Wearable tech

[Deset Gled]

The main thing holding me back from most wearable tech is that wear is inevitably followed by tear.

I wear a wristwatch, but it's essentially a chunk of metal with a tiny microchip inside (and I replace the band on a regular schedule). I've looked at watches with calculators, USB drives, remote controls, and various other fancy bits before, and vetoed them because they aren't waterproof and seem relatively weak in construction. I imagine any smart watch with a USB port that I wear on my wrist would be dead in a month or two.

Likewise, I wear glasses, and regularly have to deal with scratches, bends, and discoloration. I think the oil from my skin alone would be enough to foil electronics in smart glasses. I have an earpiece for my phone, but it's only worn when I need it. And my phone has a heavy duty case that acts as an ablative shield.

There may be a day when the devices are cheap enough and durable enough, but so far I've only seen tech that is small enough to be worn; nothing solid enough to actually be wearable.

 

[Umbran]

As for a smart watch, I'd imagine that I'd jump on board right away. At least as long as the device works as well as my standard watch. My number one complaint about my (albeit antiquated) smart phone is that it works atrociously as a phone.

A watch-sized object is great for what a watch does - display very small amounts of information, like a time and date.

The whole part of "smart" is giving access to more information. There is no room on my wrist for more that those few bits. There's no space to put a user interface worthy of the name. So, I don't see what the use of a smart-watch that cannot display lots of smart information will be.

 

[Nytmare]

The whole part of "smart" is giving access to more information.

For me, when I'm thinking about a "smart watch" I'm imagining something only slightly larger than the watch I wear now, that's forwarding me information from my phone, and letting me know if I need to jump to a larger device. Granted I imagine that I'm in the minority when it comes to phone use. My phone lives on my belt, is always on silent mode, and I can't always tell when it gives me a solitary alert. Furthermore, when I'm working I don't always have a free hand to pull it out, or feel like I'm in a safe place/position to pull it out.

Having a watch that almost works as a miniature HUD (HDD?) would be super crazy useful to me.

the primary use I imagine I'd have for a "smart watch" would be to let me know when I need to look at my phone.
forwarding information from my phone, which is on my belt,
two thingsAt work, I am constantly in a position to look at my watch.