“There’s been much ado in the past year over wearable devices, as a proliferation of smartwatches and fitness trackers desperately try to win over consumers and prove they have staying power in the market,” Jeff Engel reports for Xconomy. “Yet even if most of them don’t last, these emerging technologies at least provide new gadgets for Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to try out.”
“Wozniak still thinks that smartwatches won’t be truly useful until the screens get bigger,” Engel reports. “Samsung, Pebble, and Qualcomm are among the companies that have come out with smartwatches, but thus far, Wozniak’s favorite is one made by Martian. It doesn’t have a touch screen, but a tiny display below the watch hands indicates who is calling, and the watch has a good speaker, Wozniak said.”
Engel reports, “The worst smartwatch that Woz has tried? The Samsung Galaxy Gear. ‘That was the only technology I bought to experiment with that I threw out after half a day, sold it on eBay because it was so worthless and did so little that was convenient,’ Wozniak said. ‘You had to hold it up to your ear and stuff… ‘If 30 companies are doing the same thing, you know it’s wrong. When one company does one thing very strikingly different, and everybody says this company got it right, this is the way of the future. In the past, it’s been Apple a number of times—not always. So I’m really hoping that Apple’s the big breakthrough’ with wearables.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Clueless companies race to debut stupidwatches before Apple defines the smartwatch – January 3, 2014
Jim Cramer: ‘The curtain has closed’ on Samsung’s stupidwatch – October 3, 2013
The Verge reviews Samsung’s Galaxy Gear stupidwatch: Orwellian, unintuitive, oversized, and overpriced – October 2, 2013
Jean-Louis Gassée: I hope Tim Cook had fun goading Samsung to make their Galaxy stupidwatch – September 9, 2013
Stupidwatch: Why Samsung’s Galaxy Gear is a flop – September 5, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Gear watch looks rushed, misses the mark – September 4, 2013
The Galaxy Gear stupidwatch: Without Apple to copy, Samsung is clueless – September 4, 2013
Samsung announces ‘Galaxy Gear’ watch accessory for Galaxy Android devices – September 4, 2013
Woz sold it on ebay. Guess he needs the cash 😉
Anyone besides me suspect there’s a newly acquired Beats iWatch coming?
No, Apple will keep iWatch as an Apple product. Beats will keep to music/sound systems/headphones. What does Beats have to do with a watch?
Samsung Galaxy Gear stupidwatches are on sale for $30 in Canada.
Buyers are pissed off at the exorbitant price tag.
Due to fibromyalgia I canno’ wear anything on my arm, wrist, etc. No watch for me…
Don’t worry, the non-wearable market isn’t going anywhere.
Do a heavy metal detox for Fibromyalgia.
Maybe you CAN then wear iWatch.
http://voices.yahoo.com/fibromyalgia-heavy-metals-connection-11755712.html
Yes Woz because consumers really want a ghetto blaster sized watch on their wrists.
Maybe he is right. the Preditor guy in that movie seems to have it that way. They were well advanced you know.
Just in case ….
/s
I worked on VFX for Predator 2. 🙂
I can easily see a wrap around GUI watch, with time anyway. We humans can easily turn our wrists 180º. So why not use all that real estate for the interface?
But seriously Woz: No brick on a wrist for me.
Kinda like a wrist wraparound Times Square informational digital display.
A great example of where something similar has already been done. But I’d expect there to be two or three regions of GUI. One portrait oriented space on the top of the wrist, a smaller square at the edge of wrist, then another portrait on the bottom of the wrist.
The big fat problem of course is the very wide range of wrist sizes. What fits my wrist is NOT going to fit most other people’s wrists. It’s not going to be big enough for Bruno. It’s too big for petite Patricia. This is not an easy realm of technology. We’re talking wearables, therefore a variety of sizes.
One size does not fit all? 🙂
Not that there’s anything special about a Samsung product, but I suspect Wozniak will feel the same about the iWatch. Clearly he isn’t terribly interested in a fitness oriented device.
