Google Reportedly Making a Smartwatch, Too 196
judgecorp writes "With Samsung and (reportedly) Apple already making smartwatches, Google has now joined the party, according to a (paywalled) report in the Financial Times. The Google Watch is apparently being made by the Android group, and could have some synergy with Google's other wearable tech — the Glass spectacles. The distinctive thing in Google's patent seems to be having two displays — one for public data and a flip-up one for more private stuff."
The average Slashdotter . . . (Score:4, Funny)
Smartwatches are idiotic! Who would buy a smartwatch except some gullible Apple hipster?
Smartwatches are idiotic! Who would buy a smartwatch except some gullible Apple hipster?
Smartwatches are idiotic! Who would buy a smartwatch except some gullible Apple hipster?
(An Android-based smartwatch comes out)
ZOMG smartwatches are teh roXorz! (Buys and wears one)
Re:The average Slashdotter . . . (Score:4, Insightful)
Fanbois are abundant in every camp. Smartwatches remains idiotic.
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Re:The average Slashdotter . . . (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm trying to grok the distinction between a phone and a watch that makes a phone a legitimate tool and a watch idiotic. Obviously, if the weight or battery life is sufficiently poor, there's a real problem for a watch, but other than that, what's the difference?
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You mean aside from screen size, right?
I don't want to have to scroll ten times to read a three sentence email.
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From what I've heard, screen size will be pretty comparable to average sized modern smart phones, just curved and flexible.
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What you've heard? Vaporware != actual products.
Have you tried placing a smart phone on your wrist? Even with curved glass/plastic/screens you'd have to roll your arm back & forth just to read this post.
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As UI's go, smartphones suck pretty bad too. I just have a hard time imagining a watch being much worse.
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I disagree. Modern Smartphone Is aren't really that bad at all. Of course, you need to keep it in context.
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"As UI's go, smartphones suck pretty bad too. I just have a hard time imagining a watch being much worse."
It's better since you can use only 1 hand.
I guess it's time to patent that 'suck energy out of the arm' thingie.
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Vaporware != actual products.
no shit Sherlock. let see what we currently hace, shall we.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqQnV5tlFAM [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJehexDPEsE [youtube.com]
People re working on flexible screens right now, and prototyping them. Good thing for use we have engineers and thinker with imagination and drive, and not just a bunch of people like you.
Do not equate smartphone with smart watch. Smart[x] means doing more then it original purpose.
A smartwatch might just be as simple as tracking your hea
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Did you even read what I wrote? Or you just had to be a jackass?
Of course smartphones != smartwatches. That was my point! The GP said something about reading email on a watch, which I said wasn't a good idea.
But maybe you forgot the ~ at the end of your post.
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Funny joke.
Not dated at all.
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define smartwatch.
A watch the also monitors my heart beat? I'd wear that.monitors my daily exercise? hell I can thing of a dozen things I'd like to see in a smart watch.
Link it to my phone, and a lot of possibilities open up.
Like tell your watch to beep at a certain time. Literally telling it.
I don't consider any of the idiotic.
Hell, wear it on your right wrist, and it cold auto exchange info when you shake hands.
You just lack the ability to think about something in any positive way.
You will notice, at no t
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"Like tell your watch to beep at a certain time. Literally telling it."
Talk to the hand, just what we need. I bet you are no public transport user.
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My Hamilton auto is in need of repair/replacement(between repair cost and shipping to Switzerland it'd be just as cheap just to buy a brand new one which I've already decided against -- too bad Rolex doesn't make non-blinged to hell(and reasonably priced) watches any longer), so instead of just buying a Casio pathfinder series.
Last time I was in Peurto Vallarta there were plenty of folks selling Rolex's.
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Tyranny of Age (Score:5, Funny)
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There are bluetooth watches that already exist (and have for years, cost about $40-60 depending on style) that do the caller ID for you so you know if you want to answer your bluetooth headset.
Maybe you should try looking for what you want instead of waiting for it to be provided by Google, etc.
You saythere is already a "smart watch" for 60 bucks. Anybody can afford that. What anybody can afford, nobody desires.
