For example, imagine walking down the street towards your destination and feeling the right side of the watch vibrate to signal that you should turn right.
If your watch can communicate contextual information related to your intention and local then it will be superior to (1) wearing a socially inappropriate device like the Google Glass, (2) being called out to by a device, (3) fumbling in your phone in order to then open the correct app.
Apps that correctly use haptic feedback should be able to silently and subtly give users superpowers without forcing them to clumsily interact with a product.
I actually wrote about the benefits of this back in 2012 [0], though I was talking about phones and notification fatigue back then (and not leveraging Future Interface style stuff.)
[0] http://sebinsua.com/your-thigh-as-an-interface-from-your-pho...
Cool watch app? Wait, actually that would be cooler and more usable on a big screen...
Haptic feedback? Agreed, awesome idea, but no reason it can't be on my phone and buzz my leg instead of my wrist.
It's frequently lost upon this crowd (I'm guilty of this myself) that half of the population in the West frequently wears clothes which lack pockets.
From Wikipedia:
"It is not etymologically related to the word male, but in the late 14th century the spelling was altered in English to parallel the spelling of male."
I honestly don't understand how "female" is any worse then "woman" honest question I'm easily the least sexist person you could run into (ask my wife) but sometimes it seems like no mater what you're still going to offend someone. :(
It would be the same as calling someone a "human" rather than a "person". Like aliens do in the movies. Maybe you don't feel that's dehumanizing, but I think a lot of people would.
(Classicist pet peeve: A word's etymology has nothing to do with its modern denotation and connotation.)
Edit: Nevermind. I Googled it. Star Trek alien.
It's clear that they spent a large amount of time and effort with the haptic feedback and the crown.
But functionality wise... well I completely agree with you.
I can't see anything a smartphone cannot do, better and more efficiently, with the exception of the heart rate sensor.
Some functions in particular seem very awkward to me: I cannot see a reasonable way of using it as a phone or an audio player, in public, without bluetooth earphones.
With mobile phones, mp3 players and smartphones the value proposition was clear, but what is the killer application for smartwatches ?
That said, I would be far from surprised if they sell like hotcakes.
There's a much higher density of tactile nerve endings in your wrist than in your thigh; even if you can reliably feel your phone vibrating in your pocket (I can't!), that's no guarantee you'd be able to discriminate finely enough for haptic feedback to be of use, especially since the phone's orientation in your pocket is not guaranteed.
I'm forever feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket when it isn't vibrating... and still manage not to notice when it does vibrate.
Perhaps I would perceive the signal more accurately if it was on my wrist instead of my thigh.
The early adopters of Google Glass have cemented its reputation as a geeky, invasive, awkward, Star Trek like toy for socially inept young men.
None of the people who have approached me directly gave a shit about who I was or what I did for a living. They rarely even introduced themselves. It usually went something like "Is that the google?...." and the conversation goes from there. My IRL experience does not match the blog hatersphere at all.
And just try wearing it in some sensitive areas (e.g night-clubs, expensive restaurants etc) around the world and see what happens...
The incident you're thinking of was Steve Mann being assaulted and thrown out for wearing his own custom digital eye glass, about a year before the Google Glass developer release.
I also haven't heard of frequent incidents involving "sensitive areas". Some incidents, yes, but definitely not enough for me to categorize it as a trend.
I know people theorize about the mark of the beast and cyborgs and privacy but I simply haven't seen it. It's a cool gadget and I have fun wearing it in public. It's also great for hiking and camping and Auto Awesome is the shit, so... you are missing out.
Having a camera pointed in your general direction is enough to give most people pause. I have really bad anxiety, and if someone wearing Glass looks in my direction, I will be made incredibly uncomfortable. It's the kind of thing that makes me want to never leave my house. Not saying you should live your life based on how I feel, but I think people who wear GG should at least be aware of the (great) potential for making others feel uncomfortable.
IF someone wearing google glass looks 180 degrees within your direction and you get anxiety - that's a personal issue. IF Google Glass makes you never want to leave your house - then you live in San Fran when you shouldn't, or you have an irrational fear.
On top of that, for every 1 person that has an irrational fear of Google Glass, there are 99 people who are enthralled by it. So, democracy and all that.
