I bought my first smartwatch back in 2015. Had to go to Guatemala to host a speech on digital transformation. The trip included a visit to our offices in Costa Rica and flying from Barcelona via the US (inbound Newark, outbound Houston).

This was way too many timezones. I wanted to have them all at once visible on my wrist. This simple use case made me buy a Pebble Steel that still today dresses my wrist. I have to buy myself another strap because the original one is now broken.

Anyhow, I learnt how usefull a smartwatch could be.

But Pebble Inc. was closed down by Fitbit. Since then I’ve been for a year trying to find a substitute for it. In my wrist, I don’t want a computer but rather a smart notifications device. (JC Bagnell found the perfect words to describe my problem).

I want it to be always on, e-ink and so on. There is no replacement for this marvelous watch. And you know? It is logical. I’ve been wrong all this time.

Since the iPhone 3, Galaxy S3 and other contemporary models there has been nothing new under the sun. May be even before. You could say there’s a better screen, fingerprint, Face-Id, NFC, funky cameras… yeah, that’s cool, but still, a smartphone packed with gadgets that are not disrupting, just evolving.

Now, having said this, back to the smartwatch. But in between, take some minutes to read this article on the strong silence in the last Apple’s keynote on AR weareables.

A little hint on where we might be heading for?

I just blame myself for being that slow realizing it. I tend to forgot that Apple evangelizes its customer base and prepares them to accept a new paradigm shift. And I’m an Apple customer. Weird. So first, they say, learn to love and use the smartwatch until we find a replacement for you smartphone. How?

Easy: AR

Augmented reality will transform heavily our day to day. It is one of the upcoming disruptive tendencies that will win pace. Because it allows us to connect real and virtual in a very handy manner. And it can be fun.

iWatch 4 is a piece of technology. It is already a full phone but lacks a comfortable screen. Smartphones are still there, but just because of this screen. It is the visualization and the data entry which keeps them alive.

Some trends point to having the smartphone wrapped full size on your wrist with flexible screens.

I am more in favour of considering something more futuristic and cool…

Imagine two or three years ahead; you could be seeing smart glasses evolve and even perform gesture recognition by synching with gyroscopes in your wrist…

Can you picture it?

Then, you will have the CPU on your wrist, the display in front your eyes and the data entry by just moving your hands.

I just was trying to replace the strap of my pebble time, because it broke. Now, I just can’t wait to have my smartphone deconstructed in these three pieces as Ferran Adrià would have done.

I hope the Cupertino guys or their competitors in Seoul, are bringing us this future soon.

I have two kids, 14 and 11. Probably both will recall at my age this funny device the elderly used in the past…

It was called smart… phone?

Now back to Amazon to find a replacement strap for my Pebble.

Enjoy your work, enjoy your life, and keep both in good shape.

Archi