We think it’s finally happening. Samsung, Sony, and possibly Apple, are all looking into launching smartwatches. They’re nothing new, but the market for them is sure to grow if these major companies all push them to their respective audiences.
That got me thinking: what do I actually want from a smartwatch? Who do I want to make it? So here’s what I think, and I’d love to hear from you guys in the comments.
The screen needs to be a capacitive touch screen so that I can interact with it directly, and not just via button on the side. Don’t worry about it being flexible, but if it is, that’s even better. The screen needs to be big enough — perhaps.. 2-inches or more — to allow this, and it also needs to be bright enough so that I can see it in sunlight. Which leads me to my next point: battery.
A smartwatch is undoubtedly going to become another device you have to charge each and every night to ensure you get an entire days battery life out of it. Sadly, given the size of a possible smartwatch, you’re not going to get a very large battery in it. Something like 1000mAh would be the dream.
Now, what do I actually want to do with it? Give me alerts for all my notifications. Perhaps let me customise them as well — 2 vibrations for text messages, 1 for everything else, heavy vibrations for a call. Let me answer and end that call using the watch as well.
It can also show me text messages I have received, but don’t make me reply using the watch, instead let me hit a button on the watch so that now when I grab my phone it will open straight to that message so I can reply ASAP. This needs to be the global option for all notifications.
Tell the time! Yes, believe it or not, I would actually like to know what time it is right now. An AMOLED screen would make it very easy to display the time whilst not having to power all the pixels. Also show any notifications below the clock — perhaps current alarms which are active.
Personally, I’d like to get a Samsung smartwatch because I know they it will work better with the Galaxy S4 than any other smartwatch will.
Overall, I want something that’s super stylish; don’t make it look like something futuristic and stupid. Make the UI clean and simple, there’s no need for overcomplicating this at all. And finally — and I know this is an impossible dream — make it so that Company X’s smartwatch also works on Company Y’s phone because they both run Android.
That’s enough from me! What do you guys want from your smartwatch?
