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69650

Suspended
Mar 23, 2006
3,367
1,876
England
Let's not rewrite history.....

I remember getting the Sony Walkman Cassette version for Christmas in 1980. It was brilliant. Got one of the slimline metal versions a few years later. In fact I've still got it and it still works. My friend bought an iPod classic and the battery died after about 18 months. It's a real shame to see Sony doing so badly. I've bought a lot of Sony kit over the years and it's always been a hell of a lot more reliable than any of the Apple kit I've bought over the past 15 years or so.
 

ersatzplanet

macrumors regular
Jun 30, 2008
128
99
STOP thinking of it as a watch and START thinking of it a wrist mounded display. The iPhone is the brains in your pocket or purse or briefcase and the iWatch is the interface to it when you need the info quickly, or when your phone wants to notify you of something. The time telling is just what it does the rest of the time.
 

DVNIEL

Cancelled
Oct 28, 2003
949
579
Hhmmm.... choices. Wear an iWatch or my current watch....

I think the choice is obvious.
 

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Tha Professor

macrumors regular
Apr 21, 2009
170
43
The Mothership
NFC sensor away from phone is a brilliant idea... I like the concept a lot! However, as far as I am okay with a lot of people having the same phone, watch is still a piece of jewelery and I wouldnt like to have the same piece as everyone else!
 

Swift

macrumors 68000
Feb 18, 2003
1,828
964
Los Angeles
Actually, I like it

Really, Tog converted me. I really didn't think anything of watches. I haven't worn mine in years -- ever since my cellphone gives me atomic-clock time, constantly updated. One less crease on my wrist. Sweaty, uncomfortable. But now, I can see the point! Siri! NFC for 2nd factor authentication, automatically! Bluetooth! Tiny touch screen!

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I'm so old fashioned I have to manually reset the time on mine once a week. I love my watch and I really like this idea, so my problem with it would be that I don't want to wear 2 watches. A simple wristband with a flexible display would work perfectly though.

I hung on for a year or two, but the watch is going the way of the fedora. Or, I hope, the tie.
 

Spetsnazos

macrumors regular
May 3, 2012
244
9
Anyone with any fashion sense wears a watch :). Sorry to burst your bubble but us watch people are the master race ...

Haha Jk love my watches tho.
 

MagnusVonMagnum

macrumors 603
Jun 18, 2007
5,193
1,442
But, many will have the same watch slapped around their wrists.
Not particularly fashionable IMO.

Custom screen faces could help there along with wrist-bands, etc., but then some of us don't like wearing watches.

Perhaps a RING would be a neat option (i.e. just for security and it would probably need the iOS device to enable it for the day in addition to biometrics to disable it if it's removed since there wouldn't be room for controls on it (or it wouldn't look good). Just imagine the iRing of Power. One ring to rule them all! (iOS devices and Macs, of course) Even Sauron would be jealous! :D
 

Boilermaker_coday

macrumors member
Jul 7, 2011
40
0
"...........using pressure data from millions of watches, Apple could build a precision altitude map of the world. This map would indicate true altitudes everywhere that iWatch wearers travel. The granularity would be several orders of magnitude......."

What is granularity and how is it measured in orders of magnitude?

Sorry, this is enough to scare the c*** out of me. I don't want to sound defeatist, but thank God I'm in my mid 50's and hopefully wont be around (ie: I'll be dead!) when every single person on the planet will be trackable/contactable/accountable...

Why don't we all iOFF, get a life and appreciate the things that are important like gorgeous sunsets, bird song - anything but this junk...

iPis**d

So you don't ever use a cell phone?



Everyone says the dont want or don't need one, but how many of these people said the same thing when the iPhone and/or iPad came out?

I agree with you. If apple ever did make an iWatch, they would be smart about making it so that it became a useful tool to a majority of people. Yeah, duh, nobody uses a watch to tell time anymore so nobody is going to try to fool people into buying a watch for that reason (although a 'screensaver' that tells the time would be convenient). Iphone and iPads have definitely convenience us in many ways, but who says that they have to stop where they are? I can think of dozens of ways a wrist-worn device could compliment an iPhone.

-FaceTime... think about it. The watch itself is using your iPhone to face time, but you can leave the phone in your pocket and talk to your "wrist" like in the sci-fi movies.

-iMessage... again, the watch itself isn't connected to the cellular network, but it's connected to your iphone, which is. The screen would be too small to actually type your message, but if you got an incoming message, for example, you could read it on your watch and then dictate, with speech, a reply. ***This feature would only be feasible if the speak-to-type function currently available for iOS becomes a lot better.

-A screen that showed you any important dates or events coming up in iCal or other to-do-lists.

-Weather information.

