Touch screen mobile phone watches: Are they hit or miss?
23 Jul 2012
Watch phones have been in the market for a couple of years now but so far haven’t made it as mainstream tech devices.
These clever bits of kit are evolving – new styles, such as the Pebble E-Paper Watch, sync with your phone, allowing you to check your wrist instead of your pocket to see when you’ve got a call or text coming through.
I’ve been following the Pebble closely, and I think it just may be the start of a smart phone revolution.
Are times changing for wrist watches?
Over the last few years the tech market has seen a handful of watches launch with functionality that you’d expect to only find on your phone:
LG’s GD910 Watch Phone made quite an impression when engadget reviewed it late last year. Orange, a UK telco, sold this watch phone on pay as you go with no contract
The Assassin watch phone comes with a built in camera, Bluetooth ear piece, video camera, FM radio and quad band GSM connectivity.
Pebble Technology
The Pebble E-Paper Watch has taken the concept of smart phone touch screen watches a step further than those before it. It can run its own apps and also connect to Android or iOS devices via Bluetooth. This means that you can use apps housed on your phone, through your watch. Pretty amazing stuff really.
I think what makes the Pebble watch a game changer is that it connects via Bluetooth to your existing mobile handset (be it an iPhone or an Android), so you can have one mobile plan and one sim card. This small but vital development moves the Pebble from being a watch that looks to replace your phone, to one that works alongside it.
Just by looking at your wrist the Pebble lets you know who is calling and texting you and what’s in your diary. For me, anything that makes it easier and more discreet to check these things in meetings, without me looking like I am playing with my phone, is a good thing!
The future of watches
I think somewhere in the future lots of watches will have a Bluetooth connection and mobile phone integration.
This may even happen without us expecting it, like the camera integrating with the phone.
I see this integration as one more reason for consumers to better understand their telco provider’s data offering and their own data consumption habits… It’ll help people steer clear of data bill shock down the line.
What do you think?
What do you think about phones and watches syncing to one another? Are you keen for our tech devices to be further integrated or will this trend make it harder still for us all to switch off?
Let me know what you think!
Cheers,
Seph – amaysim's digital guy.
