Sunday debate: Are smartwatches dead?

12 August 2018
Following the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Watch, Chip and Paul debate whether smartwatches are dead

Sort by:

Smartwatches are like tablets, they are not as frequemtly used and changed as phones which are the daily driver for most people, for the tasks that a smartwatch can do its not worth upgrading every 12 months, and the changes between models are even more negligable then on phones so it doesnt make sense to keep changing, smartwatches are here to stay, but until the battery life improves a little, they are still a tough sell, samsungs galaxy watch is a good step in the right direction but still a long way to go

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • gIW
    • 13 Aug 2018

    AnonD-632062, 12 Aug 2018Nope, smartwatches may not be extremely popular, but they a... moreIt's fortunate that HTC is finally dead. That f***er was producing some of the worst, most overpriced phones year after year, and what was making things worse was how popular it was with geeks so they wouldn't stop talking about that dumpster on fire.

    Its death was a sigh of relief, as hopefully the death of skarwatch would be. Enough dead space, dead reviews, irrelevant articles we had about them. What a ridiculous idea.

      Smartwatches it is just another tech which we don't need. All those fitness tracking and so on can be given to dedicated smart bands, but to spend 400 dollars on smart watch which shows you notifications and can sometimes make a call is definitely irrelevant and waste of Money. Plus charging everyday not helping either. Unless they somehow will make battery lifes as long as one week without charge and put some more useful features not see anyone would old and them besides few geeks

        • .
        • .nvs
        • S4W
        • 13 Aug 2018

        I'm a daily user of a Huawei Watch 2 and from my point of view, it's a nice to have gadget. Not a can't live without but a nice to have, yes. For notifications, health tracker, a few calls as well, it suits my needs. Of course smartwatches are pricey and with a two day battery life you cannot expect too much but, if you get a good discount on amazon for instance, why not. They're not dead and if you check Apple users, the ratio smartwatch per smartphone should definetely increase!

          • G
          • GoodFellow
          • sUw
          • 13 Aug 2018

          Please stop using these devices as this feeds the greedy pigs of data to monitor more and more people.

            • Z
            • ZloiYuri
            • Tmf
            • 13 Aug 2018

            Anonymous, 13 Aug 2018Yeah 300 USD watches selling more than 3000 USD ones, yaay ... moreFollowing that logics Swiss watch industry is dead for hundred years, right? It's alive, like smartwatches industry,but doesn't growing like cancer - the aim of any industry now.

              • J
              • Jimbob of Jonestown
              • NUV
              • 13 Aug 2018

              Personally, I like the concept. The problem is the huge price.

              I've tried some of those smartwatches from China with the NucleOS on them, and I have to say they suggest the overall idea is compelling. The problem, of course, is the quality. For $15 I haven't found one that has auto screen-on or a digital watch face by default. If you could get something like a really stripped down Android Wear (with some app customizability) to run on something like these MediaTeks support, I think there'd be a place for it.

              I mean, as it stands I can get my texts to the watch and even host calls which is kind of James Bond-ish. I just don't like that the OS/apps are monolithic (it's all one binary).

              Anyhow, tangent, but the point is that I don't think the concept is wrong and there's certainly people like me who'd be interested in getting something a bit better, but I don't think there's a world where I can justify $150 for a watch. Least of all in a country where theft goes practically unpunished, I'd only be marking myself.

              It's a pity Pebble died. With my present experience, I'd be willing to have paid like up to $99 for one, but that's the upper limit and it's just not one they seem to be able to meet for anything decent. Which is kind of sad, considering you can get a crap phone for $99 - that'd suggest a decent watch for the same.

                • T
                • Tonberry
                • 0Ep
                • 13 Aug 2018

                I agree with Chip that they were never truly alive, but I think it's possible that they might actually be alive one day. Right now, the technology isn't there yet to produce an actually good smartwatch with a decent price. They are either cheap and shitty, or expensive and even quite good, but still far from perfect. What would be good is a high quality always on display, and a great battery life in spite of that. When you have an ordinary watch, you can just look at it, no need to press a button. As long as smartwatches as less convenient than that, they won't be alive.

                  I have Galaxy S3 Frontier, I used to have Moto 360 but I agree that this is going nowhere.....People may eventually look at this as useless companion device that Mobile phones already do it! Unnecessary duplication of functionalities.

                    GrazD, 12 Aug 2018I think they came out prematurely. Until smartwatches have ... moreGarmins Forerunner and Fenix series have that kind of battery life.

