And then the Google lad says: Of course you can use Android Wear without a smartphone

Apple may be winning the PR war with its Watch, but Google thinks an open platform, and some nifty Android Wear software, can give it the edge in the smartwatch world. At its annual Google I/O developers shindig in San Francisco, the Chocolate Factory said in the first year of Android Wear the operating system has been updated …

[Anonymous Coward]

Alerts. The World Needs More Lerts

Collecting and notifying me systems alerts is what I would use it for. By the way, IM'scshort and sweet would be useful. And only alerts messages displayed frag email and other message unless I bring those apps up.

[Dick_Durkin]

Re: Alerts. The World Needs More Lerts

What?!

[Darryl]

Re: Alerts. The World Needs More Lerts

's what happens when you try to type a comment on a smartwatch.

[Anonymous Coward]

Smartwatch 3

Got the 5.1.1 update & as for gesture control,my wrist hasn't been this sore since I was a teenager.

[skinner]

Re: Smartwatch 3

Do you know if google all access music (i.e. their competitor to Spotify) allows offline playback from storage on the watch?

I am very tempted by one of these at £ 130 on amazon but I want to be able to go running with music and leave the phone at home.

Spotify announced today their wear app is inbound but sadly it appears to be no more than a remote control for music stored on a phone

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm very happy it has 1000 different clock face designs because I get easily bored reading the time. No longer will I have to change my clocks on daily basis.

Can someone please create a crapper app based on the sound of my turd so it can beep if I don't wipe enough times? I'm thinking the plop sound could be analysed to determine wipe to plop ration.

[VinceH]

I'm sure you don't really want to ration your wipes according to the number of plops.

[Mage]

Apple is winning the PR war with its Watch

Really?

Citations. Have they recharged the Jobsian Reality Distortion field.?

An iPhone extender to Wrist with some monitoring, Jakob Nielsen's outfit slates it's UI too.

Massively expensive, for people with more money than they know what to do with.

[Mage]

Re: Apple is winning the PR war with its Watch

I must have stepped on a load of apple fan wrists getting here. Proof the Reality Distortion Field is back

Did Apple really research at all ?

There was research in 2013 highlighting the issues.

The Android wearables are a bit pointless, but considering the Apple hype of quality and design, their watch is shiny junk.

[AndyJenk]

I have a ZGPAX S8 - a smart PHONE watch which takes a sim, runs Android 4.4.2, has access to Play Store, has a camera, bluetooth and GPS etc. The disadvantage is battery life with so many possible apps but tiny power banks are available and improving all the time. Not quite there yet with the on-screen keyboard but there are several innovative designs which show great potential. This cost me 90GBP. I now don't NEED my phone with me but could use it as a keyboard if necessary until a better keyboard is perfected. Why on earth do people pay more for less capable (and often less attractive) watches just because they carry a well known name? Chances are they were made by the same Far East country anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

Improve your stroke and posture

Might help in the bedroom too...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sand Squat Thrusts

Sounds painful.

[captain veg]

Re: Sand Squat Thrusts

It's just what press ups do, can't be helped.

-A.

[Frank Bough]

Oh dear

The only thing more pointless than Apple Watch, Apple Watch without the jewellery factor.

[Teddy the Bear]

Re: smartwatch 3

Smartwatch 3 can store music (4GB on board) and can play back via Bluetooth headset. No phone needed (done it myself).

[Chris G]

China Syndrome

Smart watches have already taken off well in the Far East a look on Eto Talk, DX or Mini in the Box they all show dozens of wrist phones with varying capabilities from less than fifty bucks up to a couple of hundred or more. Dual sim is common and dozens of watch face choices are already there.

This is the West copying and improving on Eastern products for a change, I still don't see Westerners really going that much for Smartwatch tech but who knows I been wrong plenty of times before. On battery life; is there anything in the way of flexible LiPo battery that has enough zap to put into a wrist strap to augment the on board battery? There is this; http://reservestrap.com/ but it is not flexible and looks a bit clunky but it seems to work having 200mAh plus of power.

I know there are makers of flexible batteries for smart cards that go up to 200mAh but I think they tend to warm up a bit if usage is high.

[graeme leggett]

Checking time on a smartwatch is "cool" is it?

No. it's an essential feature, or raison d'être (if you'll pardon my French) of a watch, smart or otherwise.

[TeeCee]

"move between applications with a flick of the wrist."

And there was I thinking that it was the Apple product that had been designed for wankers.

[Anonymous Coward]

What matters in a smartwatch?

While waiting for smartwatches to become useful, I decided to play with a cheap Chinese pedometer watch. It has a dedicated (and very small) OLED display, BT4, and it can vibrate for notifications when tethered to a phone. It cost £60 as a direct import.

The battery life is about a week tethered and three weeks untethered. The display comes on, as with the Apple Watch, when you raise the thing. The pedometer seems quite accurate based on a map comparison though it can go a bit wrong in long car journeys. The rechargeable battery is actually user replaceable - 4 slot head screws on the back.

My personal thoughts are:

I don't want apps on the watch, just efficient communication with the phone.

A battery life of a week is a minimum.

Both the Apple Watch and Android Wear seem to me a solution in search of a problem.

[Michael Wojcik]

I'm feeling a little gesture-able myself

It's glance-able, actionable, and effortless

And Tonstant Weader fwowed up.