Hi Google,
How are you doing?
I've noticed that with this and previous acquisitions you've bought two (partially three) watch companies. Fitbit, Pebble and Fossil.
Now there are a few people out there that don't believe you'll do anything meaningful with these companies, and to be fair they make good arguments. But what they don't mention what all three of these companies have in common.
They all became famous, for their low powered, long lasting devices.
Fossil, with their hybrid watches with batteries that last 6 months. Fitbit, with their one week (originally display-less) Flex devices[1]. And lastly Pebble, the famous e-paper watch with a battery life of 10 days.
Compare those numbers with the Apple Watch's advertised battery life measured in hours. I concede that the Apple Watch does more than the previously listed devices, and Google you're allowed to make a luxury device that directly competes but may I just conject...
What made all of these aforementioned devices great wasn't the screen. It wasn't the pixel density, it wasn't the refresh rate, it wasn't the colour gamut. It was what these devices enabled -- in spite of -- their screen. I'm going to go out on a limb and say "Most people don't need to watch YouTube on their watch."[2]
What made the Casio great wasn't the look. No, it definitely wasn't the look. It was what it allowed you to do, despite the look.
So just to make sure you include everything you need I'll make you a quick and easy checklist of features, ordered by importance to me
- I should be able to go for a camping trip weekend, don't tell me it can't be done, I just listed a bunch of devices that do. At least provide a "low-power mode".
- I can't believe I have to even mention this.
- Super useful for fitness training, and health reasons in a world with people with heart conditions.
- Somehow.
- Don't give us this nonsense, give us wireless charging and device charge sharing. I should be able to place my watch on my phone to have it charge.
- We're getting to the things that are just "nice to have", but being able to just run without bringing the phone along would be huge.
- Both for time synchronizing, time zones and fitness tracking. Plus remember above? We don't want to bring the phone everywhere. We don't need turn-by-turn directions, but a "Jack's Compass" that always points home? That's useful.
- Let us know when mom's calling. You can do a lot, with just an LED and/or vibrations.
You'll notice that I didn't mention a display in that list. It's because I don't think it's necessary. And the companies you (Google/Alphabet) acquired don't think so either. They found other alternatives like e-paper, physical time piece hands or just omitting them altogether.
You are now in a unique position with all of your money, software developers and these newly acquired patents.
You want more companies to adopt your WearOS? Make it run on devices that don't look like cropped phones strapped to your wrist. Make a device that solves our social problems by getting us to leave our phone at home and participate in social situations, not one that just increases screen time.