Gadgetory

hello everybody and welcome to the Friday debate podcast episode number four yes we are getting we're moving up in the world a little bit we are now in our fourth episode as I have trouble speaking I'm gonna apologize right off the bat I am of course Joshua Vergara from android authority what's going on everybody I'm a little bit under the weather so hopefully our prestigious guests are going to be able to pick up the slack where I may be coughing in the background I'm joined by two of our three normal guests and we have one new guest for today we have Joseph Indy and jonathan pryce how's it going guys hey internet even well thank you well they are both super healthy at the moment so like I said they're probably going to talk more than me in this particular podcast but that's perfectly fine because I want to give a quick shout-out to andrew grush our lovely crushy is out for this week let's just say he ran into a little bit of trouble and I really wish he could have been on this podcast along with the four of us because it would have been great to hear andrew grush on meds it was on the podcast he's a he's got a little bit of a dental thing going on so best of luck to you grouchy recover very soon and enjoy the meds but our fourth today is our fellow youtuber lon when and I want to go ahead and hand it over to lon real quick you know for our viewers on YouTube you may be watching our podcast video on YouTube for the benefit of those of you who aren't on podcast streams just yet but remember that the android authority friday debate podcast can be found on all of the different podcast networks itunes podcast stitcher we're very close to soundcloud like I keep saying I promise that's coming very soon but you can find it all there but nonetheless let's hand it over to lon lon won't you go ahead and introduce yourself to our podcast listeners and tell us what you do here at Android authority hey what's up guys so you some of you guys might already know me because I I'm part of the YouTube team and I review phones and tablets and wearables all that good stuff so if you guys follow us on the channel then you've probably seen lot of my work and you'll probably see some articles that are right for like cases and accessories on the site as well too so and i'm here on the friday debate this is my second time but it's good to be here so yeah for for anyone that may not have followed us since the beginning here at the friday to pay podcast lon was on our pilot episode that we recorded live at CES 2015 speaking of which i do want to say that nwc is only a couple of weeks away and we have the distinct pleasure obviously of being there i will not be there alone as the sole youtuber this time around lon will be coming as well so you can expect a live episode from us we're probably going to have Darcy la cuvee on that particular episode as well and maybe a couple of special guests so it might be it might be an episode that gets a little nuts because we have a lot of people all in one room talking at one microphone most likely so nonetheless I want to welcome everybody once again to the fourth episode of the Friday debate podcast and this week we're talking about wearables which is why I think it's great that we have lawn on the episode because this is more of a device centric podcast this time around I'm going to go ahead and read off our topic for this week of course created by Grusha the architect of the Friday debate every single week on Android or decom for years now companies have been claiming that wearables will be the next big thing not to quote Samsung its 2015 and still wearable devices are niche at best with apple HTC and likely many other players entering into the game this year what will it take for smartwatches to go mainstream what features would make you buy one or do you think that they will always remain niche now to begin our discussion here on wearables I am going to hand it over to lon once again since you are our guest for this week and I want to ask you what are your thoughts on wearable technology um like right now I think it's kind of I don't know like I don't think it's really taken off the way that I think a lot of these OEMs have sort of wanted to take off and I feel like it's still like very like the only people i really want to wear more like the my people like us like the techie guys and I don't know I think it's just it's not it's not having that's that appeal that that they're sort of anticipating and I think some of it has to do with maybe just the functionality and I don't know because like for even for me like I don't feel that compelled to always wear like my motor 360 all the time because I don't feel like it really changes my life drastically and I think for people to want to buy into these things there has to be like a big incentive for for them to use it but that will actually change the way they use their phones or really meant the way they use their phones and I don't really think it's doing that right now and for me like I would like to it's probably never going to happen but I'd like to be able to text from my phone or text before my SmartWatch actually be able to like physically input like messages and not always speak it out loud but that's probably never gonna happen but I think if that did happen i think that would actually sort of help that would actually make more people want to adopt one because right now everything's just kind of like I don't know it's not it's it's like it's nice to have but you don't necessarily have to have it is it's cool to be able to check the weather on my wrist and stuff like that but it's almost it's not that much more difficult for me to pull my phone in my pocket and just unlock and look at a widget or something so I don't know it's just I think that's wise really hasn't really taken off yet it just hasn't it's not as compelling as they're hoping it to be okay how about you guys Joe and John let's start off with Joe okay um I think uh I think lon touched on it the biggest reason when he said that you know it's there's not really a use for it like when you look at other technology that like literally everybody uses you look at computers and you look at smartphones they fill a very huge void that was you know unfilled before like you know before smart phones you know the best we could do was play snake on a nokia phone and like talk and text with the t9 keyboard those seats were trash and everybody knows it well t9 was amazing back in the day say like I do I love it t nine really yeah I couldn't i get i'm an idiot so I could never get figure out exactly how it worked and it was like by the time i got a phone that was able to use it it was like right around the corner was the QWERTY keyboards so there was like a good like three or four month window there where I was trying to use t9 I was like screw this i'm going qwerty never went bad love t nine man cuz like that was like the only time where i was able to actually text and not look at my phone yeah exactly you can't do that nowadays it's hard to like text and not be able to and not look at your phone but t9 I was able to do that on the fly well I'm also one of the greatest things about t9 was when you could text faster using t9 stack 89 ABS other other other youtuber Kevin another got me to review it for the for a nap once so I do use t9 today but I could