The Smartwatch

The Moto 360 launched on September 4. I got one on September 6. As my friend who picked one up the same day said, we were probably among the first 10 people in Utah to have one. I was fortunate enough to have a wife who was not only eagerly awaiting the launch, but also was monitoring inventory at Best Buy around the state in order to grab one for me as soon as she could. An early birthday gift. Very early, and very sweet.

I've been looking forward to having a smartwatch for quite some time. I wanted to get a Samsung Gear when they first came out and have been interested since then. I'm a watch guy, and a gadget guy, so it's just about the perfect intersection.

So what has it been like so far? Better than I expected. I didn't really realize how often I would be using it. Even that first weekend had me surprised. 

I'm a person who is constantly checking my phone. Emails, texts, news alerts and notifications in general have me reaching for my phone frequently. Now those are all on my wrist. I see each one as it comes and can act accordingly. No more digging out my phone just to realize it's a Groupon email. The same goes for music. The control is on my wrist, so I can skip songs easily now.

All these things are great for when you're sitting at your desk, and even better when you're driving. We also went for a drive up the canyon that Sunday. I didn't realize how convenient it would be to have all my notifications so easily accessible. I can't tell you how many times I've felt my phone start to vibrate and had to pull it out to see if it was something important or something that could wait (almost always the latter). 

And it has inspired me to use services I hadn't fully utilized before. A colleague wondered how the location based notifications worked. So I set some reminders for myself for when I got to work and when I got home. When I arrived, my watch buzzed my and popped up my reminder. I've also started using voice commands with it. I've never been much for the voice commands until now. But having a wearable helps voice commands make a lot more sense, whether doing a quick Google search or replying to a message.

And let's talk about the style for just a second. It looks like a watch. It's the kind of watch I'd be interested in if it wasn't a smartwatch. The leather band is subtle yet stylish (and leather bands are just generally better anyway). I've gotten compliments on the watch and people didn't even know it was a smartwatch. That's how it should be.

Are there things I'd change? The battery life is the first that comes to mind. But I'm not a guy who wears a watch 24/7, so charging really doesn't feel like a massive problem to me. If I keep the screen on most the day, it lasts me 12-13 hours. If I change it so it's only on when I look at the watch, It could probably go 25+ hours without a problem. And I'd love for it to be a bluetooth speaker, but that may just be the James Bond lover in me.

Admittedly, a smartwatch won't be for everyone. But I think it will be for most people soon. And as the software continues to improve, it really feels like the possibilities are limitless. I'm probably hooked at this point, so no turning back anyway.