Wearables! They’re everywhere, and it’s only going to get worse (better?) as time marches on. Smart watches are the big focus these days, but there’s a lot of room to wiggle when it comes to the title in general. Fitness bands that offer some of the same functionality, like notification display and what not, are pretty popular, too, especially as many of them don’t cost all that much to wrap around a wrist.
Technology is expensive and smart watches aren’t all that different. Sure, the Pebble, the wearable that really kicked off this trend, is relatively cheap, especially compared to some of the competition, but they’re honestly the odd-man-out in this market. Android Wear-based watches aren’t over-priced, at least not most of them, and at least not in my opinion. Sure, I wish they had more features, and better battery life, but it is what it is.
As it stands right now, the smart watch market is showing a ton of potential and I have no doubt that, some day, and maybe even soon, we’re going to get the watch that we’ve all been waiting for.
Just to be clear, I don’t think the Apple Watch is that wearable, either.
But, neither is the Neptune Duo.
When I saw this device yesterday, I stared at it for way too long. I read the press release, I watched the video, and I checked out the website promoting the upcoming wearable/dumb device combination. When I first saw the wearable itself, I thought, “Hey, that could be cool.” And let’s be honest here, it has the innards that most people want in smart watches like the Apple Watch or others. Sure, I don’t really care that it’s running full-on Android 5.0 (even though that is pretty cool), and I think Android Wear is perfectly fine for a smart watch, but that’s a small thing.
I just have no idea who this product is for. Even if it has 3G/4G connectivity, and a pretty big display for a wearable, I’m not going to use that instead of my phone. The wearable I want is a perfect companion piece to my phone. And that’s where the big issue with the Neptune Duo comes in, as far as I’m concerned.
The Neptune Duo’s wearable seems like the perfect companion device to something that’s as big as your phone, but not nearly as smart. In fact, the designers behind Neptune Duo go out of their way to reiterate, frequently, that the “Pocket” is dumb, and it’s meant to be dumb. So, to use the Neptune Duo, you’re supposed to leave your phone at home (I’d assume?) and just carry around a dumb screen extender with a five-inch display, and a giant wearable on your wrist that can run full apps.
Oh, and it costs so much money.
This is practically the same situation as Sony’s SmartEyeglass wearable, where it just seems too ridiculous to actually be real. Or make any sense. I honestly don’t understand who’s going to actually decide to leave their phone at home, or, worse, bring their (probably) giant phone with them, along with another five-inch device. I know I’m not.
Would you?