not use it back then and I hated it as a keyboard thing but anyways back to what I said I didn't expect someone to jump on me for the t9 things am but yeah no I mean like you before there were smartphones there was a huge need for Steven if people didn't really know it there was a huge need for smartphones and that's filled such a huge gap people use smartphones every day for all kinds of stuff you know the social media and the phone calls and texts in the games and a whole bunch of stuff that cellphones couldn't do before but it's still useful enough to carry around with you all the time and you know the same thing with computers and Latino computers and laptops didn't exist we would not be here we would not be doing what we do today you know it's huge impact for a lot of people and smartwatches just don't have that you know there isn't that thing that that boy that they feel that everybody needs even if they don't realize I need it just yet so I think that's why that that you know they haven't caught on too much it's you know there's no reason to own one other than to say that you have one and as like an accessory I guess mm okay well I'm expecting a very passionate discussion among all of us people on this particular topic cuz we've evolved in we've all touched wearables or worn wearables let's put it that way and we all have you know our own opinions on it I want us to get feisty right now to talk about some wearables I'm gonna disappoint you and completely agree with Joe on now it's hard to heart to outdo what joe just said let's be honest that this is me should really is now I back up here I struggle with using the word wearable when all we're talking about as smart watches when I think wearable I'm I'm thinking beyond the SmartWatch now here's my biggest reason I have a really nice watch already for starters but I can't wear it day to day when I'm sitting down at the computer that watch it rubs on the desk it rubs on the laptop I cannot use it and work at the same time therefore a SmartWatch same problem it just doesn't fit my needs so what is a wearable to me it's it's something else is a google glass well I'm already wearing classes and I avoid them whenever I can so I'd have to get two pairs of google glass or or you know that the transitional ones so that I can wear my glasses or just my contacts and is the things are getting difficult here I for me I think actually one of the better wearables out there is the motorola moto hint just that earbud it talks to you but it doesn't do anything so for me wearables they're just like Joe is saying they're they're very much in each product they serve so little that they really can't go mainstream we've already got the computers we've already got the cell phones we're accomplishing everything we need these guys it just for convenience now that said I very much think of the business place or students in school you're not allowed to bring your cell phone out of your pocket having those notifications pop up on your wrist that's really cool I definitely buy into that yeah you know what is a good point um I I just imagine what it would have been like back when I was in college if I had let's say the pebble I have on my wrist right now like what it would be like if I was in class you know maybe I might've been the only person wearing and I would have made it even cooler or nerdy i guess but i believe the word you're looking for is nerdy their jobs yeah nerdy exactly but it would make be different in class you know that my phone goes off and I'm just like oh I don't even have to touch it and people who what's that because I when when uh smartwatches refers sort of becoming a thing the pebble was obviously one of the first ones to pioneer the whole thing it uh you know a lot of people it made people turn their heads that's why I got little glimpses of back in my days in san diego at college like you know what do that been like but anyway I digress I love the point you brought up feisty about how it's really semantics right like right now we're seeing today we saw quite a few articles come out about how Android wear in particular has moved not really a whole lot of units it's not necessarily being adopted quite as fast as say a smartphone has but when we talk about smart watches that might be true but honestly for me I I kind of live on the other side of this topic in the sense that i actually think wearables have completely exploded because you got to think about wearables in general smartwatches yes might be a niche product but I look at you know fitness trackers and how everyone's wearing them and whether or not they're actually really beneficial for half the people who are wearing them well that's a different topic but it um I actually think wearables are are the future they are the next big thing whether or not it's going to be smart watches in general in particular I mean that may be that that we still needs to be seen but I think wearables are definitely becoming a very mainstream thing you just have to look at which portions of the spectrum to look at as far as smart watches go I mean I don't know I I thought Android wear was a was a pretty nice implementation to begin with I have gone back to my pebble though because well I mean I'm going to get into this question next for me it's battery life that really gets it gets me going on Android where's that I wish I could keep my watch on for much longer periods of time and my pebble is the only thing that allows me to do that especially for certain functions that I need but before I get into asking you guys what your issues are with let's say smart watches or Android wear in particular what what smart watches are you guys rocking anyway I know lon you said the Moto 360 um I on one side guys before we go any further just a little quick fun fact for those who are wondering android wear moves 700,000 units in six months right that was the new story yes it was I did a little Google search well you were rambling on there and according to Peter Chao on october twenty fifth two thousand eight the HTC g1 sold about 600,000 units in its first in his first year so to give everybody I mean 700,000 in the first six months is actually fairly decent for a brand new platform considering that Android itself actually didn't do that good fair enough I did notice that you know everyone was covering that particular article and there was a mixture of positive reaction and negative reaction I guess it depends on how you look at it some people were like oh they put out over 750,000 and then other people were like but it wasn't a million you know so i guess i'm at cedia you see the wall street journal article that everyone's all pissed off about no i didn't get that one they compared Android wear two iphones to iphone sales Wow as if that were something that could possibly be compared I thought that was kind of humorous a good job wall street journal because that's what everybody thinks of when I think android wear how many iPhones were sold I well um back back to the topic at hand um lon was talking about the Moto 360 like that's the one that you're rocking right yeah the moat if if I do wear a SmartWatch the motor 360 is the one that I typically wear because that's that's the one that actually owns so but you know honestly they're all really kind of the same so it's like you wear one android wear watch you