Smartwatch, needed or not?

Clicktechno - Although smartwatches have been around since the 80's, they have received a surge of appeal in the last couple years. One of the biggest reasons smartwatches are increasingly popular these days is perhaps because they are not what they used to be, and are rather getting a lot better than when they were first conceived. When shopping for the smartwatch, you will be spoilt for choice given the vast number of options available, but it's not really about buying a smartwatch, the big question is do you need one at all.

The first thing to consider is the fact that smartwatches work in collaboration with your smartphone, meaning that even though you sport a wearable tech device on your wrist, it will only work when connected with your smartphone located within a specific range. Smartwatches are designed to provide you with basic notifications such as calls, texts, emails, and most even allow you to reply to them.

But the chances of you writing or reading an email or reading a long article on a smartwatch are highly unlikely. Unless of course you're stuck in a dire situation and the only chance of survival is through reading info on the screen of your smartwatch. You may however do these tasks on your smartphone though, and get rid of the extra device you have to haul around on your wrist.

On a brighter note, there are a few situations where a smartwatch might prove handy such as using it to pay at the gas pump, open your car doors, identify yourself at the bank, or buzz open the door to your school or office. This would eliminate the need to take out your keys, wallet and your ID.

With notifications on your wrist, you know immediately when you receive an email, text or calls so you don't have to dig onto your pocket, giving you the ultimate smartphone freedom. And if you're thinking your wrist will constantly vibrate with frivolous notifications, it's not rocket science that you can turn on and turn off these notifications as you want.

You are usually prompted to choose the type of notifications and how you'd like to be alerted - vibrate or beeps or both during the smartphone setup process. Another selling point of smartwatches is their health and fitness tracking capabilities, meaning there are some devices that provide you with several health related metrics including heart rate. They not only track these metrics, but also advise on what to do next such as letting you know when you're stressed out and how to combat it.

Unfortunately however not everyone is interested in this data so if it doesn't matter to you, then this is one feature you will likely not need when buying a smartwatch. New smartwatches when first introduced were goofy looking, clumsy gadgets, but the latest devices all look and work great. Adding to this, they offer several different customization options such as watch faces, straps and even battery life has been considerably improved and now lasts days on end.

Bottom line is that smartphones do provide a certain level of convenience and definitely a small break from your smartphone. They are also much cheaper than what they used to be so getting on and experiencing the perks is a whole cheaper than what they used to be. Furthermore, they can be paired with several other devices such as fitness trackers, high end chest heart rate monitoring devices to gauge comprehensive data on several aspects of your health, and some even allow you to pay for groceries at stores such as Whole Foods.

With a smartwatch, you no longer have to be a slave to your smartphone, but buying one completely depends on individual needs.

source:

Fernandes, S. A. (2016, February 11). Do You Really Need a Smartwatch?. Retrieved February 25, 2016, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Do-­You-­Really-­Need-­a-­Smartwatch?&id=9318008