Lol reviewers have had it and the watch is built on four year old hardware and the "round" display is an absolute joke.
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Apple Announces Apple Watch, Available in Early 2015 From $349
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Lol reviewers have had it and the watch is built on four year old hardware and the "round" display is an absolute joke.
As it turns out, the $350 Sport version has neither sapphire nor steel. It has glass and aluminum.
Any educated guesses as to what the stainless steel + sapphire, or the ultimate gold Edition models might go for?
Thanks!
The haptic feedback element is one that will be very interesting and I suspect will magically be in other smart watches in one or two generations.
Notice how the "sport" watch is the only one without the sapphire screen. I would think that the sport would be more likely to need the sapphire to avoid scratches while playing sports
What is more surprising is how many people don't realize you easily turn the watch over to change the orientation of the crown. This has been the most repeated and most dumbfounding question over and over with an obvious answer.
As to nobody using a watch crown while wearing it, whatever. Not the least bit unusual.
They did too much hype for it to refer to it as a hobby, but they will keep it around a few generations even if it doesn't do well.
Few things make me not jumping on the watch at first:
The need to have the iPhone. Not that is a big deal, I have one, but to use some of the fitness apps, do I have to carry the damn phone with me? What about if I go surfing and swimming?
That brings me the next issue. It seems this is water resistant due a photo of a guy taking a shower but it might not be waterproof. Fail IMO.
Not sure I love the design of it but this is a subjective matter.
Some of the UI features are not necessary, like the photo album.
The positives.
I love the tech and it is very impressive.
The finish and materials are top notch.
The UI looks impressive for such a small screen
Some of the features are great like the Maps giving you vibration to tell what direction to take.
Now I will wait and see this at the Apple Store to make my final judgment. But at this point I am looking at my Omega and loving it after more than 15 years.
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The need to have the iPhone. Not that is a big deal, I have one, but to use some of the fitness apps, do I have to carry the damn phone with me? What about if I go surfing and swimming?
That brings me the next issue. It seems this is water resistant due a photo of a guy taking a shower but it might not be waterproof. Fail IMO.
Not sure I love the design of it but this is a subjective matter.
Some of the UI features are not necessary, like the photo album.
The positives.
I love the tech and it is very impressive.
The finish and materials are top notch.
The UI looks impressive for such a small screen
Some of the features are great like the Maps giving you vibration to tell what direction to take.
Now I will wait and see this at the Apple Store to make my final judgment. But at this point I am looking at my Omega and loving it after more than 15 years.
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Ill be getting one. I'm leaning towards the 18k rose gold, depending on price.
lol only to be replaced in a year or two.
What really blows me away about this watch is how many different styles/combinations there are for a V1 product. Just looking at the classic stainless steel page on Apple's website and there's 18 different combinations you can chose from. I can only imagine how many SKU's Apple's going to have to maintain with this product.
Indeed impressive. Although I do wonder (tongue planted firmly in cheek) that if Samsung, LG or Motorola had as many that the comments would be akin to "they're just throwing out anything to see what sticks"
Got to get this off my chest. Seeing all these people bashing those that are disappointed is just pathetic. The reality is there are all these people apologizing for Apple and trying to deem anyone who isn't impressed as an Android user. I'm sick of you Apple fanboys giving us sensible fans a bad name. You think in order to be a fan of Apple you have to apologize, justify, and worship everything Apple does. They are NOT perfect and they make mistakes just like any other company. Regardless of whether this watch sells well or not doesn't mean it's a good product. It means it's a good PROFIT for Apple.... that doesn't always translate to the end users having better lives after spending $400 on a toy watch. It just means that Apple is extremely popular and has a ridiculous amount of marketing prowess in pop culture.
You fanboys also need to stop acting like you work for Apple. You act like you were part of building these Apple products. I see people totally doing the whole, "HAH... this thing will sell millions you're jealous" as if they had something to do with it. Just because you open their wallet and toss money at a certain brand name doesn't make you an investor.... it makes you a CONSUMER.