kind of warm also they're really not too different but I mean I kind of agree with uh with you Josh on what you said about wearables in general they do I mean I do agree with the the fitness like the fitness bands like I do see a lot of people wearing fitness bands so I agree in that in that regard that they have taken it off but as far as just like actual smartwatches I feel like it's still very still very nice because I don't see very many people wearing them like right now I mean that could change in the future obviously but as of right now I think it's kind of just the tech nerds that want to wear and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that one there like a lot of the watches are very they're very masculine there not like unisex so I think they were like sort of like I like a more unisex type watch I think the adoption rate would probably a lot higher and then they're not like the most fashionable watches on the market like even like the 360 on the G watch are even though they look really nice they still don't really look as nice as something that is like a normal watch like a Michael Kors or something like that or a Nixon so all right how about you over there Joe what are you rocking on your wrist or what is sitting on your table just wishing it could be on your wrist um I have the the LG G watch um and whether or not I where it is based on and what I'm doing like I'm just sitting here at the desk you know writing or doing videos I'm not wearing it because my cell phone is like right there I can just pick it up but i actually do wear it when I go out and about doing things um like when I'm I get a red light when I'm driving it's easier to look you know the glance at my wrist to see who sent me a message and it is to pull my phone out of my pocket look at it you know risk missing the green light and having people honk at me and stuff like that um but I mean most of the time I'm actually I'm not wearing it it's it's really only when I go out and about and in situations we're taking my phone out of my pocket is a bigger inconvenience than it is to just look at my wrist to see what's going on ok and feisty who had a lot to say about wearables do you which ones do you have or which one are you using at this moment the nothing i've had the LG G watch it it's been a short time on my wrist but at this moment there are no wearables in the house ok so in the in the limited amount of time that you have the LG G watch feisty it really didn't really commit didn't convince you about about this ecosystem that we're seeing hopefully growing the ecosystem yes i love the ecosystem it's exactly what I want and I want it embedded everywhere want it in the steering wheel in my car I wanted copia in the sleeve of my jacket that sort of stuff but the wrist watch again I just it does not fit my life ok let's explore that we're quick then let's stick with you if I see you right now since I have you right now so what is it about the wrist watch the the wrist for the wrist watch form factor the SmartWatch that doesn't convince you that it's something that you would want to have in your repertoire it really comes down to the functionality for me when I'm in a position where I'm wearing the short sleeves I'm usually just sitting in the office you're you know plunkett away on the laptop again it rubs on the desk it rubs on the laptop it wrecks things Rex the watch and it's uncomfortable can't wear it the rest of the time of dressing up nice it's going under my you know shirt jacket and it's under the cufflinks and again it's a piece of jewelry at that point but it serves zero function other than aesthetics so for me the big thing you know moving in what's the ideal wearable in this case it again come down to the functionality you munchin battery life and I think we're in this situation right now where there's no one watch or even fitness tracker that offers everything that somebody wants I'd like a watch that has theoretically a watch it like a wearable that has its own data connection it's got GPS at a heart rate sensor and you know / do some nice sleep monitoring so the Samsung does busy maybe yeah the gear s yes but I'd also like Android wear yeah okay so like you said you opened up asking about the ecosystem yes absolutely love the ecosystem just wristwatch can't do it yeah it does feel like Android wear is sort of the jumping off point to what so many other form factors could be I mean obviously we're looking at android auto it takes a few cues from Android wear so yeah the ecosystem probably will move forward where the actual form factor of the wristwatch kind of doesn't Joe what are some of the problems that you see with the the SmartWatch game let's say you know you have the g watch I almost at heart the LG G wife for example um that's a really difficult question because I don't know exactly where these things are are going and that might be the problem at least to me because I don't know what the purpose of these are going to eventually become uh I'm sorry I'm trying to like think of like a better way to phrase that I really can't but you like it like I said earlier you know with smartphones and like last you know all these other technologies its mainstream we know what it's for and we know why it's here but you know like with the watch I don't know why I have this thing on my wrist right now or well it's on my table right now but I don't know why I have it and I would really like to have a reason to own it so I think that's its biggest weakness right now is just you know not enough reasons to have one okay let's jump over to lon uh yeah kind of have to just piggyback off what a feisty said like it's that I think one of the biggest problems is that they don't operate they don't function without your phone and I think that's the reason I think it's kind of one of the biggest drawbacks is that you can't it doesn't it's almost it's just a watch at that point if you don't have your phone with you and I know like with the update and then some the Sony SmartWatch 3 having gps it can function somewhat without your phone like you can go running and then when you come back to your phone it'll sink the data up but you can't you know make phone calls you can't answer you know text messages or anything without the phone and I think that's sort of like you know it's not really it's not really saving you too many steps I mean it's not really any more difficult to just pull your phone out of your pocket and just answer that text on your phone I mean yeah you can kind of you can just look at it and see if it's a prior if it's important and decide whether you want to answer or not but i don't know i just don't really see that it's saving you all that much time to just take your phone out of your pocket look at it and decide whether you want to answer it or not so i think that's one of the biggest problems well you're bringing a bug you bring up a particular point that it's you said the phrase it's just a watch at that point and what if what if you looked at it from that scope what if you looked at it as I want a new watch maybe I would go for this electronic watch that has a little bit more to it than a regular wristwatch that will just tick is it wrong to think that smartwatches could just be a fashion item like feisty said or that maybe the functionality will will will not quite evolved maybe