Google I/O: A couple of days with an Android Watch

I was at Google I/O conference during the past week. I will not yet comment on the overall tone of the conference, as I need to give it more thought.

However, I can comment on the Smartwatch Google gave to Google I/O attendees. I picked LG Watch and gave a try over two days on Android Wear. I picked this one over the other option, Samsung Gear Live, because I was told it would not be very compliant with a non-Samsung device (I use a Nexus 5).

The software is somewhat nice. This is basically a quick access to Google Now: simply making it more accessible may increase its usefulness. Integration with an Android phone is ok. The watch is especially nice for notifications and I was thrilled seeing BBC Sport World Cup goal alerts on my wrist. Application do not have to make any special change to display their notifications on the watch.

However, there is a big catch. Wearing the device hurts. Wearing the LG strap is really painful for my wrist, and various attempt at adjusting it did not help. After wearing it for a while, all I want is removing it to ease the pain. That’s what I did now. I just got back to using my phone as before, by watching its screen when I need to.
I (almost) gave up after a couple of days.

If Google (Or Apple) expects to be successful in wearable, they need to focus on a perfect, flawless user experience. The device itself should be pleasure and the added value must be obvious.

Users expectation are going to be very high. From watches to glasses, in wearable computing, “good enough” is simply not enough.
… And it looks that I am not the only one to think so. You can read excellent Ben Thompson article for more: Android where?