Version four of the Apple Watch was released on 21st September to droves of queueing fans. But whether or not you’re an Apple or Android fan a smart watch can make your life easier and even help you ween yourself away from your phone screen.
We are spending far to much time glued to our phone screens with 79% of smartphone users check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up, according to IDC Research. We’re compulsively checking our smart phones, before anything else. Ironically another device could help reduce your screen time and get you more active.
Enter the smart watch instead of checking that phone every 15 minutes, with a smart watch you can safely untethering yourself from your screen reassured in the knowledge that you’ll get any call or message notifications on your smart watch. The range of the wireless Bluetooth connection from your phone and smart watch can vary but you should have at least 10 meters (or 30 feet) of connectivity and some even have LTE meaning your phone can say at home and you just bring your watch.
But here’s plenty of other reasons why you need a smart watch:
- For fun:
- Turn on and off the TV, DVD, changing channel, the volume and input with one wrist tap instead of 5+ inputs
- Ping your iPhone if you misplaced it in the house, or use it to know if your WiFi is down.
- See what your phone camera sees, this is very handy for those hard to reach places you can’t get into but that’s easy for your phone, think serial number on the back of your TV or computer. Or use it to spy and find out who raided the cookie jar.
- Awkward date no worries just trigger your watch to ring your phone and get out of your awkward situation
- Use it as your wireless mouse
- Control your computer with your voice e.g. volume up/down
- Quick response to texts with a quickly drawn emoji when a standard response won’t do.
- Working out: Use core fitness and sports tracking and specifically heart monitoring.
- Watersports: telling the time, sundown time, wind speed and direction, temperature and GPS map.
- Shopping:
- Lighten your wallet by scanning loyalty club barcodes directly from your watch.
- Never forget where you parked again with “send you last parked location”
- Surveillance: check your surveillance camera directly from your watch(if it has a web browser capability) and as long as you have WiFi connectivity. This can be handy for CCTV in your home, you can check who’s at your the door without leaving the couch.
- Music: select music and podcasts including volume and skip, pause and rewind; or use the tuner and metronome.
Along with the above, you also have other notifications to help you through your day like low battery, alerts, calendar reminders.