we'll just be a fashion statement is it wrong to think that that could be where this goes I don't think I don't think that's necessarily like the wrong way to to look at it but I don't know I just feel like if you're going to buy a SmartWatch you kind of want to use it for the smart functionalities and not just as a watch and if you want to use as a watch you want the battery life to be you know reasonable not just like a couple days if you're just going to use as a watch so I don't know I guess that's my way of looking at it okay but before before smartwatches became a thing I have this questions for all you guys did you guys have a collection of watches or did you have like you know a favorite watch that you are before this whole SmartWatch revolution sort of took off when I took off but came about I'll go first cuz my answer is quick I have never wondered watch in my lifetime so what Android wear why though that's that that's the part that I want to see because maybe maybe we're exploring you know maybe it's not just smart watches or Android wear that's the problem maybe maybe what they're doing is they're trying to jump into and jump into a system that not everyone has adopted in the first place and you might be an example what why don't I come you never really were a watch person um uh it's just I don't know that's a difficult question to answer it's just something I wasn't into you like why don't you wear bracelets why don't you wear jewelry you know how come you don't wear Crocs you know it's just it just wasn't my bag no it's just something that I was ever into and you know I mean I got the the G watch because I'm a tech nerd and I work for a tech blog and you know it was uh said to me at one point that it'd behoove me to pick one up so I you know I mean it's it I don't know I just is something I was never really into before and it's not really i'm into now like i don't really you know look at this thing like man my left wrist looks way more badass than my right with this awesome things like it frankly it reminds me of those casio calculator watches from like the 80s and 90s you guys remember those yeah yeah yeah yeah that's kind of what it reminds me of like it's and I think it's the same kind of people who wear both kinds of watches you know nerds yeah i mean i don't see like i don't see you know the you know the cheerleader homecoming queen like rocking and a moto 360 oh my god i went homecoming queen i'm gonna totally blog this on google+ on my watch like that's not gonna happen like if you could blog on your watch like we were done like that's all we need like honestly like you brought that up and I thought about I was like holy that would be really cool we would have no like videos at mwc you would see all you see you guys walking around behind a bunch of other people's videos just talking to your wrist you never know maybe five years we're gonna see that happen man that'd be great in home automation while we're at it I would love home automation on Android wear oh yeah that would be really good so talk to my watch sip thermostat so not so not really much of a watch person see this is something that I said one time like me like like right when Android wear was kind of starting to become a thing there aren't that many people who wear watches in general I think what I think it's not I think it's fair to say that we're kind of 50-50 split when I cut it like at least in the West that you know you can walk around and you're not going to see every single person wearing a watch so maybe this isn't the form factor that the SmartWatch revolution needs to sort of focus on maybe how about you feisty were there any watches that you had you have do you have a watch collection at all I imagine you have you have a very stylish profile picture here on skype so I feel like you have one of those wooden boxes with like a valve in the middle always watches in it she's got the watch pillows inside yeah exactly I'm not gonna say I dressed up for that picture uh I used to have a lot of watches now that was before before I took my first office job I was out there as you know outdoor jobs my hands were dirty it was during those times where a wash was invaluable I couldn't take my phone out of my pocket indeed this goes back to a time when I didn't have a phone in my pocket it just wasn't feasible oh and during that time I mean your hands are dirty you can't reach in your pocket you don't even want to walk touch the watch because you're covered in oil you're covered in food whatever the case may be and I'm sure there's a lot of people out there right now that are in this boat also so just to be able to glance at the watch yes to answer your question I had a number of them I took the office job I keep you know I kept one very nice watch and everything else was either given away or was worn out anyways and hit the trash can I mean I've got recycled okay every every single person who wears watches they're either a metal band or a leather band and I'm gonna take a bet and say that you're a leather band kind of guy you would lose I'm sorry metal band are you serious metal band really it'll band feisty is like hemp so one Josh wearing a hemp watch or a hemp watch band before anybody else in this pot okay before we even get into any of that right now with your qwerty with your hardware qwerty keyboard in your hemp wristwatch hahaha gotta go back in time right now I I want to rock those those those silicon but clear clear silicone bands man those are gross don't they make like kids sandals made out of that yeah exactly oh man when I was a kid I had a watch that had a clear band and I thought it was the coolest thing but for me um ok so i guess this would allow me to answer the question two is I I do look at watches as a fashion statement if you look at earlier videos of android authority that I was doing um he would notice that I had a lot of stuff on my wrists I had a watch on my left hand and then on my right hand I would have a bunch of like bracelets and trinkets from people that mattered to me you know I I used to say I only wear things that really mean something to me so I would have like beads I would have liked this necklace from Ghana that my best friend got me and I just wrap it around my wrist I since then have stopped wearing that stuff add much to the chagrin of my best friend but our our big boss Darcy was super happy about that because you said it distracted from the phone but anyway um but in any case oh yeah I do look at them as a fashion statement and as far as the question goes of what kind of band i would use as long as it matches my shoes and my belt let's put it that way I have I mean that I mean that that category of fashion sense I should say but yeah I do look at the Miss fashion statements and I and whether or not they're smart or not it doesn't matter as long as they look good and if they happen to be smart I want the function to to to add to what i need to do but we have we have lon left did you have a watch collection before smartwatches became a thing yeah I was actually kind of big into watches for a little bit but my watch collection consists mostly of like g shocks and stuff so but I was pretty big nough g shocks for a while and but i'm kind of the same way as you are like I just kind of warm I didn't really wear them to tell time I just warm because I like the way