Nowadays, intelligent devices are a product of the intertwined development trends of miniaturization and portability, wireless communication, low energy computing, and advanced display technology. The core foundation of these devices - smartphones - has been around for nearly 20 years, and now smart wearable devices are preparing to lead the next wave of innovation. These innovations are built on existing technologies. How did we get to where we are now? This is a history worth reviewing, and we can also summarize the future direction from it.
The path to miniaturization, digitization, and integration
In addition to outdated clothing, the mid-1970s also featured portable electronic devices hanging around people's necks. By the late 1970s, cameras, radios, and Walkmans had all become smaller, cheaper, and more personalized devices - they formed the foundation of the consumer electronics industry.
The seeds of the digital revolution also took root and sprouted in this era, and its most important piece of soil is on people's wrists. In 1969, Seiko launched the world's first automatic quartz watch, which automatically chains through a rotating pendulum inside the case. In 1974, the world's first electronic watch, Casiotron, was also born in the hands of Casio. Later on, Casio continuously introduced new electronic watches, including the Casio Databank CD-40, which can store data such as phone numbers and provides a calculator function.
The devices born in this era also include digital cameras. Kodak was the first to develop digital camera technology in 1975, but it did not adopt this concept - so digital cameras had almost no development in the next 20 years.
In the late 1990s, the development of miniaturization and digitization of equipment entered a white-hot stage. Small digital cameras have become the mainstream in the market. Garmin portable GPS device was launched in 1990. Bluetooth earphones were launched in 2000. In 2001, the emergence of the iPod completely overturned the audio and consumer electronics markets. In the end, these personal electronic devices have undergone a transformation from single devices to external devices, and then to internal components of smartphones - they have all been integrated into a truly mobile and integrated smart device, which is a simpler and lower cost choice.
Driving the interaction between humans and technology
In the 1970s, bulky televisions had become a regular in the living room, but the audience mainly saw wooden frames, and the television screen only occupied a small part in the middle. In order to increase the area ratio of television screens, the mainstream cathode ray tube (CRT) technology at that time was rapidly developing towards rear projection large screens.
The emergence of flat panel liquid crystal display (LCD) technology is a turning point in the development trajectory of television, and it has also completely changed the field of computers and wearable devices. Casio launched the first LCD TV in 1983, followed by Sharp's invention of thin film LCD technology in 1988. The lower energy consumption and increasingly smaller LCD have laid the foundation for full color high-definition screens, which are installed in devices of all sizes - from televisions over 100 inches to smartphones, smart glasses, and virtual reality headwear devices.
The evolution of display technology has also given birth to another pillar of modern intelligent devices - touch functionality. With the popularity of LCD in portable computers, capacitive touch technology, originally used in computer touchpads, has also been integrated into the display screens of smart handheld devices - such as IBM's Simon phone launched in 1993.
With the help of capacitive touch technology, users can interact with devices without the need for external devices such as a physical keyboard or stylus. With the application of FingerWork technology acquired by Apple on the iPhone, capacitive touch has developed into a ubiquitous multi touch feature.
The fusion of screen and touch functions forms the fundamental user interface of modern wearable devices. As devices become closer to users, user interfaces and interactions also need to become more natural - and there is no one way that can be applied to all users and usage situations. These user experience technologies all originated from the rudimentary functionality of televisions back then, and without the integration of these technologies, the wearable device industry may not have emerged at all.
Economies of scale make everything possible
In the process of continuous development of watches and portable devices, modern computers have not lagged behind - their size has been constantly shrinking and becoming more user-friendly. Since the emergence of DEC microcomputers and the first personal computer, the field of mobile computing has also become a reality in 1986, when Toshiba launched the world's first large-scale laptop T1100.
The continuous development of laptops towards miniaturization and portability ultimately gave birth to the prototype of personal digital assistants (PDAs). Subsequently, Apple launched multiple PDA devices based on its development of the Newton platform in the late 1980s. Palm Computing also launched its first PDA product, PalmPilot, in 1996.
BlackBerry has developed the Interactive Pager 900 based on PDA, which is a flip style two-way pager. Due to the success of this product, BlackBerry launched multiple pager devices in the 1990s, which can be said to be prototypes of the tablets and smartphones we currently use.
After these stages of development, various subsystems and chip companies have developed new technologies to improve their products, and more importantly, they have the ability to mass produce millions of products. This not only reduces production costs, but also adds computing power to all imaginable devices. The ecosystem of semiconductors, manufacturers, and investment in production equipment have created the entire intelligent wearable device industry. Without these, they may only continue to become niche devices with high prices and low volumes.
The Combination of Devices and the Internet
The internet is the adhesive that connects different branches of technological development. At the beginning, the standard for networks was cumbersome and expensive analog systems, where voice and data were completely fragmented.
In the early 1980s, two forces emerged - wireless network technology and packet switched digital networks, and their combination led to a revolution. Device manufacturers and software companies have teamed up to develop a series of protocols and standards, including Ethernet and Wi Fi, which make interoperability, integration, and cloud architecture possible.
With the development of mobile computing, wireless networks have also become standardized and commercialized. In this way, the Internet not only covers servers and personal computers, but also extends to portable computing devices, ultimately promoting the concept of animal networking with technologies such as RFID, low-power Bluetooth, and ZigBee.
Nowadays, intelligent wearable devices rely on ubiquitous communication networks. The data generated and consumed by these devices will become the driving force for the development of next-generation networks. We have begun to see that a personal network composed of connected devices can have a profound impact on the combination of network topology and traffic patterns.
After the emergence of smartphones, the common development trends of computers, communication, displays, and portable electronic devices began to merge with each other. Today, 15 years later, smartphones have become a universal system - the foundation for the development of the next generation of wearable devices.
After a long period of technological integration, we have obtained the integrated consumer device of smartphones, while also entering an era full of new creativity, new choices, and new devices. Some of these devices are implemented by breaking down existing functions into more suitable forms, such as watches and cameras. Other devices are preparing to replace smartphones and respond to more complex and advanced usage scenarios by adding new features, with smart glasses being a representative of them.
Wearable devices and the Internet of Things: the combination of humans and machines
We have witnessed the rapid development of wearable devices - it is a new type of device formed by the fusion of four core technology branches. When we review the development history of wearable devices in a few years, we will definitely focus on a new concept - the Internet of Things, which is a network composed of connected environments and connected humans. There is a natural connection between wearable devices and the Internet of Things, and this connection has valuable self-reinforcing capabilities.
The application of the Internet of Things is being popularized in various fields: home automation, security systems, and intelligent lighting in the indoor field; Connected parking, traffic flow meters, and retail/payment devices in the outdoor field; Device tracking, location access sensors, and intelligent tools in the field of work.
Similar to wearable devices, their content includes low-power small computing units and integrates multiple sensors and network connections. However, all IoT devices need to be connected to people, and this is where wearable devices can come into play. We have seen explosive growth in IoT applications in enterprises - such as the connection between production equipment and smart glasses worn by workers.
Overall, the history of wearable devices is a history of fusion. The progress of the four industries of electronic devices, communication, computers, and display screens has created technological conditions for the emergence of intelligent wearable devices. We are at the beginning of a major technological change, and the impact of this change will reach everyone.