Apple Watch Review Roundup: The 'World's Best Smartwatch', But 'Not For Everyone'

[splogue]

I know everyone likes to say, "But people said the iPad would flop -- look what happened!" Well that argument doesn't really work since the iPad is a standalone product, and this is a $349+ accessory. It doesn't have the same mainstream appeal. A tablet has more uses, and it's great for the average person. This is more for the techies, the kind of people who read these forums.

Still, I can't wait to get my hands on one. And I look forward to the revisions.

Actually, this feels a lot like the iPad. When that first came out, I couldn't for the life of me figure out why anyone would want a giant iPod Touch. And, the first gen iPad wasn't super great. The second gen version was, however, and the rest is history.

The people who are saying it will flop are wrong. Apple will sell a ton of these. Then they will take all the feedback and make the next generation a must-have.

Until then, though, it will still be fun to play with.

 

[chitoac]

The verge guy doesnt seems to know much about fitness

the only way to actually measure calories when you do weight lifting is by having and hearth rate sensor... soo it should be able to record any type of exercise .

and also how people are saying review arent good.... how is the best smartchwatch in the world not good? of course if not for everyone! many people have samsungs or they just dont want them, but that doesnt make it bad.

also the conversation with the girl its a bad example. first you should have the watch on silent mode, second if you are talking to someone you can just keep talking raise your hand, see who send the message, get your arm down dimiss it and keep talking. you dont even have to stop talking......

 

[ttexxan]

So no need for an iPad then?

I have an Ipad Mini sitting at home collecting dust. I use my Iphone 6 plus.

In fact rarely use my 17 inch Mac book pro or my Large Mac Desktop. The only reason use desktop is to surf internet on larger screen. I find the Ipad cumbersome when typing emails and overall quicker when using my phone.

I think the apple watch is a great novelty, but will wear off quickly. However, I am looking forward to apple pay on the watch since using on my phone daily.

If the Apple Watch is anything like the Samsung watch I owned. Notifications can get annoying, Lag time looking at time, apps not syncing quickly, battery usage horrible, frustration with having to be linked to phone.

 

[darkslide29]

That's odd - got it right 'the first time'?

The Gear S is the THIRD Samsung smart watch. Gear, Gear 2 then Gear S. The fair comparison would be equating the Apple Watch 3 with the Gear S.

This doesn't look prettier than the Apple Watch. Looks like a monstrosity. Samsung still has a lot of work to do.

Image

I am so afraid that the 42mm Apple Watch is going to look like that on my wrist, lol. I like the idea of the extra screen real estate vs the 38mm. Even looking at the "actual size" comparison renderings on the Apple Store app isn't conclusive enough for me.

I wanted to order online for delivery, but this fear is making me lean towards an appointment at the Apple Store.

 

[rowspaxe]

I can't get over the "now I don't have to fumble around for my phone!" review. As if using a smartphone was cumbersome.

Isnt it just as cumbersome to fumble around with the watch. It looked fiddly--like you might expect on a 1"+ interface

 

[sterl320]

Which would explain the video review.

"I'm Nilay Patel on a treadmill, the Watch has fitness features but doesn't count the reps I do on bench press. Not good."

"I'm Nilay Patel at an important meeting, I received a notification that someone liked a photo on instagram, why is Apple telling me that? I hate notifications"

lmao omg!

Like he set up scenarios where clearly he would dislike the watch, and pretended it was the watch's fault lmao. Anyone who took that seriously is more of a sheep than Apple fanboy's, and I say that as a clear apple fanboy.

 

[Mark Booth]

"The only way I could check the time was to artificially flick my wrist or to use my right hand to tap the screen — in either case, a far heavier gesture than the mere glance I’d have needed with my regular watch." — John Gruber

Finally, Americans can start getting some exercise!

Mark

 

[Rogifan]

Which would explain the video review.

"I'm Nilay Patel on a treadmill, the Watch has fitness features but doesn't count the reps I do on bench press. Not good."

"I'm Nilay Patel at an important meeting, I received a notification that someone liked a photo on instagram, why is Apple telling me that? I hate notifications"

Just embarrassingly bad. I think there are legitimate criticisms but he's just being ridiculous. If you're in an important meeting perhaps turn on do not disturb?

