By definition, a smartwatch is simply a watch that has the capabilities to communicate with your phone and provide notifications. To fully appreciate this much-hyped technology, you must understand the innovations that led to the present-day smartwatch and its impressive features.
Smartwatch Predecessors
The first smartwatch really wasn't "smart" by today's standards. The Mimo Loga was released in 1941 and it had the built-in capability to do simple math problems on your wrist.
It took 42 years, in 1983, to take the next step in smartwatch technology with the introduction of the Seiko D409 Memory Chronograph, which allowed the wearer to store information on the watch through a primitive "touchscreen." The watch could store up to 120 letters or numbers that the user could then look at later.
Modern Smart Watches
Enter the new millennium, and we finally see our first glimpse at what the smartwatch has become today. The Microsoft SPOT watch was able to receive news and weather information through FM radio waves.
The true beginning of the modern smartwatch era began by accident. In 2010, Apple released their sixth-generation iPod Nano, which was small and square. Third-party manufacturers took that opportunity to introduce watch bands for the iPod and, in a later software update to the Nano, Apple released watch faces specifically for the iPod Nano.
Present-Day Smartwatches
Today, we have all kinds of smartwatches of all shapes and sizes, but they all perform the same basic functionality; they take what is on your phone and push it to your wrist. You're able to make and receive phone calls, respond to text messages, and keep up with your overall fitness on most models.
The smartwatch has been around for almost 75 years, but its technology is just now coming of age. The future of these up-and-coming devices is bright as the glow on a smartwatch-user's wrist.