The Apple Watch is having an identity crisis just like the rest of them. Apple didn't innovate a damn thing. It has all these apps on it and experiences that are meant for a phone. But it doesn't work by itself and requires the phone to use it? That makes no sense. By the time I would turn that stupid dial I could just lift the phone out of my pocket since it needs to be there anyway.
Can't even use GPS on the watch without your phone in your pocket so if you wanted to do GPS when walking, biking, hiking you have to still carry a phone with you. Most times you don't have pockets in those scenarios.
Who wants to look at photos on a watch or talk into their wrist? Especially in a crowded area? They literally focused half of the presentation on those stupid communication gimmicks and that was the only unique feature it had. A bunch of animated smiley faces and sending pulses or doodles to another watch owner? It was really awkward and sad watching those people on the floor trying to demo the phone and basically just shoving the "Look you can draw a smiley face" down your throat because there was nothing else unique about it.
$400+ just to send someone a doodle you could send to an iPhone. Why the HELL does someone need to feel my heartbeat unless they are my doctor or the novelty of sharing your heartbeat with your significant other during phone sex. That will get old quickly.
I am a iPhone 5S, iPad Air, and Mac owner so I am not an Android user like so many will try to claim. I found the entire event to be WAY over hyped as usual. They claimed security was insanely tight and yet clearly the iPhone 6 design leaked months ago. The Apple Watch design leaked as well.
The only surprise for me was that the iPhone 6 was as fugly as the leaks suggested. I was HOPING they would prove everyone wrong and it would have a FLAT camera and none of those big ugly lines. Can't believe that was the actual design!!!
The quality of all the Apple product lines is suffering. I enjoy the iPad Air for it's thinness but it seriously feels very cheap compared to the previous iPads. The glass feels like it's made of plastic and when you tap it feels like a toy. So when I saw the iPhone 6 shell I knew for sure they were going to trade the iPhone's industrial/luxury aesthetic & feel for a few millimeters less thickness just like the iPad Air.
The NFC payment thing after they basically ignored NFC is just another catch up move. Despite the fact that it's still highly underutilized. The TOUCH ID being used to log in to websites and make online payments is way more important to me. Shopping in a store is starting to become pointless when brick & mortar upsells everything and you can get items cheaper and tax free online.
Then the last bit of the event they don't give us the iPad Air 2... instead it was dedicated to a U2 performance and a crappy U2 album for free? Who would pay for their music in the first place?
I will reserve final judgement on whether to get the watch until I use it. Thank god it doesn't come out until Early 2015. But as far as the iPhone goes I will be getting one and just hiding that ugly back with a case.
You fanboys also need to stop acting like you work for Apple. You act like you were part of building these Apple products. I see people totally doing the whole, "HAH... this thing will sell millions you're jealous" as if they had something to do with it. Just because you open their wallet and toss money at a certain brand name doesn't make you an investor.... it makes you a CONSUMER.
The Apple Watch is having an identity crisis just like the rest of them. Apple didn't innovate a damn thing. It has all these apps on it and experiences that are meant for a phone. But it doesn't work by itself and requires the phone to use it? That makes no sense. By the time I would turn that stupid dial I could just lift the phone out of my pocket since it needs to be there anyway.
Can't even use GPS on the watch without your phone in your pocket so if you wanted to do GPS when walking, biking, hiking you have to still carry a phone with you. Most times you don't have pockets in those scenarios.
Who wants to look at photos on a watch or talk into their wrist? Especially in a crowded area? They literally focused half of the presentation on those stupid communication gimmicks and that was the only unique feature it had. A bunch of animated smiley faces and sending pulses or doodles to another watch owner? It was really awkward and sad watching those people on the floor trying to demo the phone and basically just shoving the "Look you can draw a smiley face" down your throat because there was nothing else unique about it.
$400+ just to send someone a doodle you could send to an iPhone. Why the HELL does someone need to feel my heartbeat unless they are my doctor or the novelty of sharing your heartbeat with your significant other during phone sex. That will get old quickly.
I am a iPhone 5S, iPad Air, and Mac owner so I am not an Android user like so many will try to claim. I found the entire event to be WAY over hyped as usual. They claimed security was insanely tight and yet clearly the iPhone 6 design leaked months ago. The Apple Watch design leaked as well.
