Smartwatches ?

[Yngmar]

Is there really no information you guys would like to see on your wrist whilst sailing ? Not wind direction, pointer to nearest light , nothing at all ?

The time? Everything else is already on handy instruments right there in the cockpit where I want to see it. They're sunlight readable, I don't have to fiddle with tiny touchscreens or even tinier buttons to bring up the information I need, there's one big honking display for each data source and all I have to do is glance at it. And they don't have to be removed daily for recharging either.

So the wearable revolution I'll happily skip. Sign me up for the brain implant though.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

I'm probably going to buy the Garmin Epix..... already compatible with Garmin Bluecharts.

Would be very interested in an ANT+ or BLE feed and display of NMEA data.

 

[prv]

The time? Everything else is already on handy instruments right there in the cockpit where I want to see it. They're sunlight readable, I don't have to fiddle with tiny touchscreens or even tinier buttons to bring up the information I need, there's one big honking display for each data source and all I have to do is glance at it.

In general I tend to agree - and the idea of rolling up my sleeve to find out the wind direction when it's blowing all around me is laughable. But I've realised that there is one thing I'd find useful on my wrist and that's a really well-designed tide display. I often find myself pulling out my phone to check on the tide using the Imray Tides Planner app, and it would be handy to be able to leave the phone below and just glance at my watch.

By "really good tide display" I don't just mean a time for high tide, but something like the current height of tide at the nearest reference point (taking my position from GPS), optionally switchable to a specific other point instead so I can keep an eye on how much water is at my mooring or over some harbour entrance that's important for today's plans. If there's room, a graph of the curve would be handy too to put the current height in context, or if not then at least some cues about roughly how much there is left to rise or fall and when it will change.

For streams, I'd like to know which way it's going now, whether it's increasing or decreasing, and when it will change. Again this should probably use the nearest available data by default, but be switchable to another of my choice (and not the same as the height selection). Trying to display a more detailed stream atlas probably doesn't make sense on a watch, but if there's a companion iPhone app then it would be nice if they exchanged context so that when I pull out my phone to look deeper it's already set to the same place and time as I was just looking at on the watch.

I'd buy a well-made app like that if I already had a smart watch (and I'm happily locked into the Apple ecosystem, so that's the one it would be), but I probably wouldn't buy a watch for that purpose alone.

Pete

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Quote:"
I'm very impressed and I suspect they will replace "dumb" watches as quickly and completely as quartz movements replaced mechanical. "
Real watches are mechanic based, self winding and made in Switzerland.
The new phone tethered watches are the really dumb ones, useless on board, hard to operate with wet fingers, difficult to read and low om power when you really need them.
Quartz movements in fact is a market in recession, even the Chinese are now starting to produce mechanical watches.

Hence I don't see a need to develop any apps for them.

You are confusing real watches with collector's pieces, fashion statements and the like. One of the reasons I like the ZenWatch is that it is easier to read than a Breitling and easier to operate (and it's more accurate as well). I can assure you that, whilst it may not say "I can spend thousands of pounds on something just because I want to" the ZenWatch is vastly easier to read and use than the Breitling. Yes, it has huge drawbacks but I accept that I'm an early adopter and those drawbacks are things that development will solve.

The reason demand for quartz movements for watches is diminishing is because people who just want a watch (as opposed to a statement or an object of art or engineering) have many other ways to tell the time now. It's on phones, computers, tablets, TV's, cookers, just about everywhere you look. Add in the fact that a watch lasts for a long time and doesn't really improve from one model to the next if all you want to do is tell the time and it's not surprising that the main growth in the watch market is at the high end and for mechanical movements.

