Samsung Smartwatch announced

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

And why would you take your hands off the wheel to look at your watch? Even worse, why would you assume that everybody will do that? I certainly don't. I suppose there are some that do but I suspect those are people who would take their hands off the wheel to pick up a phone too. If the smartwatch were reasonably priced I'd recommend a study. As it is I don't think there will be enough sales to make one worthwhile.

On thinking about this I realize we might be talking about different activities. I don't ride a bike so I have no idea how easily I could read my watch while doing so. While driving I don't need to shift my hands at all to read it-all I do is look, about as much time as when I check my speedometer or check the rear view mirrors. From what I've seen of bicyclists I don't believe they look forward to where they're going anyway so I don't see why taking their eyes off the road would be a problem for them.

I'm not assuming that everybody will take their hands off the wheel or handlebars, but the post that you were previously commenting on was a response to this:

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

We're not supposed to glance at our watch while we're in a meeting or in a car? I had no idea. Glancing at your smartwatch is a lot safer than fishing around for a phone in your car and it's a lot less disruptive than picking up your phone and looking at it while your boss is talking in a meeting. There's lots of other useful situations you could use it. I sometimes get a message from my wife while I'm biking home but I don't get it right away because my phone is in my backpack and I don't even realize I've gotten it. With a smartwatch I find out right away.
That said, anyone who gets the first generation of this is nuts. Smart watches need at least another couple of years of refining before anything decent comes out.

Checking the time isn't the same as reading a name or an email header. Since more characters have to fit the font will be smaller which is why it wouldn't be readable unless you take the hand off the wheel to get a proper look.

[holymadness]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

The one thing i have difficulty wrapping my head around is why people want to be reachable 24/7.

Not this neo-Luddite sentiment. How about because it's so damn convenient.

Don't want to be reachable? Turn off your phone/tablet/smartwatch and put it away. Simple as that.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by holymadness

Not this neo-Luddite sentiment. How about because it's so damn convenient.

Don't want to be reachable? Turn off your phone/tablet/smartwatch and put it away. Simple as that.

Hence, why would I want to buy a Galaxy Gear if I'm going to turn it off a lot? I don't mind if others want to be reachable at all hours of the day, I just don't understand why.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Hence, why would I want to buy a Galaxy Gear if I'm going to turn it off a lot? I don't mind if others want to be reachable at all hours of the day, I just don't understand why.

Some of us are our own bosses. We also travel a lot and work with companies on different continents in different timezones. Some people may work in management, not everybody has a 9-5 job and can just shut everything off as they go home. When I travel family and friends also stay in touch via Skype or other IM messengers -- much cheaper than calling. In some countries you wouldn't want to pull out your phone just anywhere on the street (somebody might just snatch it away). In all those cases a smart watch would come in handy. But this ugly thing with limited functionality is not what I would want.

For those who care about making good money you can't get too hung up on the work/leisure time split. And a message on a watch is not much of an intrusion. A quick glance and you can tell if it is important or if it can wait until later.

[Istvan diVega]

My mobile phone generally takes the place of the old land line, in that I only bring it along if I know I'll need it, know I'll be reading or if I'm travelling. The rest of the time, some 80% of the time I'd say, it lies on a table in the living room.

Being incommunicado is wonderful.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Some of us are our own bosses. We also travel a lot and work with companies on different continents in different timezones. Some people may work in management, not everybody has a 9-5 job and can just shut everything off as they go home. When I travel family and friends also stay in touch via Skype or other IM messengers -- much cheaper than calling. In some countries you wouldn't want to pull out your phone just anywhere on the street (somebody might just snatch it away). In all those cases a smart watch would come in handy. But this ugly thing with limited functionality is not what I would want.

For those who care about making good money you can't get too hung up on the work/leisure time split. And a message on a watch is not much of an intrusion. A quick glance and you can tell if it is important or if it can wait until later.

Do you put your phone on silent when going to the cinema?