The only surprise for me was that the iPhone 6 was as fugly as the leaks suggested. I was HOPING they would prove everyone wrong and it would have a FLAT camera and none of those big ugly lines. Can't believe that was the actual design!!!
The quality of all the Apple product lines is suffering. I enjoy the iPad Air for it's thinness but it seriously feels very cheap compared to the previous iPads. The glass feels like it's made of plastic and when you tap it feels like a toy. So when I saw the iPhone 6 shell I knew for sure they were going to trade the iPhone's industrial/luxury aesthetic & feel for a few millimeters less thickness just like the iPad Air.
The NFC payment thing after they basically ignored NFC is just another catch up move. Despite the fact that it's still highly underutilized. The TOUCH ID being used to log in to websites and make online payments is way more important to me. Shopping in a store is starting to become pointless when brick & mortar upsells everything and you can get items cheaper and tax free online.
Then the last bit of the event they don't give us the iPad Air 2... instead it was dedicated to a U2 performance and a crappy U2 album for free? Who would pay for their music in the first place?
I will reserve final judgement on whether to get the watch until I use it. Thank god it doesn't come out until Early 2015. But as far as the iPhone goes I will be getting one and just hiding that ugly back with a case.
Great post. Ive enjoyed some of your other posts regarding watches.
Ive been saying for some time, this needs to succeed in both the style/fashion and functional capacities. The former looks dynamite - with several finishes, two sizes, dozens of bands that are also modular, so the look is easily changed and 3rd parties will have 100s of options. Easily dressed a little up, a little down, can be made playful or not unreasonable for any professional to wear.
The latter from the brief preview looks good - as a developer, Im very interested (and already discussing with my dev friends) in the details of the underlying OS, the SDK, the dev tools, etc. I think there will some non-trivial changes over the next few months, and well actually see some totally new use cases due to more intercommunication options with the iPhone, and as the 3rd apps roll out, some interesting use of all the sensors, input mechanisms and whatnot.
Im pretty sold on it, and even if I happened to have a Daytona sitting in a case, this is a really fun and exciting alternative.
Side note: some details were conspicuously missing, but its clear with some fine tuning over the next few months theyll change, so why introduce them now. (ex: battery life and/or charge time)
It's a great watch but obviously nothing near a multi thousand dollar swiss watch. I think once these get to the 2nd gen or so they'll start selling really well. I second version of a product is always completely new design which is what I'm expecting here. However it's a great time to be a developer for this.
What really blows me away about this watch is how many different styles/combinations there are for a V1 product. Just looking at the classic stainless steel page on Apple's website and there's 18 different combinations you can chose from. I can only imagine how many SKU's Apple's going to have to maintain with this product.
http://www.apple.com/watch/features/
So many of its features are fed from the iPhone. I'm guessing you could use it as just a watch without an iPhone. But would anyone really do that?
Least we forget, Apple TV2 was developed and actually released as a hobby, as did the Apple TV3 speed bump. With feature bumps still being added to this day, its a hobby that many of us enjoy Apple dabbling in.
If it does become a hobby, I will be ecstatic if the Apple Watch is also sold for $99 and continues down a roadmap of it's own.
In regards to your comment on one of the threads and Apple Pay. I can only assume that Apple feels that you can easily lose a phone or have someone grab it and start charging but that forcing your wrist on a scanner is less likely.
I'm not saying it makes sense to tout security features and then promote an easy work around. Just guessing at their "spin" on it.
Least we forget, Apple TV2 was developed and actually released as a hobby, as did the Apple TV3 speed bump. With feature bumps still being added to this day, its a hobby that many of us enjoy Apple dabbling in.
If it does become a hobby, I will be ecstatic if the Apple Watch is also sold for $99 and continues down a roadmap of it's own.
Oh - I'd buy one for $99. $349? not going to happen. Especially since it's iPhone reliant.
So if you use it jogging you'd also have to carry your iPhone as well? That seems awkward.
An iPhone on your arm to use the watch on your wrist?
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