Of course, it’s EASY to want something. People claim to have “invented” the pushbutton automatic transmittion long before the Edsel, they just didn’t know how to DO it…..

The biggest problem with the smartwatch is the power usage, or “battery life”. The $300 Samsung is slow to respond and has a battery life of only ONE DAY!

It’s one thing to charge your phone in the car the next morning after meeting someone in a bar the night before but taking off your watch and putting it in your pocket because it died last night JUST WON’T DO! A watch needs a few days battery to match most people’s life style.

I can thing of two scenarios that I like. The best is a three-day battery and a wireless charging pad that you throw your phone and watch on at night, next to the bed. THAT works for me. (I have a wirelessharger on order for my phone.) There is a standard (“Q1”) that several phones match these days. It is for people who don’t want to plug that TINY plug into their phone when going to bed.

The same would go for the smartwatch, except it would have an EVEN TINIER PLUG. No, it needs wireless charging; just throw it close to the phone wireless charger.

The second scenerio is charging it by light from built-in photocells. This is a push of the technology, but is a  lofty target. It works GREAT for regular watches.

Right now Bluetooth 4.0 (low energy Bluetooth) is, for all practical purposes, REQUIRED for smartwatches. That’s why Nexus 4 and Galaxy S4 have it (and of course the Note 3). It’s NEEDED for smartwatch battery life. 

So, you’ll probably NEED a phone built in the last year (with Bluetooth 4.0) to match all the neat gizmos (pedometers, blood pressure gadgets, Google glasses, bike exercise computers, etc.). THAT, and maybe NFC (Near Field Communication), for paying at the checkout are a few good reasons to invest in a new phone this Christmas. 

Nexus 5 is going to be a beauty when it is announced in a couple days. It’s even been up (accidentally) on Google Play Store for an hour or so (and then yanked off). That’s $349 for the 16GB, and (probably) $399 for the 32GB.