Smartwatches have become nowadays something taken for granted, a gadget like any other gadget like the Apple Watch you buy from Walmart or Target. Was this the case 20 or 25 years ago, I don’t think so. Such level this tech reached, didn’t evolve in a day or night, but over than 4 decades of stacking hundreds of tech, research and innovation to get to this beaty. In today’s part, we will discuss a brief history of smartwatches. If you are curious about learning about the history of smartwatches you are more than welcomed. But if you are just searching for the best latest brands to buy and top features launched this year, stay tuned for the next part of the topic in the upcoming days.
What Will You Discover in This Article?
- How have smartwatches transitioned from being niche gadgets to everyday essentials?
- How did early prototypes differ in functionality from modern smartwatches, especially those released after 2015?
- Which key companies made significant contributions to the development of smartwatches during the 1970s and 1980s?
- How did engineers managed to take us from tiny prototypes to Apple Watch, Samsung Gear and others.
Evolution of Smartwatches:
A smartwatch is a portable wearable computer in the form of a watch.
Smartwatches provide a touchscreen interface for daily use, making it a “mini smartphone” or that’s how tech geeks used to call it.
Early prototypes of smartwatches had the ability to perform simple tasks, such as telling digital time, translations and calculations. While models released after 2015 have better advanced functionality much closer to smartphones, from mobile apps, operating systems or connectivity. Let’s take a deep dive into the history of smartwatches and their evolution:
1970’s & 1980’s:
In 1972, Hamilton Watch company surprised the market with the first digital watch, Pulsar. “Puslar” was a brand name for Hamilton’s, but later Seiko bought it.
Later, in 1982, another Pulsar model was released that has the ability to store 24 digits.
Tech experts called it a “memory-bank” watch, as it was the first watch to have a user-programmable watch.
Seiko, in 1984, started to develop computers in the form of watches, accompanied with the initial introduction of personal computers. One of the models was called The Data 2000 watch, since it had the ability to only store 2000 characters. This watch had an external keyboard as an input method.
Also, during the 1980s, Casio entered this industry by featuring a couple of computer watches to the market. Other companies like Motorola and AT&T also contributed to the market in this era.
1990’s and the “father of smartwatches”:
The Timex Datalink wristwatch, was introduced in 1994. This device featured a wireless data transfer to receive data from PCs such as appointments and contacts.
1998 was a juicy firing year, as “the father of wearable computing” was discovered.
Steve Mann designed and invented the first Linux operating watch and he presented this invention at the IEEE ISSCC2000.
1999 was the year Samsung enrolled in the competition, launching the first watch phone that has an antenna and an LCD screen. It also provided users with 90-mintues talk time, meaning that it had a speaker and a microphone.
2000s:
In mid-2000, IBM presented a model for the “WatchPad”, a smartwatch that ran Linux.
This protype had total memory of 8 MB and could only last for 6 hours of battery life, but later it was extended to 12.
As creative as it sounds, a company named “Fossil” created the “Palm OS” in 2003, and it was used in the Wrist PDA, a watch with 8 MB of RAM and 4 MB of flash memory.
Even though this watch was considered revolutionary for having a stylus to write with on the 160×160 screen, it was criticized for the relatively high weight of 108 g.
Also in the same year, Microsoft announced the SPOT system, standing for Smart Personal Objects Technology. It’s simply an attempt from Microsoft to personalize home gadgets and electronics.
This system, of course, included a smartwatch project. The watch device provided users with information at a glance, a feature we use sometimes every minute without even thinking it was a revolution in earlier times. The information included weather, news, sports scores and many other things.
2010’s:
Between 2011 and 2012, Pebble was launched and simply put, it represents a starting point for most models we use nowadays. It could communicate with an Android or iOS device and charge it using a USB-cable which attaches magnetically to the watch for better water resistance. This watch would last for seven days before needing to recharge it again, which was good for that time
Experts suggested that 2013 could be considered as the “year of the smartwatch”, as most components are cheap and small enough to build an innovative smartwatch. In addition, many innovative companies we adore these days joined the industry, companies like Apple, Google, Qualcomm and even BlackBerry.
On September 2014, Apple started one of its most selling product line, Apple Watch. The first models faced controversial thoughts as some “Tech people” criticized the prices, materials, Eco-friendliness, etc. However, others praised Apple for creating a fashionable device, and welcome to the future, Apple Watch is one of the best selling smartwatches in the market, if not the best.
2020s-Today:
From 2020, the market started to focus more on designing devices that are relatively more “health useful”. For instance, In 2020, the FDA gave approval for an Apple Watch app called NightWare. This app aims to monitor and improve sleep of patients suffering from PTSD-related nightmares. Many companies, such as Samsung, Apple and Huawei are moving forward in this field, as it is a win-win for everyone. Also, as customers, we need devices and gadgets that make our life healthier not just easier.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the journey of smartwatches from their humble beginnings to the present day has been nothing short of remarkable. From the early memory-limited watches of the 1970s to the introduction of the Timex Datalink in the 1990s, and the revolutionary Pebble in the 2010s, each era brought its own set of innovations and Technology. The 2020s, in particular, have seen a shift towards health-focused features, demonstrating that these devices have transcended their initial role as timekeepers, taking the Apple Watch as an instance.
In this part, we discussed the history of smartwatches. Later, in the upcoming part, we will dig deeper into this market’s features, functionalities, limits and most importantly best buying choices, so stay tuned.
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