New Google Smartwatch & the current (sad) state of affairs for Android Wear

[PereDroid]

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So here's the latest Android Wear... fine, I'll say it: RUMINT from Evan Blass. May I present the latest (probably) leaked pictures of Google's own Android Wear smartwatches. How he gets the stats correct so often is crazy. According to Evan, this is coming in 2 different versions. The Sport version features everything (NFC, Wifi, BT, 3G, LTE, GPS & heart rate monitor) while the cheaper, smaller Style version will have just WiFi & BT. The Sport model looks to be pretty thick @ 14.2 mm (compared to the Moto 360 Gen 2 @ 11.4mm for comparison sake) and the Style a more svelte 10.8 mm. I don't understand leaving NFC out of the smaller one, but it is still a rumor for now.

Can we talk a bit about the current sad state of Android Wear affairs? Motorola has publicly said "we're done with AW for now". The Moto 360 Gen2 was recently pulled from Google's store. The Moto 360 Sport lasted a mere 2 months in the Store. In the last few months, the Sony Smartwatch 3, Huawei's Watch, and Fossil's entire lineup have all been pulled from the store. The last watch announced, the Asus Zenwatch 3 was supposedly available for pre-order in November, promptly "sold out" and hasn't been available anywhere since. I question if it was ever even sold. It was never available in the Store. There are currently 4, count them 4, smart watches available direct from Google.

Is it over? It sure seems that way to me. Smart watches have been around for 3 years now. I don't see anymore of them today then I did 3 years ago. It's still a rare sighting be it an Android watch or an iWatch. Even my not so techy wife got an iWatch and likes it, but I still don't see many of those. That's supposed to be the market leader, too? Maybe it's a midwest thing? "We don't need no fancy watches here!" Are you seeing them were you live?

The optimistic me is hoping all the big names are holding off until Google announces these watches coming out with AW 2.0. February 9th is supposed to be the day these are announced and AW 2.0 goes live. We'll see!

Source: XDA

 

[johnomaz]

I personally love smart watches but I have a problem with what I consider to be a pretty big flaw in them. Their batteries. Not the battery life of day to day use but the actual life of the battery. Think of your phone. After a couple years of use, you no longer get as long of a charge as you used to. Thtat 3000mAh battery though does last longer than something like 300-500mAh will even when its life has diminished. I have an original Moto 360 that is just over 2 years old. I got it day one (was November 2014) and loved wearing it until it no longer lasted more than 5 hours on a charge. Because of this, I now own a fairly expensive piece of tech that I can no longer wear all day long. Its been sitting on its charger on my night stand giving me the time for months now.

If there was a watch that you could swap the battery out on, I'd buy it in a heart beat. I don't want to swap batteries during the day, but after a couple years when its no longer lasting. Make the backplate removable and a properly engineered design that lets you swap batteries. Sadly that will never happen. It'll hurt the watch design, the water resistance design and also let you keep your watch longer than the companies want you to. They don't want to make a watch that lasts years and years. They want you to replace it every 2-3 years max. Its designed to fail.

Because of this issue, I refuse to buy any smart watch for more than $150. At $150, I can see getting two or so years out of it and being more ok with replacing it than if the thing cost me $300+.

 

[akhenax]

The Moto360 was the first to make wearables sexy. If Google never sold Motorola to Lenovo, the first gen Moto360 would be AW 2.0 compatible, and wouldn't have a crappy TI proc, made for scientific calculators.

I use to salivate over smartwatches, and still do. The idea of faking a Tag Heuer, or Breitling watch on my wrist, just for the day gives me a certain thrill. However, because of the mess that has started with Tizen, Android OS, Android Wear, TicOS, etc...it's become a circus.

The only one who "wins" is Watch OS from Apple.

Side note:
I was watching this show aptly named, "Timeless". It's about these people who go back in the time to stop a bad guy who's changing history. Anyway, the bad guy went back to the 1700's and in one scene, he was wearing an Apple Watch.

I'm sure the producers missed that little item on his wrist, but I was like whaaaaaaa the &%$#....product placement gone wrong. LOL

 

[Sajo]

I read the same article you did this morning Pere. Just to add more detail about Moto, they did leave the door open for the future. They said:

“Wearables do not have broad enough appeal for us to continue to build on it year after year,” “We believe the wrist still has value and there will be a point where they provide value to consumers more than they do today,”

So no new watch each & every year, but maybe when AW is more appealing to the masses?

How many times on this forum have we discussed advertising, or lack thereof, and the fact that most people just don't understand what smart watches can do? I think Google has messed up the AW smart watch market with their ads and not pushing the functionality, how useful they can be and the potential. Then the delay of AW 2.0 put off several major manufacturers that just don't want to play anymore.

I also read that LG made these new watches for Google. Maybe they can sell a ton and re-spark the interest in smart watches? I have read that even Apple's sales of their watch have really declined and not lived up to expectations. Maybe they are all just too darn expensive and folks just don't want to pay that much money for a watch? I agree with @johnomaz . I like AW watches, enjoy wearing one and find it very useful. But...I only paid $88 for my LG G Watch and got 18 months out of it (it's still functional, packed away as my spare) and paid around $75 for my Moto 360 Sport. I don't plan on ever paying full price for a smart watch when I still have really nice non-smart watches sitting in a drawer collecting dust and can always wear those again.

