Wearables: 2014 and Beyond
by Stephen Barrett on January 15, 2015 11:50 AM EST- Posted in
- Wearables
- Apple
- Microsoft
- pebble
- Android Wear
- Microsoft Band
- Fitbit
Final Words
While consumers may see the wearable market as early or immature, their proliferation seems inevitable. Wearables have not quite crossed the chasm yet, but the investment major consumer companies are making is only going to grow. Functionally, some use cases such as running are fairly well addressed now, and if you’re an avid runner you could be quite pleased with the developments of 2014. For other use cases such as smart watches or weight lifting, there is still a ways to go. Socially, people have accepted passive activity trackers like Fitbit but are still getting used to wearables such as smart watches or Google Glass.
Tracking the market through 2015 will be interesting as Microsoft’s Health platform does battle with Android Wear and Google does battle with Tizen. The Apple Watch launching in early 2015 could also be a watershed moment for wearables if those devices enter the main stream. All the while, smaller (but more established) players like Fitbit and Pebble continually improve to prevent gains by the big three.
You may have noticed that AnandTech has only performed one comprehensive wearable review. Admittedly, part of the reason has been finding time between all the other important launches, but another reason is we would like reader feedback on content. What do you desire from an AnandTech wearable review? Battery life testing is obviously important, but what about other tests or subjective analysis? Is wearable screen quality important to you? Voice recognition? Durability? Obviously all things are important to some degree, but providing feedback will help us focus. Please use the comments thread below to describe why you are, or are not, interested in wearables as well as aspects of wearables that require evaluation for you to find value.
I mentioned I have a Moto360 in house and have requested some other samples. Your feedback and these devices will combine for increased wearable content in 2015.
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codylee - Thursday, January 15, 2015 - link
I'm most excited about wearables moving past smartphones. I love the idea of Google Glass mixed with Erghis Sphere or Leap Motion style hand detection to interact rather than a brick like a smartphone. Then a watch style wearable may hold the compute power while the optics provide the GUI. I'd love to see these run on movement based energy though- or at the least body heat!codylee - Thursday, January 15, 2015 - link
Www.spaceglasses.com - completes the above lolDrumsticks - Thursday, January 15, 2015 - link
Nice article - i find it aligns with my own thoughts pretty well. I jumped onto the fitbit line with the Charge HR, and I think I'll pick up a moto 360 successor when it is out.Battery life obviously. I think the most important aspect of a wearable's display might be readability in light - you might be least likely to have your phone out when you're outside walking around. Watches also endure to some level more wear via hitting things i.e. Walls, desks, etc, so maybe some kind of scratchability test, if that doesn't violate any terms with the company or something.
Thanks for the article!
Baba G. Noush - Thursday, January 15, 2015 - link
Water resistant to 50m is not "incredible", it's just adequate. The two "real" watches I use are rated to 200m; I have routinely found that 50m-rated watches will not stand repeated dunks in a pool to no more than 2m. And as a use case, consider swimming, where I would like to count both strokes and laps, each of which should have a different signature on the accelerometer. There are devices that are useful for pacing (like a metronome for strokes) but they are all standalone and "dumb", they don't interface to anything.tipoo - Thursday, January 15, 2015 - link
I would have been interested in the Fitbit Surge, but man, did they miss the ball with the price point. It's the same price as the Moto 360 and more expensive than several other smartwatches, and "only" 100 dollars less than the base Apple Watch. At that price, it's just not feature competitive with them. It doesn't do enough yet, it's just like a Charge HR except with GPS and the ability to put in what you're doing right on the watch instead of on a seperate device later. I don't think that's worth the markup. But it certainly would be interesting at a lower price.Sxotty - Thursday, January 15, 2015 - link
I can say what I want. I want something to track runs, rides etc so I can leave phone at home. I want bumpers to protect screen and I would like to think about e-ink screen. I won't be watching movies on it. The microsoft band is close in many ways to what I want but the screen could be smaller and durability is an issue. Also I hear it cannot track rides.Anyway test durability, battery life, GPS, heart rate function then all the other junk.
Sxotty - Thursday, January 15, 2015 - link
I should also mention that I want control over my data. I don't want to pay a third party to download my data. I want the device to work with my device. Android, iPhone, or Windows phone.junky77 - Thursday, January 15, 2015 - link
I would like to have some emphasis on the extendability of the machine - maybe it's not specific to a specific model, but it's interesting. You'd like to know what's behind the borders of the wearable itselfZizy - Friday, January 16, 2015 - link
Out of all devices, I would love MS Band that is waterproof (not just splash resistant) and able to count laps in the pool. If it also survives 10m dives and measures depth, even better. Garmin has stuff I like (except too bulky), but not for the price I am willing to pay :)Samsung thingy that allows you to even make phone calls is also interesting, although I have a phone for that, I don't need another one on my wrist (yet; several versions later I might even buy it).
As for review, well battery life is obviously the big one. But most important part should be - why would you want that device? Focus on the purpose of the device and review from that perspective. Android wear devices all serve the same "phone companion" purpose, but not all other devices do, at least not to the same extent. And please, if you are a bunch of couch potatoes that will never be caught doing any other exercise than the naked one, don't review fitness devices :)
mkozakewich - Friday, January 16, 2015 - link
It might be time to finally create a standardized test for reflectance. Can you rig up a light box with a specific light output and a camera port at a certain distance and angle, so you can measure the contrast between white and black on the screen at 200 nits?The screen quality is actually desperately important. Half the reason people wear watches is for the delight of it. The screen on a wearable has to have that 'real' look or it just ruins the whole design.