China’s trying to slim down, which will fatten the smartwatch market China recently launched an initiative to reduce the incidence of obesity in the country, a move analyst firm IDC thinks will fatten the market for smartwatches and smart wristbands. IDC on Tuesday shared data from its Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker that found 45.6 million wristy gadgets shipped in the first …
They're a supplement to smartphones, not a replacement for them.
In 2023 I decided I wanted to get a smartwatch to track my heart rate during workouts. I tried a couple of cheap Chinese watches but they weren't able to track my heart rate accurately during a workout. One would quit tracking it when I started sweating too much, the other wouldn't read any higher than about 135 bpm or so - when I went above that it would start reading in the high 60s - skipping every other beat. I figured if the cheap $40-$80 stuff didn't work and I was going to have to spend more I might as well spring for an Apple Watch since I have an iPhone.
A friend of mine told me I'd get addicted to the information and end up wearing it all the time, and I told her she was crazy. She was right. At first I just wanted to wear it while sleeping a few nights to see the information about sleep time/cycles and my heart rate it could provide, but she's right I like seeing that kind of data, seeing trends, etc. so I kept wearing it at night. Didn't take long for that to extend to wearing it all day to get more data, and see how long of a streak I can get for closing the activity rings.
All those uses are basically standalone, something the watch can do that a smartphone can't. The one thing the watch does that a smartphone can also do that I like is if I get a call it it vibrates my wrist and I can see who is calling and even take the call on the watch. Normally that's pointless if I have my phone next to me, but at night I keep my phone on my dresser where I'd have to get out of bed to get it. If someone calls when I'm in bed I don't have to get out of bed to see who is calling, and unless it is important I can just dismiss it to voicemail and go back to sleep in seconds. If I have to get out of bed and go to the dresser it is gonna be a lot harder for me to get back to sleep.
Fun fact. None of them are particularly accurate, you wouldnt ever rely on that kind of tech medically. Its all software that gives you the impression of accuracy. The sensors on your skin are all more or less the same. There are too many variables involved for it to be medically accurate. One of the key variables that affects the accuracy is the strap and another is how hairy your arm is. Sweat has a lot of impact as well. The read pit you get is a weighted average.
Friend of mine worked for an Aussie firm that makes wearable health tech and is a biophysicist...he's consulted for various health tech firms.
Ive tested this myself as well. I have a fee fitness watches around due to a project I worked on and my wife has access to medical grade kit. Most of them are 3-8bpm off, the worst was the Apple watch at 5-10bpm out.
But one of the effects of the shots (they aren't pills yet, you have to inject it) is to reduce your appetite, meaning you'll willingly eat fewer doughnuts.
There is another drug under development I just read about yesterday which is in stage 2 trials. Reportedly it reduces fat, preserves muscle mass (the GLP-1 drugs don't necessarily do that) and doesn't suppress appetite. It works by speeding up the metabolism and preferentially burning more fat. Sounds like it would be nice in winter (you'd feel warmer) but you might want to quit taking it for a few months during the summer heat lol
The things are cheap enough on Amazon that you can afford to do just that. You'll have to fiddle with your phone settings to switch to a different watch, however. Just go with some generic Chinese brand - you can get smartwatch's for as little as $15, and the quality seems to be pretty good. Just think about your requirements - for example, do you require it to be able to answer/make phone calls through your smartphone? The $15 one doesn't have mic/speaker so can't. Slightly higher priced ones can. All do heart-rate tracking, step counting, blood oxygen level. All of the ones I've encountered have far more exercise/fitness stuff than anyone needs. The $15 one tries to do blood pressure monitoring, but I think it was reading high for me.
I like the step counter and the heart-rate monitor. But you can get step counters right on your phone, I think. So, I'd say it is mostly psychological - having a thing on your wrist that you know is tracking stuff could be a subconscious prod to *do* something.
Also, you might be a weirdo who likes to change the watch-face every day.... :-)
I've stuck with the main face on my current watch, since it has the most info right there, plus a tap to bring up the phone call stuff, and one to bring up heart-rate monitoring right away. Darn thing often gets the outdoor temperature wrong though - that's the fault of the app on the phone, however. Oh yes, they all have different control apps. :-(
Why does anyone need a smartwatch to reduce calorie intake and/or to increase their exercise regimen?
I think the "large body of evidence in front of us" proves some people do.
I won't criticise anything which helps motivate people, gets them over the initial hurdles and on to a healthier path.
Indeed! The folks in question are probably under too much social control stress already and can't cope with it through either unacceptable fight nor flight, so they stay in place, slow their metabolisms down, and profusely chubbify in an attempt to hibernate through the crisis. Adding another layer of constant surveillance tech on top of this, by mandatory smartwatch interposition "for your own good", is only going to exacerbate the problem. Any such tech that seeks to force-fit shoehorn us into more efficient cogs in an ever expanding highly oiled machinery that we control less and less is unealthy and only causes our girthy waistlines to further mushroom copiously as a result ...
What the Chinese poeple need instead is to tap into the vast supply of aerobic and cardio mayhem that arises naturally in less frustrated societies and helps raise the base level of metabolic speed for everyone. Strive for free agency and inefficiency, breathe constantly, unassisted, give the wrong time, jaywalk, kick a chihuahua or two every now and then, enjoy life, raise an occasional finger to the CCTV from both hands here and there, rebel a bit, mess with the feng shuis, have 2 or 3 children, that's the best way to live healthy and slim imho!
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
