Return to the archive index

Re: Commercial applications

angus2@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> 
> So, I guess I'm looking for a spew session on where everyone sees wearables
> being used beyond the general 'whatever' answer that's given most often.  How
> are wearables better suited than other computing devices?

Well, first off, saying wearable computers are "better" then other computing
devices, is like saying a plane is better then a car.  In some cases a wearable
may be better than another computing device, and in other circumstances it may
be worse.  If you compare desktop, pda and wearables computers they have obvious
strengths and weaknesses.  Ultimately it comes down to how you interact with a
wearable versus other devices.  You can't carry a desktop pc home with you (or
at least its very cumbersome to do so) you have to set it up in a stationary
location to operate it.  A laptop offers much of the same power but makes it
portable, but at the expense of display size, and short operating lifetime due
to batteries (typ 3hrs).  A PDA is much more portable and has a longer battery
life (24hrs for PalmPilot) but at the expense of cpu speed, color display, disk
space, etc. etc.  A wearable is effectively just a laptop computer with a
slightly smaller form factor, longer battery life and an interface that doesn't
require you to sit down and attend to it.  You can do pretty much whatever you
want *and* interact with your computer.  I know some people draw the line at
driving, or other concentration critical tasks, but I think its just a matter of
adjustment, and better interfaces, to be able to safely drive and compute at the
same time.

So basically, wearables are better computing devices, in many circumstances,
because they offer hands free omnipresent computing.

What remains to be seen is just how wearables can be used.  And hopefully, how
small we can make these things so that they are easy to take and do anything we
want to do with them.

-Paul