While there has always been this belief that smartwatches are more of
a statement than useful products, the fact that they have been in
existence for decades now suggests that the product category has managed
to capture at least some of the public's attention.
We thought it’s a good time to take a brief look at the history of
smartwatches to give you an idea about how the market has evolved with
time.
Samsung SPH-WP10
Launch way back in the year 1999, the SPH-WP10 was essentially a
complete phone, worn on the wrist. The timepiece, if you call it,
sported a monochrome LCD screen, and came with built in speaker and
microphone. Weighing in at 50 grams and having a thickness of 2cm, it
was claimed to offer a talk-time of around 90 minutes.
IBM Watchpad
Launched in 2001, the Watchpad was jointly developed by IBM and
Citizen Watch with an aim to "further explore a new type of personal
information access devices for the pervasive computing era." Running
Linux 2.4, it sported a QVGA (320 x 240 pixel) LCD, and came with 8MB
RAM and 16MB flash memory. The intelligent watch featured calendar
software, Bluetooth, and accelerometer.
Fossil Wrist PDA
The Fossil Wrist PDA, which was launched in the year 2002, was
powered by a 66MHz processor and sported a 160x160 touchscreen display.
Running Palm OS 4.1.2, the timepiece had an infrared port and a virtual
keyboard, and was able to exchange information with a PC.
Microsoft SPOT series
First launched in the year 2004, the Smart Personal Objects
Technology(SPOT) series of smartwatches that came in 2006 displayed
information like stock quotes, news headlines, traffic, sports scores,
and weather. However, they were large in size and the required users to
shell out money for service subscriptions.
Sony-Ericsson MBW-150
The MBW-150 came in 2007 and allowed users to wirelessly control
music on their Sony-Ericsson phones. The OLED display on the timepiece
displayed information like caller ID/number and track details. It also
allowed you to change tracks and adjust volume. The watch was not only
water resistant, but also vibrated on incoming calls.
LG GD910
The GD910, which was launched in the beginning of 2009, was
essentially a wrist-worn phone that sported 1.4-inch touch display and
offered text-to-speech capabilities. It was also capable of making voice
and video calls and came with a nice Bluetooth hands-free.
Samsung S9110
Also Launched in the year 2009 was
the S9110,
which was also a wristwatch phone that sported a 1.76-inch screen, and
offered a built-in speakerphone, Bluetooth connectivity, and speech
recognition features - there was, however, no support for video calls.
iPod Nano
While the iPod Nano, which debuted in 2010, was a great little media
player, it could also be worn as a wristwatch when attached to band.
Sporting a 1.5-inch 240 x 240 multitouch display, the device, however,
didn’t provide any typical smartwatch features, but the potential was
certainly there.
WIMM watch
Launched in the year 2011, the Wimm was an Android-powered smartwatch
that sported an LCD display. It offered connectivity over Bluetooth as
well as Wi-Fi. When paired with your smartphone, it vibrated and
displayed caller ID data related to the incoming call. The device’s
downside was that it was a little too bulky.
Motorola's MotoACTV
Also launched in 2011 was the Moto ACTV, which was powered by a
600MHz processor, and packed in GPS, Bluetooth, and FM radio. It was
capable of tracking your running, walking and cycling, and treadmill
stats, as well as measuring heart-rate. The watch was also a smart music
player - it could learn which songs made you perform better.
Metawatch Strata
The Strata was the second generation Metawatch smartwatch that was
launched towards the end of 2012. Sporting a 1.35-inch 96x96 pixel LCD
and running FreeRTOS, the feature-rich timepiece offered Bluetooth
connectivity and displayed notifications from your smartphone. It also
featured modular watch faces loaded with several useful widgets.
I'm Watch
Developed by Italian company i'm S.p.A, the I’m Watch was an
Android-based smartwatch launched in 2012. Sporting a 1.54-inch, 240x240
pixels color LCD, it was capable of receiving calls, texts as well as
notifications from social media accounts. Not only this, you could also
use it to see news and weather reports, control music, view and save
photos, and create appointments. The timepiece was, however,
discontinued last year.
