I believe that one of the barriers that make smartwatches not very consumer friendly is that it is difficult to surf the web using just the smartwatch alone. Fortunately, Microsoft has developed an easier way with Torque.
Torque, designed for Bing and Android Wear, is a simple application that uses the wrist motion as well as vocal commands to do a quick search.
For example, you can ask about the weather in San Francisco, and you will get an answer right on the touchscreen. If you want to get a weather report in Seattle, just say the city, and it seems to know the context.
So far, Torque really works well on Samsung and LG smartwatches, but there have been reports of sensor issues with smartwatches like the Moto 360.
I think that Torque is going to be one of many smartwatches that will use gesture controls. After all, if smartwatches are going to be able to function without being wirelessly tethered to a smartphone, then there will have to be a better way of controlling them besides a dinky touchscreen. This really just makes sense.
If you have Android Wear, you can install Torque right here and see how well it works for you.
