It's Time For A FunctionalSmartwatch Regarding the watch, Jony & his team created a beautiful design, but the functionality isn't compelling yet. By version 3, it will be. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 9, 2015

Executive Summary

There is target group unsatisfied by smartwatches so far: People that see technology as a tool to achieve their goals. To increase their efficiency and overall performance. For them it's not a status symbol to show off.



Utilitarian Design Principles: Form follows function

Aesthetics has a lower priority than function.

With function I mean:

Ergonomics



Durability (e.g. average product life before first malfunction)



Reliability (Utilitarians like to have 99.9% of the time a fully reliable, responsive smartwatch) Introduction: I use smartwatches since 2 years and I keep a close eye on all major product releases; I am not satisfied with the general trend.

The industry of personal technology, seems to have forgotten to think from first principles. Elon Musk talked about this at length:













Either the producers of technology have forgotten that technology is about functionality and utility or the producers think we the customers have stopped buying technology for its utility in our life.







The current smartwatches of 2015 are all about looking stylish and having a plethora of different semi-functional features. Of course bragging rights by wearing a shiny, stylish fashion item can be a reason for purchase, but usually not for utilitarians. Utilitarians also do not care about accessories with distracting toy like functionalities.





When I think of a utilitarian I think of someone driven by a purpose. Purpose like spreading philosophy, fighting for the weak, fighting for freedom etc.

Those purpose people want tools that increase their ability to do and achieve things. Technology that focuses on style, status symbolism and a thousand distracting functions is not useful for purpose people.









Ergonomics mean:

Learning from age old functional digital watches like the Casio wristwatches when it comes to readability, battery life, weight and button placement.

Lightweight: Choosing light materials. Unapologetic plastic is probably the way to go.

Non glare display. Like on a Lenovo ThinkPad, utilitarians are okay with sacrificing, shiny surfaces for non-glare surfaces if it increases readability.

A focus on essential functions to reduce clutter and complexity.

Reliability & Durability

We utilitarians are okay with a slightly heavier device if the breaking point are especially reinforced with more material strength.

We are okay with a simple basic User Interface if the system thereby is more stable and uses less battery.

Durability is increased if parts like the watch straps are easily replaceable and are available at a low price.

1. Utilitarians are conscious of costs:

The price point is for many utilitarians an important factor. A lower price means they get more function per invested money. If a wireless recharging platform adds $30 to the price of the watch many would like to leave it out.





2. Utilitarians like to be focused and fast

A focused smartwatch delivers efficiently on the core functions and leaves out all functions that are not essential for a smartwatch. Core functions are time and delivering urgent and important information.





Important core-functionalities: Showing the time. All the time. Important Incoming Call Alerts Incoming Important Message Alerts (Text, Email, WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, Twitter) Important Calendar Reminder Low Battery warning for phone and watch Loss of connection warning Low energy Emergency mode for displaying time (clear indicators) Kitchen timer Vibrate at set intervals (e.g. hourly) Set to airplane/Battery saving mode Mute vibrations Indicator of Watch Battery in percentage Indicator that charging is going on and “fully charged” indicator Music volume Music track skipping (next, previous) Music track (Play/pause) Secondary, nice to have functionalities: Pomodoro timer All watch settings directly accessibly on the watch Stop Watch Additional customized time Zones with customized city names Current temperature and p recipitation likelihood in percent within the next 60 minutes Hourly t emperature and precipitation likelihood for the rest of the day Weather warnings, Umbrella reminder News alerts only for important news (adjustable frequency of 1-20 (configurable) alerts per month in close cooperation with Bloomberg, Reuters, FOX Business, Google News or CNN) Only the Apple Watch has a reliable Heart Rate monitor and the Apple Watch is overpriced in the eyes of many utilitarians and not focused on core targets, like showing the time all the time. Recharging as seldom as possible, 7 days would be perfect. Utilitarians are okay with a smartwatch weighing 20 gram more if it adds 3 days of battery life.