[sc:hardware-category ]There hasn’t been a year go by that I haven’t looked at a smart watch of one kind or another and they all have shared a single common theme; rectangular.
The Moto 360 is the first smart watch that I can remember that has tried to break that mold and it looks like it going to succeed quite well.
I’m still not completely convinced of smart watch makes much sense as we all carry our phones with us these days, but the industry is very much behind pushing them so we’re going to see a flood over the next couple of months. Google is pushing hard, Apple and Microsoft both look to have them coming out later in the summer/fall.
Most people who spend hundreds of dollars on watches (and I’m one of them) look for several things; shape, size, premium materials and features. The previous generation of smart watches ignored almost all of these categories and failed. The next generation is looking to have started to learn and the Moto 360 is the best example of this. Smart watches have never wanted for features, but when talking about watches, features take on a whole new meaning that most tech companies haven’t gotten yet.
It’s not about heart rate monitors or pedometers, it’s about telling time.
I don’t care how many steps I took today and after the novelty of it wears off 99% of the rest of the population won’t either. After that, these “features” just become battery drains.
The single biggest remaining issue is run time. A smart watch needs to run at least a week on a charge, we’ll see what this generation can do, but I won’t wear a watch I have to charge every day.