Make a smart watch for 6000 bucks and a premium bling smart watch for $60,000 and see your sales skyrocket!
Re:Tyranny of Age (Score:4, Insightful)
imagine the watch is a bike computer, the nike fuelband or fitbit thingy where it tracks how much you walk, your heart rate, pulse, maybe even add blood sugar
its for people who like to go outside and breath fresh air and not the basement dwellers who are always rooting or ROMing their phones
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its for people who like to go outside and breath fresh air and not the basement dwellers who are always rooting or ROMing their phones
Really? Because you can bike and run just fine without any of those.
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if you bike say 20 miles on a good day you want to know exactly how far you went, how fast, how much calories, heart rate, etc
Re:Tyranny of Age (Score:5, Funny)
if you bike say 20 miles on a good day you want to know exactly how far you went...
My guess would be 20 miles.
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if you bike say 20 miles on a good day you want to know exactly how far you went, how fast, how much calories, heart rate, etc
I'm well aware of what a cycle computer does and I used to have one before it fell off, years ago. But you still don't need those things to have a good bike ride. A map and watch will tell you how far you went and how long it took.
Not wanting sports tech gadgets does not imply that you are a basement dwelling nerd. In fact wanting tham makes you a pavement pounding nerd instead...
I,
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OT: Can anyone read maps any more?
I was riding DC's subway and came back up to the street level. It was heavily cloudy so I didn't know which way north was; I knew where I wanted to go, but not which way was which. A police officer was right there, so I asked him "Officer, which way's north? I just got off Metro and I'm disoriented."
He didn't know. A bloody *cop* didn't know which way north was in his own city. I then asked him "In which direction am I more likely to get shot, this way *points*, or that way
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I don't like using a GPS, since even though it will get me to my des
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Re:Tyranny of Age (Score:5, Funny)
But, but....how do you know if you're winning?
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But, but....how do you know if you're winning?
Whoever bites first. Biting's excellent. It's like kissing, only there's a winner.
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For some people, statistics is part of the fun.
Also, as others pointed out, some people participate in activities for reasons other than (or in addition to) having fun.
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Not everyone -- actually, probably few people -- care about those things.
I don't bike, but I hike; the idea is close enough. When I go hiking I don't really care how far I go or how fast or what my heart rate was. I care about "What a pretty sunset!" and "That's a nifty cactus" and listening to the owls after dark. Exercise isn't always a MMORPG character sheet.
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Hmm, I already have the Nike+ app on my iPhone. Do I need anything else?
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Oh, wait, you just wanted to go for a run?
Yep. Just open Nike+, set to my favorite playlist, put phone back in pocket and I'm good to go. Songs, mileage, pace, tracking, cumulative stats, etc.
Re:Tyranny of Age (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't really think so. Satellite devices like watches and glasses are the next layer of abstraction for smart phones, which have become so big and powerful. Basically you could just carry the cpu or a connectivity component (cpu power can too be shared), and wear yourself with various screens and other paraphernalia to make the device whole. The ubiquitous computing is steadily moving forward.
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Watches have some kind of an allure, much like fountain pens. Just take a look at the Tread 1 [devonworks.com]. It's a beautiful watch and I want one, but I can't have one because it's $20,000. Some people like Rolex's too. Personally, I don't get that one, but that's fine.
If you have a smartphone, you surely must have had at least on occasion where it alerts, but it's awkward to get at it. You'll fish it out if it's important, but you'd like to know if it's important before you do that. For me, this has happened in a
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The idea of a smart watch when you already have a smart phone...
When I read the summary, my first thought was, "can I get one of these instead of a smartphone?"
How is this news? (Score:3)
I guess tomorrow's headline has to be... (Score:5, Funny)
Microsoft Reportedly Making a Smartwatch, Too, Kinda, Okay-So-It's-Really-Just-A-Surface-Pro-Ducktaped-To-Ballmer's-Forearm
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Forehead would be a much funnier visual.
