Mastodon

Taking Calls on Smart Watches is Actually Really Cool

Posted by Matt Birchler
— 1 min read

via Wikipedia


I saw something amazing today. I saw someone making a call on a Samsung Galaxy Gear watch.

Stay with me, that’s not meant to be a punchline.

To put this into a little context, this was someone who has owned their watch for a few months. I remember talking to them about it sometime before Thanksgiving when it was new. As a future smart watch owner, I have been asking her questions about it all the time, but I’ve never asked her about how making calls is on the thing. Honestly, I assumed it wasn’t something I would ever do.

But seeing her take a call today was like magic. It wasn’t like Inspector Gadget at all. She didn’t stop what she was doing and hold the watch up to her wrist. She hit the button to answer the call and started talking. She kept doing what she was working on, which had her arms flying around from side to side. She talked totally normally and it seemed like the person on the other end was able to make everything out without issue. When the call was over, she hit the hang up button in stride and kept working.

It was amazing!

I had always thought that taking a call on a smart watch would be weird and kind of embarrassing to do in public. I found the opposite to be true; it made the concept of holding a phone to your ear seem quaint and old. I had to make a call later in the day and was struck with how restricted my movement was due to the phone propped up between my shoulder and ear.

I’ve completely changed my tune when it comes to making phone calls in the watch. I used to think it would be nerdy and weird, but I think that’s going to be huge. Yet another reason I am very happy I pre-ordered an Apple Watch.