-The added features it could add to your phone's alarm clock: You are wearing it on your wrist as you're sleeping and when the alarms that you set on your iPhone go off, the watch on your wrist starts vibrating to help wake you up

-iPod / music controls. And don't tell me that this is dumb because you can just pull the phone out of your pocket to change the song... I know you can, but why do companies offer headphones with remotes on them?

-Of course, I like the ideas mentioned in the article having to do with with the option of your watch alerting you if you go a certain distance from your phone, so you don't lose it. And not having to use a passcode if it's near your watch, too.

-You could put the same sensors in it that are in the Nike Fuelband... actually the fuelband only has accelerometers, this watch could include those AND gps. This could make it useful for a whole host of fitness apps (make it sync-able with MyFitnessPal?)

These are just some ideas that I came up with at the top of my head and I'm sure that the people at apple would come up with a lot more that are better than mine. The biggest flaw that I would see with something like this is battery life. I doubt it would be able to go much longer than 2 days without a charge, that would bug me. I don't want to have to take my watch off every day to charge it.
 

Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
19,635
22,141
Singapore
Hhmmm.... choices. Wear an iWatch or my current watch....

I think the choice is obvious.

How much does that watch cost, and what can it do beyond tell time? Personally, I wouldn't bother with a watch like yours.

I for one won't mind a watch that adds more versatility to my phone. I am intrigued by the kickstarter, but am holding out to see if Apple decides to do anything with the watch before committing to one.:)
 

knucklehead

macrumors 6502a
Oct 22, 2003
545
2
I wear watches for fashion and exercise...lol you guys...

^^^ Considers wearing a watch "exercise" ... tee hee hee ...

Reminded today that "fashion sense" is one of the top 5 oxymorons of all times.

I'd love something like this ... as long as i don't have to strap it to my wrist.
 

Fatalbert

macrumors 6502
Feb 6, 2013
398
0
I can see this being useful if:

- it's waterproof (a requirement for me).
- it has NFC, and people actually start using NFC, but I can't see this happening soon at all.
- you can use it to check the weather very quickly.
- it can store data like a flash drive.
- you can change the clock GUI.
- it has a retina screen so it looks nice.
- it's not very expensive.
- it can act as a Bluetooth mic/speaker for your iPhone or other device (would be very cool!).
- it can use AirPlay to play music?
 

DVNIEL

Cancelled
Oct 28, 2003
949
579
How much does that watch cost, and what can it do beyond tell time? Personally, I wouldn't bother with a watch like yours.

I for one won't mind a watch that adds more versatility to my phone. I am intrigued by the kickstarter, but am holding out to see if Apple decides to do anything with the watch before committing to one.:)

How much did that 27" inch iMac in your profile cost you? What does it do more than a regular XPS One Touch? Touchscreen? Blu-Ray? USB 3? Exactly. You buy what you wanna buy

If you can't even spare a few extra calories and seconds to pick up your phone to use it then you are just a really lazy person.

And if you must know, $8000 for my Omega.

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Watches go on the left wrist, come on man :D

I'm left-handed, I put it there and it'll be scratch/chip city lol.


I find it amazing how many people need technology to invade everything of ours. It's no different if we were to make our belt buckles NFC compatible so we can tap our phone to our pants to unlock it; apparently we're too busy to even unlock our phones.
 
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MacDav

macrumors 65816
Mar 24, 2004
1,031
0
In the US there was a big push in the 1970s to going metric, but we didn't for a couple of reasons. The US defense and aerospace industry was and is still using English units, and is No.1 in the world, they aren't going to switch over anytime soon. Secondly, no one wants to pay $3 a liter for gas and $3 a liter for milk. The way economics is, the smaller the unit of measurement, the more they can charge you.

Yes, I remember when Clinton first took office he was pushing for metric. I was very happy about that. Unfortunately as you mentioned doing the right thing is not in the best interest of some very powerful entities. I have resigned myself to these realities, though sometimes when I think about it, it still irritates me somewhat. There are many reasons not to do what is best for the country. It always comes down to morality versus money. I guess money is currently winning.
 

Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
19,635
22,141
Singapore
How much did that 27" inch iMac in your profile cost you? What does it do more than a regular XPS One Touch? Touchscreen? Blu-Ray? USB 3? Exactly. You buy what you wanna buy

Well, if we really want to go there, my imac came bundled with a ton of freebies like a keyboard cover, thumbdrive, external HDD, printer+scanner, 8gb ram and even a small luggage bag, as well as discounts on office and applecare.

The dell All-in-one didn't exist when I bought my imac in July 2011. At that time, it was pretty much the only all-in-one computer worth considering, plus I was contemplating a break from Windows anyways.

If you can't even spare a few extra calories and seconds to pick up your phone to use it then you are just a really lazy person.