The smartwatch has limitations and won't replace smartphones any more than smartphones will replace laptops or desktops. Nor will it be anything other than a functional device, rather than an object of desire (except for geeks) for a long time - it does move the watch along though - for the first time it can do something other than time-related functions (I'll ignore ill-fated calculator watches) and that means a reason for people to replace their existing watches once it becomes a mainstream device. This may interest you however http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/133...-price-release-date-and-battery-life-revealed - Tag Heuer may not be top-end but it's sstill comfortably above "I want to be able to tell the time". This report on Baselworld from a tech perspective seems to sum up the state of things at present fairly well http://www.techradar.com/news/weara...s-at-the-world-s-biggest-watch-show-1288968/1

As a matter of interest an RAF Typhoon pilot or a Navigator on a Tornado would be issued an £80 Pulsar - this watch http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pulsar-Mens-Black-Watch-PJN305X1/dp/B002JE2HBK more or less. I've known a few pilots with Breitlings, Rolex's etc. and they all took them off before flying and put on a watch they could read and operate in the air.

I can assure you that a ZenWatch, whilst it may not be as desirable to some (and I can fully understand that), is far easier to read and operate than a Navitimer - unless you decide to put the Breitling face onto the ZenWatch of course.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Is there really no information you guys would like to see on your wrist whilst sailing ? Not wind direction, pointer to nearest light , nothing at all ?

In my case, no, nothing. Wind direction? I have a pointer at the masthead, telltales on the shrouds and a nice B&G dial on the bulkhead. Pointer to nearest light? I look at the light. Job done.

 

[Cardo]

I would also like to see tide information available at a quick glance (as a glance, perchance?), that would be pretty nifty.

One of the bits of data I quite like about the app 'er indoors knocked up is waypoint information, such as DTW. Means I can sit on the foredeck whilst Sulu does all the hard work and I can keep an eye on when I need to be back in the cockpit for any course changes. Sadly, time to waypoint isn't a standard NMEA string, though probably not too tough to work out.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I would also like to see tide information available at a quick glance (as a glance, perchance?), that would be pretty nifty.

I have a tide clock at home. Must get one for the boat.

 

[prv]

I have a tide clock at home. Must get one for the boat.

The ones I've seen just give you a time for high tide, though. That's not especially useful when I want to know what's the latest I can get back into my berth before the tide drops below 1.8m, or when the stream starts to run in my favour.

Pete

 

[Boo2]

The ones I've seen just give you a time for high tide, though. That's not especially useful when I want to know what's the latest I can get back into my berth before the tide drops below 1.8m, or when the stream starts to run in my favour.

Yes, this is exactly the type of app I was considering writing. Would need to licence UKHO data to be useful though, my attempta to find free harmonics have had very limited success and the app would be no use at all with only 20 harmonic stations for the whole of the UK.

Boo2

 

[prv]

Yes, this is exactly the type of app I was considering writing. Would need to licence UKHO data to be useful though

Indeed.

In case you haven't already seen it, the Imray Tides Planner app (also associated with the name Tucabo) would make a good model to follow. It does everything I want tide-wise, although the interface is a little clunky in places, and it uses data licensed from various hydrographic offices around the world at reasonable rates (you buy them individually as in-app purchases). The guy who actually wrote Tides Planner sadly died a few months ago, so it's possible that it might disappear or cease to receive new data at some point; it would be good to have a successor in mind.

Pete

 

[dedwards]

Indeed.

In case you haven't already seen it, the Imray Tides Planner app (also associated with the name Tucabo) would make a good model to follow. It does everything I want tide-wise, although the interface is a little clunky in places, and it uses data licensed from various hydrographic offices around the world at reasonable rates (you buy them individually as in-app purchases). The guy who actually wrote Tides Planner sadly died a few months ago, so it's possible that it might disappear or cease to receive new data at some point; it would be good to have a successor in mind.

Pete

I am currently translating Absolute Tides onto iOs devices and incorporating a number of UI improvements in the process including Apple watch integration. It should be out by Christmas.

 

[Cardo]

The guy who actually wrote Tides Planner sadly died a few months ago, so it's possible that it might disappear or cease to receive new data at some point; it would be good to have a successor in mind.

That's very sad to hear. I've been using Tides Planner for years and always found it to be a decent app. The one time I had to get in contact with the developer due to a glitch I received a very prompt and positive response. Fingers crossed it gets taken on by someone decent.