Smartwatch sales off to a very slow start Singapore is home to just over five million people and market-watcher GfK says 94 per cent of whom bought a PC or accessories in the last two years and 95 per cent of whom acquired telecommunications technologies in the same period. But the first count of smartwatch sales in the island nation, conducted by market-watcher GfK, …
"Low sales?...Something to do with the length of time they last between charges?"
I doubt it. People put up with the dismal battery life of smartphones. The thing about smartwatches is they do very little that is useful or unique, and I think a critical problem makers have overlooked is that smartwatches are an ancilliary device - without a smartphone most smartwatches are completely useless.
When you've got two devices with short lived batteries, one of which can function on its own, one that can't and also doesn't actually do much, where does the pain get felt? By the smartwatch left in a drawer. On the other hand my Seiko 5 needs no batteries, is self winding, doesn't depend on a nearby smartphone, looks smart but discrete and is acceptably accurate. Even if I had a smartwatch, which would get worn?
You hit the nail on the head, Ledswinger, when you say your Seiko looks smart.
Some people wear watches to tell the time, some wear them as jewellery, most people a bit of both. Unless smartwatches improve enormously and get some true functionality of their own, they'll only ever appeal to anorak-wearing geeks and nerds.
Remember "digital watches" of the 1970s? Even the geeks and nerds were soon too embarrassed to wear those.
I can see them possibly (perhaps) catching on as sports accessories, but no more.
But we'll wait and see IF the Apple rumours are true. Apple have form when it comes to redefining markets.
I have a Sony Smartwatch 2, had it for a couple of months before I stopped using it.
The charge factor isnt an issue, unless you go out into the jungle. The charge on mine normally lasts a week, which I think it pretty good.
However, my phone runs out of battery very quickly - once the phone is dead you cannot use all of the features on the smart watch.
I do not know the state of affairs with the Samsung smartwatch, I know it is at least three times the price of the Sony offering.
A "dumb" watch lasts for years on a battery and has an always-on display. It also doesn't care what brand phone you have in your pocket, or even if you have a phone.
While it's too much to expect a smart watch to last for years on a charge, it is not acceptable that it only lasts days. Nor is it acceptable that you have turn the display on to see the time. Or that smart watches are tied to particular handsets or phone operating systems.
I think once a device appears that overcomes these issues it will sell a lot better than they do now.
Battery: I don't this as that bad a problem. I usually wear my watch in bed, but I think most people take theirs off at night. So I don't see why it would be a problem, with a nice stand - and I'm sure I would get used to charging it overnight in a very short time. So it needs a battery that can stand a long weekend without you needing to take your charger with you. And I guess, intelligent software that turns it into a watch (disabling the smart features), that'll last for a couple of days on the remaining 10% of battery.
Hugeness: They all seem to be bleedin' enormous. Then again, some people will strap a Rolex the size of a dinner plate to their wrist.
Hideousness: Fugly is the word, I believe. I find a lot of the Rolexes and Omegas of this world pretty hideous as well - but in an over-the-top-blingtasic sort of a way. Most of the smartwatches look really plasticky and nasty, which added to their enormous hugeousity makes them very noticeable. I once saw a mock-up of one of the supposed watches. You know the usual fake new iPhone from Digitimes sort of thing. Anyway, it was a huge aluminium bracelet with screen on. It looked so much better than anything I've yet seen. If you've got to be huge, you may as well make a feature of it.
Function: I guess this is the same problem of hugeness and re-charging. The battery tech isn't yet up to the job. The compromises of battery and screen size seem to make it a fun toy only. I guess it's useful to some people to do a bit of inbox sorting while on a crowded train. But really, if you've got the space to operate your watch with the other hand, you've got theh space to hold your phone and do it. Therefore I really can't see the smartwatch moving out of the realm of useful geek toy. Then again, I was an enthusiastic early iPad buyer, who thought they'd never take off as a mass market thing either - as I noticed no increase in interest between my iPad and my previous tablet PC. People liked both, but didn't see the point for themselves. Now loads of people have tablets. So what do I know?
Sales are low simply because nobody really wants one. Done! What's so hard to understand? They won't sell until they offer enough usefulness for a good price.
Smartphone screens are barely large enough for most tasks already (which also drives tablet usage). The tiny screen of a smartwatch is horrible for most of what people use tablets and smartphones for. Try navigating with one, watching a video, reading a full-page document. The so-called convenience of having it glommed to your arm isn't worth the things you lose in that tiny form factor.
It's typical of tech companies these days. Wow, we invented something to make us rich! Why isn't everyone buying it? It's the future, you HAVE to buy it even if the old skull widgets still work fine! Gah...
I looked at getting a smart watch. I was underwhelmed when I looked into what they could actually do. The things are essentially just watches unless paired to a smart phone, and if I'm carrying a phone anyway why would I not use its bigger screen to check the weather and my text messages? I could be convinced to buy one, maybe, if it were a phone in and of itself, but as just a second screen for the phone I'm already carrying? No thank you, not worth it.
They don't do anything that the phone in my pocket doesn't already do.
They use bluetooth, to communicate with my phone. I leave the bluetooth shutoff on my phone (S4), as it drastically reduces the battery life, when I turn it on.
For the record, I own and wear over a dozen watches. (Worn one at a time.) :)
I won't be buying a smart watch any time soon.
Yes it's nice having a thing on one's wrist (well it is for some) that has a subset of the functions of the phone that's usually not more than an arm's strech away.
The phone can now do most things that I need to do on the move but there is one thing that the phone isn't good at and that's taking notes. I still have a small notebook and pen in my pocket to take down notes, to scribble a diagram and to generally jot things down on the spur of the moment.
Of all of the other tasks that the phone can do it can do it well. It has a good calendar function which works well but it can't yet take notes in the way that pen and paper can.
Going for the smartwatch option is, in my opinion, going utterly the wrong way. I can't come up with a reason why I would wish to be shackled into something like this for little or no benefit.
Just, please, give me something that replaces a notebook and pen.
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