Smartwatches – are they any good?
You might be surprised by all the things you can do with smartwatches. Smartphones were initially high-end devices which few felt the need to buy and nowadays I couldn’t really imagine not having a smartphone since the benefits are so obvious. I think eventually the same thing will happen to smartwatches but we are currently still at the stage where you might be thinking do the benefits really outweigh the cost.
There is a multitude of features that come with smartwatches that make them worthwhile. There are many things like heart rate monitoring and sports tracking which your smartphone just can’t do. Also, there are other features which just are more convenient on the smartwatch or perhaps you want to leave your bulky smartphone in the locker room while doing a workout just with your smartwatch.
It’s 2019, smartwatches have been out for over half a decade now. So let’s take a closer look at a few of them and see how they’ve improved over the years. More importantly, we’ll find out if smartwatches are actually worth getting in 2019.
What are the key differences between a smartphone and a smartwatch? What can a watch do and a phone can’t? You might be surprised by the differences, as smartwatches do a lot of things better than smartphones. Here are a few examples:
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Heart-rate monitoring
Wrist-based heart monitoring has become essential nowadays. I find it so valuable to be able to track my resting heart rate since that’s an indication about my physical condition. A lower resting heart rate is an indication of better physical health. Also seeing the heart rate when going for a run or cycling or any other activity is great and something I expect to have in my smartwatch.
Also if you consider the possibly life-saving health benefits that heart rate monitoring might have in the future I think this is just a must-have. Having a device that constantly and permanently monitors your heart is very, very important. Devices such as the Apple Watch have saved hundreds of lives.
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ECG/EKG
Did you know that the latest Apple Watches (Series 4 and 5) can do ECGs? These are proper ECGs that previously could only be done in hospitals. They can detect atrial fibrillation, and many other heart conditions. This is something that no smartphone could ever do, and it truly can be life-saving as well.
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Fitness Tracking
Nowadays, every smartphone can track your steps, calories burned, activities, etc. However, none of them are as accurate as a proper smartwatch that can measure your heart-rate and many other factors that a smartphone cannot. Smartwatches will always be more accurate than phones when it comes to fitness tracking, especially newer models that have GPS, altimeters, barometers and many, many more sensors.
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Fall detection
Going back to the Apple Watch – did you know that it has a feature called “Fall detection”? Again, a feature that isn’t present on any smartphone, and exclusive to the Apple Watch. If the watch detects that you fell, it will send you a notification that asks if you’re ok. If you don’t respond to that notification within 30 seconds, or if the watch feels that you didn’t move for 30 seconds, it will call the local emergency number and send them your exact location. This is another feature that has saved thousands of lives. Imagine falling down, being unconscious and having your life saved by your watch!
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Receiving notifications
While not so different to smartphones, having all of your notifications pushed to your watch can be helpful. Personally, I find it a lot easier to manage my notifications and get them silently delivered to my watch, rather than having my phone vibrate all the time.
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Sleep tracking
Many smartwatches can be worn during sleep, and they can track your sleep. This is yet another thing that smartwatches cannot do. Once you wake up, the watch can tell you exactly when you fell asleep, when you woke up, how was the sleep overall.
Studies have shown how important sleep is and if you are having trouble getting enough sleep due to staying up too late perhaps it might be a good idea to start tracking your sleep amount and getting motivated to correct your sleeping rhythms.
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Contactless payments
Did you know that you can use your phone instead of your credit/debit card for contactless payments? All you have to do is set up Google Pay or Apple Pay, and you can simply pay with your phone by simply touching the card reader with it.
Nowadays, smartwatches take that to next level, and instead of paying with your card or your phone, you can pay with your watch. As such, simply touch the reader with your watch, and you’re good to go! Paying without even reaching for your pockets definitely feels like the future.
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Miscellaneous
A watch can be useful for many more things as well. It can tell time (obviously), it can be used for two-factor authentication, it can be used to control music, to answer to messages, it can even be used to unlock your Mac.
Conclusion
To sum up, having a smartwatch isn’t a must, but it can make your life a lot easier (and safer, if you think about features such as fall detection or EKG). There are many great smartwatches that you can choose from, such as the Galaxy Watch, Huawei hands, and of course – the Apple Watch.
Another selling point of smartwatches is that many apps that you use on your smartphones, also have a smartwatch version. Having your app developed for your watch can be beneficial, as you can reach more customers.
Smartwatches represent a new market, a market that is growing very fast. As such, it would be bad to miss out and not have your app developed for smartwatches. We have already developed a handful of apps for smartwatches such as Apple Watch or watches that use Android Wear. So if you want to reach out to a whole new market and have your app developed for smartwatches, feel free to contact us.
At JustApplications, we listen to you and we build the app exactly as you want it to. We don’t just build apps, we create them with love.