An excerpt from http://www.sitepoint.com/future-adaptations-for-smarter-watch-screens/, by Pete Griffin
If smartwatches are to ever succeed in the marketplace and replace, rather than augment smartphones, the development of a more user-friendly interface is key. In this post, we’ll track the evolution of the smartwatch to date, explore some of the current challenges designers face, and take a look at the future adaptations for smarter watch screens.
##A brief history of the smartwatch
The smartwatch has been the next big thing since 1982, with the release of Seiko’s primitive Pulsar NL C01. There was no connectivity way back when, which meant smartwatches in the early 80s were not actually all that smart.
Swatch’s The Beep, and Seiko’s 1990 Receptor, were the first watches to be connected to the wider world, but the first watch to double as a phone came from Samsung, with their SPH-WP10. Microsoft burst onto the scene in 2004, with their SPOT watch, which used FM broadcasts to update subscribers’ data in major US cities. The cost of which was $59 per year.
By this time the clock was ticking on the smartwatch, but at the beginning of this decade the pieces of the puzzle came together. The tech giants turned to Bluetooth technology, rather than FM. This was complemented by a host of advancements, including touch screens, better batteries and short range connections to internet-connected devices like smartphones.
Samsung have been leading the way for the last couple of years, but while many of their offerings have been technically good, sales volumes to date have been small.