What's the difference between a smartwatch and a "smarter" watch?
A smartwatch is a new type of device with unique interfaces that happen to tell the time. A "smarter" watch retains the essence of a watch by primarily focusing on telling time, but adds interesting features.
Usability:
Smartwatches are great, interesting gadgets but people often do not use them for their many purposes. Garmin offers the Vivoactive and Fenix smartwatches with GPS tracking and heart rate sensors. While these features are useful, most users who purchase watches are familiar with checking the time and may not necessarily need to know exactly where they are and their heart rates. Users may not care to "play" or "explore" more with the watches because they are familiar with the few features of a watch. Many users may just want the watch for a "cool" factor, rather than care about the smartwatches' other functions.
Further, these features are similar to that of the Fitbit --which has established its brand identity firmly in the fitness area. Although Garmin is trying to target Fitness users, Garmin's target is unclear because of the multiple products being launched that do not differentiate much between each other or provide a clear value proposition in comparison to Fitbit. If Garmin does not clarify its users or purposes of its products, how will they be usable?
In comparison, "smarter" watches are functional because people are familiar with using watches to tell time. Adding a new feature to a watch is easily understood by users who wear watches because there is a much lower onboarding barrier. From a usability perspective, "smarter" watches are better than smartwatches.
Accessibility:
Accessibility is another problem smartwatches face. Because of the small interfaces, smartwatches often face issues in onboarding users. An example of this is the Huawei Watch. The watch has a digital interface where words pop up. There is not a lot of space to read the words, and the user may not understand what to press next, or which buttons correspond to what. As a user, I was immediately confused by seeing the digital screen and gave up using the watch. This demonstrates a high barrier to entry.
A "smarter" watch would not have this problem. Because the "smarter" watch's primary function would be to tell time, users would understand that they would read the time first before considering secondary features. Because time is immediately accessible due to user habits, the "smarter" watch is more accessible.
Error Prevention:
Because the smartwatch is an entirely new product, the user is not sure what to expect when errors pop up. Do the smartwatches crash entirely? Does the digital screen blank out? Does it freeze like the digital Casio watches? How do users know when to charge the phone before it crashes? Are there warnings? All of these questions vary from watch to watch and creates a large potential for user confusion. There is no standard or system to figure out error prevention without reading a smartwatch's user manual. But which user actually reads a user manual?
A user is familiar with the "smarter" watch's crash settings. If the watch hands stop moving or the digital screen freezes, the user understands that she has to change the watch's battery. After changing battery, the user, a watch wearer, knows how to reset a watch by tuning buttons to move the arms or changing the numbers on a digital screen. Error prevention is understood because of familiarity with the device.
Physical Design:
Smartwatches can be customized to the user's desires. The personalization level of smartwatch design is the ultimate benefit of the device. The user can make the smartwatch look as cool and trendy as the user wants it to look. Trendy brands such as Kate Spade are also jumping on the smartwatch trend to ride the cool factor and target brand audiences. Ultimately, smartwatches target a very specific audience: trendy users.
However, users still enjoy collecting old watches. The design and values of old Rolexes are highly extolled by watch wearers who collect these items. There is a sentimental trend towards an established time-telling device --collectors spend thousands, even millions on old watches or pocket watches. The current fashion trends are classic, well-made leather wristwatches with arms by Daniel Wellington or Shinola. The physical design of these watches target not only the young, trendy crowd, but also appeal to the older, established watch wearers.
Samsung was quick to jump on this trend with their "smarter" watch. It has a traditional movable arms interface and a leather strap. The Samsung "smarter" watch's user interface is a digital screen and also provides additional features. By bringing a new twist to "make what is old, new again", Samsung achieves appealing to a wide audience in terms of design.