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They actually had one back in 2003, and Suunto and Fossil sold them, but nobody would buy them because they did not have the apple logo. MS recently pulled the plug on the server.
creepshot (Score:2)
the purpose of google glass is obviously creepshots and/or the virtual naked filter. how does wrist-mounting help? maybe the pulse sensor at your wrist can trigger image/video capturs whenever your pulse is elevated? what could ever go wrong with that!?!
pulse and galvanic skin response-driven advertising, where have you been all my internet!
Re:creepshot (Score:4, Insightful)
Why should they make a watch? (Score:3)
How about using Google Glass and machine vision to overlay the time on your wrist?
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Glass isn't looking all that good for overlays. It doesn't incorporate your whole field of vision
This could cause the failure of Glass. So many people think it can do AR, for instance, that recent article about it recognizing your friends from their outfits - how would it show their position?
It will probably be an impressive product in its own way, but there's going to be a lot of disappointment when people use it due to these expectations.
It's the Emperor's New Augmented Reality.
is there just NO originality anymore? (Score:4, Insightful)
"Look, someone's making a touchscreen phone, quick, lets make one too!"
"Look, someone's making a touch tablet, quick, lets make one too!"
"Look, someone's making a smart watch, quick, lets make one too!"
OK this is getting sickening, you can stop now.
Re:is there just NO originality anymore? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Exactly. Besides, Motorola has shipped their smartwatch for a over a year, and Google owns Motorola now.
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In the same week?
Sounds like the time in Vegas where I won jackpots on three separate slot machines in one day, and was begging Tony and Guido to believe it was just a craaaazy coincidence and to not break my kneecaps....
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> (and the Prada's original UI was vastly inferior).
And isn't that kind of part of the point? There were smartphones around for years before the iPhone came out, but they all sucked horribly. I struggled to do any kind of Internet browsing with my Blackberry Pearl to do the kinds of things that I can do on my iPhone just by talking to it. I had a geek friend who was so proud of his Windows phone that had a stylus. I remember another had an iPaq that could play movies. There were also tablets before the
I've had a Calculator watch... (Score:2)
...and I'm not interested in buying another one. In fact, I like the fact that I no longer have to wear a watch. My cell phone has become my watch.
My initial thought is that smart watches are being developed to appeal to the fitness industry. The aim is to replace the "feature" watches which record your steps, heart rate, etc. much like smart phones have replaced feature phones.
Now, if they came out with a smart roman arm guard.... After all, it would have enough space for a virtual keyboard.... (grin)
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Now, if they came out with a smart roman arm guard.... After all, it would have enough space for a virtual keyboard.... (grin)
That was my reaction to someone else who posted that Apple's watch would have the same screen size as a smartphone. "Um, that isn't a watch, it's a bracer."
Is this fad stupid or clever? (Score:2)
Oh, Nigel Tufnel, you were so right about that thin line.
I think most people's reaction today is that they don't want a wearable computer, because if capabilities were equal, then pocketable computers are simply be more pleasant to use. They get out of your way when they're unwanted, and they don't leave you with a sweaty body part at the end of the day. And capabilities aren't equal; the pocketable computers will be bigger and therefore more capable.
I feel like I agree with that: the idea of putting a wa
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The fashion also used to be to dress baby boys in pink and baby girls in blue. Pink was considered too harsh a color for girls. So I think we can all agree you cannot predict what the masses will want next.
It's not pink, it's salmon.
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Twenty years ago, though, it sure seemed ok to me. And I'd like to remind people, that a hundred years ago, the norm for watches [wikipedia.org] was that they went into pockets, and from there we shifted to wearables. This really happened. This happened, upon a medium of civilization full of people just like you. How/why? Unless you can explain why the fashion changed from pocket to wrist back then, then I'm not sure I can accept arguments for how it can't change again.
All that said, just like everyone else, I don't think I want one. My point is that it's hard to predict whether or not the prevailing opinion will persist.
The Wikipedia article that you referenced actually has a good explanation for the change from pocket watches to wrist watches. Women wore wrist watches as jewelry, because they didn't have pockets. Men didn't wear them until WWII when: "During the war, soldiers needed access to their watches while their hands were full. ". Wrist watches made telling the time easier while working in a labor or manufacturing based job where your hands were full.
