Big brands are fighting for your wrist space with these new smartwatches

It’s not just Apple launching wearable devices. As all the big brands fight for the space on your wrist Phoebe Luckhurst clocks the new timepieces
New breed: the Moto 360 has a round face and leather strap but is powered by Google

Wearable tech was once just a big joke: the stuff of overwrought sci-fi, a vaguely orthopaedic hunk of plastic and metal. But this was the week the smartwatch arrived, overshadowing even the susurrations of a royal womb.

Obviously, a fangirling furore accompanies the launch of every Apple product. A shanty town — albeit one populated by middle-class nerds — has been erected outside the flagship store on Regent Street, where happy campers will be voluntarily stationed for eight days until the first shipment of iPhone 6s arrive on September 19. The hysteria works to Apple’s advantage by dwarfing the competition.

But contrary to what is suggested by the Apple circus, this was always going to be smartwatch season. Many other technology brands had long-scheduled launches of their own smartwatch at consumer technology show IFA, which is taking place in Berlin this week. The Apple Watch is the A-star expression of the wearable tech revolution that’s been plotting its assault for years.

Indeed, Apple’s largest competitor, Samsung, is on its third smartwatch: this week the South Korean technology company announced the release of the Gear S, which incorporates a SIM card slot and GPS sensor.

ASUS has launched the ZenWatch, the company’s first wearable device, which was created in association with Google and is powered by the latter’s OS, Android Wear.

New smartwatches - in pictures

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Other smartwatch releases this week include the Moto 360, which marries an analogue aesthetic (round face, stainless steel or leather strap) with the digital revolution of Android Wear (like the ZenWatch, it’s also powered by Google’s operating system). O2 will be offering Sony’s SmartWatch3 from October; LG has launched the LG G Watch R, which uses the entire surface area of its circular display for information and apps. It also runs off Android Wear.

“What’s certain is that regardless of what it will look like or how it will be worn, wearable technology will play a pivotal role in the future of healthcare, fitness and fashion,” says James White, director of operations, planning and strategy in the IT and mobile division for Samsung UK and Ireland.

“As the accuracy and scope of data improves, we’ll be able to better identify trends among users, helping to draw meaningful data from the conclusions.”

First impressions are uncertain. That much of the chatter mocked Apple for abandoning its conventional nomenclature (it eschewed the obvious, if unfortunately voyeuristic, iWatch) is telling — people were struggling to engage with anything more serious. Others observe that smartwatches don’t work in isolation: you still need the phone, so the watch is just a glorified notifications display. The general consensus is that no one will use it as a phone. And on the Apple Watch, the screenspace is tiny: the operating dial is relegated to the side.

Furthermore, most of the watches have quite limited focus. The first is health; many pick up where the fitband revolution left off, incorporating pedometers, calorie counters, heart-rate monitors and trackers for the physiologically great and small. The Apple Watch has a heart-rate monitor. Sony’s Smartband Talk has a waterproof display catered to swimmers who want to track their progress.

The ZenWatch has a “wellness manager” to “support digital health”. The second function is mapping: most models incorporate sophisticated GPS systems. The Apple Watch vibrates to indicate left or right turns: clever, although admittedly easy to copy.

Ultimately, the battle for our wrists will likely boil down to the superficial: which watch gives the best face? It is here where Apple — under Jony Ive — excels itself. “Wearable technology has to look good or consumers just won’t wear it,” agrees Will Jones, buyer for tablets and computing at John Lewis. “Apple has not let us down, and there’s no doubt that the curved and customisable design of the Apple Watch will play a key role in convincing consumers to wear a computer around their wrist every day.”

Do we need one, though? Perhaps it’s just another nervous digital tic: something else to check obsessively. Some mutter that the real revolution is yet to come: this is a stopgap before the mainstream rolling out of products such as Google Glass, headsets that mark a far more significant technological shift.

But try telling that to the Apple fangirls.

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