Be Excellent To Each Other

So I may have just done a little pre-ordering.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00NBU1OAQ/

"SIM-free smartphone" are android wear things stand alone? Can you actually put a sim in them? I was under the impression that they had to be paired to a Android phone.

No. No. Yes.

M'kay, thanks.

Heh, me too

Why is no one complaining about this one for wearing on your right wrist? Seems to be the same problem to me.

In fact, the watch I'm wearing now is the same...

Most of your negatives there are either subjective, optional or apply to all smart watches. You don't HAVE to have a Mickey Mouse watch face or use the emojis. It's a pretty niche product - in order to sell enough of these they'll have to appeal to a broad subset of people.

Can you not just rotate (either) smart watch through 180 degrees? Then it will be fine for lefties?

Malc

You can rotate the 360 and put it on either wrist. I assume you'll be able to do the same with the aWatch.

Because the button on the 360 is just a button that you click once in a while. The scroll wheel on the iWatch seems to be an integral part of the UI and you'll be using it a lot.

Well, yes, it's the subjective that is the differentiator, being as the underlying functionality is likely to be very similar across all smart watches.

http://www.reconinstruments.com/products/jet/

Oh.my.metrics on the move!

Really? I read it's for scrolling and zooming. It does have a touch screen after all. Will have to wait for the reviews, I guess.

I'm still getting one because I can't justify upgrading to the 6 now the watch works with the 5. Circular logic or what?

MrsA said the next step was chips in your head. Looks like I am watch less for the foreseeable.

If BlackBerry don't milk the shit out of that scroll wheel in their advertising they're doing something badly wrong.

The whole watch debate is a moot point anyway. I really hope the Apple Watch takes off, regardless of whether I like it or not, as that would kickstart a market that I want to succeed as I like the idea of smartwatches.
However, comparing the Android swartwatches against the Apple Watch is a little pointless. I very much doubt people will change their phone ecosystem just for the watch, so they will buy the watch that goes with their phone choice. Android smartwatches and the Apple Watch just aren't direct competitors at the moment, you can't use an Apple Watch with Android and vice versa.

Would it be possible to do a watch that works with both android and apple?

I like the idea of having pocket watches like some 17th century gent. Y'know, you have it in your pocket and then you get it out when you want to know the time. Maybe next year, aye?

Technically one already exists in the shape of the Pebble, but my understanding is that it's less functional when paired with an iOS device because it's so much more locked down.

To have true parity of functionality it would need Apple themselves to create the device because only they can hook into iOS properly, and obviously they could hook into Android the same as anyone else with it being 'open'. So, technically possible; but utterly, utterly improbable.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2461981,00.asp

This looks like it does both, or will do

To a very limited extent. It talks to an app on the phone not the OS, so will have no access to any system level functions, and will as such be entirely useless.

Intrigued by this offering from DealExtreme:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/smartwa ... t-t2864444

Three week battery life, waterproof to fifty metres, CHEAP and it looks no more ugly than the Apple thing.

I think this sort of thing is going to be a problem for the Apple Watch and it's current price. Even to sell one to all the sort of people who only buy genuine Apple cables and stuff I reckon it needs to be half the price.

I could be way off but I think it's a very niche product. Once they have sold them to the sort of pillocks who will queue up to buy them and a few gadget geeks I don't reckon the appeal is going to be very wide.

It's okay, they'll just release another one which is almost identical, but tells the time.

Hmmmm..... The Garmin Fenix 2. Available for under £300, lasts more than a day, has GPS built in, shows notifications from your phone. It even tells the time!

http://ocgh.wordpress.com/2014/04/06/lo ... -2-review/
http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/19/the-ga ... an-future/

Samsung Gear S is coming in October too, for £239...

http://mobile.pcadvisor.co.uk/new-produ ... pre-order/

It's a bit of a behemoth, but it's a full phone on your wrist...

Has that got a camera on the back?

Probably the heart rate monitor, if it works the same way the phone apps do.

It's also not a phone from what I can gather, it has mobile connectivity to handle all the notifications etc without needing a phone nearby but I can't see any mention of the ability to actually make calls.

I could be interested in one next year, I will have to step my training up..

It's totally a phone

I actually think that is the nicest looking one, stupidly big mind.

The curved screen makes a huge difference I think. Just a shame it is so bulky.

It's still stupid. Imagine trying to type on that keyboard, there's a reason why the general trend since smartphones came along has been for bigger screens. I guess this might be pretty useful for naturists or perhaps for people with a pathological aversion to pockets.

I'm normally (never) a fan of Samsung products, but I actually really like the look of that watch.

@markg it's an android, you don't type, you swipe. (I actually often find myself trying to swipe instead of type when I'm on my iPad.)

Didn't everyone say the iPad was silly.

No, the name was silly.

Swype is on it's way for iOS.

Wait, what?

Interesting. It appears that Tizen is based on Linux (so no Android nonsense), and I wouldn't even need an Android phone to run it.

*strokes chin*

Wait what what?

I don't swipe, can't be doing with all that hipster input malarky.

You're adorable.

Don't take it personally, champ.

Should I tell Myp that this forum has Google code embedded into it?

I still use YouTube as there's no real good alternative, although without being signed in and via a VPN. I just don't want a phone or watch that runs a Google OS.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/07/bond ... ournalist/

Want!

I'd wave it around for an hour to look like a super-stud.

Are there any other SmartWatches coming out that - like the Gear S - you can put a SIM into and actually use it as a phone?

Yes, and some of them are quite nice:
http://burgsmartwatch.com/watchphones
Some of them are cheap (50£):
http://www.spicesmartphones.com/smart-pulse-m-9010
And some of them have an appealing website:
http://www.3gwatches.com/revolution.html

My Amazon order still thinks it'll arrive on Saturday.