What exactly is a Smartwatch?

What is a smartwatch, and what exactly can I do with one? It seems like most things now are turning smart. Our phones have long since left behind being plain old boring ans have become smart. The same thing is now happening to our watches, but what exactly is a smartwatch, and what can yu do with one? Do you really need one? With more and more on the market and on sale on electronics websites, let’s take a look at exactly what they are and what they can do for you.

The Rock

Just like the smartphone took the humble telephone and turned it from a solely call making device into a full blown life organizer and entertainment system, the smartwatch is taking the meagre time telling device and expanding it into the realms of a James Bond watch. OK, so you won’t be able to take out the enemy with some cool hidden gun, but certainly you can do more with a smartwatch than just tell the time.

The idea is that the smartwatch works hand in hand with your phone. On the watch you can receive notifications of calls, messages and emails without having to take your phone out of your pocket. Currently there are two types of smartwatch. Ones that work together with your phone, such as the Galaxy Gear 2, and ones that work independently, like the E-Ceros Nano, which actually takes a Sim card inside and make make calls and surf the net without the need for a phone.

InWatch Z

However, the smartphone market is very young, and a lot of the products aren’t fully realised yet. You will find that the majority of them will let you receive and send text messages and emails, receive and make calls, browse the web and tell the time. That said we have tested a couple out and will let you know their strengths and weaknesses, what you can actually do with them, and whether one would actually be for you.

If you fall into the following category of person, you would probably benefit from a smartwatch.

E-Ceros Nano

You want to receive notifications about calls and messages, but you don’t want to, or possibly can’t spend a lot of time on your phone. With a smartwatch, it will vibrate discretely on your wrist, and you can take a look, just like you were telling the time and see if the alert is important or not. This for me is the real important thing for a smartwatch. Nobody like to be out with friends only to have them receive a message, they whip out their phone as though it’s the most important thing in the world and ignore you for the next 5 minutes. With the smartwatch you won’t look bored in a meeting, disinterested while out with your partner and you won’t bother everyone in the cinema with your super bright AMOLED high res 7 inch mobile phone screen. You can stay connected without interrupting your life.

Another thing about the smartwatches is that they don’t actually cost more than an ordinary watch. In fact in some cases, they are cheaper, but you get a lot more functionality for your money. I stopped wearing a watch a long time ago because it only tells the time, something my smartphone can do for me. In the case of the smartwatch, at least it offers me something else to boot.

As smartwatches are electronics devices with their own operating systems they can be upgraded, so the watch you buy now can be brought up to spec in the next 6 months. As I said earlier, it is still a new technology, so advance are being made on almost a daily basis, offering more apps, and more functionality. Currently, not only can you send and receive calls and messages, you can have weather updates and even play a few simple games on them. The developer community is constantly growing and offering new apps for smartwatches. Another good thing is that the majority of smartwacthes are Android based, being they are open source and anybody can code for them.

ZGPAX S5

Despite all the things that smartwatches offer just now, you might want to wait while before buying one. The technology is still young, but it is something that is evolving very quickly. If you are the type of person that loves being in the cutting edge of technology, or if you need discrete ways to be in contact then they are for you.

If you are interested in buying a smartwatch, take a look at our smartwatches on China Electronics.

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