Sony SmartWatch
Launched in the year 2012, the Sony SmartWatch featured a 1.3-inch
OLED touchscreen, offered Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity, and worked with
most Android smartphones. Besides providing notifications from certain
apps and services on your phone, it also displayed information on who's
calling or texting, and even allowed you to control music and access
social media services like Facebook and Twitter. The device was
succeeded by
the SmartWatch 2 and
SmartWatch 3 in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Pebble
Also launched in 2012 was the Pebble smartwatch, which sported a
144×168 pixel Sharp Memory LCD and ran Pebble OS. The timepiece was
capable of communicating with both Android and iOS apps using Bluetooth.
It also featured a magnetometer, an ambient light sensor, and an
accelerometer. Its successor,
the Pebble Time - as well as its
Steel and
Round variants - were launched this year.
Martian passport
The Passport smartwatch - which was launched in 2013 by Martian, and
looked like a classic wristwatch - sported a 96 x 16 pixel OLED display,
and used Bluetooth to show information related to incoming calls and
text messages. Compatible with both iOS and Android phones, the
timepiece also featured a side-mounted micro-USB port, accelerometer,
magnetometer, as well as noise-cancellation microphone.
Motorola Moto 360
The Android Wear-powered Moto 360 smartwatch from Motorola debuted in
2014 with a round (well, flat tire really) face and 1.56-inch (320×290
pixels) LCD. Offering Bluetooth connectivity, it was capable of
displaying notifications from your phone, as well as integrated with
apps such as EverNote. The timepiece also featured capacitive touch,
pedometer, optical heart rate monitor, ambient light sensor, and dual
microphones. The second-generation Moto 360 and Moto 360 Sport were
recently unveiled.
LG G watch R
The G Watch R from LG, which was launched in late 2014 as a successor to the unimpressive
G Watch,
was first completely round-faced smartwatch to hit the market. It
sported a 1.3-inch (320 x 320 pixels) OLED display, and was powered by a
Snapdragon 400 SoC. It packed in a barometer, an accelerometer, a
gyroscope, as well as a heart rate monitor. Connectivity was initially
offered through Bluetooth LE, while Wi-Fi support was added later. The
timepiece ran Android Wear.
Samsung Gear series
Gear is a line of smartwatches from the South Korean tech giant, consisting of timepieces like Android-based
Galaxy Gear,
Tizen-powered Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and
Gear S, and custom RTOS-running Gear Fit.
The Gear S2 (shown below) - which was
launched last month - is latest smartwatch in the series. It runs Tizen, features a rotating bezel, and also comes in a Classic model.
LG Watch Urbane
The
Watch Urbane
by LG, which debuted early this year and was showcased at this year’s
MWC, is a more elegant version of the G Watch R and the company’s first
all-metal luxury Android Wear device. It has almost all the features of
its predecessor, but with narrower screen bezels, stainless steel body
with polished silver or gold finish, and stitched leather band.
The Huawei Watch
Unveiled at this year’s MWC but launched only recently, the Huawei
Watch is an Android Wear-powered smartwatch which is compatible with
both Android and iOS devices. It sports a 1.4-inch 400x400 AMOLED
touchscreen, and offers Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity. The timepiece
comes with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage, and packs in a six-axis
motion sensor, a heart rate monitor, as well as a barometer.
The above list may seem exhaustive as it covers over 15 years
of the history of smartwatches. However, interestingly, it only
represents what we can refer to as the modern history of smartwatches,
as intelligent timepieces existed even in 1980’s, and the company behind
most of them was none other than Casio.
Let’s take a look at some of the gems of that era:
Casio GMW-15
The GMW-15 was launched way back in the year 1989. Its selling point
was its ability to show sunrise/sunset timings, moon phases, direction
to look for the moon, as well as whether it’s a new or full moon. The
watch was also water resistant up to 50M.
