Apple Watch Review: You’ll Want One, but You Don’t Need One
bloomberg.com
bloomberg.com
I have a phone, internet, camera, GPS, and music player on one device. That's a pretty big deal! What the watch adds is not nearly as exciting to me, in that light.
Also, I don't like that it more or less needs an iPhone. While I don't see myself buying an android anytime soon, I can only eyeroll at yet another apple lock-in. That is probably what stops me from buying the apple watch more than anything.
People rush to the door to buy the newest model of iphone, why would the same not be true for the watch?
Surely the next generation will offer improved battery life, improved design, improved feature set, refinements, and knowing apple may even have an entirely incompatible set of straps.
Especially given that the watch is cheaper than a new iphone, i expect that we will see even more people upgrading from version to version.
People are willing to repeatedly pay for the latest model of something that they use constantly throughout the day as one of their chief tools for mediating the world. If (and that is a meaningful "if") it is indeed true that the aWatch is fundamentally a status symbol that has little functional value, we would expect many fewer people to rush to upgrade it.
They seem more fragile than a traditional watch, and also quite fugly.
I think watches have become a bit of fashion accessory or other outward statement over the last several decades. Seeing things converge on 2 or 3 dominant watch faces and some minor variations among bands just seems ...bad... to me. Like a tiny piece of individually has to be traded in for technological advancement.
My current watch collection is almost all items that have emotional ties to people, life events, etc. Maybe I'm very much in the minority, but I don't think so, not to the extent required to truly make a "market" for smart watches.
I believe we are seeing the tipping point of technology as fashion. Others have predicted a resurgence of non-digital goods. Perhaps watches and glasses will be the first examples where tech fails hard?
In fact, you can own a decent Rolex for almost $0. There is a big hit on resale value from initial purchase, much like the "driving a car off the lot decreases the value by 10%" thing. But I could sell the Rolex I'm currently wearing that I bought used for about what I paid for it. However if I buy a smart watch, I'll be lucky to get 10% of the cost of it back 5 years later.
I can now happily write filters for all these "journalists" who are just republishing marketing materials.
For example, in the video linked here, the reviewer demonstrates how sometimes the watch won't turn on the display when raising the watch to look at it. The only real way to permanently fix this is an always-on display. However, that will almost certainly require a hardware revision, not a software one.
And, having the watch, my sense is that the overwhelming majority of Watch-owners will, you know, where and use it. Nothing I'm getting from any of these reviews is "oh my god, this is a disaster," and the people I know who have Pebbles or Android Wear watches like them pretty well and continue to wear them. This suggests that once you've shelled out for a smartwatch, the watch has to be pretty bad for you to just not use it.
Now: will people who bought the watch like it enough to want to upgrade it regularly? Will they evangelize it to their friends? Will they drive demand for apps that creates a robust app ecosystem and potentially clever new products that are uniquely suited to the watch form-factor?
I don't think they will. Which has little to do with Apple per se and more to do with the inherent limitations of the form factor. But, if I'm right (and, hey, I'm predicting the future, I'm probably wrong), that's not good news for Apple, which more than Google really needs the watch to be successful.
You can store music on the watch, but the sync is so slow and the data cap is 2 GB that unless I want to listen to the same playlist on infinite repeat its not viable. You'd also need bluetooth headphones, which is a purchase I don't feel I actually need... generally when running I'd rather be alert of surroundings less I get hit by a truck while jamming to a favorite track.
My use of music controls on the watch has been this: phone is sitting around office or home and connects to sound bar, I can leave phone charging somewhere while reading / studying / drawing and if I want to change tracks or volume its a flick on the wrist. Otherwise while in the subway + listening via headphones on a crowded train, can change music while keeping a grip on subway poles.
Yes.
I'm under the impression that Android Wear devices will do most, if not all, of the things you want, though I don't actually own one. There are many of them at this point; I've personally only used the Moto 360, and quite liked it, but just could't justify the expense.
I won't echo the sentiments of the other comments but you may want to explore the Microsoft Band. It falls short on bluetooth music player. However, whether iPhone, Android or WP, you have cross-integration. Something not afforded by the other main products currently (though, rumored Wear will interface with iOS). The ergonomics of the Band needs minor improvements. The dedicated GPS and range of sensors is mostly in a class of its own. Dedicated GPS is only on the Sony Wear as far as I recall.
That's the #2 function (next to accurate time/timing) I want from my smart watch: bluetooth music without the need for my phone. Dealbreaker without it.
A decent heartrate monitor that works with at least some accuracy when sweating would be amazing and I would pay a decent amount for a watch that also included that, but it isn't a dealbreaker like the bluetooth music without the phone.
http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/products/smartwear/smart...
The Garmin Connect apps are, well... crap really, but I spend almost no time in the apps.
A couple of weeks ago, my boss asked me if I would wear an Apple watch if he bought me one, my answer was basically, yes, because he bought it for me, but I honestly have no real desire to have the Apple watch.
Throw in an optional tricorder:
http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-07-03/star-treks-t...
C'mon, remember ten years ago when people said all they wanted from a phone was the ability to make calls?
Smartphones were seen as a big deal long before the iPhone. Remember "crackberry"? The concept was accepted. Skeptics doubted the worth of the iPhone specifically, because it was quite a bit different from other smartphones (e.g. no hardware keyboard).
Tablets were a bit different, as there were no popular tablets before the iPad. However, the general feeling as I recall it was that tablets as a concept were cool and useful, and it's just that nobody had managed to do one well.
The iPod fit this as well. MP3 players were fairly popular and the advantages were obvious. iPod doubters were skeptical of the iPod specifically, not the general concept of portable digital music players.
The Apple Watch seems to be the opposite scenario. People are mostly not convinced that smartwatches in general are a useful product category, but a substantial number of people think Apple's version of it is good.
It's a departure for Apple. They typically wait for a market to mature to where it's at least somewhat proven, but the existing products are bad in various ways. Then they show everyone how it's done. In contrast, the smart watch market basically doesn't exist yet. There are a handful of extremely niche, experimental products, and that's it. Apple will have to convince people that they want a smartwatch, rather than merely convincing people that they have the best one, or that they've overcome the deficiencies of the other ones.
It will be interesting to see if they pull it off.
Actually, no. I remember people saying that the iPhone was too simple - that it only had half the functionality of a Symbian phone and even less connectivity.
After reading Gruber's review [1], I'm worried about the first version being a big step backwards from my Pebble regarding constant time display (it's a watch!) and water resistance (I won't swim with it, but I will want to submerge it while bathing my kids).