Android Wear (+ phone comparability test)

[Dr Mordrid]

A watch/voice remote/enhancement for Android phones. Dick Tracy lives

My LG Optimus G Pro (2+32+64 gigs + quad-core) with KitKat is √√.

Wear tech is apparently going to be usable with all manner of Android devices; cars, home controls, entertainment, appliances etc. etc. 'The Internet of Things' they call it.

Now, if only I could wear watches without my skin turning colors & itching like hell.

http://www.android.com/wear/

Click from phone to check: http://www.android.com/wear/check/

[UtwigMU]

I don't think watches will take off. Big display doesn't equal practical. Having a phone and a watch is redundant, the battery life will be couple of days (compared to years). Prime application of watch is jewelry and status symbol and such thing is neither.

Yes some people will get smart watches but that number will equal the percentage of people who had pocket calculator watches in 1980s.

For example I have two watches and only wear one sport watch with odometer when I go cycling or jogging.

[dZeus]

I don't think watches will take off. Big display doesn't equal practical. Having a phone and a watch is redundant, the battery life will be couple of days (compared to years). Prime application of watch is jewelry and status symbol and such thing is neither.

Yes some people will get smart watches but that number will equal the percentage of people who had pocket calculator watches in 1980s.

For example I have two watches and only wear one sport watch with odometer when I go cycling or jogging.

There'll always be a niche for these things. Geeks that like to have as many gadgets as possible, or people with specialized needs, such as for sports and health/medical purposes.

But for the average person? Ever since my Seiko's last battery ran out (lasts about 2 years on one), I stopped wearing it. The current time can be found displayed anywhere and everywhere these days, to start with on a cellphone. Wearing a watch now feels very... out of date?
And I'm sure I'm not the only one...

[Umfriend]

Stopped wearing mine oh I think 4 years ago? Couldn't live without one, had a holiday where I did not wear it, never put it back on again. Can't imagine wearing one again, it's just not comfortable and there's no use.

[VJ]

I have this Sony LiveView that came with my previous phone. It does not have a very comfortable strap, and I've been meaning to get the strap replaced (I'm not wearing it, mainly because of that). But I agree they are too big at the moment.

I was thinking of wearing it in winter: with the phone somewhere in a pocket of a warm winter jacket, you are very certain not to hear it. A watch that vibrates will be noticable. Also, I tend to leave my phone in my jacket or bag at work or even at home, and often miss calls or messages that way. On the other hand, nothing serious has happened because of that, so is it really necessary to be notified of everything immediately? (but that it is a different discussion)
For sports, there is some point (e.g. a cycling computer, as it can show speed, distance, time and other data from the phone's gps). So I can see the point of a smart watch, but for daily use it should be more elegant. Current approach is to cram every possible function into it, and that is causes too many compromises at this point (size, battery life, ...).
Martian Watches has a minimalist ( http://www.martianwatches.com/ ), and Cookoo ( http://www.cookoowatch.com/ ) goes even further. I can see the point of that, but I think they are too big for what they offer. Going minimalist should allow for a small watch (cookoo doen't even have a display!).
The Triwa concept is IMO gorgeous: http://www.thecoolector.com/triwa-smartwatch-concept/ , but I think not technically feasable due to battery limits.

[dZeus]

...
The Triwa concept is IMO gorgeous: http://www.thecoolector.com/triwa-smartwatch-concept/ , but I think not technically feasable due to battery limits.

That's exactly what a SmartWatch should look like imo...
Maybe feasible in 10 years without having to recharge it more often than once a week (or preferably: less than once per month)

[Dr Mordrid]

I either use my father's 1907 Elgin pocket watch or tap my headset and ask what time it is

[UtwigMU]

I'd totally have a pocket watch.

The watches I like are Danish Design and Mondaine Swiss railway clock

The expensive (500-2000 EUR) watches are kitchy to me except for the über expensive ones. (>10.000 EUR)

[Jammrock]

I haven't worn a watch in 20 years. Don't see myself starting to wear one, for any reason, ever. So it's unsurprising that smart watches just don't trill me.

That and they seem gimmicky. They basically act as a remote control for your phone, but on an annoyingly small screen.

[dZeus]

interesting how relatively a lot of murcers seems to do away with 'old tech'.

