In recent years, the market for smartwatches hasn’t just been growing, it has taken off at an alarming pace. In fact, it has been estimated that the shipment figures for smartwatches has jumped by a staggering 48% in just the first quarter of this year. As technology become increasingly clever, smartwatches have improved beyond all recognition. They are now so much more than the simple smart watches that they once one. Smartwatches of today are those that do not only talk to your phone but can also communicate with the gadgets in your home, in the car, at work and even in restaurants. These are the devices that trigger the sensors and devices that are all around us. In a future that is increasingly being filled with interconnected devices it is likely that smartwatches, rather than smartphones, will be the key that unlocks everything. Smartwatches are with us at all times and are vital to how we interact with both the physical and digital worlds around us.
What is it about smartwatches?
Its hard to even contemplate a life where the mobile phone isn’t king of the gadgets. They are indispensable and we spent so much of our time glued to them, making calls, texting, taking photos, checking the internet and even using social media to share our lives with the world. It has been said that far too many people spend rather too long on their mobiles and as a society this would seem to be the case. So just how might smartwatches be different?
The obvious answer is of course that smartwatches are easier to keep with you at all times. As they are attached to your wrist you are far less likely to leave it behind somewhere. They’re smaller in size, so you get everything you get with a mobile but in a smaller format and of course they are easy to wear. How often do we panic that we have misplaced our mobiles only to find it moments later – this is far less likely to occur with smartwatches. Smart watches are also a design piece/accessory you wear and want to look good with. The vast amount of Apple Watch bands for women from many brands is a testimony to this.
When it comes to features, smartwatches have significantly advanced functionality - you only have to look at the new Apple Watch 5 to see that this is the case. With endless customisation option, along with heart tracking that actually allows you to monitor your health on a real time basis, noise tracking that helps to protect your ears, as well as the improved fitness tracking options it’s clear to see that one thing smartwatches do better than mobile phones is that they could actually be good for our health.
With everything that the mobile phone offers and more all wrapped up into one small easy to wear package that could keep track of health and fitness as well as allowing us to do everything our phones can, is it any wonder that the prediction for the future is that smartwatches could – and some might say will - indeed replace the mobile phone.