they they looked so they're just a a part of my wardrobe I just warm as like a fashion statement and not really not really anything else but yeah my collection is pretty small I kind of like kind of got out of collecting watches because I don't know it was just I guess it was just a phase of mine I guess but so my collection is pretty small ok so you know with this with this whole idea in mind we all have differing opinions on even just the watch the idea of the watch in general the the question I wanted to post everybody with that in mind that you know we've all had varying degrees of liking watches and Joe's case you never really did like learning them never really has four lon and I wear fashion statements and for Jonathan the same but then you know he moved on to a different part of his life so you didn't need it as much I guess do you think that the smart device the wearable needs to move beyond the watch and go somewhere else and if so what kind of device do you think that would look like have you ever seen the television show continuum is a newer show it's a little bit crazy the main character is a cop that was sent back from the future and you know she's got basically the entire phone and every a full computer system and right in her head this is going a little bit extreme here but its built-in it's a biometric thing it's you she doesn't have to think about it she doesn't have to charge it she just you know wakes up in the morning and watches the video in her head so to speak and maybe that's extreme and and certainly going into you physically embedding technology gets it gets scary however the idea of having limitless power for starters and having it always available is that's kind of exciting to me I think I would pursue something like this limitless power that's an awesome phrase to use for that how about Joe like dessert is there a wearable that you would actually wear um that's a good question I always wanted to try google glass I think that's kind of like a fun concept but I mean much like the you know much like Android whether you can't really do much with it just yet but um I always thought that the next thing was going to come from something that was directly in front of your face because you literally cannot use any less effort to check something then when something is already there in front of your face all the time um so I mean I always wanted something like a you know a HUD you know just like a heads-up display that you're knocking like access and you used without actually having to do anything so you want life to look like a video game because I way damn damn trade who wouldn't man that's all so you have all the information right there you got like all your vital stats and you know your inventory because I have like what's in your wallet over there also you know who wouldn't want a heads-up display I think that's really awesome that's what I want did you guys ever play Metroid Prime you know how I i stopped at super i stopped at super metroid okay metroid prime was like the first first person shooter version of metroid and it and when you were talking about like heads-up displays I thought of that because when she puts on the helmet like the heads-up display it was one of the first ones like to look like it actually moved with the person rather than just a static thing um but yeah okay so something a little bit more closer to the face I suppose how about how about you lon you know coming from somebody who was a watch enthusiasts are you happy with the watch form factor or is there a is the reform factor that you think the smart device needs to move into in order to become relevant yeah I have to have to agree with Joe like I would want something like I would want like a contact lens that like I could put into my eye and I could like see everything like information like whether I could lock on it somebody and like identify them it's either weight height and name and all that stuff like lock onto somebody I'd really be cool or something that makes me probably like a heads up display like Iron Man or something like just in my eye because I mean if it's in my high I regret contacts anyway so if I like a smart contact I think that'd be pretty sweet to just be able to see information and not have to do anything because I mean with a SmartWatch you still have to check it and if it's already like in my I can just I ricci it how would you control something like that though that's that's what I'm wondering it's just biometrically like how I can continuum like is it leave it to feisty for me to say what kind of wearable DeWine he goes implant I wanted inside of me um the I salt I can't remember where I saw this at but a really fun concept for controlling that kind of stuff like like something like a wristband not like a watch but like a little band and you could like like tap your palm with your fingers or something and like swype things and move them away I thought that was a pretty cool concept but I i wish i can remember i saw that from but that i would be my idea of how to control it well we can't have we can't have an episode of the friday tube a podcast without this brush II told me to make sure to add this in he would I think he would want a wearable with a Taser on it and so I think it just needs to have a Taser I think he's good so he's wrong it'd be like it'd be like Cyclops the next men yeah press the button it shoots things but is it taser he's got to get like super close to the this guy bash his head on them yeah exactly so if if Android wear is supposedly not really on its way up so far one thing that we're seeing and we're definitely going to get confirmation of this in mwc at least lon and I are going to we all are really but lon and I might be able to actually see these things in the flesh HTC obviously Apple is going to have its own wearable that is based upon their own operating system but it also looks like these manufacturers who are in the Android cut are deciding not to go android wear now do you guys think that that's actually a good move do you think that moving into a different operating system at least for someone like HTC or LG with their webos wearable is that enough to to sort of change it up is it is it too little too late already have we proven that the wearable is not something or the why the SmartWatch is not something that's going to catch on even if they change it to say Tizen or webos what do you guys think about what are you could you guys think about the operating system the very core of a SmartWatch being changed anybody else want to go first because I don't know you mean just as far as like you mean just as far as like Android o m0 like yeah yeah I mean obviously we might get into the Apple watch for a little bit but you know obviously being an Android podcast it's going to be interesting seeing how some of these manufacturers are actually going away from Android and it begs the question is that is that going to be effective I don't I don't think it's necessarily a bad move because as I think as long as they make the watch compatible like a cross you know multiple multitude of Android devices and not just their own specifically then I don't think it's a too bad of a move especially since android where I mean it hasn't exactly i wouldn't say it's exactly exploded onto the scene so at this point in time right now I don't think