Design 01: Watches in the Wild

Interviews

Interviewee 1: Lady at the Safeway supermarket who looks middle aged or a little older. She has an android smartphone and mainly just uses it to call. It is usually in her bag or pocket. She would not use a smart watch because she thinks there is no need.

Interviewee 2: Young Berkeley graduate who works in the medical profession. He uses the phone right before he sleeps and can’t find it in the morning because it moved or fell. First thing in the morning, he checks the smartphone for weather, time, and what’s going on. He would like these features to be more accessible and centralized like on the lock screen with one press (points to existing feature but finds the pull down motion uncomfortable. He likes the left right swipe with thumb.) If using a smartwatch, it would primarily be used during the day because he thinks he would not put it on until leaving the house, but is willing to carry the phone around as part of the morning routine. He thinks that a smartwatch would be difficult to use because the screen is smaller: assumes that you would do simpler things through simpler actions. He wants to use it like a normal watch for reference, but with more detailed information like to check weather on the go and perhaps listen to music.

Interesting note about situations where he can’t use phone is during work because it is prohibited to keep people from misusing it like facebook. However, doctors do use phones for calculator function to calculate prescription or for quick references when laptops are hard to reach.

Interesting note for a potential application is to broadcast a message that everyone can see on their devices (ipad, iphone, computer) from a smart watch.

Interviewee 3: Lady at the Safeway supermarket is a young mother who graduated from Cal with a computer science degree several years ago. She primarily uses her smartphone for social media and “to look up stuff”. Her phone is all over the place and never quiet in the same location making it hard to find. She would wear a smartwatch to be stylish, but thinks that it would be hard to use because the screen is so small.

Brainstorm Ideas

1. Checking facebook should be an application on the smartwatch because so many people find that the most common usage of the smartphone is keeping updated on social media. Since the watch is strapped to your wrist, gone are the days when you drop the phone on your face trying to check facebook on your bed. Since the screen is small, the screen will only be used for notifications and pictures. For further usage such as scrolling through pictures and updates, the user can turn on the projecting feature on the watch to view the content on a wall or any flat surface.
   
2. Email notification is another application that people would need to stay connected to the virtual world. The watch would feature mostly just notification and subject line of the email. To read the rest of the email would involve projection or enlarging the watch screen to the wrist band.
   
3. A centralized application that includes all the basic information one would need to start the day, which includes weather, time, alarm, timer, stopwatch, and reminders.
   
4. An application that broadcasts messages to other devices so people can see. A presenter can take a picture and broadcast it to the rest of the people in the meeting room or use the smartwatch as a way to send group messages to devices within the range of the room or to devices connected through wifi.
   
5. An application to use the smartwatch as a presentation clicker (move onto next slide). Tapping is a good motion to do on a watch. Sliding as a way to scroll through slides faster. The watch will of course have a count of the time to allow to know how long the presentation has been.
   
6. The smartwatch can be used as a key access device much like the Cal 1 Card on campus. It heightens security because it is more than likely to be strapped to the user making it difficult to steal. It is also more convenient because the user does not have to take it out.
   
7. The smartwatch can become a music player with speakers and with an output for earphones that can be connected wirelessly.
   
8. An application for making calls since many smartphone users still primarily use the smartphone to place calls, but the phone is not always in the most accessible place. The call would be placed using voice commands or using some kind of bluetooth device for listening and speaking into without raising the watch to the ear.
   
9. The smartwatch can be used as an emergency resource since it is usually on the user. This application would include having a flashlight, emergency dial, notifications such as Amber Alert, a GPS tracker, a maps application, and ability to quick dial preset numbers.
   
10. The smartwatch can facilitate the need to know bus times for the next bus by having an application that counts down the time until the next desired bus arrives. It would automatically know which bus stop you are at based on the GPS capabilities.
    
11. An application with google map capabilities so that a useful map is always on hand. A preset route can be determined by voice command or through a phone. Also, additional features can be added for those who are visually impaired such that it vibrates when the sidewalk lights has changed.
    
12. The smartwatch can have a preset grocery list (from another device or by voice command) and notifies the user of the next closest item in the grocery store to avoid having to run back and forth looking for a specific item. Also, the application can calculate the total cost of the list.
    
13. Calculator application can be commonly used in so many situations such as calculating bill at a restaurant or for doctors, calculating prescriptions. An interesting input could be a picture recognition system that allows a user to take a picture of a calculation they are trying to make and the watch outputs the answer on the screen.
    

Favorite Idea and why

The presentation remote (Idea 5) was chosen because of its simplicity and applicability to audiences in many context, whether it is academic or professional settings. 

Prototype

User Testing

Insights

• The front page left and right scrolling through different presentations was easy to understand and use because of how it is similar to previous technologies. 
• The help (?) at the bottom right was easy to use.
• Though initially unintuitive, the user found that having the volume control on the left side of the smart watch was a useful feature because it declutters the screen. 
• The user found that tapping for next screen was not as intuitive as swiping to the left. 
• Also, she scrolled down to go forward a couple slides, and scrolled up to go back a couple slides. She did not like scrolling through the slides by touching the sides of the watch as she did with a volume control, but preferred to perform this motion on the screen itself. 
• The user found the overall layout and features while presenting to be clear and helpful. She would use a smart watch for this application with the additional incentive of looking cool presenting with a smart watch.