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OVERVIEW
Join Adrian and Robert as they present an overview of smart watches including the Pebble and the Sony SmartWatch 2, their key differentiators, respective programming models and ecosystems and some interesting use cases. Adrian and Robert will also discuss their lessons learned on their highly-rated SmartWatch Apps (Augmented SmartWatch Pro for the Android and Smartwatch+ for the iOS) and and recommendations for the future as the emergence of wearables/smart watches are set to more rapidly grow over the next 18 months.
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Lessons Learned in Developing for the Smallest Screen: Smart Watches
1. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 1
Lessons Learned in Developing for the Smallest Screen
- Smart Watches
Adrian Lee-Kwen
Android Software Inventor
@augmentedtraff
Robert Heese
@smartwatchplus
2. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 3
• Smart Watches Overview
• Use Cases
• Android Specific Discussions
• Lessons Learned – Augmented SmartWatch Pro
• iOS Specific Discussions (Robert)
• Lessons Learned - SmartWatch+ (Robert)
Overview
3. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 4
Smart Watches – Key Factors to Consider
• Environmental
• Battery Life
• Connectivity
• Software Capability
• At a glance / Hands-free
4. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 5
Smart Watches – Environmental
• Outdoor Readability
• Water Resistance
• Durability
• Quality of hardware
5. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 6
Smart Watches – Battery Life
• How often do we need to charge them
• Varies from a couple days (Sony) to a week (Pebble)
to a few months/year (G-Shock)
• Type of charger
6. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 7
Smart Watches – Connectivity
• Do they need to connect directly to Smart Phones or
does it work as a stand-alone?
• Reliability of connection
• Inter-operability with Bluetooth – which may vary
depending on Android version/vendor
• Stability over time – requires a reboot
• iOS or Android?
• Sony is Android only
• Support may vary between iOS and Android
• Wifi 3/4G Bluetooth
7. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 8
Smart Watches – Software Capability
• Typically the hardware is more advanced than the software
• Software needs to catch up
• Vendor’s focus may be hardware
• Software quality
• Many subtle issues (especially on Android)
• Getting send/subject/preview of email
• Accessibility bug in Samsung
• Grabbing notification info from 3rd party app
8. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 9
Smart Watches – At a Glance & Hands-Free
• Always on watch
• Dynamic info
• Highly Personal &
• Contextually Aware
• Vibration and notification alerts
12. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 13
Smart Watches – Killer Use Cases?
• Real-time Notifications
• “Hands-Free” and “At a Glance”
• Real-time Control – phone calls, music, home
automation, Powerpoint/Chromecast on remote PC
• Use case - two watches connect to the same Android
• Accessibility
13. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 14
Smart Watches – Killer Use Cases?
• Swappable
watch bands
• NMA vs IMO
14. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 18
• Challenges
• Opportunities
• Pebble Development
• Sony Development
• Augmented SmartWatch Pro Architecture
• Canvas & Augmented – Plug-in Architecture for Pebble
15. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 19
Android Specific Challenges
• Something simple like getting sender/subject from an email is
not so simple:
• Multiple apps for email (Gmail, K9, Exchange, Touchdown,
Enhanced Mail, …)
• Multiple Versions of the Email App
• Multiple Versions of Android
• Multiple methods of getting Notification info in Android
• 1st Email vs 2nd unread email
16. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 20
Android Opportunity
• Multiple Methods of Extracting Notification info
• Varies by app/version/Android
• At least 4 methods (including reading app DB via root)
• Ability to “Optimize for specific Apps”
• Filter out duplicates (Spotify)
• Filter out frequent updates (Google Navigation)
• Filter out “noise” ongoing call notifications (Skype, Viber)
• Ability to reformat info to condense into Smart Watch Limited
Space:
• Remove Special Characters/Spaces
• Reformat with pertinent info at the start (Google Now)
17. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 21
Android - Pebble Specific
• 3rd Software Ecosystem –Pebble biggest’s advantage
• Three Software Models:
• Android App – communicate via Intents to Pebble software
• Can send notifications to Pebble or override the music
app info
• 2-way info possible only via Music App (buttons via BT)
• Pebble Watchface App – Runs on Pebble watch using
Pebble SDK
• Best for 2-way control, flexibility
• Need to develop in C
• Hybrid – Combination of the two
18. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 22
Android - Pebble Specific
• Canvas Watch-Face – 3rd Party Plug-in approach