It's not about taking out the phone, it's about having to wriggle it out from my pants pocket in positions that may not always be the most conducive to taking something out or putting it back.

Plus, I am currently wearing a 4-year old G-shock watch, and it has always irritated me how small its stopwatch display is. When I run, I can't even see how much time has elapsed. In short, it looks pretty, but otherwise isn't very useful outside of telling time. I wouldn't mind switching to a watch with a more versatile display. For example, the pebble watch allows you to change the watch display. It can double as an accelerometer to display my pace when I go running, or switch music tracks.

I was reading another article and some other possible features include allowing your iwatch to negate to need to unlock your phone or key in passwords, or maybe even sport NFC.

In short, the possibilities are endless. In short, current watches are like dumbphones, and I want Apple to do to them what they did with the iphone. :)
 

Boilermaker_coday

macrumors member
Jul 7, 2011
40
0
How much did that 27" inch iMac in your profile cost you? What does it do more than a regular XPS One Touch? Touchscreen? Blu-Ray? USB 3? Exactly. You buy what you wanna buy

If you can't even spare a few extra calories and seconds to pick up your phone to use it then you are just a really lazy person.

And if you must know, $8000 for my Omega.

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I'm left-handed, I put it there and it'll be scratch/chip city lol.


I find it amazing how many people need technology to invade everything of ours. It's no different if we were to make our belt buckles NFC compatible so we can tap our phone to our pants to unlock it; apparently we're too busy to even unlock our phones.

So. You are trying to tell us what is and isn't a smart investment, then you tell us about the $8k you spent on a watch? Assuming the watch tells time then that makes it worth $100, so you spent $7900 on bragging rights.

Judging by that, if an iWatch only performed THREE OR FOUR functions well, then it would be worth mote than 3 or 4 hundred.

And if we are bragging, I inherited an ~$11,000 Breitling from my grandfather. But I'd never buy one with my own money.
 

nexusrule

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2012
623
758
who wears watches anymore?

Honestly the answer seems quite simple to me. People quit wearing watches because they become redundant; many other devices exists now that tells you what time is it.

But a new device with lot of useful features that you wear on your wrist? To me it's a totally new product that with the original watch only share a physical resemblance (and the name for simplicity).

Also, people are used to watch as idea and object so it's probably a better device to begin the trend of wearable technology than glasses.
 

liavman

macrumors 6502
Sep 22, 2009
462
0
I don't wear a watch because it leaves a very ugly tan line haha. I go surfing a lot which is handy for wearing a waterproof watch but just can't bare the white skin watch silhouette next to tanned forearm
There has got be an app for that ;)
 

Deleo77

macrumors newbie
Dec 28, 2012
6
0
Don't think of it as a watch

I'm surprised how many posters here can't get past the concept of the old time wrist watch here. Apple is not pouring millions into developing a device to help you keep time. The next 10 years will be about the connectivity of things, your home systems (thermostat, security, lighting, appliances), your media (television, speakers etc.), your car, paying for things, and a lot more.

This new device will handle all of that. There is no need to take your phone out of your pocket and launch an app. Just tap the siri icon on your wristband and tell it what you want it to do.. Turn up the heat, start a movie. It will have NFC for paying for things. Sure it will have a time and weather icon on it, but it will be a device that you use to control things around you. A lot of what people want on their iPhones and iPads has been created, they will become more mature devices over the next decade. The next wave of computing is wearables and controlling things. I think Google is a more innovative company than Apple right now, but when it comes to Apple's iBand vs. Google Glasses, I think Apple may be on the better path.
 

knucklehead

macrumors 6502a
Oct 22, 2003
545
2
I'm surprised how many posters here can't get past the concept of the old time wrist watch here. Apple is not pouring millions into developing a device to help you keep time. The next 10 years will be about the connectivity of things, your home systems (thermostat, security, lighting, appliances), your media (television, speakers etc.), your car, paying for things, and a lot more.

This new device will handle all of that. There is no need to take your phone out of your pocket and launch an app. Just tap the siri icon on your wristband and tell it what you want it to do.. Turn up the heat, start a movie. It will have NFC for paying for things. Sure it will have a time and weather icon on it, but it will be a device that you use to control things around you. A lot of what people want on their iPhones and iPads has been created, they will become more mature devices over the next decade. The next wave of computing is wearables and controlling things. I think Google is a more innovative company than Apple right now, but when it comes to Apple's iBand vs. Google Glasses, I think Apple may be on the better path.

I'm mostly interested in the proximity security part. I'm hoping they don't limit this to a strap to your wrist concept, which I'm simply not interested in. I'd prefer a device similar to the last generation nano --- I could keep it attached to a silver chain, and it would nicely set off my monocle.
 
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