 

[KPOM]

I agree completely. The overwhelming majority of people here seem to conveniently ignore the fact that the iPhone was an awful gen 1 product and was largely derided upon its release. But it laid the groundwork for a platform that would revolutionize the smartphone.

The Apple Watch is starting from a much better starting position, but will inevitably have many of the pitfalls inherent to a gen 1 product, such as a dearth of quality third-party apps, and some initial confusion about exactly how it *should* operate to enhance one's daily life.

By the time the 2nd gen comes out, there will be a maturing app ecosystem, additional sensors to improve the range of functionality of the watch, and people will have a better idea of what it's capable to doing. Oh, and it will probably have a much faster processor, better battery life, and be slightly cheaper.

For those of us with a shred of foresight, these reviews are actually very positive because it seems like Apple has carefully considered how a smartwatch is more than merely a tiny smartphone on your wrist, and the groundwork for an enormously successful product category has been laid. As is the case with almost all gen 1 tech products, the vast majority of people should probably skip buying this Apple Watch. But many of the complainers in this thread will probably be eagerly lining up for launch day on gen 2.

I agree entirely. People's memory of the original iPhone reviews are clouded by its past success. It sold 275,000 its first weekend and took 74 days to hit 1 million. It didn't send MMS (a common feature at the time), had bad reception, was "huge" for a phone at a time when the trend was for smaller phones, used cellular triangulation instead of GPS, and lacked 3G when it was commonplace.

I'm sure Apple was hoping for some more rave reviews, but ultimately it will come down to the actual users and word of mouth. The next generation will be the key. Lots of people as a matter of course avoid the first generation and wait for the second. What I draw from the reviews is that Apple got the physical design right, and that alone is no small thing. What they need to focus on are the things we already knew. Battery life needs to improve (and hopefully will enable the time to display all the time). Elements of the UI can use some tweaking. Apple Watch isn't a static product. It will improve.

 

[LordVic]

We usually see eye to eye - but there are practical reasons for a smart watch that I have found in my personal use case. I've posted them before. In short - as someone who typically leaves their phone on mute both at home and at work - and often steps away from their phone - it's been handy to have alerts sent to my wrist (pebble and now lg g watch) such as a new work email, reminder of an appointment or a call coming in. Can I and did I survive without these - absolutely. Are they "game changers" in my life - no. But quite handy.

But this is also the reason why I feel that less is more for a smart watch. Simple notifications and not dozens of bells and whistles are just fine for me - and I'm guessing many people.

----------

we see eye to eye.

I want those alerts on my wrist.
But I want them queued so I can check them when I want, not filtered. I don't wantt o have to pull my phone out to check if i have them.

Ideally what I want is a traditional watch, that has smart features and alerts. I've always thought the pinaccle smart watch for me would be a traditional analogue watch face, that replaces the glass with an LCD layer, that gets the notifications and messages.

not a full phone system on my wrist.

The Pebble looked like it suited my need perfectly, except, I think it's ugly as hell. the Steel is better, but still looks like a tech product and not a watch, I wear a simple steel band watch everyday. it's not fancy, it's not thousands of dollars. it's a simple Japanese citizen quartz watch. but it at least doesn't look like some tech product.

 

[BlueMoon63]

We usually see eye to eye - but there are practical reasons for a smart watch that I have found in my personal use case. I've posted them before. In short - as someone who typically leaves their phone on mute both at home and at work - and often steps away from their phone - it's been handy to have alerts sent to my wrist (pebble and now lg g watch) such as a new work email, reminder of an appointment or a call coming in. Can I and did I survive without these - absolutely. Are they "game changers" in my life - no. But quite handy.

But this is also the reason why I feel that less is more for a smart watch. Simple notifications and not dozens of bells and whistles are just fine for me - and I'm guessing many people.

----------



Assuming that the Apple Watch, does indeed, replicate everything you get from your fitness tracker.

you mean everything I want it to do... it does. If you are into fitness and staying in shape and use devices for motivation and health benefits and tracking. I do, many people don't.

 

[darkslide29]

Honestly it's not as bad as some early iPad reviews. "No camera, no flash, no multitasking, etc..."

But does the Apple Watch even have any of those things?! lmao just kidding with you.