• 1-way only (send info to Pebble)
• Innovative approach
• Suggestion to 3rd Party Developers
• Plug-in approach as Canvas but as a Pebble App to
allow 2-way communication
19. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 23
Android – Sony Specific
• Android App only via Sony SDK
• Render a bitmap/layouts -> sent to Sony Watch for display
• Touch/button input (swipe, double tap, position-sensitive)
• No programmatic access to side button
• Concept of widget vs App mode – no vibration in widget
• Colour advantage
• Issues
• Touch is not as reliable as buttons
• SmartWatch 1 display is not viewable in sunlight
• Initially “at a glance and hands free” difficult to implement
20. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 24
Android – Sony Specific
• Initially – auto display of any bitmap challenging to do
• Show Icon was the most common approach – not hands-
free
• It is possible to do this:
Intent i = new Intent(Control.Intents.CONTROL_START_REQUEST_INTENT);
i.putExtra(Control.Intents.EXTRA_AEA_PACKAGE_NAME,whichApp);
if (Utils.isSonyWirelessHeadsetRunning(this))
i.setPackage("com.sonyericsson.extras.smartwirelessheadsetpro");
else
i.setPackage("com.sonyericsson.extras.smartwatch");
sendBroadcast(i, Registration.HOSTAPP_PERMISSION);
21. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 25
Android – Sony SmartWatch 2
• New SDK is compatible with the older watch (simultaneous
notifications and widget mode not there yet)
• 220x176 display resolution
• Will scale up the older 128x128 apps (default)
• Highly recommended to optimize for newer display size
• Additional “buttons” accessible to app options/back
• Native support for additional building blocks (lists etc) to
rapidly build richer apps
• Lack of 3rd party APIs for Watchfaces (hence cannot be a Pebble
killer yet)
• low power mode may offer a potential solution
22. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 26
Architecture of Augmented SmartWatch Pro
• Key Objectives
• Support Open APIs (both into Augmented and into other
apps)
• Concurrent Support for Multiple SmartWatches
• Integration with Tasker (Key 3rd party automation app)
23. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 27
Android Broadcasts
(SMS, Incoming Calls,
Dock, Power
Connected, K9,
Alarms, Network,
Pebble Connect)
3rd Party
Apps/Tasker
Intent API
com.alk.k9.
add.action
24. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 29
Pebble Canvas Plug-In Integration
• Future of the WatchFace
• Dynamic, Contextual, High Personal
• Simple APIs:
• Registration of Plug-ins
• Refresh of Data
• On-Demand Data (text or image)
• Interface Class (reuse as-is from Canvas Author, just
copy into your project)
• Provide implementation of above APIs (plus any
extensions)
• Highly recommended
25. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 30
Augmented Plug-In Extensions
for Canvas
• Dynamic WatchFace based on notification content
• Dynamic Image based on sender/Notification
• Dynamic content (notification alert vs post-alert)
• Tasker/3rd party Intent API
• Multiple Asynchronous Plug-ins for Text info
• Dynamic horizontal bars – to convey state info
• Fitbit, Klout + Withings Info
27. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 32
Lessons Learned - Augmented SmartWatch Pro
• Origins of the App
• Key App Stats
• Pricing
• App Sales
28. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 33
Origins - Augmented SmartWatch Pro
• Initial use case
• Sony break-thru
• Reduce Tech Support issues - > Paid app
30. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 35
Key App Stats
• Downloads – 7000+
• Installs to Downloads Ratio – 60%
• Ratings – 4.1
• No ability to determine breakdown by Smart Watch – No Analytics (on
purpose)
31. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 36
Pricing an Application?
I think pricing in the Android ecosystem is weird.
If you would have charged $15 for it I wouldn’t have bought it.
Not because it’s a lot of money but because hardly anyone does that
besides the productivity suites.
…
Send me your PayPal and I’ll send you $10.
I checked and the above address isn’t registered.
32. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 37
Pricing an Application?
THIS APP IS WAY WAY WAY TO OVER PRICED AND YOU INTEND TO
INCREASE IT. GET IT WORKING AT 100% PERCENT B 4 OVER PRICING
GREEDY ONE.REPLYS WILL NOT B SEEN BECAUSE THEY WILL JUST BE
HYPOCRITE RESPONSES TO BEING SCHOOLED.
33. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 38
Raising the price by 60% Accelerated Downloads!
34. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 39
App Sales
Tip - Appmonger app to track sales
Price Changes impact
Refunds – 17% refunds (@1 out of every 7)
Refunds after 15 minute window
Purchasing outside of Play store
Holiday sales spike?
• don’t decrease the price increase it
36. Presentation Title | Month 2012 | 41
Smart Watches – Conclusions
• There is no dominant player today
• Highly personal – use cases depend on the individual
• Software is terribly lacking – hardware is advanced
• Great opportunity for developers (call to action)
@augmentedtraff