Learn English – What does “play that forward” mean

It's expressing the author's ambiguous feelings about the watches - effectively both of your possible meanings at the same time.

"As much (as) I like what it all does so far..."

The author likes the features that a smart watch provides, however...

"I have not kept any of the new "smart" wearables on my wrist for longer than a couple weeks."

The author has not continued to use the watches.

Though he or she appreciates the benefits of a smart watch, the author does not find those benefits sufficiently valuable to bother wearing one (for reasons unspecified in this excerpt.)

Note: The first "As" in the sentence is usually included but optional. The second "(as)" is necessary. I put it in parentheses above to make it clear that I added it to make the questioner's sentence grammatically correct.

"what lies ahead" is a term that means "in the future." It is primarily used for figurative things like social implications, technological advancement, or other general "future stuff" -- but if you're on a road trip, it may indeed include more literal things like mountains, rivers, swamps, cities, etc., that you will need to navigate through.