 

[PereDroid]

Totally agree with many points you both make. But Johhomaz...I really think there was something off about that 1st gen 360. My LG G Watch is now over 3 years old and it still...STILL goes over a full day. As of this moment my 3 year old G is at 78% and has been off the charger for 5 hours. That's as long as yours lasts? That 1st gen is junk, or yours is broken.
Replaceable batteries would be great though.
I thought the G Watch R came out just before the 360? I would argue that was the first sexy one.
/Edit/ Didn't mean to hit send yet.
Agree on pricing. My G was $99. I've always said $300+ is ridiculous. Swore I'd never pay more then that. And I haven't. I had a 360 Gen2. Exactly $300. I won't do that again. I want a (vaporware}ZenWatch 3 for $229, and after seeing the Google watch...Not sure my opinion has changed. I don't see the draw of using Pay on my wrist. Unless it's mad simple.



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[IIGood]

...and then there are those of us that just don't wear watches. I haven't worn a wristwatch in at least 15, maybe 20 years. So the wearable market is lost on me completely.

 

[akhenax]

...and then there are those of us that just don't wear watches. I haven't worn a wristwatch in at least 15, maybe 20 years. So the wearable market is lost on me completely.

So you walk around with a naked wrist all day?
Scandalous!

 

[LoneWolfArcher]

I personally love smart watches but I have a problem with what I consider to be a pretty big flaw in them. Their batteries. Not the battery life of day to day use but the actual life of the battery. Think of your phone. After a couple years of use, you no longer get as long of a charge as you used to. Thtat 3000mAh battery though does last longer than something like 300-500mAh will even when its life has diminished. I have an original Moto 360 that is just over 2 years old. I got it day one (was November 2014) and loved wearing it until it no longer lasted more than 5 hours on a charge. Because of this, I now own a fairly expensive piece of tech that I can no longer wear all day long. Its been sitting on its charger on my night stand giving me the time for months now.

If there was a watch that you could swap the battery out on, I'd buy it in a heart beat. I don't want to swap batteries during the day, but after a couple years when its no longer lasting. Make the backplate removable and a properly engineered design that lets you swap batteries. Sadly that will never happen. It'll hurt the watch design, the water resistance design and also let you keep your watch longer than the companies want you to. They don't want to make a watch that lasts years and years. They want you to replace it every 2-3 years max. Its designed to fail.

Because of this issue, I refuse to buy any smart watch for more than $150. At $150, I can see getting two or so years out of it and being more ok with replacing it than if the thing cost me $300+.

At least yours still works. I got mine in fall of 2014 too. In July 0f 2016 (not quite 2 years) it quit working all together. The response Motorola gave me was to buy a replacement refurb off of Amazon for $90. Never did but I took my 360 apart and found that the battery had melted!

I pay $250 for it. I got about 21 months of use out of. I loved for those 21 months. I am willing to spend more if I can guarantee the thing won't break without any recourse. (The S3 looks sweet by the way.)

 

[LoneWolfArcher]

...and then there are those of us that just don't wear watches. I haven't worn a wristwatch in at least 15, maybe 20 years. So the wearable market is lost on me completely.

Thanks for sharing. LOL No offense but I do not see the purpose in posting in threads about items or subjects I don't care about.

 

[Sajo]

...I don't see the draw of using Pay on my wrist. Unless it's mad simple.
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Same here. And there are so few places that accept it, I wouldn't have much of an opportunity to use it anyway. I hardly ever use it on my phone since I don't go to McDonald's, Walgreen's or Staples very often.

 

[PereDroid]

Thanks for sharing. LOL No offense but I do not see the purpose in posting in threads about items or subjects I don't care about.

Maybe we could change his mind. I was just like him before I got that first one.

I do use Android Pay: Walgreen & Subway are both very close to me. And with these chip readers that seem to take forever, it's WAY faster to use the phone. It depends on how it would work on the watch. Do i have to start the process from my phone? If so, that's a deal breaker...I'm already there, so.... My wife has used Apple Pay from her watch. Didn't ask for details so not sure what that process is.

 

[Miklb58]

...and then there are those of us that just don't wear watches. I haven't worn a wristwatch in at least 15, maybe 20 years. So the wearable market is lost on me completely.

Plus one on this.
Since my phone is always in my pocket, or next to me on the desk, I found no need for a watch anymore.
But smartwatches are cool!

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[mountainbikermark]

...and then there are those of us that just don't wear watches. I haven't worn a wristwatch in at least 15, maybe 20 years. So the wearable market is lost on me completely.

I didn't either until getting my first smartwatch.

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[IIGood]

Thanks for sharing. LOL No offense but I do not see the purpose in posting in threads about items or subjects I don't care about.

Well, regardless of me not using the product, it still kind of interests me. I was more or less intending to speak to the questions posed in the third paragraph of the OP to possibly help shed some light on the "whys."

 

[Sajo]

And to answer Pere's questions, no I don't see any more smart watches now than I did 2 years ago. I do notice more Apple watches than AW when I notice someone is wearing one. But even they are not having great sales, I believe. I used to get asked often if I had an Apple watch on. And would then explain it was an Android watch. Then the "what does it do" questions. Not so much anymore. It's been a long time since someone has asked what it is or what it does. Seems like the interest level just never caught on, except for techie folks, and folks that always wear a watch anyway so might as well be a smart watch (that's the category I am in).

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