Now, most people, in first world nations at least, no longer
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I still want a wearable computer, because it's harder to drop. But it also has to be the stuff of science fiction, because it somehow has to also be as convenient to use as a smartphone is now, and also nigh-indestructible.
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Maybe the smartphone-equivalent of the watch chain will come back into style to fix the dropping issue. I'm sure manufacturers would love a chance to sell another high-profit-margin fashion accessory to go with every phone.
Imagining the possibilities (Score:5, Interesting)
I can think of lots of applications for a device attached to your body, and telling time is far down on that list.
(Since I work mostly within view of computers I haven't worn a watch in my professional life ever. Nowadays with smartphones, the need is even less.)
Can bone conduction work with a watch-like device? You could hear your phone ring without disturbing anyone else, and if you could identify the ringtone you could tell how important the call is.
Would body measurements be useful? Heartbeat, temperature and blood oxygenation seem obvious. Would it help your doctor rule out certain diseases to know the characteristics of the fever - spiky/continuous, low/high level, exact date of onset?
Could the device make fitness measurements? Tell how much exercise you're getting per week, let you know when to get out more and which type of exercise best meets your goals?
If there's an embedded accelerometer, can the instrument detect tossing/turning at night? With the blood oxygenation, could it detect sleep apnea? Snoring? Other sleep disorders?
Could the device detect dust levels in the manner of a [non-radioactive] smoke detector? Would this be useful for people to monitor their allergies?
I once worked with a scientist at Berman Gund laboratories (Boston) who was amazed [at the time] that you could put a microprocessor on a lanyard connected to a light sensor mounted on the patient's eyeglasses. He wanted to see if the progression of Retinitis Pigmentosa correlated with the amount of light entering the patient's eyes.
Light sensors [google.com] are now cheap and tiny.
Does the amount of light in a user's environment correlate with depression? With SAD? Does fluorescent light correlate with depression? Does brightness matter or total daily duration?
Will it have a GPS receiver? Could it display an arrow and distance information?
Lots of applications here. Telling time is almost an afterthought.
sudo (Score:2)
Make me a sandwich, too.
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And I can assure you that sapphire will stay perfect for a long time. The Tissot watch I am currently wearing is more than 5 years old and the glass is still _perfect_. The metal case however is quite badly scratched.
MotoActv (Score:3)
Gotta do what apple does (Score:2)
Smartwich (Score:2)
As in smart sandwich ... that's what my brain told the rest of me that word meant in the first few fractions of a second. And frankly, I couldn't care less about a smart watch ... but am now obsessing over the idea of a smart sandwich. "What you want, when you don't even know you want it! SMARTWICH!"
I like high tech watches (Score:2)
Since 2003, i am using a Casio Edifice EFA-114D watch, for the following reasons:
-Dual analog/digital display
-Stop watch
-Timer
-Light
-5 alarms and snooze
-World clock
-Metal bezel (i tend to melt or break resin because of the weather here)
-Great battery life (about 5 years)
-Small round display (i have a slim wrist)
I have been looking for 2 years for a replacement that does all of the above and more, and haven't find any. The other casio watches that have some other features i actually want (atomic time, barome
Wow (Score:2)
The only reason why Apple is making iWatch is because Google came out with Glass. Now Google is making a watch too, which means Apple will follow up with some socially connected set of support underwear.
Seems like 2013 is all about companies out dumbing themselves creating something nobody wants.
The best evidence Apple is making a smart watch (Score:2)
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http://memeburn.com/2011/08/the-google-graveyard-20-products-that-failed/ [memeburn.com]
https://play.google.com/store/devices/details/Nexus_Q?id=nexus_q&hl=en [google.com]
Re:This just in, Google reportedly makes everythin (Score:5, Funny)
What doesn't Google make these days?
Tools for protecting our privacy?
Re:This just in, Google reportedly makes everythin (Score:5, Insightful)
An RSS reader?
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Actually they do. Maybe you should get your head out of you ass?
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Tools for protecting our privacy?
Actually, Google does make a tool for protecting our privacy: it's the Incognito window in Chrome.
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Friends.
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What doesn't Google make these days?
Testicular implants.
Re:Barbra Streisand Effect? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not exactly rocket science.
