Smart what-ches

Todays trend is all these smart watches. Either its the

Pebble, Apple smart watch, Samsung gear and many of the cheap ones (even for less then 50$).

First before I go on, I was very surprised to see the prices on these thing. Perhaps the Samsung is still ok with its price as its similar to a GPS sport watches - but not as durable. But 480$? Isn't the phone expensive enough? Now do you have to buy additional cover and a screen protector?

On one hand it seems convenient to have one, you can have a small blink and you see who is calling you - you dont have to get the phone from your pocket. On the other hand, you have to recharge a watch everyday? 

On the other other hand, didnt we say the same when smartphones just came in? Even now we still complain about the battery life, and yet we gladly use the phones.

Maybe the watches are not as bad. They allow you to act as a handsfree speaker device. They also offer you additional apps such as calender, messaging, calcs for which you don't have to use the phone ... Some of them actually can get their own sim and act like independent devices. So maybe they are not as bad?

I personally hope that they will fade out and leave us a bit alone. We have enough stress having the phone ringing the whole day.

Just as a small reminder:

When grew up in the 90s, we had small Casio calculator watch and the more sophisticated version was the universal Remote control watch.

Was it a success? I havent checked the statistics: but
- for some reason they still sell them (why?!)
- I haven't seen anyone with these watches for years.

Maybe these smart watches will be the same as the smartphones (Once you have one, you don't understand how you did without it). But I hope that in 20 years from now, it will one of the Vintage cheap watchs


Update:
I was running today, and thought about these smart watches again and the comparison to the GPS sport watches.
Perhaps the GPS are the ones that are terribly expensive. For example the simplest Garmin110 costs almost 200$. The funny thing about it is that in Germany now it costs around 200eur ( Garmin 110 ).
Its intersting that i've seen this thing already several times - that things cost in the US and in Europe the same amount only the money symbol is different.

Anyway, this garmin 110, has almost no features - just a wireless connection to the chest belt and an internal GPS that records your activity. It doesn't have any programs, it does have any connection to the cell phone to update data but. I personally have this watch, i've bought it in germany in a great sale for almost 100eur (nothing compared to the 200eur they sell right now) i'm happy with it - its relatively rugged, not afraid of sweat or water, simple to use and does not require to much battery (8 hours of GPS mode but when you use it as a normal watch its around 2 weeks if not more.)
But when your come to compare this 200$ device with a smart watch (like the Samsung gear) the GPS sprots watch looks pretty feature-less and it seems that with the samsung you get much more for less.
Questions: is it rugged as well? How long is the battery if i disable most features and use it as a normal watch. Its possible to download there fitness programs, and calorie meters, calendar reminders - more for less.
 I had some further search for the more watches such Nike+ , Garmin Approach S6 , Garmin Approach S5 , TomTom , Timex , Suunto and more and more and more.
Anyway, you clearly see that there is the cheap unknown companies (which I tried myself and it was a money thrown away), a bit more branded (I had a similar this Nike+ wristband that came with a Nike+ sensor you stick inside your shoe. But it was in general a step counter covered in Nike Hype. I've bought it second hand for 30Eur and sold it later for 26eur so no big loss),  the upto 150dollar which are rather simple and actually will fit best for 95% of the population who wants the GPS tracking thing, you have some more expensive for lets say 250-300 which add no beneficial functionality but more branding and features you will not use,  and you have the very expensive such as these Approach watches that they add somekind of navigaiton possibility that the simple ones don't have.

So perhaps, there are some people who use them and proved that this is the device they need, but for the majority of the population, you can buy a simple upto 150$ gps watch and use it. Once its broken, buy a new one (that perhaps now have something new you want or just a new design you'd like to have every once in a while).

So for the same money, you can buy a smart watch that does more for less. Its depend on the answer to the questions above. And depends on the answer, I need to find out with myself why did i buy this Garmin110?

The last thing you see in bed

As you may have guessed - it's your cell phone.

Its funny, but i remember the time before the smartphone. I asked myself and others "why one would need one"?

Once you try it, it takes you in and can't understand how you've lived without it.
I want to know if really it gives you anything you've could not live without.


So what do I do with my smartphone:

Whatsapp - to contact with coworkers and publish photos of my kids to the family.
Email - mostly work
Camera available everywhere - mostly kids.
Purchases online - Amazon.com, Redcoon.de, ebay.com
Stocks - trading stocks (or at least be connected to see the market)
Banking - see transactions
Train schedule
Funny video breaks.

So can I go back? Can i rrturn to when i was just going with a normal phone with battery that lasted for a week?

I kinda get the answer when I forget my phone at home. I discover that on the way to work, mostly because it was misplaced in the morning to an unusual place and out of sight. In those days, I have the feeling that I cant live without it - all the whatsapp messages, all the people that i could have called and all the email I could have sent will have to wait for the evening.
During that day, I really feel to miss it, however nothing collapses on that day and actually things are doing wuite the same.

So perhaps, its not really that we cant live without the phone but maybe we make it this unlivewithoutable because we rely on it so much. But isnt thats what makes it so great? That we can concentrate so many things in this small device?
I have the feeling that its the same philosophical question as "Is something good because you love it, or do you love it because its good?"

I guess that everyone will have its own answer that will depend on many things, such as line of work, type of organization, personal preference etc..

For me i discovered that it helps to get my things done. However, when its not there, I can still do my work but with some adjustments.

Maybe if your a sales person, you rely on it more then a car mechanic ( no disrespect, but usually sales person talk more on the phone. For me i have figured out that i can do without.

But do i wnat to?

Hello world

This is my first post.


Actually i'm new to this thing. I wanted to have my own blog, like the rest of the world and now i do.

The only exciting thing i can say right now is that my phone is almost dead - the battery shows sign it will die soon. I got a Nexus 5 and i LOVE this phone. Id really hate to buy a new phone now cause i don't really see anything worth buying on the market - there are but i don't want to spend too much on my phone when i know it cost maybe 20% really co manufacture it..

Too bad google ruined this great line of Nexuses it with Nexus 6. To bad it didn't continue with its cheap-but-good-as-any-other (which actually makes it great) .


Don't give up on me now. It my first blog.

In my blog i'll try to review cool thingies and gadget i've found online and where you can find them.

I really like Amazon.com and dx.com . (when i was living in Germany for couple of years, i had a Prime account i made by mistake to Amazon and i hate to admit i felt at some point that i'm an addict. It was just easy to buy. )