it's I think it's okay for them to try a different operating system and just sort of see how it goes okay I I remember missing with a Tizen device with the Oh Samsung gear it was a I don't know Android we're definitely seemed like that leap forward that that SmartWatch is needed for sure but it's it remains to be seen whether or not Tizen will grow into what Android wear has already become it's just interesting let's uh Joe did you have any thoughts on it I know I kind of blessed that on to you guys I've nowhere yeah I I needed a minute to think about it cuz sometimes you know I have like an immediate answer but every now and again I need a couple of minutes to uh to articulate it the way I look at you know like HTC by the way lon according to one of our talented writers Rob triggs the HTC SmartWatch will play nice with all phones running android 4.4 and later and apple products running iOS 7 and later so yes that is it's not going to be HTC only yeah um that's a good move but the way I look at you know like um HTC branching off samsung branching off and even like the pebble smartwatch to a degree is the same way i look at om skins on my I guess not really skins but you know om skins on Android in that you know it allows you know it allows the you know the OEMs to branch out a little bit and try some new things and you know I mean you better believe that you know if HTC smart watches some has something really really cool or really special about it eventually a similar thing will be integrated into android wear I mean that's how Android has been growing for years now is you know that you know other hackers or mod rommerz rom modders something or you know oam scans in southern you know they push the boundaries in one direction and then at some point Google's like hey you know what that's not a bad feature will incorporate that like a one really good example is the drop-down notifications or the I'm sorry the the quick settings which started out in a samsung OEM skin and before that a rom that you can find on next day somewhere so you know I think it's gonna be the same kind of thing with wearables where you know I think it's great that they're branching out more to try new things and to try to implement more features because i think you know ultimately competition for those features will eventually be integrated back into android wear the US making the platform stronger so really I mean it's a win-win for everybody there's some extras choices out there for everyone if they want to go those routes or they can just wait for Android wear to evolve to kind of swallow up the competition like android does so I mean I'm cool with it either way okay feisty we lost you there for a second but just to bring you back into it we were talking about whether these OEMs who for the most part our part of androids camp the creating wearables or smart watches that are using different operating systems now obviously their compatibility with smartphones might be might vary from time to time but it looks like at least one joe said HTC will play with everything with everybody really um but is it a good move to go away from what is you know this large ecosystem that you said you're actually happy to have and create smart watches with say Tizen web OS which I remember a couple the other ones obviously the Apple watch is going to be something we touch upon a little bit how do you feel about these OEMs going outside of the Android wear route I've really truly mixed feelings on this I hope I don't duplicate anything lon had said I think it's great that they're reaching out you know doing their own thing creating their own s.o.s their own ecosystem and and like Joe was saying it in the end it's all going to come around together and and if somebody's going to step up and take all of the feature all of the best features of all of these OSS and and you know really bring it together but I think right now it's that you know it's that separation that's so in a way of holding wearables back we're saying that wearables are and you know for the niche you know they just not too many people can use them because they're not you know solid enough for mainstream and with everybody go on their own route I just I keep seeing these different you know these separate roads and lost my train of thought here let's go back to laptops again not laptops are just computers in general right for the longest time Microsoft you know that came and they ultimately they swept the market and everybody ran Microsoft and that computers became their own and now they've split off and you know the you bunt to the Linux community is growing the the mac OSX community it's growing these these other systems are coming around to fill in the gaps at and as in you know niche extras but we had one coherent I just called Microsoft Windows coherent anyways we had one coherence or everything right so right now we don't have that one standard of an OS I might like personally you know Android wear but is it the answer I don't think so i think if it was HTC wouldn't be thinking of their own samsung may still be trying to push ties in their their own way to go but again if there was that dominant OS that really served the people the way we needed it there would be no room for these outcrops no need for them at this time not until wearables are more mainstream so do you think it's a bad sign that they're they're sort of branching off and trying to make their own operating systems for these smart watches is that bad sign for Android where i should say no i don't think so and you have our loyalists let's look at android specifically i don't see cyanogenmod taking over android you know despite their claims and yes they have more users now but CM and even with cm12 coming out it's a lot of people excited but it's not going to take over mainstream android still going to exist and i think that's going to be the same with android wear no matter how much competition comes along even with apple i think android wear will remain because it ties to the google system you know Google now specifically is a very powerful we don't know it in our day-to-day lives sometimes but but Google now kind of pulls it all together ok we have mentioned Apple a few times now and I want to open the floor for our last let's say 10 to 15 minutes here on the podcast while we will talk about our thoughts on the Apple watch obviously none of us have actually seen it in the flesh or even worn it yes that's months and months maybe even a year off still how do you guys feel about the Apple watch because I've heard from a lot of people this is exactly what we should have had in a SmartWatch in the beginning which i think is a ridiculous claim but if if it's not all this cracked up to be what is it that a SmartWatch can have that would actually make you want to buy it let's start off with lon do you have one for us um what do you think what do you think of the Apple watch yeah let's start with that when I first it of aesthetically I don't like the way that it looks because I prefer you know just I want a watch that's round like you know a normal watch would be so aesthetically I don't think it's that great looking but I do think that Apple is getting a lot of things right as far as making making it appeal to the masses and and both male and female because they have the small one and the larger one and you don't really get that with Android wear like so they're certain they've gotten that aspect right where they're appealing to you know either sex and also the way that they are handling the the band support and how easy how easy it is to swap out the bands because a lot of these other Android wear watches you know it's you have to use the tool and to get the little spring out but with the apple the Apple watch you can just slide them out slide out the bands and there's going to be like since its Apple you know there's going to be like a ton of them to pick from so I think they have like the customization down to which people are going to like a lot I mean the price is probably going to you know be through the roof though so I don't know it's I think that the prices are probably going to kind of lose out on maybe but I guess it depends really on how they're going to handle it but I don't know so I think they're doing some things right and then they're doing some things are a little bit questionable so it's kind of hard to say right now but since it's not physically out but that's sort of how I feel about it right now hmm okay I could hear some pitchforks being drawn up earlier when you are saying that they were doing some stuff right so is that is that what it would be safe to say that that's something what you are mentioning about the Apple watch that it's highly customizable in an easy way would it be safe to say that that's something you would want out of a you know your dream wearable what would your dream wearable look like that uh as you mean like as like a as a watch form factor yeah let's talk about a SmartWatch since that's our focus um I don't know I think I'd want to look like I'd want to look like a really luxurious watch like like a Nixon or something uh like so I would want to be all metal but then I want to be able to easily like swap out the bands and stuff and maybe like put in anything on my own so I don't wanna have to deal with to know those little spring whatever they're called but just I want to watch it is highly customizable and one that actually will do things that I want to do like I would like to like I mentioned earlier I want to be able to text for my watch and not have to talk into it in order to send out a message I want to actually be able to physically type on it but I don't know I just want something that looks nice sometimes looks nicer than the ones we have right now okay yeah I I'll just answer real quickly on the Apple watch part I actually think it looks ridiculous I really do not i am not a fan of the way it looks at all the huge dial on the side it's going to be just the bubbly iOS icons all over the place it's why I gonna make some ridiculous noises and yeah I've been hearing from certain people like I watch a lot of youtubers and they won the Apple watch was announced they said you know this is exactly what all these smart watches were supposed to be apples going to get a ride kept looking at it like I don't think they are like let this doesn't look good at all to be um obviously functionality is something we're gonna figure out later on but let's pop over to Joe if you had any thoughts about the Apple watch you can go ahead and sound them off but what does but also after that what is what does a dream wearable look like for you what would make you a watch guy thank you for asking both questions at once because i have almost nothing to say about the Apple watch the only thing I will say is it um in general like the you know the mass media at least in the United States I can't speak for the rest of the world I don't know their habits but in the United States you know if somebody at apple headquarters farts you're going to see 90 headlines about it so I think in terms of like exposure to the mainstream I think apple the Apple watch is going to do a lot more than Android wear has in making people aware that wearable technology exists in a consumer you know format and that's really all I can say about it cuz I haven't seen it I think I mean I think it's hideous also but I actually do like the dial on the side at least if I can use that to control apps and stuff I guess so but only if it's functional like if it's just kind of like there and you're like oh yeah spin for screen brightness I hate it um but uh then you ever see you you would have those people who are so into the apple watch going look at the screen go up and down like Christmas I remember when the ipad came out with that smart cover and it would snap onto the sign it was like hear the snap off it drove me nuts i will when the Nintendo 3ds came out I I went through all that with my friends you like oh look at the 3d slider turn it on and off you know and like oh my head goes from hurting to not hurting this is great what a great game system you have there that's what i though but for me like to forbid for me to be of 24 7 SmartWatch where um I would want it's it's all software for me at this point I mean like I don't really you know I don't think I'm ever gonna wear watch as a fashion statement I just you know it's never been something that I've ever done I don't think it's cuz I never do but i will put anything you know on my wrist if it helps me throughout the day earlier I mentioned home automation you know being able to you know integrate this with nest my biggest beef with Android wear is the navigation like getting to my applications using my applications you know it's takes a home to this here one tap to tap three tap because the first tap didn't register um and then swipe down swipe down so I Paul the way the bottom start and now I met my apps and then I can open an app and actually do something I mean that took like you know 56 seconds and that's just ridiculous for something that should be a lot faster than that so I mean the only thing I really want in in this in the wearable platform is something that's easier to use something that's less clunky and a little bit more ergonomic and then something that also does things other than let me check my notifications or look at the weather real quick okay yeah you're absolutely right about the navigation part because if you were in a car right now speeding up to a red light you'd probably be dead right now after all that yeah exactly it and oh I mean I'd probably be dead anyway because I had to take both my hands off the wheel to use the damn thing that me mr. like I can like rotate my wrist 180 degrees and then an extra 90 degrees to tap it with the same hand oh my goodness how creepy would that look what head turning you're like the same wrist that the watch is on like turning your hand 180 degrees to tap it with the same hand that the Moga of the wrist oh goodness we get implants from feisty and now we have like quadruple or what infinite jointed risks or something oh if I saw one person do that I'd probably enter my house and never leave again yeah no that's it it was Cylons are taking over we're done silence your that me more they have he has he's in bed and he has the the blanket up to his face like I'm not leaving nope and for our final word let's jump over to feisty if you have thoughts on the Apple watch because we mentioned it so much I want to make sure we at least say a couple things about it go for it but also what would a dream wearable look like for you certainly the Apple watch I remember seeing the first renders