The interest in the Pebble shows there's a market. Sony's had a smartwatch out for quite a while, although apparently while it's great when it works, their software is buggy as hell. Too bad, because they jumped in early enough that they could have owned the market.
The trend towards larger and larger phones means that the whip-out-ability of the average smartphone has been rapidly dropping, to the point where pulling out your phone to check the time isn't even close to handy or discrete. On top of that, with always-on connectivity and a boatload of online services, the notification/interruption rates are increasing.
So there's arguably a place for a small, always visible "front end" that allows the phablet to live in a pocket or purse until the larger display is needed.
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This is a recurring theme with Sony, they are to consumer products what Xerox PARC was to computing. Good ideas but shitty implementation, frequently combined with ridiculous DOA rates.
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Uh... sorry. I guess I've been around so long now that I forget that when I write "Sony fucked up", not everyone automatically adds "again".
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The interesting thing about the Google watch is there already seems to be a number of watches that interface well with android phones, with interfacing with iPhone to a lesser degree. For android I think Motorola has a car set that will even read the message. So it is not clear if a Google watch is really goi
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They tried watches [wikipedia.org] years ago. I expect that this time, they're going to wait until Apple shows them how to actually make money at it...
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A smart watch on the other hand is functional: you wear it mostly because of the useful functions it provides, much like the (fugly) calculator and database watches of the 80s. Still, such a watch does not have to be ugly, it can be nice-looking and well made.
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When I'm in a meeting or in a middle of a conversation, I can quickly look at my watch to see if I need to leave for my next appointment without having to take my phone out of my pocket or scout around for a clock and hope that it has the correct time.
You don't actually believe that people don't get annoyed when you pull out your smartphone to see what time it is.
That is what makes one a Douche-bag (Score:2)
"I can quickly look at my watch to see if I need to leave for my next appointment without having to take my phone out of my pocket or scout around for a clock and hope that it has the correct time."
If I am in a conversation with someone and they check their watch for appointments i the middle of our conversation, then I may just tell you to piss off.
Also, why are you not able to know when you have an appointment before you step into my meeting? Is your time so much more valuable than mine that you cannot be
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Just when you thought the iPod nano on a wristband craze was over, someone had to restart the smart watch fad all over again.
No worries. It's been an on again/off again thing since the Casio calculator watch...
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Personally, I like the idea of a smart watch, phone and glasses. Battery life should be a priority I imagine, and any improvements in that tech will flow out to phones pretty much immediately I'd say. I think of it as a smartphone wrapped around your wrist that will be monitoring your pulse. Anything else it can access by skin contact to determine health?
I don't know, bu
Re:Watch! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Watch! (Score:4, Interesting)
Sigh. Time to raid the kid's college fund again.
Re:Watch! (Score:4, Interesting)
My "smart watch" performs basic watch features (the time, stopwatch, alarms) as well as altitude, relative atmospheric pressure, temperature (can't be on the wrist for that), and a compass.
Smart enough, and it basically lasts forever as it is solar powered enough.
Re:Watch! (Score:4, Interesting)
Until recently I had no tablet because I had no need for one. But recently I bought a refurb. Nexus 7 for $162, because since having a baby, I need to be where the baby is. For the 3 months after he was born I had pretty much no access to electronics outside of work. If I want to consume some content, the phone is too small, laptop too clunky, and desktop is somewhere else in the house.
Thus the tablet is a perfect fit, it serves up the content at an ideal screen size as I walk around the house, and is held in one hand (especially important!), and serves as the video baby monitor I can take with me around the house.
Tablets had no purpose in my home...until they did.
Watches are probably going to be a harder sell. Possibly useful as a hands-free extension for smartphones, but I'm not a heavy phone user (living on a 150mb per month data cap), so it'll take a long time for me to find a use for a smart watch. But I'm sure there are plenty of people who can make use of them.
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Nope. Sucked when Apple did it. Sucked even more when Samsung decided to do it. Continues to suck with Google, and when Microsoft jumps on this overcrowded, watch-sized bandwagon... it will STILL suck.
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Google *ARE* the circle jerking nerds.
There, FTFY.
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