Friday, December 23, 2016

A new approach for a smart watch


I have used a smart watch (MyKronoz Zeround) for two weeks. I conclude that it is not practical. It gave too much hassle and does not really give convincing value to me. I have reverted to the traditional watch. I also read a report that many users had the same experience with the smart watch.

I like to share my views about how the smart watch should be re-designed.

The current design is to have an app in the mobile phone which connects the mobile phone to the smart watch continuously through blue tooth. This interferes with the function of the mobile phone and degrades the user experience. It also drains the battery.

My new approach for the design of the smart watch is:

1) The smart watch operates like an ordinary watch and give the functions of telling the time, date, world time, alarm, timer, etc.

2) When required, it can connect to the mobile phone to update the time, e.g. when you are travelling to a different time zone, to get the weather forecast, agenda for today or other information (which can be programmed in the mobile phone. The connection is for a short period to get the information and is then disconnected.

3) The setting for the smart watch, can be made at the mobile phone, and retrieved by the smart watch. It is easier to make the setting at the mobile phone.

4) The fitness record can be viewed through the smart watch or transferred to the mobile phone to be viewed with a larger screen.

The mobile phone app can be made smaller and is tailored to be a slave to the smart watch. This is a different approach from that adopted now by most smart watches, which works in the other way round.

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