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Tech-Sorrows: Mobile Pay & Masculine Smartwatches

I consider myself an extremely amateur tech enthusiast.  I enjoy browsing CNET and other sites for reviews on the latest or anticipated technology or electronics.  I am so excited about the future of technology--SmartHomes, Self-driving Cars, Green Energy.  It's coming and it's beautiful!

Image result for self driving car gif

But today I want to mope about the slow progress.

Mobile Pay


Most of my spending is on Chase credit cards.  And Chase was painfully slow in getting on board for Android Pay.  I'm excited about mobile payment.  It is awesome and easy to hold your phone up to the register instead of fumbling through a purse/wallet. (Also, I've had times where I get to the store or even to the register, and realize I don't have my wallet.)  But it's also more secure than using a credit card!  The register doesn't get your credit card number or personal information.  Here's an article that goes into it more, but basically:
"When your phone makes a payment via NFC, no credit card information is being transferred; Android Pay works with tokens. The only information being exchanged is a randomly generated 16-digit number. This means your credit card and personal info will be safe in the case of a breach into the store system or NFC reader."
Anyway, since the day I could use Android Pay, I've used it every chance I get!  Which unfortunately is very rarely.  It's not accepted most places I shop!  So when I showed up at Kroger to grab a couple things for dinner, and realized my purse was in the other car, I had to go back home!

Samsung Pay, on the other hand, uses magnetic technology, like your credit cards, so it can be accepted almost anywhere credit cards can be.  World shattering, in my opinion.  SO COOL!

But other developers have been extremely slow to work on developing similar technology (Samsung's is patented).  LG just recently announced that they're planning on launching their own version next year, which is great.  But for all the other developers, it seems like such a lost opportunity.

And I've fallen too deeply in love with my Google Nexus phone that I don't want to switch to Samsung (nor can I afford to right now; the Nexus is super cheap for a premium smartphone, by the way).

Masculine Smartwatches


This leads to my next woe: Smartwatches. I don't own one yet.  The technology has gotten to the level where I'm about ready to invest in a smartwatch.  And I was SO EXCITED to read that Samsung's new Gear S3 watch will allow any android user to use Samsung Pay.  That's huge in my book.  Then I went and looked into them, I found that they were literally designed for a man's wrist.  They're huge and would look ridiculous on my average sized female wrist.  You can see from the picture below, it looks more like a child wearing their father's watch.

Image result for samsung gear s3 on a woman

This is a problem across the smartwatch market, and there are very few smartwatches that look normal on women's wrists.  Okay, don't get me wrong, there are some good contenders that are worth consideration (Moto 360, Huawei, Pebble, Apple Watch for Apple users).  But I'm not quite as pleased with the tech behind the android watches yet to jump on board, and I don't want to switch back to an iPhone just so I can get a good smartwatch.

So I guess I'll just mope around until the tech engineers get their heads on straight and develop more user and especially women-friendly tech & design.

UPDATE: Got the Fitbit Versa in 2018 and have loved it. :)
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