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

Do you put your phone on silent when going to the cinema?

When it is not charging I always put it on vibrate. And, as I said, I might not always take every call or reply to every message, but it would be great to have a quick and easy way of telling who/what it is and then decide. And big phones are getting more of difficult to remove from my pockets, only to see it is a spam message or call (plenty of those in China, for example).

By the way, if I ever did take a call in a cinema I would get up and go outside, so as not to disturb others --- I have been bothered by others in this way before, and those were personal calls.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Some of us are our own bosses. We also travel a lot and work with companies on different continents in different timezones. Some people may work in management, not everybody has a 9-5 job and can just shut everything off as they go home. When I travel family and friends also stay in touch via Skype or other IM messengers -- much cheaper than calling. In some countries you wouldn't want to pull out your phone just anywhere on the street (somebody might just snatch it away). In all those cases a smart watch would come in handy. But this ugly thing with limited functionality is not what I would want.

For those who care about making good money you can't get too hung up on the work/leisure time split. And a message on a watch is not much of an intrusion. A quick glance and you can tell if it is important or if it can wait until later.

Intellectually I get it, all of it. However, people I know that live this kind of lifestyle are always complaining about not having enough time for themselves, being overworked, never being able to turn off. Yes, they drive fabulous cars, live in big houses and go on expensive family vacations. They are also the ones that go through three or four divorces, see their children from the first marriage maybe twice a year (despite being available all the time) and are never really happy. So I do comprehend their choices, but I don't understand the emotional price they are willing to pay for the material benefits. But, it's probably me that have a problem, most people will make the same choices.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

When it is not charging I always put it on vibrate. And, as I said, I might not always take every call or reply to every message, but it would be great to have a quick and easy way of telling who/what it is and then decide. And big phones are getting more of difficult to remove from my pockets, only to see it is a spam message or call (plenty of those in China, for example).

By the way, if I ever did take a call in a cinema I would get up and go outside, so as not to disturb others --- I have been bothered by others in this way before, and those were personal calls.

Even if you get up and go outside, and even if you just check the phone, you are still disturbing others. Looking at a smartwatch in a dark cinema would still disturb others.

And you don't have to have a big phone. If the screen of the smartwatch is big enough for you to read messages, they why would you have a phone that is too big to remove from your pocket?

[holymadness]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Hence, why would I want to buy a Galaxy Gear if I'm going to turn it off a lot? I don't mind if others want to be reachable at all hours of the day, I just don't understand why.

Then you've figured out the problem: your inability or unwillingness to distinguish between what you want and what others want.

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Intellectually I get it, all of it. However, people I know that live this kind of lifestyle are always complaining about not having enough time for themselves, being overworked, never being able to turn off. Yes, they drive fabulous cars, live in big houses and go on expensive family vacations. They are also the ones that go through three or four divorces, see their children from the first marriage maybe twice a year (despite being available all the time) and are never really happy. So I do comprehend their choices, but I don't understand the emotional price they are willing to pay for the material benefits. But, it's probably me that have a problem, most people will make the same choices.

LOL it's hard to imagine a more cliché-ridden statement of generalizations. You should become a Hollywood writer.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

Checking the time isn't the same as reading a name or an email header. Since more characters have to fit the font will be smaller which is why it wouldn't be readable unless you take the hand off the wheel to get a proper look.

I don't think so but I could be wrong. Many digital watches already have multi-line screens showing day, date, etc in addition to the time. I have no problem reading that second line without lifting my hand so I see no reason why I'd need to do so for phone call or email info. (I also don't think I need to see the full info but I might have no choice. How configurable is the watch? Can you set the font & have it truncate whatever doesn't fit? Questions that I suspect won't be answered until people are using it.) Generally all I need to know is the sender/caller-and I can usually identify that with only the 1st 5 characters.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

Even if you get up and go outside, and even if you just check the phone, you are still disturbing others. Looking at a smartwatch in a dark cinema would still disturb others.

