This is the overall best smartwatch you can buy today, yet it gets 12 hrs of battery life. That should tell you something about the state of smartwatches. I don't expect Apple's watch to have amazing battery life (especially considering the rumored tech), but this is ridiculous.
One of the reasons I love my pebble is that it lasts up to a week without charging. There's enough things in my life that I need to worry about charging every single night. I don't want my watch to be one of them. Software wise, there's nothing in that video that made me want the product. The pebble does 95% of what I want it to do.
Here is the solution and it already exist, and autowinder, there are watches today that will wind themselves as you move and others which will charge a small battery to keep the watch running it is is a quartz watch. I have owned both and I like them since you never have to worry about a dead battery in your watch. If apple could put one of these in it could allow the watch to work a watch until you can fully charge the battery.
The 'autowinder' on mechanical watches is just a weight the does the same job as a user winding the spring on their watch by turning the little knob on the side. That's why they're called automatics.
Now for quartz movement Citizen created the Eco Drive technology, but I don't know if thet can generate enough energy to power an LCD or AMOLED display.
On the issue of battery life versus display, Pebble has, for the most part, succeeded. The display is always on, easily readable outdoors and indoors, and the battery life is 5 days. It does have far fewer functions than those anticipated for the iWatch, however.
Pebble uses an e-Ink or e-paper display, right? That means anything involving color or animation is out not possible on the Pebble?
Most of the Android Wear watches use LCDs or OLEDs which require a lot of power and therefore have runtime performance like cell phones, or devices that use those types of displays.
As for Apple's iWatch. Wait and see. I could see them delivering a device that needs to be charged every night to one that can last a month. It all depends on what it does, and there's very little info on that. If it is an OLED or LCD, 1 to 2 days is the most I'd expect.
Correct - no color. If Apple have managed to get reasonable battery life with a color display then that will be a game changer.
Once again, Android Wear proved to be the Moto 360's most glaring weakness, providing "constant confirmation that this operating system was designed with rectangles in mind." Images and text were occasionally cut off on the Moto 360's round screen, Pierce noted, saying that the watch is "at its most basic, just a much more attractive way to see all the same notifications on your phone."
Jeez Louise! This reminds me of those Mr. Coffee coffeemakers that for years and years and years had square baskets, which the filter would lay down in the corners of and let coffee grounds underneath. Cripes, you guys—you invented the freakin' filters! How is it you're unaware they're round? This is the same attention to detail.
That's Android QA there for you. Amazing that Google / Motorola 'didn't think of' the implications of using a round display and showing apps that were designed for rectangular devices.
Many things can be said of Apple, but they always think how things are going to be used, how they work, they test stuff, they...ah, what's the use. Android users may very well say that this cutting of is logical, because the app wasn't designed for a round display...
Companies that don't think this stuff through are companies I avoid, and have zero 'respect' for.
Of course Google did not think through the implementation of Android Wear. All Google wanted was to get ANYTHING out the door as fast as possible to enable Android Wear manufacturers to rush ANY kind of wrist-based product that could be called a smart watch BEFORE Apple showed the world its designs for a wrist-based product.
As much as I beat up on the New York Times, yesterday the rag published something truthful about the current state of smart watches: They stink!
Samsung has FIVE so-called smart watches on the market and analysts are saying it has captured 74% of the smart watch market. That boggles the mind because the analysts are counting shipments not sales as usual!
What is interesting is some executive at Samsung stated earlier this year that Apple was NOT needed to make wearables a success with the implication that Samsung could lead and grow the wearables market with its innovative products. Well, after having shipped five smart watch products, Samsung has never announced how many smart watches it has actually sold.
Analysts are stating less than 1 million smart watches were shipped last quarter. This is a sad state for Android's supposed leadership. But it is to be expected since not one Android company has provided the market with ONE concrete reason for why its wearable devices exist.
Go google images of the Moto 360. Take a look at some of the images that show it from a partial side angle (you will be hard pressed to find any that show it directly from the side). Especailly look at the side angle images where it's on a person's wrist. A woman's wrist. That beast is THICK! It's spec says its 1/2" thick. A 1/2" watch sticking up from your wrist is huge, on any wrist. I cannot imagine any woman wearing this. and not very many men either. It's my sincere hope that when we see the iWatch everyone's first impression is that it is svelte in profile. If so, this Moto 360, barely released, will appear to be a relic of the past; a fat old brick of failed technology. One can hope. :-)
It is actually under half an inch - it comes in at around .45 inches (11.5mm). And when compared to other men's watches, that actually comes in under many of them. It also is approximate in terms of diameter. So when you compare this to men's watches, it just isn't that remarkably big - it is average. I think Moto 360 could reasonably be seen as approximating men's wrist watches in form factor. Now, it is quite large for a women's watch, but let's be fair here: there are also some pretty large women's watches out there.
Go to amazon and search up some men's watches, such as omega, rolex, breitling, invicta, etc. It's not unusual to see case thicknesses ranging from 13 to 18mm, which is actually substantially thicker than the Moto 360.
