What can a dumb watch teach a smartwatch?: informing the design of smartwatches

Abstract

With the release of Android Wear the Apple Watch, we are seeing a resurgence in the industry of smartwatch offerings. While there has been research on the technical feasibility of smartwatches as well as research proposing novel watch interactions, there has been relatively little work trying to uncover what user-centered values a smartwatch might offer to its wearer. We detail a user study of 50 everyday watch wearers focused on eliciting usage practices of traditional dumb watches. We discuss themes uncovered in our participants' perceptions of watch features, aesthetics, and the daily patterns of wearing and not wearing a watch. We also present participant perceptions of smartwatches and draw upon their mobile phone use. Using this data, we discuss possible smartwatch apps and the implications these findings might have for smartwatches.