In the future maybe, but no, smart watches are just an add on, like extension, It can't mimic a fully functional smart phone capabilities yet, our display technology are getting bigger and bigger, why would you want to jump to smart watches?
That is a good question Nevi, just people with bigger budgets are jumping into smartwatches right now, but in the future I see a great potential to them because they have it all to replace the smartphones. I don't even think that the small screen with be an issue when we have voice control.
My guess is that this is not the end, not even close. My opinion is that smart glasses are way much more of a threat than smart watches, as you don't have to stare down to your watch when you want to perform a task, and it's easier to see something that is close to your eyes than adjusting it's distance because of light and other factors.
I agree that smartglasses offer a way more complete solution, I even see them as something that will make a revolution in the way we use computers to work, but smartwatches are something in between, a more effective interface to the world than smartphones.
I don't really know about that, I don't see wearable technology taking off anytime soon. For the moment it seems like just as much of a fad as Google Glass is/was. It doesn't have the power to take over smartphones just yet, just like how smartphones/tablets have taken off but we still see the desktop PC chugging along. Both are here to stay for the foreseeable future.
Personally I would be fine if that is the case. I'm beginning to get tired of touchscreens. Sure, they are more intuitive, but they work so slowly. I'd rather go back to buttons with haptic feedback. I think touchscreens work better with smaller devices with more specialized purposes, like a watch.
I am not a huge fan of smart phones either and I think that smartwatches will be more practical. For once, we will be able to speak to them and they will answer, so no need to type or for touch screens, that is a hug advantage right there.
The fact of the matter is that smartphones have larger screens and aren't affixed to any part of the body other than being held in the hands. Not everyone likes wearing watches, and smartwatches are years from being the perfect alternative, much like the Oculus Rift is years away from being anything close to actual virtual reality. Smartwatches are brand new products, and they're closer to accessories of smartphones than standalone devices at this point.
How is "smart-watches replacing phones" The End? When I saw that topic-title, I expected you to ask about The End---when the machines take-over our place on the order-of-species. Looking again at your post, I see you did specify 'the start of the end of the smartphone-industry' ... pardon me. But no. 'The start of the end of the smartphone-industry' is when they start implanting smartphone-features in the human body, and/or when children start to be born with such features pre-installed, possibly leading to new humans that are born with a psychic connection to every other human (particularly the humans they have met). Maybe THAT's what this 'tinnitus' (ringing in my ears) is---the inner voice of all these humans, with my brain-able to hear them but -unable to distinguish them from the white noise of the Big Bang
Larger screens don't mean anything when we can have expandable images we can work on, pretty much Iron Man like... Sure mythman, we are still a few years away, but I feel that when the smartwatches start to sell, the smartphones will start to sell less.
Imagine, though, how hard it would be to interact with 3d images that don't have any haptic feedback at all. Even touchscreens with their limited feedback is already pretty hard. The added hindrance of having to estimate depth too would be too tiresome for me. Maybe I'm just getting old. )
Smartwatches are an excellent concept and idea but in no way shape form or fasion are they going to replace smartphones. People love to surf the web, play games, and text on their smartphones. And the bigger smartphone the better. With a smart watch the only thing I can see people actually doing is takes a few pictures with it. Its to small to text with and its not humanly possible to text comfortably with something thats located on yor wrist. Smart watches are cool but its just something poeple are going to play with then set aside and forget about.
LOL, that is something that has already crossed my mind, touchscreens are already hard enough , so moving those images around has to be hard, but I guess we won't know it until we try it. The future is just around the corner!
