a smartwatch might be useful is when I'm bathing or swimming, but who wants to be distracted by Twitter updates or emails when taking a bath or going for a nice swim? Not me! I find it refreshing to have one or two moments during the day when I'm not constantly plugged in to the world and being distracted by emails, social media, or news updates.
Current smartwatches suck IMO purely because they still require your existing smartphone to work and have terrible battery life. And the majority so far are fugly. Like 1980's $10 Casio fugly.
Okay so Apple just went and stuffed a full OS into a watch.
I expect Microsoft will adopt the Apple approach, but will moderate it to an extent.
Instead of producing one watch with everything and their cousin's heart loaded into it, they will probably split their wearable program into two parallel programs running on the same OS/engine:
1. A fully dedicated fitness band loaded with advanced sensors and an emphasis for relevant health/fitness information (mimic the Apple Watch in that regard) with some room for basic notifications.
2. A fully dedicated smartwatch *without* the fitness and health sensors (so as to free up room and have a thinner/lighter design), mimic the Apple Watch's approach to apps and social.
Yay, another gadget to carry a charger for and to have to stress over it's power supply. With my smartphone, tablet, fitbit, laptop, bluetooth portable mini-speaker, and dedicated e-reader (I'm a heavy reader) I think I already have enough gadgets to worry about charging. The last thing I want is another gadget to charge up. Call me old fashioned, but I'll stick to my automatic Swiss and German sports and dress watches. I'm fine with having to service a fine watch once every 6-8 years instead of having to plug a digital one up every 8-12 hours to a wall plug.
If I want updates, that's what my smartphone is for. I really don't need another gadget to duplicate the same information...especially when my phone is on me at all times. The only times a smartwatch might be useful is when I'm bathing or swimming, but who wants to be distracted by Twitter updates or emails when taking a bath or going for a nice swim? Not me! I find it refreshing to have one or two moments during the day when I'm not constantly plugged in to the world and being distracted by emails, social media, or news updates.
I truly get it, but I don't think it's directed to consumers like you to buy. I don't wear accessories but I would definitely buy a Microsoft smartwatch that worked with Windows Phone. But I don't generally want to be disturbed by a barrage of notifications either so we'll see
Okay so Apple just went and stuffed a full OS into a watch.
I expect Microsoft will adopt the Apple approach, but will moderate it to an extent.
Instead of producing one watch with everything and their cousin's heart loaded into it, they will probably split their wearable program into two parallel programs running on the same OS/engine:
1. A fully dedicated fitness band loaded with advanced sensors and an emphasis for relevant health/fitness information (mimic the Apple Watch in that regard) with some room for basic notifications.
2. A fully dedicated smartwatch *without* the fitness and health sensors (so as to free up room and have a thinner/lighter design), mimic the Apple Watch's approach to apps and social.
If wearables are the next big wave (that mobile was at the height of PCs), then it'd be best for Microsoft to enter the new product category in full force. It can compete by offering a solution that's as powerful as Apple Watch and Android Wear, but one that's cross-platform (including not only WP, Android and iOS, but throw in BB10, Firefox and the Web too) and open to every kind of developer.I think Microsoft should focus on better explaining why people should buy their current products before introducing anything else. My two cents.