Wearable tech is a pretty big deal right now, especially with all of the latest progression coming to smartwatches. We already have quite a few smartwatches on the market from manufacturers like Samsung, Qualcomm, Pebble, Sony, and soon Motorola and LG. At this point, smartwatches are seen as accessories to accompany smartphones; they need to connect to smartphones via Bluetooth in order to use all of the features of the device.
Smartwatches are fairly advanced. Some of them are able to do more than just play music and display notifications - they can make phone calls, take pictures, and even run some applications as well. In a lot of ways, smartwatches seem like the perfect candidate to be the future replacement of smartphones. At least, that’s what rapper and entrepreneur Will.i.am thinks.
In a recent appearance on British talk show Alan Carr: Chatty Man, Will.i.am proudly talked about his latest gadget that he helped create: his smartwatch. How does his smartwatch differ from other smartwatches on the market? According to him, his doesn’t need to be connected to his smartphone in order to work. He can play music, make phone calls, and even Instagram without the aid of a smartphone. He demonstrates the smartwatch playing his music and playing dial tones to the audience (although I felt that it sounded a little too loud and clear to not at least have been dubbed). In recent Tweets from the celebrity, he reveals that his new smartwatch will likely go on sale sometime in July.
This isn’t Will.i.am’s first attempt at creating tech gadgets, but it is one of the more interesting ones in my opinion. I can’t say I completely believe that the product works remotely as well as he makes it seem, so I’m keeping my reserves about that. What his gadget does make me think about, however, is whether smartwatches could completely replace smartphones or not.
I think that the idea is possible. For people who only need some basic things like talking, texting, listening to music, and using a few apps, I imagine it’s a doable concept. I don’t think that it would be a viable solution for most people who already use smartphones, simply because you do lose a lot of functionality in smartwatches. Smartwatches are able to do certain things, but not everything that smartphones can do.
I guess it would mostly be a trade-off of sorts, if the concept were to catch on. You would lose some functionality, but you would have the convenience of your smartwatch phone being conveniently attached to your wrist all the time and relying heavily on voice control. But do I think that smartwatches would ever completely replace smartphones? Honestly, I couldn’t imagine that happening at all. I do think that making a smartwatch that works as a standalone product is a good idea though, because I think there are a lot of people out there that would prefer it.
It will be interesting to see whether Will.i.am’s product really works, or is even real at all (is it too late to pull April Fool’s pranks?) I feel like it’s an idea worth looking into, if nothing else.
Readers, do you think you’ll be checking out Will.i.am’s smartwatch if it turns out to be true? Would you rather use a smartwatch by itself rather than one as an accessory? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Image via Mashable