Depends: Do the Dancing With Stars Trainer app run on the iWatch? 🙂
Don’t count Microsoft out just yet. Their entrant will be operated by a stylus! 😉
… and following their habit of doing everything upside down and back to front, Microsoft’s smart watch screen will be on the inside of the strap.
Funniest comment today!
…and it will have a REAL keyboard. And a mouse!
Otherwise it wouldn’t be a very good business watch.
Two styli, in stereo. It will have a nice greyscale screen with an attractive start menu, and submenus that you need to navigate using both styli, while it is on one of your wrists.
The new generation is SIMPLY NOT INTERESTED IN A WATCH. However, all generations understand and want tools that helps them live a more healthier and productive life. We all love to have a better handle on our health record; I have given up and have no trust in the existing disjointed profit centric health care (cross that Illness Business).
The iWatch still confuses people because of the word “Watch”. I personally would be happy with a wrist warn device that does nothing but has tons of sensors with the M Chip and Low Energy Bluetooth connecting to an iDevice and wireless charging.
Go Apple
Too true! When I was growing up my parents had a *clock* in every room, which meant the time was different in every room and daylight savings time boundaries were exercises in reinforced frustration.
I hope the technology has sufficiently advanced such that the old watches that rarely needed winding because they got their energy from your movements has grown in efficiency and power such that “iWatch” won’t need to be removed from the arm to recharge.
I think the problem most companies are having with a smart watch is the keep trying to re-invent the watch. The issue here is then old notions about what a watch is, what it looks like, etc. They also then fall into the Dick Tracy TV communicator watch cliché.
What Apple needs to do for its iWatch is design a wearable that solves functions/problems for people. This may not have anything to do with what a traditional watch does – maybe it doesn’t even have a clock on it (doubtful, but perhaps).
A smart watch doesn’t need to be able to text, or play a game, or make a phone call. That’s what your companion iPhone is for. But a watch could have multiple sensors, collect your data, serve as an iBeacon waypoint, etc. Note that Nike Fuel Bands have been discontinued (at least no further development), and those relayed very little information to a display. You gathered the data on your phone.
Plus, not having a large LCD-type display means much better battery life. Seeing as battery size is very limited in a watch, this is a critical factor in its success. No one wants a heavy object on their wrist, especially if it is involved in exercise.
I agree… The iWatch will not be a “smart watch” as I’ve stated earlier it’ll be an iPod fitness/health band. Apple is not interested in entering the watch market, if anything they are only interested in finding a place to live on your wrist. The watch market is dying a very slow death due to the fact that we carry around devices that already tell us the time. A watch is basically considered jewelry. (Except in a very few use cases.) Instead Apple will concentrate on offering something that your mobile device cannot do on a constant, accurate basis… provide biometric feedback
Several reasons for this conclusion…
1. iPods are popular among the fitness crowd
2. The discontinuation of the Nike Fuelband.
3. The M7 processor.
4. People that wear watches aren’t going to replace their fashionable watch with a clunky piece of junk that’s constantly annoying them. They might and do wear fitness bands on the “other” wrist though.
I’m sure a lot of people will “poo-poo” this idea simply because THEY are not interested in working out, just geeking out… “Get a Gear”
So, my prediction… There will a couple of wearables from Apple…
One for the wrist, like a fitness band.
A device that straps to your upper arm or forearm, just like how some people wear their nanos and iPhones when they’re working out.
And something similar to the iPod shuffle that clips onto your clothes… Possibly to your waste band where it makes constant contact with your body and can read various stats.
The iPod line is due for a revamping, this will be it.
Hmm… A “waste band” in constant contact with your body to take measurements… A new kind of suppository, perhaps.
Two words: Zune Watch.
“Wozniak is a fan of Google Glass, which he thinks has a cool factor that he compared with someone wearing a tongue ring”
Woz: King of Nerds
google’s most anticipated new hardware product is a smart jockstrap that allows anyone to remotely punch a glass-wearing hipster in the balls with no advance warning.