Casio VDB-1000
The VDB-1000 was a touchscreen Casio watch that launched in 1991. It
came with a full graphic display and included several built-in
applications like telephone data bank, memo data bank, calendar, world
time with graphic world map, calculator, and Roman/Japanese sensitive
keyboards.
Casio JC-11
The JC-11, which also launched in the year 1991, was capable of
calculating the amount of calories burnt, the number of steps taken, as
well as the distance covered.
Casio BP-400
Also launched in 1991 was the BP-400, which was capable of monitoring heartrate as well as blood pressure.
Casio CMD-10
The CMD-10 watch could also act as a remote control for TVs, VCRs, as well as stereo - all this in the year 1992.
Casio CPW-100
The CPW-100 was launched in the year 1993. It was the Japanese
company’s first digital compass watch. Some of the later variants of the
watch were particularly popular among Muslims as they could use it to
calculate their prayer time based on sunrise/sunset information.
Casio VivCel VCL-100
Launched in the year 1994, the VCL-100 was from Casio’s Vivcel range
of watches. What differentiated it from other watches was the feature
that allowed it to detect when your phone is ringing, and alert you by
vibrating on your wrist.
Casio TSX-1300
The TSX-1300, which was also launched in 1994, was capable of
calculating the surface temperature of any object, something which it
did by detecting infrared radiations coming from the object.
Casio UV-700
Also launched in 1994 was the UV-700, which featured a built-in UV
sensor that measured the intensity of ultraviolet rays and thus helped
users avoid sun-burns.
Casio ABX-55
The ABX-55, which came in 1995, was part of the company’s TwinCept
series of watches that came with a raised transparent LCD which
displayed things like names and phone numbers in digital format.
Casio JG-100
Also launched in 1995 was the JG-100, which had data storage (to
store names and telephone numbers) as well as a game mode wherein you
could play certain games - it was also possible to exchange data with
and play games against another watch.
Casio PRT-1GP
The PRT-1GP, which was launched in 1999, had a built-in GPS
functionality for location tracking, a feature which isn’t even there in
most modern smartwatches.
Casio DBC-V50
Also released in the year 1999 was the DBC-V50, a Casio watch with a
built-in voice recording feature - it could record 5 recordings with a
total of 30 secs of sound, with the ability to use them as alarm sounds.
Casio HBX-100
The HBX-100 was another Casio watch that was launched in 1999. The
key feature of the watch was that it supported Infrared data
communication, allowing users to download/upload data from/to a PC. It
also allowed data as well as business card exchange between two watches.
Some modern era Casio smartwatches:
Casio WMP-1
Launched in 2000, the WMP-1 was the world's first MP3 playing watch,
although there was just 32MB of storage available for storing songs.
Casio WQV series
The WQV series debuted in the year 2000 with the launch of the WQV-1
(shown below), which was the first digital watch to include a camera -
it had a 120 x 120 display and captured 0.03MP images. The other watches
in the series - WQV-3 and WQV-10 - released in 2001, containing a color
camera and a color screen, respectively.
Casio GWS-900 G-Shock
Launched in 2004, the GWS-900 was a G-Shock series watch that included a payment system dubbed
Speed Pass. The aim was to allow users to use it to directly pay at gas stations.
Casio MGC-10
The MGC-10, which launched in 2006, was an interesting watch, as it
included built-in magic tricks that allowed you to, for example, guess
the number of card the other person is thinking. The timepiece was
developed under the guidance of professional magician Tomohiro Maeda.
Conclusion
With more than 25 years of history, smartwatches have definitely come
a long way. But they’re yet to become must-have gadgets, despite being a
great idea on paper. However, with companies like Apple, Samsung, LG
and Motorola in the market, the product category is growing and
developing quicker than ever, so it’ll be interesting to see how its
future shapes up.
