If you look back to TV shows like Dick Tracy, Captain Scarlet or even David Hasselhoff in Knight Rider, they were using watches to communicate and initiate some form of command to another system.
With the release of the Apple Watch, I have heard a lot of conversations around the possibilities of wearable devices and what else it could achieve in the future. Personally I see these devices being utilised within the healthcare market for real time monitoring and ease of data capture. A key example of this could be for Type 1 Diabetics. An integration of an under the skin sensor (like what Dexcom can provide) and a wearable could allow Diabetics to keep a closer attention on their blood sugar levels, via alerts, taptic notifications etc. It could even look into alerting emergency services when certain criteria is met like low sugar levels, high heart rate/BPM, cold sweats. There are a lot more use cases within healthcare that wearable devices, not just watches, could assist in delivering that enhanced patient experience.
So what do I use my device for considering I am not in healthcare? One thing I don’t do is talk to the watch like the guys mentioned in the title of this post. Reason being, it looks very strange in public at the moment. Typically the device sits on my wrist like any other time piece, until used for one of the following:
- Meeting notifications, if you get caught up in conversation you still get alerted about that webex session you are hosting in an hour or so time.
- Navigation when trying to find somewhere new. Better than having your phone in front of you whilst walking, less chance of dropping it! And you can actually see where you are walking.
- Quick iMessage replies.
- Overview of cycling or running pace including distance and time
You can do most of this with your iPhone, but I believe having it on your wrist allows you to look less unsociable when in a group. Once more apps are made and delivered I personally think the smart watch idea will be great.
