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As cell phone use has become increasingly popular over the past decade, traditional wrist watches have slowly lost their place in society as our "time-tellers". Responding to "do you have the time?" has gone from a quick flash of the wrist to fishing through your purse or patting down your pockets in frantic search of your cell phone.
Queue the SmartWatch, the best of both worlds. The concept behind it is simple - to have the functionality of your smartphone conveniently at your fingertips (aka your wrist). Receive notifications, control music and monitor your health from a small screen attached to your wrist - it's a pretty cool idea. Early technology adopters have jumped on the bandwagon without any hesitation, but others remain skeptical. Is this device even necessary? Why have multiple devices that ultimately do the exact same thing?
Outlined below are a few pros and cons that might help to shed some light into the world of the smartwatch.
Pros
Convenience
The number one advantage to investing in a smartwatch would be the convenience that it provides you with. It gives you easy and quick access to your notifications while eliminating the need to be constantly checking your phone - which happens on average 110 times daily. You probably don't even realize that you're checking it that often, do you? Not only does a smartwatch free you from the tight grip of your smartphone, but it also lets you filter out what is important and what is not. Instead of actively picking up your phone to seek out your notifications, your notifications are coming straight to you. This gives you the power to decide which are worth your time at that specific moment in time. Not to mention, the hands free portability gives you the option of using both of your hands throughout the day!
Promotes a Healthy Lifestyle
Living a healthy lifestyle is most likely important to you, and a smartwatch can help you to set your goals, track your progress and monitor the results. It's kind of like having a personal trainer and a motivating coach by your side at all times, kind of. Having access to real time measurements for things like steps taken, running statistics, heart rate levels, calories, stress and sleep activities is not only neat, but can provide you with beneficial information that you might not have known otherwise. Plus, it's easier to carry around with you during workouts!
You must pair your smartwatch with your smartphone via Bluetooth.
"Cool" Factor
If you don't care for convenience or the promotion of a healthy lifestyle - a smartwatch is plain and simple a cool device. For my fellow geeks who find new gadgets fascinating and enjoy following the evolution of wireless technology, a smartwatch is probably a great fit for you. The idea of controlling things from your wrist is amazing and being a fairly new type of device, you can only assume that as time goes on it will continue to get much cooler. What do you think will come next?
Cons
Appearance
We're living in a time where the look of our device is just as important as its functionality, and it's no secret that the smartwatch isn't the most stylish accessory available. The appearance of this gadget is an extremely important factor to assess during the purchase process and regardless of the other factors; you need to ensure that it is actually something you will wear. A difficult decision to make when most smarwatches currently reside on the bulkier side of things, paired with a pretty small screen. There is hope though! As time goes on we will most likely see these devices becoming sleeker and trendier so that they can easily blend in with our every day fashion.
Not a Standalone Device
Currently, you must pair a smartwatch with a smartphone via Bluetooth in order to take advantage of its unique functions. This unfortunately means adding another device to the list of items that you carry around daily. Because a smartwatch is seen as a smaller, wearable version of a smartphone or tablet, some may not see the value of investing in a device that depends on another to work properly.
Battery Life
Traditional watch batteries could last us for years, but not the smartwatch. These devices generally last for a few days or even up to a week, if you're lucky. Because they perform many of the same functions as our cellphones and tablets, but on much smaller batteries, they need to be charged regularly. This takes away from their convenience and the added stress of remembering to charge another device is a definite drawback.
Is a smartwatch for you? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus!