Gadgetory

Android wear is almost upon us promising to thrust the SmartWatch into the limelight but the concept isn't as new as you'd think join us as we take a look at Android where's amazing SmartWatch ancestors companion computers that live on your hand have been a long-running sci-fi dream from cartoons and TV shows to the us-born book of the future which predicted with all one day be wearing wrist o's which incidentally is a way better name than SmartWatch it's not just pop culture those smartwatches have existed in real life tech for decades from psychos early high-tech timepieces to the Linux powered IBM watch pad or fossils wrist PDA the history books are littered with attempts at making the sci-fi dream a reality despite repeated attempts smartwatches have never really taken off which is a shame because some of them are really quite clever without further ado here are our three favorite attempts at SmartWatch success we begin in the mid-90s an era that saw Microsoft partner with watch maker Timex to create the datalink series of smartwatches Bill Gates and chumps cooked up a novel interface for uploading information to the data link whereby data was beamed by flashing lines on a CRT monitor picked up by a sensor on the face of the watch using this method the data link could store phone numbers to-do lists or anniversary reminders I do worry though what other information Microsoft could have stored in that flashing code it looks like you're writing and that's the data link was well-received and made it to space but was eventually overshadowed by another kind of device that was also pretty good at storing phone numbers Microsoft wouldn't let the SmartWatch dream die however and in 2003 would unveil the most ambitious SmartWatch project ever attempted smart personal objects technology or spot was Microsoft's plan to take over all manner of household objects that began with a series of timepieces the first spot watches were built by partners fossil and Suunto and receive data from MSN direct an FM radio based service that initially costs $60 a year to access using MSN Direct the spot watches could receive data wirelessly but only if you were in a region that had access to its FM signals it was also limited in what you could do you could see news headlines but not for stories and you could get messages through MSN Messenger but you couldn't reply more spot watches were built but to no avail and in 2008 Microsoft confirmed its SmartWatch was dead just one year later however we were confronted with another attempt and this one packed all modern conveniences as well as a 1.3 inch color capacitive touchscreen LG's watch phone could make voice calls removing the need to even carry a phone it had 3G capabilities and even packed a front-facing camera to do video chat something not even modern gadgets like Samsung's Galaxy gear can manage sadly though the watch phone was flawed it cost as much as a smartphone but could perform a fraction of the tasks and required you to wear a Bluetooth headset unless you were happy to shout at your wrist in public go home and if Tokyo doesn't like it sorry Dave understand the lift I might lose you Dave Dave Dave Dave the watch phone was yet another in a long string of smartwatches that had us briefly excited but quickly sank into obscurity failing to win over the wider world today Android wear has captured our attention but now faces the same problem as it's often forgotten for fathers convincing the public that a computer on their wrist is more than just a science fiction dream well Android wear succeed or will its name be added to the list of failed SmartWatch experiments let me know and check back next time for another adventure in tech