<story><title>The quest for a simple smartwatch</title><url>https://www.binarymoon.co.uk/writing/the-quest-for-a-simple-smartwatch/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>profsummergig</author><text>Was talking to an older lady the other day.&lt;p&gt;Very non-tech. Only uses an iPhone and an Apple watch. No laptop or tablet&amp;#x2F;iPad.&lt;p&gt;Gets a surprisingly large quantity of things done via her phone.&lt;p&gt;My phone is an Android. She shared 2 things her iPhone can do that I don&amp;#x27;t think my phone (OnePlus 7 pro) and watch (Amazfit T-Rex 2) combination can do:&lt;p&gt;- she can always find out where she parked her car&lt;p&gt;- her watch buzzes to warn her if she leaves her keys or phone behind in her car. I think she has some airtag type of thing in her keyring.&lt;p&gt;Surprised that Android phone + watch combination doesn&amp;#x27;t already natively offer these features (with easy discoverability).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rollcat</author><text>I feel AW is underrated as an everyday tool, especially when it comes to being mindful about contemporary attention sinks.&lt;p&gt;You can do almost anything from it that doesn&amp;#x27;t require a larger screen or a keyboard, and the kinds of activities the larger screen enables tend to mostly just waste your time. Take a typical 2007 &amp;quot;dumb&amp;quot; phone - the watch screen is roughly that size.&lt;p&gt;It becomes awkward when you need to find something on the web (you can&amp;#x27;t even access the browser directly, you need to ask Siri and work with a popup), but I was mildly successful following a recipe when cooking. It&amp;#x27;s plain better than a phone at many other common tasks (following directions, checking the weather, paying for stuff, &lt;i&gt;telling time&lt;/i&gt;, etc).&lt;p&gt;The biggest impact it had is that I no longer feel compelled to reach for my phone in most situations. It&amp;#x27;s not just that it saves 5-10 seconds here and there: the context switch is brief enough that I can remain focused on whatever I was doing.&lt;p&gt;(inb4 just turn off notifications, yes I am already very picky about what is allowed to distract me.)</text></comment>
<story><title>The quest for a simple smartwatch</title><url>https://www.binarymoon.co.uk/writing/the-quest-for-a-simple-smartwatch/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>profsummergig</author><text>Was talking to an older lady the other day.&lt;p&gt;Very non-tech. Only uses an iPhone and an Apple watch. No laptop or tablet&amp;#x2F;iPad.&lt;p&gt;Gets a surprisingly large quantity of things done via her phone.&lt;p&gt;My phone is an Android. She shared 2 things her iPhone can do that I don&amp;#x27;t think my phone (OnePlus 7 pro) and watch (Amazfit T-Rex 2) combination can do:&lt;p&gt;- she can always find out where she parked her car&lt;p&gt;- her watch buzzes to warn her if she leaves her keys or phone behind in her car. I think she has some airtag type of thing in her keyring.&lt;p&gt;Surprised that Android phone + watch combination doesn&amp;#x27;t already natively offer these features (with easy discoverability).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lopis</author><text>Google (Maps?) has done the car parking location for 10+ years. But like many things Google, Google software is not well integrated with itself, and discoverability is bad. It&amp;#x27;s perfectly possible that this feature has been removed and re-added several times during the last decade, as is the fate of many Google projects.</text></comment>