Pokemon Go has basically taken the rulebook and thrown it out of the Window. It's seen huge interest around the globe and really shaken up mobile gaming, by insisting that you leave your house.

The biggest downside - apart from the demand overwhelming the Pokemon Go servers - has been the incredible battery drain experienced by smartphones.

There's no real escape from the battery drain problem because Pokemon Go needs your phone on, the screen awake, the GPS position monitored and data synced with the servers. Ok, sure, increasing the battery capacity of your phone is one aspect, but if there's ever an argument for a smartwatch app, this is it.

Smartwatches are much derided in technology and haven't seen huge adoption. Apple seems to have slowed in talking up the Apple Watch and Android Wear seems to have had few releases in 2016. That's because, ultimately, they struggle to do anything that's not bettered by the phone they are connected to.

But in the case of Pokemon Go, a smartwatch could offer a lot, by letting you share the workload with your phone and allowing you to put your phone away - reducing the chances of you getting mugged as you stroll down the street trying to catch Tangela.

Instead, a smartwatch app for Apple Watch or Android Wear could easily alert you when a new Pokemon appears, it could let you look at the map and check local PokeStops and Gyms to decide whether you need to vary your route to get to them, and it could easily let you check your stats and carry out other in-game tasks - all while your phone remains in your pocket.

In many ways, a smartwatch could offer the sort of functions being promised by the Pokemon Go Plus, but move it from a connected accessory to part of the game.

Of course, we'd never envision using a smartwatch app to catch Pokemon or to battle in Gyms as the mechanics would be too small and far too problematic, but it could at least save you from having the screen on for 2 hours as you walk around playing the game.

So perhaps Pokemon Go could be the saviour of smartwatches. It's one area where the connected devices would be genuinely useful, rather than just a worse version of what you already get on your phone.