The year of the not so smart watch.

The Year of the not so smart watch.

So the new rage right now is the smart watch.
If you don't know what a smart watch is, its basically a stand alone fitness band with a screen that ties into a powerful health monitoring software eco system.
If you don't know what a fitness band is, then read on.

The smart watch has become:
The watch that monitors all your vitals.
The watch that you wear 24 hours a day even when you sleep because it even monitors your sleep.
The watch that seamlessly syncs with your mobile, tablet and the web so that you can later view your life in metrics.
The watch that lets you know if you have a text or call.
The watch that can tell you the time, after a few button presses.

I am and have been for many years, an avid watch lover, I own several Rolex's, Breitling's, Omegas and a few other swiss brands.
I am also a health freak, I go to the gym at least four times a week, I do love food, but try to eat healthy, and I weigh myself and monitor my BMI, body fat and body water measurements at least once a week.
I have a relatively cheap strap on heart rate monitor and watch which I hardly use, the heart rate monitor is not very comfortable but has its use, and the watch, well, I wouldn't wear it outside of the gym.
I could probably tell you almost everything that you need to know about every fitness band or smart watch on the market.
In fact, how many fitness bands and smart watches do you think I own?

Well the answer is none... Not a single one.

The reason is quiet simple, I don't like the look of any of them and I like to wear my Breitling or Rolex on a daily basis and my G-Shock to the gym.
I would assume there are many more people like me than there people who would gladly replace their daily watch with a fitness band or smart watch that tells the time.
I've never seen anybody in a meeting with a heart rate monitoring sports watch, in fact most meetings that I attend, end up in Ego fuelled banter, usually triggered by a comment about somebody's hard to miss limited edition Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Doha and then ends up with a crazy exaggerated story about somebody's trip to Vegas.
In fact, most of todays devices, just don't go well with a finely cut suit, in fact they don't go well on the cat walk either, and the expensive ones are just a bit to expensive to risk while rock climbing, mountain biking or doing had core training.

So let me explain to you the reason why I would not buy any of the current range of fitness bands or smart watches and then tell you what I would buy and wear.

So the current range of fitness bands and smart watches do some or all of the following, count your steps which in turn allows them to calculate how many calories you have or are burning, monitor your heart rate, monitor and track your sleep pattern, some will monitor your sweat, some the temperature, and then some throw in alerts for your smart phone, vibration alerts or will vibrate to bring you out of your sleep at the optimal time, and even apps, phone calls and text messages, oh and before I forget, most will actually tell you the time and even do the real basic stuff like stop watch and count down timers.

The driving force behind them is the applications that they sync with. 
Behind every great fitness band or smart watch is a powerful cross platform analytical and monitoring application that works with smart phones, tablets and via the web.
So on your wrist, you have an expensive technical device which has replaced your daily watch, but it does so much more, but you need to charge it every day, week or several months.
Some of these fitness bands and smart watches look kind of ok, I wouldn't call any of the current devices real pleasing to the eye, even though there are so many on the market, none have actually been designed by the fashion industry or had any reputable fashion input.
The current Devices just aren't as varied or appealing as the common wrist watch.

So Im sure many will agree with me, the devices aren't going to be warn with an Armani suit and replacing any Rolex's anytime soon. In fact, I am pretty sure no sports person would wear one of these devices around the clock, or trade in one of their swiss time pieces for a fitness band or smart watch.

ok, so Im not a fan of their looks. But there is more..

Yesterday I walked into the Apple store in Oxford Street and tried to convince myself to buy a jawbone up24 which is the latest iteration of Jawbone's smart fitness band.
This unit appealed to me more than any other as it didn't have a screen or tell the time, so I could still wear it with my daily watch. But then I thought for a few minutes about the benefits I would receive from my £124 purchase. Most of the features such as step and calorie count, I already do on my phone, so I would actually be purchasing a device who's only benefit would be to help me monitor my sleep, but would need to be charged every 7 days. Not bad, but not good enough.