 

[_Refurbished_]

I said it at the keynote:

"In the long run, Apple Pay with have a more profound (insert Apple keyword here) impact on the world. The Apple Watch isn't going to change the world. You won't see every kid in school using an Apple Watch. It's a niche market."

iPads, iPhones, iPods, and Macs all have an unlimited user base. The Apple Watch is an accessory that requires another product to function. Judging by the reviews, and my own intuition, the Apple Watch isn't a necessity unless you are someone flooded with notifications and need constant access to your phone. Even then, as the Verge mentions, it's annoying to have those notifications buzzing on your wrist all day long.

The Apple Watch will be trendy for a while, but its luster will fade quickly. Everyone wants a "life changing" device from Apple, but those are few and far between. Steve Jobs realized how lucky he was to be involved in a "few" game changing products, as he said during the original iPhone keynote.

The Apple Watch is not a game changing product. It's an accessory with a limited user base and unlimited hype. It will have short term success.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Man, people are looking back at history with rose-colored glasses. Are you kidding me? The iPod was roundly condemned and dismissed in its initial revision (especially in the tech press -the MR forumites at the time hated it!) and took years and several revisions to sell well. This whole "vision must be perfect at 1.0" attitude is nonsense for pretty much any product.

See the infamous thread #500 for some proof of that.

In my own case, I was very much NOT an Apple person when iPod was announced. What jumped out at me was the very simple line "1,000 songs in your pocket". At the time, it was still cassettes or CD walkmans that could put about 8-20 songs in your pocket or bag. Sure there were some iPod-type devices in the wild but I hadn't discovered them yet or didn't trust what seemed like no-name brands enough to give them their asking price and hope it was true.

That one product turned me on to Apple. iPod "forced" the purchase of a Mac, Mac made me appreciate OS X over Windows (and most of the Amiga OS). And that led to Apple laptops and then Apple iDevices too and then stuff like Airport Extremes.

I look at this Watch and it requires an iPhone to be with you or nearby. The bulk of it's benefits depend on that iPhone being with you or nearby. It doesn't have a "1000 songs in your pocket" type punch relative to the norms of what else is available (including what else is available in that iPhone you have to have with you anyway). So I get your point but on a very personal view, it doesn't change my own view of how I see the Watch. To paraphrase a VP debate line from not too long ago: "I knew iPod. This Watch is no iPod."

I'm not sure that the condemnation of the iPod and then it's latter surge to greatness is a real analogy for any condemnation of this Watch and it's potential- or lack thereof- to surge to greatness in the next few years. It might become the best product Apple has ever rolled out. Or it might flop. My guess is that it will fall somewhere in the middle. If I had to bet today, I'd bet it's probably more like TV than say iPod, iPhone or iPad. Note: that's not a negative jab- I love my TVs but they haven't been mainstream enough to be mentioned in the same sentence with the big 3.

For those who do view it as the next big thing, enjoy it!

 

[gugy]

I don't look at the reviews as negative but at the same time I think the big question is if people really need a smart watch to begin with. I believe most folks already are satisfied with the iPhone so the watch will be redundant to a lot of people.

I for one, would only like such a thing to track my workout habits but because it is not waterproof, I will wait for future versions of it since I am a swimmer and surfer. Ideally, I would love a smart band to use in conjunction with my regular watch but I don't see Apple doing it anytime soon.

Either way, I am very curious to see one and experiment with it.

 

[BlueMoon63]

lmao omg!

Like he set up scenarios where clearly he would dislike the watch, and pretended it was the watch's fault lmao. Anyone who took that seriously is more of a sheep than Apple fanboy's, and I say that as a clear apple fanboy.

It was funny watching him get annoyed lol...

 

[OllyW]

I think Patel was predisposed to hate the watch before he used it and that colored his review to some extent.

I also think a lot of people are predisposed to either love or hate the watch beforehand and that has coloured their reactions to the early reviews.

 

[Zinthar]

Yeah - I get it - I'm just not into fitness activity trackers. Nor would I wear one to gather data during a time when I'm clearly not in need of tracking my fitness level.

I wouldn't be using my Apple watch for activity tracking either. So I (personally) find her comment obvious.

Okay, well you could have just said that you don't care about tracking your health/activity.

For those that do care, it's important to note that just because an event isn't particularly physically intensive doesn't mean that you should ignore your activity during it. If you're at a social event where you're standing and mingling for a couple of hours, you're probably walking and generally being more "active" than you might suspect. If it's a gathering where you, say, have to park your car in a deck that's a few blocks from the event, you'll be racking up a lot of distance walking to and from it as well.