Just wondering:
- did you do away with optical drives (CD/DVD/Blue ray) in your computers or even from your home in general?
- did you get rid of broadcast television channels (i.e. any channels with non-on-demand transmissions)?
- did you get rid of anything else you consider 'old tech' that is still commonplace in society?

[Jammrock]

- did you do away with optical drives (CD/DVD/Blue ray) in your computers or even from your home in general?

I use my wife's laptop to backup the occasional kids movie. My main computer has no optical drive. But I do watch movies off optical when it's not available on streaming subscriptions.

There is a good reason though. Streaming services are gimped here. Without getting into the lack of quality in most US broadband and net neutrality, it costs ~$5 to rent a movie through a streaming service like Amazon or iTune, if it is not available as part of the subscription-based service. To get a Blu-ray from Redbox it runs $1.50. And there's one about 50m from my apartment. So I can pay less for a solid high-rez BD, or pay more for a stuttering, pixelized mess.

Which is why optical media won't die out in the US any time soon.

- did you get rid of broadcast television channels (i.e. any channels with non-on-demand transmissions)?

No. The TV situation is messier than the broadband situation here in the states. A lot of broadcasters refuse to put their content online or in on-demand forms. From their POV they refuse to believe there are better profits in on-demand than in restricting the content and making broadcast rights, syndication rights, and advertising money.

And the broadcasters still put out a lot of the good, popular shows. You always have the one off's like Breaking Bad, Mad, Men, The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones, but the majority of prime shows are still on the big four (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox). They are slowly moving to on-demand formats, but they aren't very good yet.

You have services like Hulu that rebroadcast online the next day, or sometimes a week later. But it runs $8/month to get 720p (no 1080p yet), and you still have to watch commercials that you can't skip or fast forward through. Services like Netflix get the shows well after they have been released on DVD/Blu-ray... so anywhere between 3 and 12 months after the season has ended, if at all.

Then you have exclusivity contracts. Certain shows and production companies will only stream content on one service. NBC/Universal is Amazon Prime. ABC/Disney is Netflix. CBS has it's own, but will eventually release stuff to rebroadcasters.

And then you get into rebroadcast rights. Some production houses, like Warner Brother Television, won't sell online rights to the network that broadcasts the show. When this happens you can't get it on demand (legally) during it's run, if it's popular, and when you can it's normally ad riddled and through the broadcaster's website, not a quality streaming service.

And so on...

This leaves the best option to get some of the good shows in the US as OTA to an HTPC. This way you can cut, or FF, through commercials without all the BS they put you through to watch it online. Then for shows you can't get OTA you can buy a season pass on Amazon or iTunes and get the show the day after it airs, but it runs $20-$40 per show.

Which isn't bad when you consider an average monthly cable/satellite fee here is about $100/month. If you buy 5 shows at an average of $30 a show, then use OTA for all the broadcast stuff, you can save a ton of money and still get everything you want.

Which is why I will be going this route once my current satellite contract is ended.

- did you get rid of anything else you consider 'old tech' that is still commonplace in society?

Can't think of anything. I try to be as technologically progressive as my budget allows. Do you have any examples?

[dZeus]

..
Can't think of anything. I try to be as technologically progressive as my budget allows. Do you have any examples?

Actually that's why I put it there (for anything I could not think of)

[VJ]

interesting how relatively a lot of murcers seems to do away with 'old tech'.

Strange... I got a bit a different impression; that most of us are still using quite a lot of old tech...

I'm for instance much less advanced with phones than I used to be. 10 years ago, I had a phone that was considered smart (Symbian), after that a Windows Mobile, but now I just manage with a low end Android device. It offers the me features I need, so I don't need more. My desktop computer is a 10+ year old dual Xeon, and my media system a 4 year old Atom.

- did you do away with optical drives (CD/DVD/Blue ray) in your computers or even from your home in general?

No... and in my next build I will install a bluray writer. Prices per GB of storage are now the same for bluray disks or hdd storage (here: 0.03 euro/GB), but I prefer to have it on optical disk. Mainly because it is less eggs in one basket. I also rewrite them every now and then, so it gives me multiple copies. But in a laptop, I don't need it. But I didn't have it in my laptop already 5 years ago.

- did you get rid of broadcast television channels (i.e. any channels with non-on-demand transmissions)?