My visceral reaction was that of human disconnect. I hope I am explaining it right, it is a hard feeling to describe. It is the same sort of reaction I get (except stronger) when someone is wearing those bluetooth ear things. It makes me feel uneasy. The person isn't "completely there." A disconnect.
Uh, I think it is too complicated to explain, but it is a human interaction thing, not a technology thing.
Now, if it was the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, its probably a stunt. But yes, a bar is not a place for google glass. Just like work is a place for pants. Common sense folks.
Maybe on the east coast.
That's weird, and initially I thought glass was cool. It's not.
I had this experience sitting across a restaurant from someone wearing Google glass, and it made me realize what a horrible idea it is.
This isn't directly tied to you or your argument, but whenever people talk about about smart watches, 'fumbling with your phone' seems to come up. I can't recall the last time I thought of checking my phone as a hassle or felt like I was 'fumbling with it'.
That being said, I am excited to see what developers come up with for smart watches (either platform) and am interested to see how the haptic* feedback performs.
* I know Apple is calling it the Taptic Engine, so I'm not sure if we're supposed to be calling it taptic or haptic feedback, especially since it's not entirely haptic
Reminds me of a joke I heard:
A local school board was trying to find ways to increase the efficiency of their schools. A local computer programmer had come to the board meeting with a proposal.
He suggested that each desk be equipped with a small button, that via wireless technology would light up a small panel on the teachers desk.
That way if a student wanted to ask a question, they could simply press the button which would light up say spot A17 on the panel. Then using a quick lookup sheet the teacher could then see that desk A17 is where John was sitting.
The teacher could then look up quickly and say, "John...you have a question?"
The Software Carpentary workshops that I've worked with/seen, for example, use a post-it note system that signifies that a student has a question (or is done, depending on the colour of the note). This allows the student to continue trying solutions without holding up their hand looking for attention. When an instructor is available, they can go over and help.
The advantage of a button system, then, would be that you could gather data on which students were asking the most questions, how long they generally have to wait, etc.
This would be fine. better than pulling my phone out of my pocket while riding (which is what I do now)
So to take your map scenario. Here's how it currently works for me. Take the phone out, pull up maps, figure out where the hell I am, where I'm trying to get to, and then plot a route between the two.
Yes, that's going to work a whole lot better on a phone.
But what comes next? Following the route from A to B with the phone held flat in front of me like it's some kind of divining rod.
And this is where rethinking the actual interaction starts making a difference. Having the phone push cues instead of walking somewhere I'm unfamiliar with my nice expensive divining rod held out ..
Another gripe, the "digital crown" is on the opposite side of the watch for me. It could be an impediment of being left handed, but having it on the right hand side of the watch increments the awkward factor for me.
http://www.slashgear.com/wheres-our-left-handed-apple-watch-...
"So, it turns out the Apple Watch really works TWO ways. Apple tells us on initial setup, you can choose to have the watch face orient itself for use on the right wrist, making it friendly to lefties. The watch bands are also swappable, so your band isn't facing the wrong way. Good news for everyone involved, but like most things in life, Lefties will still have to deal with a right-handed design -- the crown will be on the bottom of the left side of the watch when on the right wrist."
"Siri, give me walking directions to the nearest Starbucks."
The only thing I can think of that might make me suddenly need to go somewhere is a message/reminder...from my phone.
Zero minutes and five seconds. The watch has Siri. You say "directions to X". Boom. Done.
Once start walking your route, feedback will be given via haptic feedback to let you know which way to turn so you won't have to look at it again.
(Source: the keynote)
Did you ever use a Blackberry? Tiny rotating nubs are really good.
I really cannot imagine a more useless product than this watch. It requires an iPhone and seems to essentially serve as a small, remote interface for your phone. And how do I navigate that small interface? With an even smaller "digital crown." I hate trying to set the time on my watch, and now they expect me to interact with something more complicated using a tiny, rotating nub?
Imagine a typical scenario. You are walking down the street and suddenly need to navigate somewhere. How many minutes are you going to waste playing with that little nub and resizing things on the screen before finally pulling out your phone and just using that.
The only argument for this watch is that it might be helpful for those times when pulling out your phone is just too onerous. I regret that I do not have the type of lifestyle where that is a serious limitation.