You see, the second problem other than the way most of these things look and feel is that they all need to work with a smartphone, ok, there are some that can be connected directly to a computer but most need a smart phone to get the most out of them. Over the last 7 months I have been using an app called Pedometer++ with my iPhone 5s, and prior to that I was using Samsung's built in S Health on the galaxy, both of which count the number of steps that I take around the clock and give me a rough idea of how far I have walked and run during the day, I also use an app called MyFitnessPal, and a free heart rate monitor called Heart Rate, so the combination of the free pedometer++ that utilise almost no battery on my iPhone, the very complete and free MyFitnessPal and the amazingly simple Heart Rate monitor app, I have a pretty good health monitoring system. I would love to use an app to help monitor my sleep, and there are hundreds available, but I just don't like the idea of having to plug my iPhone into the power and leave it under my pillow all night and every night, even if it is on airplane mode. But I can tell you that I was more than excited when the MyFitnessPal app on my iPhone was updated last night to now include a step counter which works with the iPhone's M7 processor, meaning almost no additional drain on the battery to offer an integrated step and calorie tracker.

Some people don't want to carry their phone with them during sports and would prefer to glance at their watch and see all their vitals!
I would have to disagree with the fact that the current range of smart fitness bands or smart watches can offer a great benefit to the masses or even sports people.
The application platforms behind them can offer an immense amount of information and benefit users but the smart watches themselves are not truly affordable and the ones that are will most likely not offer any great features or have any appeal to the majority.

So what would I suggest?
I'm glad that you were waiting to ask me that.
Well, at the moment everybody who has any interest in fitness bands and smart watches is probably aware that Apple are expected to release something in this space very soon, and most companies are rushing to get something to the already crowded marketplace.
But at the moment, I honestly believe that the best health monitoring platform is MyFitnessPal, even though it has many shortcomings, but there are API's that allow other companies to sync and feed their data into the platform which makes it a centre point for monitoring and tracking health.
But the playing field for the back end platform is far from closed,
As far as the fitness bands and smart watches go, most modern handsets can do everything these new wave of devices can do when used with a free or premium app.

The average person has their smartphone with them around 90% of the waking day and the phones usually have a persistent connection and offer GPS, Gyroscope and whole range of advanced sensors which couldn't be packed into a smart watch, this allows for highly acurate tracking and monitoring, the average smart phone is kept in a pocket and placed on a table while working which again allows for a more accurate reading as there are no false counts with a waved hand, or from answering the phone.

I am in no way saying that the smart phone can replace the fitness band or the smart watch, I just don't believe that we have the technology required to create a smart fitness band or smart watch that will do what we want it to do effectively while appealing to a wide range of people.
Personally what I would like is a nice durable bracelet style fitness band that contains motion, sensors, a pedometer, a gyroscope, an altimeter and some other technologies as well as low power bluetooth, the band would need to be completely sealed and water proof and would need to be self powered via a built in rechargeable battery and some sort of kinetic charging system.
This would allow the band to be warn with or without a watch and 24hours a day, every day, 365 days a year, if you live an active life, the unit will always be charged, if you don't live an active life, the unit will hold its power for several days by drawing power from the rechargeable battery and then recharge once you move around.
The device would be even better if you could sync it to multiple smartphones, or sync multiple devices to a single smartphone to share real time data.
Imagine a coach with the ability to monitor the stats of an entire team while they are training.
Or being able to keep track of your kids when out and get an immediate alert if they wonder too far.
The fitness bracelet will need to be something that you wear and forget about, which constantly syncs with your smartphone and the health platform and together help you analyse and monitor your current health and metrics.
The fitness bracelet should be able to count your steps, elevation and to some respect, your position without drawing from any resources from your smart phone, but should not be seen as a stand alone do it all device, the fitness bracelet without your phone should be a good looking bracelet that you could wear every day that will without your interaction still monitor your health statistics. You should be able to use the fitness bracelet for weeks or months on end without needing to charge it or connect it to anything, it should be able to store at least 6 months to a year worth of metrics.
It should be cheap, cheap enough that anybody can wear it and if its lost or broken, it wont put you off buying another one. There should be different styles, maybe Chanel or Gucci can offer some, but the main thing is that what the device does and how it works should be standardised, the Software Platform behind is where all the magic should happen.
You should be able to wear the device and climb the everest and view all the stats from your smart phone while climbing or when you get back down. You shouldn't need to think about charging it or breaking it or trying to take pictures or use apps on it.
I think wearable computing and the current range of fitness bands and smart watches are trying to put the equivalent of a smartphone on your wrist.
We have a smartphone in our pockets, tablets in our bags, and computers on our desk, we just don't have the ability to put that much technology on our wrists in a form that works or is appealing to the masses.