Samsung Galaxy Gear – Can Samsung Bring Back The Watch?
Recently there’s been a massive advertising campaign for the Samsung Galaxy Gear, a smartwatch and part of the opening wave of wearable technology.
Samsung Galaxy Gear: A Long Time Coming
The advertisements for Samsung’s Galaxy Gear are somewhat amusing as they show a collage of video clips for technologically advanced wrist watches. Pretty much all of the sci-fi watches have been just that, works of science fiction and wishful thinking. That is, until today and the dawn of the smartwatch.
As we know, wrist watches have dominantly been manufactured for the sole purpose of telling time. Whether you prefer an analog or digital watch, most of them have had few features besides telling you the current time. Some watches know the date and day of the week, others can function as a stopwatch, and other watches have the capability of knowing the time for different time zones. Back in the 1980s, if you were one of the cool kids in class then your watch also had a calculator built into it.
But the era of smartwatches is going to change the concept of wrist watches forever.
At least, that’s what some of the big companies are trying to do. Whether or not this actually catches on is still anybody’s guess.
CNET News: Samsung introduces Galaxy Gear smartwatch
The concept and technology for the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch looks pretty neat. My first impression is that the Galaxy Gear watch would be a great personal organizer (mainly for reminders), and it could also be a portable music player. Add in the ability to make phone calls, taking high-definition photos and video clips, accessing the Internet, and some other assorted applications as well.
Samsung Galaxy Gear hands-on | Engadget at IFA 2013
Here we have another look at the Samsung Galaxy Gear watch and how to access some of the basic features.
Is it just me, or does the watch itself look a little large and clunky? The ultimate size of the watch is going to depend on the size of the screen as well as having enough room for the watch’s internal components. It’s sort of like a catch-22. You want to have a screen large enough to see and touch specific areas without the watch itself being too large.
It’s almost like the current size issue with cellular phones. When you keep increasing the phone’s screen size, at some point you’ll have a tablet. But when it comes to a cell phone, the general idea is to keep it small enough to easily fit into your pocket without it being easily damaged or a burden to use.
Are we going to see a similar issue with smartwatches as each company tries to make their screen sizes slightly larger? If you keep increasing the screen size does it still remain a watch, or will it be more like the control pad that the alien creature wears in the movie Predator? What would that be? An armband or “smartband”?
If this concept catches on and the companies continue to improve smartwatches, it’s conceivable that something like a smartwatch will replace the smartphones. When you have a tablet as your computer and basic gaming system, a Smart TV as your main entertainment system, and a smartwatch to hold your notes and reminders as well as sending/receiving text messages and phone calls, then why do you still need a smartphone?
You won’t need it any longer. The smartwatch will replace the smartphone.
That is, as long as this concept catches on with the general public. That’s going to be a major hurdle right there.
First of all, when was the last time you actually saw a person wearing a watch? I love my analog watch, but that’s just me. Whenever you see people checking the time these days, the vast majority of people will pull out their cell phone and check that way. You hardly ever see people wearing watches these days. Wrist watches were one of many items that were replaced by cell phones.
So how do you bring back that fashion, especially when people are used to not wearing watches any more?
You’ve got to really WOW! them and show them the usefulness and effectiveness of such a concept.
Right off the bat, I can see these smartwatches being a hit with people who exercise, especially at gyms or outdoors in the elements. By keeping your cell phone attached to your wrist, you’ll never worry about using shorts with pockets or possibly losing your phone. As long as the band is secure, then you’re not going to lose your watch while you’re wearing it.
As it was stated in one of the videos, some of the apps are also focused on people who exercise. That’s just one demographic who might quickly jump onto the smartwatch bandwagon. Add in a few others and this might change the fashion world and bring back wrist watches.
One of the biggest questions regarding Samgsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch is: Will people really hold their watch next to their head while they are talking on the phone?
I understand that this was a really cool concept back in the 1950s and 60s. But we’re talking about 2013 and looking like a fool in public. I ask again, will people really hold up their hand and keep their watch by their hand while they talk on the phone?
Yeah, right.
What I do see happening is people sending even more text messages with something like a smartwatch. Use the voice recognition software to speak your message, wait for a response from the other person, and then speak your next message and carry on the conversation that way. This is how a lot of people will communicate with one another when using smartwatches.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch is a very interesting piece of technology. While Samsung is not the only company developing a smartwatch, this is the first that I’ve seen using television advertisements to promote their product. They’re catchy and do a great job of showing the potential of this next stage in digital communication.
As it’s been mentioned, the smartwatch has some difficult hurdles ahead of it. The first major hurdle is having people switching back to wearing watches again. Another hurdle is making the smartwatch itself easy enough to use despite its tiny screen. And another hurdle has to do with how people use the watch to actually send and receive phone calls. People are not going to want to hold their watch near their head just to talk on the phone, no matter how cool it looked for Dick Tracy or Captain Kirk.