Battery life, if you ask me, is the real issue here. A watch that won't get through 24 hours is pretty useless as a time piece, in my opinion.
12 hours is fine by me for this sexy beast. Who's going to have their watch on their wrists for 24 hours? The dock is so nice that it doubles as a desk clock. Best smart watch on the market. I don't see Apple beating this, not in a million years.
I've got to say, I'm no Adrian Monk by any means, but that missing segment would drive me crazy. Not as crazy as the wraparound on one side on the new Samsung Note (or Nissan Cube), but pretty crazy.
Battery life won't matter for the iWatch if they can do wireless charging right. If it can charge wirelessly while on your wrist while you're at home without being plugged in, that'll be a huge win.
With true wireless charging even if the iWatch's battery only lasts a day people won't notice because they never physically have to charge the thing.
I've never seen this concept implemented very well. Either the display fails to turn on when you want, or worse the display is frequently turning on (due to movement) but you didn't intend.
Also sometimes you want to glance down at a watch (to tell the time) without the need to move your arm.
Those are all major concerns, and something I would expect Apple to work out before releasing a product. I'm just don't see that with other manufacturers… ever. It appears as if they make some determination that one aspect far outweighs another aspect of the product so they focus on it without any regard to how it affects the other which makes the product very unbalanced.
I know someone that got one of the Samsung Gear watches. When we went out drinking his watch kept turning on and off when he was moving his arms. It looked pretty dumb. He got really excited when someone was raiding his village and he would get an alert. Yeah, he is a nerd.
Battery life won't matter for the iWatch if they can do wireless charging right. If it can charge wirelessly while on your wrist while you're at home without being plugged in, that'll be a huge win.
With true wireless charging even if the iWatch's battery only lasts a day people won't notice because they never physically have to charge the thing.
Most people are scared to death of leakage from their microwaves (like the kitchen is a tuned cavity!) I think aiming a microwave beam at you to charge your watch would be a hard sell. If you're talking about pure induction, that has to be pretty much touching—I'd rather leave the watch in a charger than rest my arm on it for hours.
Battery life won't matter for the iWatch if they can do wireless charging right. If it can charge wirelessly while on your wrist while you're at home without being plugged in, that'll be a huge win.
With true wireless charging even if the iWatch's battery only lasts a day people won't notice because they never physically have to charge the thing.
You are talking about far-field wireless power transmission, right? That sort of thing just isn't going to work as long as the device has a display to power. You are talking micro watts and pico watts with incredibly bad efficiency rates. I can't imagine this thing working in any scenario whatsoever.
If Apple has a secret sauce, it's going to be a super low power display, super low power wireless radios and super low power sensors and SoCs.
Well, this is Apple we’re talking about. Dual accelerometers for better accuracy.
Want to know the time but can’t be bothered to move any part of your body? Stare at the sun!
I do laboratory work in a safety cabinet. When I'm gloved up, I can't pull out my phone to check it. Due to the position of my arms, I'd have to flail awkwardly to activate an accelerometer. I'd like it to just be on so I can tell at a glance what's going on if I'm getting a ton of notifications, or just to tell the time.
I suppose though they could just have a setting in the preferences as to whether you want it always on or want it to turn on when moved. Then everyone gets what they want~
Comments
This is the overall best smartwatch you can buy today, yet it gets 12 hrs of battery life. That should tell you something about the state of smartwatches. I don't expect Apple's watch to have amazing battery life (especially considering the rumored tech), but this is ridiculous.
One of the reasons I love my pebble is that it lasts up to a week without charging. There's enough things in my life that I need to worry about charging every single night. I don't want my watch to be one of them. Software wise, there's nothing in that video that made me want the product. The pebble does 95% of what I want it to do.
The 'autowinder' on mechanical watches is just a weight the does the same job as a user winding the spring on their watch by turning the little knob on the side. That's why they're called automatics.
Now for quartz movement Citizen created the Eco Drive technology, but I don't know if thet can generate enough energy to power an LCD or AMOLED display.
"Waiting for Broadwell" is my favorite apologist meme.
Correct - no color. If Apple have managed to get reasonable battery life with a color display then that will be a game changer.
Jeez Louise! This reminds me of those Mr. Coffee coffeemakers that for years and years and years had square baskets, which the filter would lay down in the corners of and let coffee grounds underneath. Cripes, you guys—you invented the freakin' filters! How is it you're unaware they're round? This is the same attention to detail.
That's Android QA there for you. Amazing that Google / Motorola 'didn't think of' the implications of using a round display and showing apps that were designed for rectangular devices.
Many things can be said of Apple, but they always think how things are going to be used, how they work, they test stuff, they...ah, what's the use. Android users may very well say that this cutting of is logical, because the app wasn't designed for a round display...
Companies that don't think this stuff through are companies I avoid, and have zero 'respect' for.
Of course Google did not think through the implementation of Android Wear. All Google wanted was to get ANYTHING out the door as fast as possible to enable Android Wear manufacturers to rush ANY kind of wrist-based product that could be called a smart watch BEFORE Apple showed the world its designs for a wrist-based product.
As much as I beat up on the New York Times, yesterday the rag published something truthful about the current state of smart watches: They stink!
Samsung has FIVE so-called smart watches on the market and analysts are saying it has captured 74% of the smart watch market. That boggles the mind because the analysts are counting shipments not sales as usual!
I read the following Reuters article this morning about Apple's competitors hoping Apple makes 'wearable' work... http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/05/us-electronics-fair-wearables-idUSKBN0H01AF20140905.
What is interesting is some executive at Samsung stated earlier this year that Apple was NOT needed to make wearables a success with the implication that Samsung could lead and grow the wearables market with its innovative products. Well, after having shipped five smart watch products, Samsung has never announced how many smart watches it has actually sold.
Analysts are stating less than 1 million smart watches were shipped last quarter. This is a sad state for Android's supposed leadership. But it is to be expected since not one Android company has provided the market with ONE concrete reason for why its wearable devices exist.
Go google images of the Moto 360. Take a look at some of the images that show it from a partial side angle (you will be hard pressed to find any that show it directly from the side). Especailly look at the side angle images where it's on a person's wrist. A woman's wrist. That beast is THICK! It's spec says its 1/2" thick. A 1/2" watch sticking up from your wrist is huge, on any wrist. I cannot imagine any woman wearing this. and not very many men either. It's my sincere hope that when we see the iWatch everyone's first impression is that it is svelte in profile. If so, this Moto 360, barely released, will appear to be a relic of the past; a fat old brick of failed technology. One can hope. :-)
It is actually under half an inch - it comes in at around .45 inches (11.5mm). And when compared to other men's watches, that actually comes in under many of them. It also is approximate in terms of diameter. So when you compare this to men's watches, it just isn't that remarkably big - it is average. I think Moto 360 could reasonably be seen as approximating men's wrist watches in form factor. Now, it is quite large for a women's watch, but let's be fair here: there are also some pretty large women's watches out there.
Go to amazon and search up some men's watches, such as omega, rolex, breitling, invicta, etc. It's not unusual to see case thicknesses ranging from 13 to 18mm, which is actually substantially thicker than the Moto 360.
Battery life, if you ask me, is the real issue here. A watch that won't get through 24 hours is pretty useless as a time piece, in my opinion.
Atomic batteries are probably out of the realm of consideration.
Damned accountants!
Don't care what it does - MOTO did the butt UGGLY - function without vision!
Apple's designs are visionary, functional & elegant.
With true wireless charging even if the iWatch's battery only lasts a day people won't notice because they never physically have to charge the thing.
I've never seen this concept implemented very well. Either the display fails to turn on when you want, or worse the display is frequently turning on (due to movement) but you didn't intend.
Also sometimes you want to glance down at a watch (to tell the time) without the need to move your arm.
Those are all major concerns, and something I would expect Apple to work out before releasing a product. I'm just don't see that with other manufacturers… ever. It appears as if they make some determination that one aspect far outweighs another aspect of the product so they focus on it without any regard to how it affects the other which makes the product very unbalanced.
I know someone that got one of the Samsung Gear watches. When we went out drinking his watch kept turning on and off when he was moving his arms. It looked pretty dumb. He got really excited when someone was raiding his village and he would get an alert. Yeah, he is a nerd.
Most people are scared to death of leakage from their microwaves (like the kitchen is a tuned cavity!) I think aiming a microwave beam at you to charge your watch would be a hard sell. If you're talking about pure induction, that has to be pretty much touching—I'd rather leave the watch in a charger than rest my arm on it for hours.
Battery life won't matter for the iWatch if they can do wireless charging right. If it can charge wirelessly while on your wrist while you're at home without being plugged in, that'll be a huge win.
With true wireless charging even if the iWatch's battery only lasts a day people won't notice because they never physically have to charge the thing.
You are talking about far-field wireless power transmission, right? That sort of thing just isn't going to work as long as the device has a display to power. You are talking micro watts and pico watts with incredibly bad efficiency rates. I can't imagine this thing working in any scenario whatsoever.
If Apple has a secret sauce, it's going to be a super low power display, super low power wireless radios and super low power sensors and SoCs.
I would imagine that the firsst step toward getting decent battery life is not to use android SW & HW.
Well, this is Apple we’re talking about. Dual accelerometers for better accuracy.
Want to know the time but can’t be bothered to move any part of your body? Stare at the sun!
I do laboratory work in a safety cabinet. When I'm gloved up, I can't pull out my phone to check it. Due to the position of my arms, I'd have to flail awkwardly to activate an accelerometer. I'd like it to just be on so I can tell at a glance what's going on if I'm getting a ton of notifications, or just to tell the time.
I suppose though they could just have a setting in the preferences as to whether you want it always on or want it to turn on when moved. Then everyone gets what they want~
Its 1.8-inch round display "almost looks like I grabbed a clock off the wall and strapped it to my arm."
I think the trend is toward ever-larger and more blingy watches.
Or maybe that was back in 2011.
I'm not enough of a fashion victim to know that.