SYDNEY: Smartwatch has become one of the most popular gadgets of very tech-giant. Almost every company including LG, Samsung, Apple have launched its smartwatch.
But in its nascent state today, a smart watch is nothing more than a limited accessory to a smartphone. It doesn’t help that smart watches are larger than a typical watch, making the novelty of wearing one as cool as wearing a calculator watch. It’s fun for about a second and then it’s just a clunky plaything soon to be relegated to a box in the attic.
Smart watches are a novelty item, created by phone and tech companies to swindle cash from today’s tech-obsessed consumers.
There’s no doubt of the technological feat a smart watch embodies; email, text, social media and fitness tracking, packed into a device less than 2 inches wide and half an inch thick. It’s an extraordinary achievement.
Smart watches won’t come at a pretty price, either. One of cheapest smart watches, the Kickstarter-backed Pebble, runs for $99. The low-end Pebble watch is pretty basic, offering a small black and white electronic paper screen, a lackluster plastic body and no touch screen.
Anything remotely decent looking and feature-filled will cost a small fortune. LG’s G Watch is priced at $229, the Samsung Gear S is $349, the Moto 360 starts at $249, Sony’s SmartWatch 3 is $229 and the Apple Watch is estimated at $349, according to Apple.
However, some analysts project the actual cost will be close to $500.
It’s absolutely nuts to be paying such an exorbitant amount of money for nothing more than a glorified wristwatch.
Smartphones have become a fabric of modern society, inching close to becoming a necessity. The inseparable relationship between consumers and their smartphones won’t change.
Although a smart watch might make things like messaging, social media or fitness tracking easier, the pros don’t outweigh the cons. Right now the smart watch is new, unchartered technological territory. Let it work itself out and keep advancing with every year.
It’s not to say smart watches won’t become useful in the future, but right now, save your money and future regret by waiting for the market to run its course.
New companies are developing affordable smart watches every day in an effort to make purchasing this accessory more reasonable and less wallet-breaking. Sit back and let the technology race begin; it’s a buyer’s market now.