Smart Wearables or Dumb Wearables? Understanding how Context Impacts the UX in Wrist Worn Interaction

Abstract

Recent advances in technology fostered the commercialization and usage of wearable devices. Among diverse form factors, wrist worn devices stand out. Benefitting from a conventional format and easy access, wrist worn devices, such as smart watches and fitness trackers, have been gaining popularity. While their continuous usage and close contact with the human body enable various applications, their limited computational resources summed with continuous changes in the context of use challenge designers in providing effective interactive solutions for end users. Seeking to understand how the context of use impacts the user experience and interaction with ten popular wrist worn wearables, in this study we analyzed the users' feedback: 545 users' comments were collected from Amazon, coded and aggregated. Based on the users' feedback, we identify 31 major problems that are currently faced in wrist worn interfaces. The analyses of the users' feedback led to a discussion about the causes and severity of those problems, and also to the definition of a set of design implications aimed at improving the user interaction with the next-generation wrist worn wearables.