The History of the Smart Watch

First lets tackle the point of whether we are discussing a smartwatch (one word) or a smart
watch (two words). The interesting - and surprising - answer is
that we don't really know! The 'smartphone' is definitely just one
word but the 'smart watch' could be either. In fact the general usage
by the the large manufacturers tends to veer towards two words. So
lets stick to that then - the smart watch or Android watch.

What is a smart watch?

This is simply a watch that does more than a traditional watch - ie tell the time. A
smartphone does much more than just allow you to make a phone call
and the same applies to a watch. What this actually is will depend
upon the requirements of the user - it may be an internet
connection, alarms or alerts, GPS systems, heart rate monitors ....
and probably more in a few years that we haven't even considered
today!

Now lets look at where they came from and how they developed.....

Dick Tracy was probably the original smart watch wearer which was a form of 'walkie-talkie'.
And so was Captain Kirk and the rest of the Star Trek crew who were
able to keep in touch with the enterprise when they beamed down to an
unknown planet (where someone in a red shirt always died .....).
James Bond also used any number of different smart watches which were
phones, transmitters, cameras, powerful magnets and even laser
cutters. Ok so not all of those will be that useful today (!) but
certainly a watch which transmits a location, takes photos and allows
you to talk to someone else is pretty much where we have now reached
.........

The first smartwatches.

Its hard to say when the first smartwatch came about because it all depends upon your
exact definition. Where did the history of the smart watch begin?

For instance - did a traditional wristwatch
become a smart watch once it had a backlight? Or an alarm? Or
stopwatch? Or dual time capabilities? You get the idea.......

The first recognized smart watches (not that they were called that then.....) were made by
the Japanese technology company Seiko in the 1970s and 80s. These
were basically personal computers with very limited capabilities. But
do take into account that in those days so did personal computers!
Any computer system that could do anything useful tended to need a
whole room to fit into - so anything fitting on the wrist was
amazing! However - the cost of these was prohibitive so it was up
to the digital watch to take the world by storm. These were multi
functioning timepieces - and who can forget the Casio watch
calculators?!

And so we come to 1999 and the introduction of the Samsung SPH-WP10. This was really the worlds first watch phone. Yes this looks huge now with it's retractable aerial but again consider the size of phones at that time. This was far ahead of its time but again so was the price. The cost was around $700 which was an enormous amount in the late 1990s for something which was after all just a phone you strapped to your wrist!

Now on to the present day. All the big players are in the market and competing to see who comes out top. Some are playing their usual strategies – Samsung ensuring that they are one of the leaders in the race with their Galaxy Gear. And Apple holding back to let others make mistakes before jumping in with an al singing all dancing version.

One thing we are certain of – the smart watch is here to stay and can and will get better, more