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Are smartwatches worth your time and money at this stage of their development cycle?

It has always been fascinating to see how we've come in the field of computer and gadgets. Devices are getting smaller day by day, so much so that we have finally stepped into the era of wearable computer. While there may be a lot of items that can be discussed here, we're specifically referring to smart wristwatches. These watches not only tell you the time, but do much more than that-such as notifying you of new e-mails, providing Facebook updates, helping you find your way, keeping track of your heartbeat and health, or even helping you make or receive calls. We're all used to performing these functions on our phones, which are termed as "smartphones". A watch that can now perform all these functions is called a "smartwatch". 

Smartwatches of the past were quite different compared to the ones that are being marketed and sold now. Today's smartwatches are based on a simple concept: enable a wristwatch to be able to perform some of the functions of a smartphone. The watch can connect to your smartphone via a wireless connection, usually via Bluetooth, and deliver the content from your phone to the smartwatch. The most commonly available smartwhatches usually have a decent processor, a touchscreen, some amount of internal storage, and of course, a charging port. This because unlike traditional watches, smartwaches are meant for much more intensive work, and a non-rechargeable battery just worn't cut it.

As of now, there a number of smartwatches manufacturers in the market, including Samsung, which has recently joined the bandwagon by introducing what they call "Galaxy Gear", priced at around 300 US dollars. It works pretty much like Sony's Smartwatche by connecting to an Android smartphone via Bluetooth, and displays incoming notifications on the touchscreen. Furthermore, there are specialized apps for the smartwach that the user can install from the smartphone into the smartphone. That's the common smartwach manufactures, appraoch. Then there's a smartwatch  by the name of "Pebble",  which actually started as a project on Kickstarter , and gained immense popularity due to its interesting features. The screen is an e-ink display, unlike other smartwatches which have an OLED touchscreen or simillar. This essentially means lower battery consumption, resulting in longer usage times, Pebble's manufactures claim up to seven days on a single charge, while other smartwaches might need to be charged daily, based on the usage. The e-ink display solves another significant grievance associated with common smartwatches, that is , you lift your hand to check the time and the watch face is blank. A button press will wake up the display to show the current time.





 However, in case of e-ink , the display is always visible, as opposed to other battery draining LED displays, so you can check the time as you'd do on a regular watch. In a way , the Pebble smartwatch surpasses the rest, even though it lacks some features that modern smartwatches have to offer. It's priced at 150 US dollars. Though it's rumored that Apple is also in the process of creating an "iwatch" , I can't say for sure when it will hit the shelves. When talking about watches, it's not just a time-telling ornament anymore; watches have changed shapes and styles over the years. If you're a watch fanatic you'd probably know the importance of the design and the look, and that's an issue that exists with smartwatches of today. Surely, if you're investing a significant amount of money on a watch, you'd want it to look good as well. Some smartwatch manufacturers have still focusing more on the software and internals, rather than the look of watch. There might be some maintenance and care issues as well, especially if you are the kind who doesn't usually bother if their watch bumps into a door or somewhere else. In such cases, you may end up having a not-so-smart watch with a broken screen.

We can put aside these minor issues for a while and focus on the difference that a smartwatch, as described earlier, can save you a lot of hassle, Not to mention, it also looks cool on your wrist. And who knows, someday we will have smartwatches which won't require a connection with a phone at all. On other works. they might even completely replace smartphones.