Apple and Samsung could soon be joined by Google in the future smart-watch market. According to Financial Times, Google’s Android division is currently working on a smart watch device running the popular open-source operating system.

Details are thin on the ground, but the device will likely connect to your Android smartphone and also even Google Glass to provide you will watched based updates, reminders and info. Personally, I’m pretty content with my current smartphone to be too excited about a Google watch, however it will be interesting to see what Google can come up with.

Do you think that the smartwatch market is a temporary fade that won’t ever really catch on in a long-lasting way, or is there plenty of potential in this market, especially with advances in technologies like flexible screens? Let us know what you think in the comment section.

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This comes by way of Lee Young Hee. In a statement sent to Bloomberg, the Samsung Mobile Vice-President said that they have “been preparing the watch product for so long” and that they are “working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future and the watch is definitely one of them.” Aside from that, though, he wasn’t forthcoming with any kind of real details.

To be fair, there are already smart watches on the market. The Pebble, despite some limitations, has found some noteworthy success among early adopters, but it really will take a flagship-level product from the likes of a Samsung or an Apple to really popularize the format. The assumption is that the Samsung Smart Watch would connect to your Samsung Galaxy smartphone via Bluetooth, pushing notifications and showing text messages.

It would be interesting if they were able to take advantage of some flexible OLED technology for the screen, but we’ll really have to wait and see what sort of “innovative” features or functions will be in what I’m going to call the Samsung Galaxy Watch (or perhaps it’ll be in partnership with Swatch to make the S Watch). Maybe it has an S Time feature. In the battle between the Galaxy Watch and the iWatch, who is going to win? Consumers, I hope.

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Google wants to surround your entire body with tons of computing devices, it seems. First we have the smartphone, which Google already controls through Android. Next we have the Project Glass computerized glasses. It’s not enough to have a computer in your pocket (your phone, duh) and a computer in your glasses, now they want your wrist, too.

A new patent from Google has surfaced for a smartwatch with a transparent, flip-up touchscreen. The screen would be used for notifications and other information transmitted from your smartphone- not unlike the many other smart watches already on the market. Of course Google isn’t going to make something without putting a new spin on it. Unlike many other watches, the transparent flip out screen would give you access to full apps and would also allow you to look through it for augmented reality purposes.

In many ways the smart watch would act a lot like Google Glasses. Augmented reality functions would include letting the watch “see” objects around you. It would use this information to give you GPS-based instructions and directions based on landmarks that it detects.

The patent also describes putting the watch at objects and getting detailed, augmented information about them on the fly. Point to that brand new car you are considering at the lot and it will automatically bring up information about fair retail price and how cheap you can get it if you are willing to haggle, for instance.

What do you think, would you want to consider a smartwatch with similar functionality and abilities to Project Glass?

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