So if you do care about health tracking, the ability to take one device everywhere and gather all of this data is a huge feature. Activity as simple as standing for a few hours in which you'd otherwise be sitting is much more important to one's health than most people realize. And anything that encourages healthy behavior (for instance, I really like the idea of the daily activity "achievements") is a huge plus in my opinion. I think it will come to be a huge selling point of the watch, particularly after people see their friends using it.

 

[BlueMoon63]

See the infamous thread #500 for some proof of that.

In my own case, I was very much NOT an Apple person when iPod was announced. What jumped out at me was the very simple line "1,000 songs in your pocket". At the time, it was still cassettes or CD walkmans that could put about 8-20 songs in your pocket or bag. Sure there were some iPod-type devices in the wild but I hadn't discovered them yet or didn't trust what seemed like no-name brands enough to give them their asking price and hope it was true.

That one product turned me on to Apple. iPod "forced" the purchase of a Mac, Mac made me appreciate OS X over Windows (and most of the Amiga OS). And that led to Apple laptops and then Apple iDevices too and then stuff like Airport Extremes.

I look at this Watch and it requires an iPhone to be with you or nearby. The bulk of it's benefits depend on that iPhone being with you or nearby. It doesn't have a "1000 songs in your pocket" type punch relative to the norms of what else is available (including what else is available in that iPhone you have to have with you anyway). So I get your point but on a very personal view, it doesn't change my own view of how I see the Watch. To paraphrase a VP debate line from not too long ago: "I knew iPod. This Watch is no iPod."

I'm not sure that the condemnation of the iPod and then it's latter surge to greatness is a real analogy for any condemnation of this Watch and it's potential- or lack thereof- to surge to greatness in the next few years. It might become the best product Apple has ever rolled out. Or it might flop. My guess is that it will fall somewhere in the middle. If I had to bet today, I'd bet it's probably more like TV than say iPod, iPhone or iPad. Note: that's not a negative jab- I love my TVs but they haven't been mainstream enough to be mentioned in the same sentence with the big 3.

For those who do view it as the next big thing, enjoy it!

Totally agree...

 

[skoobey]

Why is it so THICK??? It's obtrusive, you can't bend your wrist without really feeling it's there, and your shirt won't cover it.

Make it half as thin.

 

[BlueMoon63]

Okay, well you could have just said that you don't care about tracking your health/activity.

For those that do care, it's important to note that just because an event isn't particularly physically intensive doesn't mean that you should ignore your activity during it. If you're at a social event where you're standing and mingling for a couple of hours, you're probably walking and generally being more "active" than you might suspect. If it's a gathering where you, say, have to park your car in a deck that's a few blocks from the event, you'll be racking up a lot of distance walking to and from it as well.

So if you do care about health tracking, the ability to take one device everywhere and gather all of this data is a huge feature. Activity as simple as standing for a few hours in which you'd otherwise be sitting is much more important to one's health than most people realize. And anything that encourages healthy behavior (for instance, I really like the idea of the daily activity "achievements") is a huge plus in my opinion. I think it will come to be a huge selling point of the watch, particularly after people see their friends using it.

Also agree... saying something was obvious and then thinking the guy getting annoyed with alerts when he knew how to turn it off was pointing out the same thing. lol

People will focus on the items of the reviews that help their point of view - good or bad. Some reviews were so laughable... the guy twisting his arm for the apple pay as the only way it can be done.

 

[rowspaxe]

Until I was 45 I would have thought of a heart rate monitor as a fun gadget but not that important. Now I take my heart beat very seriously ! and throwing €450 (the cost of 3 doctors appointments where I live) at something that might just help diagnose or solve a life-threatening condition is a pretty easy decision.

A pulse monitor will diagnose..what heart condition?

 

[BlueMoon63]

A pulse monitor will diagnose..what heart condition?

I say that to my doctor every day they take my pulse. It's very obvious to people who need to know hypertension, fitness conditioning, early on stage heart disease.

 

[vintimus]

I'll probably be looking at the 2nd or 3rd gen device. Hopefully they will add more exercise types to the workout app, and once native apps come I think we will see the true potential out of it.

 

[uid15]

Well, the Verge "review" was absolutely terrible... and I mean their *review* was terrible, not the watch. Is this how they usually behave? Appallingly bad.