skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Earlier this summer, Nathan and I made a small wager about my tech future. I am documenting our e-mail exchange on the topic here...
Obi Orjih, 2 June 2014:
Let it be noted for the record that you (Nathan Rosenstock) predicted that I (Obi Orjih) will be using an Apple device as my primary personal mobile device 10 years from today (i.e., June 2, 2024). You are so confident in this prediction, that you would switch to a vegetarian (not vegan) diet for one month if you are incorrect.
Nathan Rosenstock, 2 June 2014:
And if I am correct, you may not watch or listen or monitor in any way either live or recorded the first world cup soccer game after June 2, 2024 in which a US team is playing. You may see unavoidable replays of short length, but you must inform yourself of the outcome of the game as soon as possible after the game has concluded.
Obi Orjih, 2 June 2014:
Agreed. But I want an out in case I "have" to make plans for that game... In order to watch the game, I must pay you USD$100. This all assumes that I lose the wager.
If you're a tech geek like me, then the concept of "wearables" (i.e., wearable computers/electronics) is kind of a hot field right now. While this could include many possibilities, the ideas with the most traction right now are things that you wear on your wrist and things that you wear on your head/face1. There is more doubt that face things will be a thing, as Google Glass (and the like) doesn't quite appear to be catching on outside of a small niche community. So, I guess that leaves wrist things to talk about...
The wrist thing market is basically split into two categories - fitness trackers and smartwatches - though many smartwatches are now also doing fitness tracking. The fitness trackers include the Fitbit Flex's and the Jawbone UPs of the world. And more recently Microsoft got into the game with the Microsoft Band. I think there is a legitimate market for these things, but I don't really feel like they are mind-blowing or game-changing.
I'm still trying to decide whether smartwatches can be mindblowing or game-changing. The first thing that I can remember being a proper smartwatch is the Pebble. This was one of the first big Kickstarter projects, and is probably one of the biggest successes. Although the display is not particularly fancy (it uses an e-paper display), it last for days without needing a charge (7, reportedly) and works with Android and iOS devices. The compatibility and battery life are a plus, but the integration with more powerful pocket computers (aka smartphones) is superficial at best.
Deeper integration is where Android Wear and Apple Watch come in - they are designed to provide richer integration with their respective mobile OSes. Android wear has been out for months now, and seems to be getting a bit better as more features are added. Initially, the functionality didn't go too far beyond the sort of things Pebble could do - notifications, music controller (i.e., the phone still plays the music, but the watch can pause, skip, etc.), turn-by-turn directions, and the like. Oh, and they tell time too. Recent updates have solved issues with custom watch faces and added the ability to play music directly off the watch itself via Bluetooth. There are also fitness capabilities built in - for example the Moto 360 (aka 270, if the flat tire of a screen doesn't quite do it for you) has a heart rate monitor built in.
But even though I'm firmly in the Android camp, these smartwatches don't quite do it for me. I think they're an interesting concept, and I'm glad they exist, but they don't really fill a need that I have. Everything that they do, I can do better with my phone. I will grant that glance-able notification can be helpful (especially in situations where pulling out your phone would be socially awkward), but I don't really think that's worth going back to wearing a watch. The other potential value add would be fitness tracking capabilities, but that's not something that I'm into. And (while it doesn't apply to me at the moment, but would have in the past, and could again in the future), I know plenty of people who literally would not be allowed to wear a smartwatch into their workplace at Boeing. Oh, and these things have to be charged at least every other day, if not every day.
There are other smartwatch platforms out there (Samsung has a couple of Tizen watches, among other players in the game) but none is terribly compelling. That is, perhaps, except for the forthcoming Apple Watch. I've read way too much about this thing since it was announced a couple of months ago, and I still don't quite "get it". It seems to me that Apple is trying to do way too much with it. For example, why on earth would I want to scroll through photos or read a map on a tiny screen on my wrist? And don't get me started on the doodle feature, or the heartbeat-sending gimmick. Some other smarter (or at least more respected on the Interwebs) people have different takes on the thing, and they could end up being right. But I don't see the watch being someone's main computer any time soon, unless some unbelievable breakthroughs are made in battery technology and processor packaging.
What I will give Apple credit for, though, is creating the most fashion-forward entry into this product category (even though I'm a bit surprised at how bulbous the thing appears, especially for Apple). They also created a very clever and functional mechanism for attaching/detaching the straps - like previous precedents (e.g., lightning connector), they eschewed compatibility with standards in favor of creating something functionally superior. I can see them selling a lot of these things as fashion items, in addition to their simply being Apple products, even though the rumored price points for the gold version sound crazy to me. And even though I tend to kind of root against Apple (for reasons that I might explain in a future post), I'm curious and excited to see what happens with this new product.
1 There are other current wearables that you can attach to a piece of clothing, but I don't really see many people talking about those.↩
This one goes in the category of solving first world problems... One of the reasons that it took so long to post my Brazil 2014 travelogue is that the quality of the original composition is questionable. Back in 2008 or so, I realized that I have a terrible memory, so composing the travelogue after the trip didn't work too well. So I started typing up the travelogues on a mobile device while on the trips. Well, it turns out that I'm a terrible phone/tablet typist, on top of the fact that typing on those things sucks anyway. Despite this I persevered, and continued to crank out travelogues. But this sucky typing experience makes for poor quality posts. And this is further exacerbated by my robotic matter-of-fact prose style.
All of this is background info for why I was in the market for a more "typable" mobile device this year. I initially considered something like the Surface Pro 3, or a similar convertible tablet type thing, but decided that $800 (or even $500) was far too much money to spend on something that I would essentially only use for one two-week trip every year. So I was pretty excited when a couple of months ago I stumbled across an article touting the upcoming release of the Microsoft Universal Mobile Keyboard. I just bought one last week (see picture above), and can definitely understand why the black model is in short supply.
First, the product basics. It is a Bluetooth keyboard that folds up for easy transportability. It has a supposed battery life of 3 months (it comes with a USB charging cable), and supports paring with up to 3 different Android, iOS, or Windows devices.
As for my thoughts after playing with it for a few minutes... I like it a lot. Well enough to post about it. One thing that I was initially concerned about was the 3 device support - the device switch has 3 positions, one each for Android, iOS, and Windows. So I figured that if I wanted to switch between pairing it with my phone and my tablet, which both run Android, I would have to redo the pairing process while keeping the device selection on Android. Well, it turns out that the keyboard will pair with Android devices even when on a non-Android switch position - I accidentally tested this out with my Android tablet and the Windows switch position. The downside is that you lose the OS-specific functions (which are a really nice feature) when you mismatch, but most things still work great. And I guess it's a little confusing to have to remember that the Windows position is actually for the Android phone/tablet, but you would have to remember the pairings with a generic 1/2/3 switch anyway.
The other minor "complaint" I have is that the keyboard is pretty cramped. This obviously makes sense when you consider that mobility is one of the goals, but I did find myself making quite a few typing mistakes the first couple of minutes while using the keyboard. I got used to it pretty quickly, though, and my error rate began approaching normal.
Overall, I'm really glad Microsoft released this product. The compact design is great for traveling, and typing isn't too terrible on it. And I love the multi-OS support. This should hopefully improve the quality of next year's trip's travelogue. While this keyboard doesn't end poverty or bring about world peace or anything like that, I feel that it is an excellent product that is worth the $80 and my recommendation if quality mobile typing is a use case that you have.
Posts
