How Far Can Smartwatch Replace Smartphone: The Plus and Minus Points of Smartwatch

With the continuous growth of electronics and communications, we will see more and more inventions of devices to help our life, productivity, and communication. By those features, smartphones are considered essential in people's life. However, a smartphone will not be the latest device development on earth. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, a tech expert, and a philanthropist, has predicted that the future device would change how people communicate and end the usage of smartphones.



Wearables are gaining popularity on the market. Electronic devices surround us, so it wouldn't be a surprise if a watch could work more than show the time. Not only fashionable as accessories, but smartwatches also offer diverse functions and features, such as sending messages, using mobile apps, and serving as fitness and health sensors. The invention of the smartwatch has become a hint of communication transition to replace the smartphone. Now the question is, how far can the smartwatch replace the smartphone? Will it replace the whole features of the smartphone or just some parts?

A smartwatch is a device that has the potential to replace the usage of a smartphone. It can be everyone's virtual device for personal daily activities until professional use.

Plus Point of Smartwatch:
Let's have some comparisons on what features that smartwatch can do but smartphone not:

• Health Sensor. Smartwatches feature an innovative and developed health sensor method to collect data and analyze the human body using biotechnology. Unlike the smartphone, the smartwatch always sticks to the human body, which allows it to continuously look at the user's health condition using its sensors and trackers. That means as long as you have your smartwatch with you, you should not be worried about the situation on your body, whether it's functioning normally or not. Imagine if one day you will have a fever, and then you can be fastly notified about your body temperature without getting a thermometer. In terms of communication, some smartwatches also can call the doctor / medical help every time there is a medical notification that might need medical support at the same time. Apart from this, you can check up on your daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly activities and see the average of your medical status. Smartwatches also have decent memory to save your medical information and record it, so every time you go to the doctor / medical facility, a smartwatch will help a lot to provide the data and current health condition of the users. Since the smartwatch is a small device, they also have a battery with a certain size, design, and function. This special smartwatch battery also has a lighter weight but longer battery life compared to a smartwatch. This battery condition will make users feel more comfortable wearing it, and the smartwatch will run its function effectively.
• More mobility with a 4G connection. Smartphone with internet connection allows users to connect everywhere and anytime but also has limitations. For example, users cannot use smartphones while driving or working out. Coping this issue, a smartwatch is an answer. With the 4G connection, a smartwatch is no longer a passive device. It will have the ability to process data on its own. It is even predicted that the newest version of the smartwatch will come with satellite connectivity. This LEO satellite connectivity allows the smartwatch to keep connected without the 4G or 5G connection. This connectivity sure will help users who don't want to bring their phones during the workout or other activities. Users are also still connected to notifications as they can always see the message or social media notifications on the watch screen. With smartwatches, users would never miss any important alert because it will be sent right on their wrist while driving, biking, or working out. Smartwatches have been proven to help users' productivity; the study 'Investigation of Security On Chinese Smartwatch' states that half of the respondents use smartwatches in the business environment to read email, agenda, text, and message notifications. Besides communication, the smartwatch helps users keep their data and documents. 4G and smartwatch satellite connections can store users' data in the cloud that many devices can reach.

Minus point of the smartwatch:
Besides the features of the smartwatch, some minus points must be considered. But, we are not just giving up on the minus point. We are here to give solutions to face the other side of a smartwatch.

• Its vulnerabilities. The security of a smartwatch may not be as safe as a smartphone, according to research conducted by HP Fortify Software Security Center (2015), investigating the information vulnerability of 10 major smartwatches that are usually related to the transmission and collection of sensitive user's data, such as heart rate, address, gender, and workout data. This happens because some smartwatches have weak authentication. Not all smartwatches have password authentication. Even if they have a password security system, usually, it's not provided with blocking action while users input the wrong password. The research also states that only half of the investigated smartwatches apply a screen protector by pattern lock system or pin code. Even if smartwatches have less security than smartphones, there are always some precautions to secure the smartwatches. From the manufacturer's side, it's better if they produce smartwatches with security software, build an app that requests a strong password, implement some layers of security, and provide a specially designed mobile application. Users can also participate in securing the smartwatch data leakage by researching before buying. As a user, please be mindful before buying a device, and check if they offer strong authentication, anti-virus feature, and types of data that the smartwatches will collect. Once the user buys the smartwatch, immediately activate the security system such as passcode, screen lock, fingerprint, authentification, and encryption. The user can install a security app for sensitive data when the smartwatch does not offer a security system.

There are more security tips for smartwatches users while using the device:

1. Deleting data. When users think that the data is outdated or irrelevant to save, deleting them from internal memory or cloud memory will be a simple way to avoid a hacking attack.
2. Do not pair with an unknown device. Usually, smartwatches are designed to be paired with a smartphone. By synchronizing smartwatches with smartphones, users can share data from both devices. So, always be suspicious when receiving a pairing request from a foreign device.
3. Please be more careful before downloading or opening a file or link. Pay more attention before downloading. Always think twice before opening the link or downloading something from an unknown sender. We would never know if this link led us to hacking action and viruses. Even if users receive suspicious titles of the message, delete it immediately and don't open it. If users install the protecting app, they usually give protection before downloading, so let the software work before downloading something.
4. Update the operating system. Updating the operating system can fix the security bug from the previous version to prevent the user's device from becoming the hacking target.
5. Avoid important operations. This refers to any financial data. Avoid online payment or inputting credit card information with smartwatches. It might seem less secure for smartwatches to do the financial operation, but that doesn't mean it is impossible. Many companies are trying to make smartphones more secure with more features. So, it will be able to help human utilities in any way.
6. Be aware of physical security too. The security threat is not only coming from the software; it can also be physical. For example, exposure to water, hazard, and animals can make smartwatches less functional. Please also be aware of any theft. To cope with this problem, many smartwatch companies create a prevention system regarding physical threats like fall detection or an activation system when the smartwatch is removed from the user's wrist.

The list of smartphone features is increasing, creating a unique way of communication for humankind. Now, some of us might still doubt replacing smartphones with other devices, such as a smartwatch. But, a little interesting fact is Bill Gates believes that despite the limitation of new devices to replace a smartphone, all of those devices have a huge potential to change our forms of communication using a smartphone.

So, do you think that Smartwatches will replace smartphones? The updated version of smartwatches right now is also being developed to provide more features. Let's wait and see how things are developed to answer the question.