                      I am unable to see my comment for some curious reason.

                        Hybrid are the best of both worlds.
                        Simple notifications on the fly plus the elegance of a real watch is where it should be at.
                        No one needs to have a full fledged smart watch because no one leaves their smart phones at home.

                          LG Superfan, 12 Aug 2018If samsung allows other companies to use tizen this categor... moreI couldn't agree more. The OS Roadmap of Android, for the last few iterations has been slowly killing Tablets and Smartwatches. That is one of the Major software related issues with Smartwatches in Android.

                          On the hardware section, if Smartwatches are ably to incorporate the following, they will be back in business:
                          1. Perpetual battery: Either charging from the body heat of users or from solar panels build into the watch. Regular charging kills the charm of watches.
                          2. Designs: The majority of Smartwatches seem like they are made for 13 year olds, not for serious users. The designs needs to be more relevant to the age group they are made for.
                          3. LTE and cellular features: All Smartwatches need to have internet access and phone calls available on things being Wi-Fi. Also a smart watch connected to the same number as your smartphone would reduce the dependence on your smartphone, when you need a breather.
                          4. Cameras: there needs to be an atleast 8MP stills and 1080p video feature on Smartwatches. We very often miss our phones (during morning runs), where we would have wanted a camera with us.
                          5. The charging should be a mix of both a battery and a capacitor. Sometimes we need a 1 min charge to last for the period of the jog, or when the charging is not fast enough. Like the new Note 9's S-Pen.
                          6. Super low power Bluetooth that holds connectivity to headphones, when we may need to answer calls, while we're away from regular smartphones.
                          7. Larger batteries and quickcharge from all power sources.
                          8. Much Higher memory. Especially when we need to take photos and videos.
                          9. The prices of Smartwatches need to be more reasonable. Or they should have replaceable or upgradeable hardware, to be able to be updates to the latest versions of software and hardware.
                          10. All health metres from heart rate to blood pressure to everything else. It should effectively call for a replacement if all these products at home and access to them to everyone with a smart watch.
                          11. The ability to completely switch off your Bluetooth and LTE when you just need a regular (digital) watch, away from the insane levels of radiation our bodies are subject to, daily.

                          Fewer people wear watches anymore. They prefer using their phones to check time. Of the phone can be replaced with something much smaller and with very similar features, at least for morning jogs or during swimming or other activities, the smartphone can be completely replaced.

                          Apple products sell more due to their branding and mindset of its users. They could buy the iPhone 6, of it were repackaged, even in 2020.

                          Therefore Samsung and others should avoid following on it's footsteps.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • vMf
                            • 13 Aug 2018

                            Dr.Vj, 13 Aug 2018I don't think they will be dead. They will grow v slowly ti... moreHeheh harrrr with a 6.0 screen on my wrist look good

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • vMf
                              • 13 Aug 2018

                              Stupid gimmik!!! you already carry about your phone why a watch??? time is on the phone. Anyhooooooo Tag Heur foreva!!!

                                • D
                                • Dr.Vj
                                • uwC
                                • 13 Aug 2018

                                I don't think they will be dead. They will grow v slowly till they become capable enough to replace mobile phones. After that there will be exponential growth.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • QXP
                                  • 13 Aug 2018

                                  Problem is with the price tags. Such incompetence devices yet selling with such high price tags, only fools will buy them.

                                    • J
                                    • Jimmy
                                    • QbW
                                    • 13 Aug 2018

                                    They are really very very costly. Fitbits are in trend nowadays...

                                      • a
                                      • azrielnation
                                      • wrY
                                      • 13 Aug 2018

                                      I guess, the problem about smartwatch is that the device doesn't have any strong point against smartphone. Anything that smartwatch do are already done by smartphone. so what's the point to have smartwatch if it still does same function of what smartphone can do.

                                      Power should became the vital point for the smartwatch to have. If your smartwatch still dies within days, then there is no point wear it, as smartwatch should became a substitute when your phone dies, it should still works even when your phone dies. Maybe with sustainable power that limitation could be overcome, maybe by using solar cell that could be bent and put on the wrist band to maximize sun capture, motion generator, body heat, or wireless charging while still use the watch.

                                      hybrid smartwatch should be born from this, you have to separate battery for time keeping. So when your batteries goes down, the watch will still works as time keeping, until the watch could generate enough power to come back online again.

                                        • w
                                        • wert
                                        • ixd
                                        • 13 Aug 2018

                                        Totally useless

                                          2 of 5