And you don't have to have a big phone. If the screen of the smartwatch is big enough for you to read messages, they why would you have a phone that is too big to remove from your pocket?

Can't find the link at the moment but isn't this an LCD screen? I suppose it has a backlight so you can check it in a cinema but I've never noticed anybody being disturbed by somebody checking their watch now so why would they be disturbed by somebody checking their smartwatch?

And the reason I have a big phone is to use apps on it such as my eReader. If all I used it for was to take phone calls then you're right-I doubt that I would have a big enough phone to make it difficult to take out of my pocket. But I prefer to carry a single multiple-purpose device vs carrying multiple single-purpose devices. That's me-YMMV.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

When it is not charging I always put it on vibrate.

I carry my phone in my front pants pocket and put it on vibrate; hoping I'll get lots of calls

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

I don't think so but I could be wrong. Many digital watches already have multi-line screens showing day, date, etc in addition to the time. I have no problem reading that second line without lifting my hand so I see no reason why I'd need to do so for phone call or email info. (I also don't think I need to see the full info but I might have no choice. How configurable is the watch? Can you set the font & have it truncate whatever doesn't fit? Questions that I suspect won't be answered until people are using it.) Generally all I need to know is the sender/caller-and I can usually identify that with only the 1st 5 characters.

Of course they have multi-line screens. But since it is a watch one of those lines should still tell the time. Now lets say that the date is replaced by the name of the caller or sender. The date would be DD/MM/YY, so to keep things at the same readable-without-moving-your-hand-closer sized font all the names in your agenda are going to have to be limited to 8 characters, or take multiple lines.

And how many lines can you still display on your screen to get the idea from 8 characters/line if the message is important?

Originally Posted by calvin-c

Can't find the link at the moment but isn't this an LCD screen? I suppose it has a backlight so you can check it in a cinema but I've never noticed anybody being disturbed by somebody checking their watch now so why would they be disturbed by somebody checking their smartwatch?

I haven't seen people checking LCD watches in the cinema, but when they check their phones, regardless of the screen size it is disturbing people.

Originally Posted by calvin-c

And the reason I have a big phone is to use apps on it such as my eReader. If all I used it for was to take phone calls then you're right-I doubt that I would have a big enough phone to make it difficult to take out of my pocket. But I prefer to carry a single multiple-purpose device vs carrying multiple single-purpose devices. That's me-YMMV.

But then you wouldn't be interested an a smartwatch since it means that you have to carry at least two multi-purpose devices.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

Of course they have multi-line screens. But since it is a watch one of those lines should still tell the time. Now lets say that the date is replaced by the name of the caller or sender. The date would be DD/MM/YY, so to keep things at the same readable-without-moving-your-hand-closer sized font all the names in your agenda are going to have to be limited to 8 characters, or take multiple lines.

Whereas I assume it will temporarily replace the time. And yes, most (not all, but most) of the names in my contact list are identifiable within the 1st 5 characters. Pure chance, maybe, but the determinant, IMO, is whether the chance is greater that they will or that they won't be identifiable in a limited number of characters. Based purely on my experience I'd say the chance is that they will be.

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

And how many lines can you still display on your screen to get the idea from 8 characters/line if the message is important?

But I'm not determining whether or not the message is important, I'm determining whether or not I want to answer it. I generally make that determination on who it's from, not what it's about. So that's me-I suppose other people have other criteria.

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

I haven't seen people checking LCD watches in the cinema, but when they check their phones, regardless of the screen size it is disturbing people.

I definitely agree with you about this. If the screen on a smartwatch lights up to display a message then you should probably turn it off in a cinema just as you should turn off your phone there. People won't, I'm sure-but that's why I'd design the watch with an LCD screen. Do you know which this watch has?

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

But then you wouldn't be interested an a smartwatch since it means that you have to carry at least two multi-purpose devices.

IMO a smartwatch would be as much part of a phone as a headset would be so I'll score this one a clear miss.