Samsung Also Making a Smartwatch

New submitter evansspann sends word that Samsung will be making a smartwatch. Rumors have been swirling for a few months that Apple is working on a 'watch-like' device, but Samsung's CEO was willing to confirm that his company is working on such a product. "We've been preparing the watch product for so long. We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them." The companies are now likely racing to be the first to market. Production of such a device will likely be easier for Samsung, since it can produce its own screens and chips. It's also likely to work well with the popular Galaxy Phone lines. However, it will have a tougher time with app distribution than Apple, since it doesn't control Google Play the way Apple controls the App Store. "Apple's critics like to say the company's ideas are obvious, but as some pundits have noted, those very ideas once seemed unimaginable. The smartwatch will be a great test for that theory. It'll be interesting to see if Samsung can strike first in a nascent category and still rival Apple's work."

Casio

[WillgasM]

I'm pretty sure Casio introduced the smartwatch back in '70s.

Re:"Nascent"?

[AaronLS]

Reminds me of a watch a friend had before the days of bluetooth/wifi. To sync your calendar, you held it up to a computer that flashed barcodes on screen which the watch read. Not sure how much practical use he got out of the thing, but was definitely cool to watch.

Re:battery? Phone talking?

[Aranykai]

It will be a fashion statement. Though, I personally think it could be a handy little gadget if they simply make it compliment the phone rather than fail at duplicating functions. Display caller id, allow answering calls, function as a bluetooth speaker phone, display alerts so you dont have to pull your phone out of your pocket to find out that no, someone is not texting you, there is an update angry birds, control your music player, and heck, even display the current time.

I could see it as useful, but not exceptionally so. It should appeal to gadget folk. The real trick will be making it smart enough but simple.

Samsung's smart watch will crush the iWatch

[TimHunter]

You'll be able to jailbreak the Samsung smart watch, load a new kernel, hell, even compile your own kernel ON THE WATCH using a complete Gnu tool chain. And you won't have to go to some curated app store to get apps for the Samsung watch. You can get 'em from anywhere. For free! How can Apple's walled garden compete with that? Samsung FTW!

Re:"Nascent"?

[wolrahnaes]

I had one of those too, the Timex DataLink series. It depended on the CRT flickering to perform a one-way sync of basic PIM data. This of course didn't work on LCDs or systems like NT where the level of control over the display Timex needed was unavailable, so they also had a serial-based gizmo that flashed a LED to do the same job.

I got mine in 1998 or so and used it as a watch until the plastic body of the watch fell apart some time in 2004. The PIM function hadn't been usable to me for a few years as I'd switched to NT in XP form when it came out, but I'd had a Palm m100 since 2001 so that wasn't really a big deal.

I'd like a modern take on the smart watch, even after getting the Palm I liked having a basic info set available wherever I went. A good "home screen" could put a lot of useful information at a glance without needing to pull your device out of your pocket. Calendar, incoming messages, caller ID, etc. I could see being very useful. Give it an e-paper display for massive battery life and I'm interested.

Re:Do people still wear watches?

[guantamanera]

Yes, lots of people still wear watches. smart phones are just smart pocket watches now days. But to check the time a wrist watch is faster. I prefer analogue mechanical watches, that way I do not have to worry about batteries since I have so many. I do have a digital watch is though solar pathfinder by casio that I use when I go hiking to keep track of the altitude changes and to predict the weather. And in my opinion Analogue is better starting a coutdown just requires a quick rotate of the bezel. I also have a watch that has a slide ruler I rotate it and can do complex calculations really quick. I also use a analogue mechanical watch to keep time when I go diving. And the best feature is that a good watch can get you laid.

Re:Another easy to misread title

[wmac1]

Samsung has been making watch-phones since perhaps 2009:

Samsung S9110 Watch Phone : http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_s9110-2885.php [gsmarena.com]
This one was even earlier but cancelled: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_watch_phone-418.php [gsmarena.com]