Although still an emerging sector, a leading manufacturer has suggested that the wearables market ‘has set the bar so low’.
Speaking out on the growing wearables market, MisFit co-founder Sonny Vu has suggested manufacturers have lowered consumers’ expectations to unreasonable levels, claiming the need for daily battery charges should not be tolerated by users.
“One of the main reasons why people stop using their wearables is that they get frustrated at having to charge their devices all the time,” Vu said speaking exclusively with TrustedReviews. “It’s amazing that the whole wearables industry has set the bar so low.”
With the MisFit Shine sporting only a basic array of wrist-based functionality that allows it to boast an impressive six month battery life, Vu has taken a dig a rivals, such as the high profile Samsung Galaxy Gear, which require nightly recharges.
“One of the reasons why people take wearable products off is that they have to in order to charge them. We asked people whats the ideal and everyone said can you make it go for a week or two weeks without charging.”
He added: “If you’re going to ask people to charge their wearables, you have to provide incredible user cases.”
With many current wearables, such as the Nike FuelBand SE, essentially being glorified fitness trackers, Vu has questioned whether consumers should put up with such poor battery performances.
“We just don’t think that activity monitoring is killer enough to ask people to charge their devices,” he told us.
“Being able to talk on the phone while I’m on the go, that’s big enough to make me charge my phone. Being able to do email on the airplane, that’s enough to charge my laptop. Being able to see how many steps I’ve taken, that’s not big enough.”
Looking to the company’s future wearable plans, Vu has suggested that the need to recharge devices should be avoided at all costs by consumers.
“Maybe someday, when we want to add some incredible functionality, we will ask users to charge their products,” he said. “We hope that day is far away and if we do it will be for a killer feature.”
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