Do we need a smartwatch?

Our phones have been smart for a decade now (don't like saying it, but, thanks to iPhone for setting the trend) but now we have stepped into an era where everything is getting smart. Whether it's TV, refrigerator, shoes(yes we have these), led's, cars( talking about those self driving ones). You name it and it's most probably become smart by now or will be in the near future.One of the things which went smart and people went crazy over was watches. Smartwatches was introduced couple of years back, I would consider 2014 to be the golden year in which they got much hype Samsung Moto Apple all launched it in that year, and got everyone talking about them. But now that the hyped has settled let's discuss do we really need a smartwatch on the first place and if yes then also who they are for.. Lets start..
First of all to understand if they are necessary we need to understand what are smartwatches capable of.. So let's dive into what these tiny wrist computers can do for you..

1. Steps counting & distance tracking : Every smartwatch comes with a pedometer, also accelerometer, which counts the number of steps the person has taken and depending if the watch has GPS or not it also tracks how much distance you have travelled. Well if someone is saying GPS is irrelevant to track the distance traveled then I would like to say if there is no GPS then it's rough estimate of your distance travelled and if there is one you will get a exact measure of the distance more or less.
2. ‎altitude : Depending on which smartwatch you have you can also know at what altitude you are by in build barometer that your watch has. This is specially helpful for climbers and trackers which want to know the height at which they are.

3. ‎Heart rate monitoring: Most of the smartwatches comes with heart rate sensors which detects the heart rate of the person wearing it. It's accuracy can be off by approximately 10% but you will get to know how much that meeting with the special one is making you anxious ( JK).
It has many useful implications though. It can help you record your heart rate at certain times for medical records or how intense your workout was and so on.

4. Smart functions: You can play n pause music, peek into your social media message that you just received, also reply if you want, or just talk to the watch for general info like about the weather and interact with many more apps that are there for your device as most of them has a touch screen and all this just with your watch.

5. ‎Attend and make calls : some watches comes with cellular options with which you can just forget your smartphone at home and roam around with just your watch and you will also be connected to the world with that tiny thing as it has cellular capabilities. No need to carry your phone. You can have some alone time with your beloved watch too.

6. ‎Dust and water resistant : Mostly all the smartwatches out there are dust and water resistant. It means you don't have to worry about it getting wet so you can have it on while you take a bath. But don't go jumping in the sea to test its water resistant capabilities because they are mostly rated for fresh water and not salt water.

7. ‎Features of a traditional watch: ya seriously it has all the features of a traditional watch. Like it can show time, obviously as it's a watch, it can be stylish like those good old classic watches or sporty. Basically whatever way you like it (and expensive too).

That's what the smartwatch does primarily.So are you thinking what I am thinking? Smartwatch does all the stuff that your smartphone can do, yes maybe a bit more conveniently in some cases, but most of the tasks can be performed on your smartwatch.

It's build for convenience and style.But the question remains. Do you really need a smartwatch?

We have seen what it can do now lets see what bad with the smartwatches below:

1. They are expensive : a good smartwatch can cost you above 300 $. In that amount you can have a decent second phone (assuming you already have one) . Now a days every smartphone have all the sensors you need, barring heart rate sensor (Samsung galaxy s5 had it though), to track your daily activities so to spend another couple of hundred dollars on a smartwatch doesn't make that much sense. If money is not an issue, which actually is for most, and you want a stylish wearable gadget then you can have a look at these miniature computers.

2. Convenient but not so much: Smartwatches are made for convenience as you can check almost everything on your wrist and you don't have to check your phone all the time. But it can get irritating sometimes when you have a pretty long message that you have to read or a very important message that you have to send to someone and you can't rely completely on the voice recognition of the watch because they are not 100% accurate for which taking out your smartphone and do stuff is just more convenient.

3. ‎Does all the stuff your phone does: It does mostly all the stuff you can do on your phone whether it's change track, tracking your lap (jogging i meant), measuring distance etc and in quite a stylish way. Everyone thinks of himself as a James Bond kind of agent when they use there smartwatch. If you lazy enough, or you keep forgetting your smartphone at home or any other place (chances of forgetting the watch is slim as its on your wrist), to just take out your phone for all the notifications you definitely need a smartwatch.

4. ‎App notifications : It does provides many app notification on your wrist. But do you really need that much interruption? If you want to see some app notification check your phone when you are free as simple as that. Why do you need constant beeping your wrist? But if you still want those notification on the convenient place such as your wrist, you can buy one of these.

5. ‎Battery life: Most of the people are already complaining about how phones don't give more than a days battery life because of which they need to charge there phone way too often and also many people have started carrying a power-bank, which also needs to be charged, and lastly because of current trend of removing the 3.5mm jack from top tier phones and making USB type-c as a standard for both audio output and charging many people have switched to Bluetooth headphones,, which also needs charging. All these items needs to be charged on almost daily basis. And smartwatches are on the same track. Most smartwatches last only for 1-2 days on a single charge. Which means you have to charge them like you charge your phone. Almost daily. So if you are good with charging one more item on daily basis you can go out on a hunt for these watches.
So in a nutshell smartwatches are for those who loves to wear watches and want tech in all there stuff.
If you want good looking watch with some capabilities of your phone and is ready to pay a price for it, smartwatch is for you.

Well I am one of those who will happily take out his phone, at my convenience, to check whatever I want without caring for unnecessary interruption or misspellings.
And if you are into fitness and were looking for smartwatch than I would recommend to go check out smart bands as they are about 50% cheaper than smartwatches and will track your steps, distance, sleep, heart rate and also provide some important notifications like call and messages keeping irrelevant notifications at bay.

Thank You, Stay Curious

Saurabh Khanna