I don't watch television, mainly because of language (living in Poland). But DVB-T is open here, no need for a decoder, and offers a lot of national channels. So more and more people I see are just cancelling their television subscriptions, and getting a cheap DVB-T decoder with recording to USB.
I was thinking of getting my parents to get Bhaalu: http://www.bhaalu.com/
You need a television subscription, and then register with Bhaalu. They record almost all channels you have in your television subscription, and offer them on-demand, no matter where you are in the world. So it beats the service provided by the TV operators (in Belgium), where on demand is at a premium, and not available internationally.

- did you get rid of anything else you consider 'old tech' that is still commonplace in society?

I was thinking of getting rid of my fixed phone line. I need it for internet, but at the moment it has a phone number associated with it. I got it as my parents can call for free in Europe, but only to fixed lines. Now, they have free calls also to mobiles in Europe, so I don't really need the fixed line anymore. From experience, Skype is not always that reliable, and if my parents have computer/internet problems, they would not be able to communicate with me (and I'm not there to fix it).
Not sure if it is considered old tech, but I got rid of television about 5 years ago, in favour of a projector. Has some downsides (e.g. room should be darker), but the movie experience is much better. Might get a television in the bedroom though (space is foreseen, and it might be nice to watch something during the day or so).

[UtwigMU]

interesting how relatively a lot of murcers seems to do away with 'old tech'.

Just wondering:
- did you do away with optical drives (CD/DVD/Blue ray) in your computers or even from your home in general?

No, still have DVD in one Thinkpad and server. Don't have a desktop since 2007. If I'd be building a desktop I'd include optical drive (since it's so cheap). In laptop I also like optical - as a sysadmin I sometimes need to burn install CDs. I use USB keys as well but CDs and DVDs also work.

- did you get rid of broadcast television channels (i.e. any channels with non-on-demand transmissions)?

- no TV. Watch movies in cinema or download, watch some Japanese series online (youtube...), watch soccer in bars or with friends, watch documentaries online. News I mostly read (i can pause and crosscheck different sources), all national TV news can be watched online on demand and national TV and radio can be watched/listened to live online (except when showing copyrighted movies).

- did you get rid of anything else you consider 'old tech' that is still commonplace in society?

I have an IP phone (optics) at the office since it was cheaper to get a package but don't use it

[Brian Ellis]

As a dinosaur, I am perhaps slightly exceptional. I embrace modern technology but only on condition that it is really useful to me. For example, I don't see much use for a Dick Tracy style watch. For me, it is a pure gimmick. The watch that I am wearing is a Casio quartz watch with a LED stopwatch facility (which I do use on occasion!). I have a bottom of the range Samsung smart telephone. Other than its use as a telephone and for SMS messages, the only feature that I use regularly is the Bluetooth pairing with the hands-free telephony in the car. I may have used the camera half a dozen times and that for nothing serious. (I have a DSLR for that, so I'm not a complete Luddite!)

TV: I use satellite television for BBC News, Euro news, Swiss TV, and NHK. Otherwise, I stream the four BBC domestic channels off the Internet. We do not have any form of cable or paying television. (Actually we did have a one-off payment for the card to decode the Swiss TV; if I remember correctly it was about €30!). We also have a large collection of entertainment DVDs, from CSI up to a number of BBC documentaries such as Richard Attenborough's.

Computers: I have four computers in my office:
– main computer, nothing special, for general-purpose use, Internet, main applications are Dragon NaturallySpeaking (used for dictating this message), Microsoft Office, Microsoft Expression Web,. Firefox, Thunderbird and a whole host of minor applications.
– Weather computer: this is our mini PC from China which is the only one running 24-7 to collect data from my weather station, produce forecasts and suchlike
– video computer: this is the most sophisticated one, at least in its day about three or four years ago. The main software is Magix Video Pro X6
– "server": this is a perfectly ordinary computer which is used mainly for backup with external disks, but can also serve in the place of the main computer should something go wrong.
All the computers except the weather computer have DVD writers and they all run Windows 7. I'm not into Blu-ray.

That is roughly the extent of my high-tech but there is one thing I have not mentioned and that is an Android tablet used for converting Wi-Fi Internet to HDMI for the streaming of the BBC programmes (actually we have the possibility of hundreds of channels but, being Luddites and dinosaurs, we watch only the BBC through the Internet!