of it and that you know that OS just those little bubbles all over the place I could not help but laugh I honestly laughed at it thank you that's exactly my reaction if they had called it bubble wrap OS and if the bubbles popped when you tap them without having this conversation right now would be the greatest thing of all time did you guys play that game back in the day the bubble wrap game on on Android oh yeah oh my god yes yeah yeah yeah I go if I see uh you know for all the hate we give to this watch it's going to sell just the my opinion the nature of the Apple you know just that the fans that are out there this device is gonna sell it's going to take credit for bringing watches into the mainstream I hate that but I think that's what's gonna happen yeah I do agree it will sell but I don't think it's going to be on the scale of like how like the iPhone exploded when it came out in 2007 I'll think it's gonna be like on that type of scale but I do believe it will sell absolutely so go to my ideal wearable exactly what the other guys said hear it it needs to serve all of the purposes so instead of being a notification tool it needs to be a full OS needs to be your SmartWatch so to speak on your wrist but for me it needs to operate via voice and by touch with the same skill set with the same abilities and then as well it needs to give audio feedback as well as a visual feedback that's easy to work with without obstructing the rest of your daily life you know obviously that's the definition of the perfect wearable I guess what I'm saying is for me the wristwatch certainly can't do it and can't do it alone it would be a part of you know if I had the again I guess what I'm saying is is smart watch on the arm the moto hint kind of thing earbud in the ear and then a google glass on the face yes google glasses some audio but the cuckoo I someone a little bit more no but I don't like I think if I wanted google glass I'd have it by now it's just it's too obstructive it doesn't give enough visual feedback you know for its form factor hmm there's too much restriction on it as well I mean I don't want to be held by the FBI I know Limited case here but held by the FBI because I wore my classes to the movie theater yeah yeah and that's going to be that's a whole different topic is the the whole idea of creating this new culture that has to meld in with the mainstream like when you were talking about the hint and then putting the swirl watch on and then the google glass in the face um i get this image if you remember the old batman movies i just imagine feisty like putting on all of the things one by one oh yes my SmartWatch is a project RL watch I can swap it out and put crushes taser on it and my io output so I can attach to the stereo which brings up a great point all of my weary ol my wearables my ideal solution is completely wireless I can't afford to have wires all over the place mmm and then of course power becomes an issue but yeah always that always has been okay great well i mean if i had to put out my ideas on what a dream wearable would be you guys yeah i mean feisty in particular reach for the stars there i didn't even think about all that i was just thinking of what we have right now what kind of style I would want I would want the best of both worlds i still want the chronograph in terms of i want the real ticking turning gears but then if you have the watch face behind the arms that are doing the hour in the minute in the second if you were to hit a button to look at the actual interface of the OS those those hands would go translucent and it would just become a screen that's what i thought at least um the only haven't seen the kairos SmartWatch i have not quite where i was thinking but it is somewhere in that in that vicinity the Martian SmartWatch also had a little bit of that but it's just got that tiny LED screen on the bottom yeah but yeah I mean that was the one that I thought of but the last one that I was thinking of was I said this I remember back at Aoife I want to slap and I want to slap then watch that has a screen I waiting for it and the waiting for this whole podcast for you to say so I want this extremely hipster thing every episode like clockwork man I know I always got to end it on that like to be amazing and then you just like it don't be like a tall screen on it and you will just see you would turn on you would just put it right onto your wrist I think that'd be amazing it easy and it blends in because it's not like you know trying too hard to be a certain way okay fine I'm not I'm not gonna get too much farther into this for bless Joe makes fun of me all right well we have talked about wearables today on the Friday debate podcast whether the SmartWatch in particular the wearables might encompass a whole plethora of devices we're talking about smartwatches in general they haven't really taken off even though in 2014 we were all promised that it was going to be a huge huge mainstream deal it kind of isn't and we explored why that might be and we also got a glimpse into Joe not being much of a watch person and how much John and lon were back in the day so thank you so much for watch out for listening and watching on youtube if you happen to be the Friday debate podcast remember that you can follow all of us all four of us me Joe John and lon on social media the best places to find us are of course on google+ plus our names and you can easily search for us there we can also follow us on twitter and on other social media as well if you want the links to all of those make sure you head on over to the android authority compost for the friday debate podcast talking about android topics every week I just said that wrong didn't I I'll just say it better later anyway you can find the android authority friday debate podcast on all of the different channels like i said at the top of our show you can find us on iTunes on stitcher on pocket casts and actually I wanted at all of you guys i was perusing through the pocket cast website I i use pocket casts for all my podcasts and we were number 40 on the top 100 trending podcast for less week whoo whoo pretty awesome yeah go us so to all of you podcast faithful on pocket casts thank you so much for giving us some of that exposure and make sure you keep listening to the Friday debate podcast keep hitting that play button and if you can rate and review our podcasts on iTunes and stitcher that also ups our visibility so please do that as well as always thank you guys very much for listening and watching don't forget to head on over to android authority com for some of the best android coverage there is on the internet head on over to our youtube channel for one of the most watched android channels on youtube 11 million plus subscribers at this point so if you are not one of our subscribers make sure you hit that subscribe button if you haven't already and now I will go ahead and as I struggle to not sniffle through this outro I will invite all of our guests to join me on this the android authority friday to be a podcast discussing topics and android every week thank you so much for watching and remember that we are your source for all things and android that was at work all right thank you guys very much and lon thanks for being on the show i'll see you at mwc dude yup for sure man all right take care everybody yep take care