Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I lost my iphone 6 last night after a late night walk in woods nearby.
I used "find iPhone" on rMBP "iCloud" to locate approximate area in woods. Got up early and my apple watch picked up on the iPhone - then I "pinged it".
Brilliant.
Very relieved - the apple watch and find iPhone saved the day.
 
I think there is an equally large market of people waiting on AW2 with improved specs and slimmer design, hopefully not at the cost of battery life. My better half loves his though, best XMass gift I have given him.
 
The GPS would not be for navigation. Like Garmin, it would be route recording for mapping and more accurate record of distance and speed. If you don't workout and you don't track your workouts then it will not be a handy feature for you.

I workout. I just don't need some device to tell me that i ran. I know this on my own. Route recording? How is that benefiting your health?
 
I'm just curious what is the point of GPS in a watch?
Tracking outside/physical activity more accurately without a phone. I know you can train the Apple Watch to estimate distance well without also having your iPhone but it works best on a pre-set route. A built-in GPS would allow you to run/bike/hike wherever and have the distance and path tracked accurately.
 
I still like it but it's not life changing yet. It feels like the first 12" retina macbook or 2008 macbook air. It's got promise but the promise isn't quite realized at the extent it could be yet.
 
Fitness tracking is ********.

I workout. I just don't need some device to tell me that i ran. I know this on my own. Route recording? How is that benefiting your health?

Cause the basics of training, if you take it seriously is time v distance.

You will find come the Olympic , distance and time a major factors to winning gold.

good quality fitness apps require your distance as a variable . The more accurate the better.
 
Tracking outside/physical activity more accurately without a phone. I know you can train the Apple Watch to estimate distance well without also having your iPhone but it works best on a pre-set route. A built-in GPS would allow you to run/bike/hike wherever and have the distance and path tracked accurately.

And the benefits of that are?
 
A solution in search of a problem? There's already standalone watch devices for these purposes. It would only serve to unify and replace, making it more utilitarian than it already is. I think everyone's goal is to be able to accomplish more whilest carrying fewer items.
I'd like it to make it easy for me to go without my phone all the time. I hate being attached to my iPhone 24/7. it's just sitting there in my pocket all the time making it look like I'm happy to see people.
 
  • Like
Reactions: navaira
I workout. I just don't need some device to tell me that i ran. I know this on my own. Route recording? How is that benefiting your health?

So you don't workout. Glad we made that known.

Route recording benefits you by telling you the distance you travelled, the speed you travelled, peaks and lulls in speed, heart rate analysis to help you through certain segments of your path to assist you in correcting them so you can go further, go faster, and do so while remaining healthier -- running just to run without any understanding of what your body is going through can have the opposite results, strain on the heart and muscles. The analysis also delves deeper, using altitude measurements to help show you where things went wrong, where things went right and how to correct things or avoid them.

Some apps have users that drop routes in, and it's an open challenge on their times - running or biking. A great way to learn new routes or offer you new challenges beyond your once-around-the-block routines. Some offer challenges and goals just to log a certain amount of miles or hours in a time frame. Some, like Strava, track your form -- a lot of data is stuff this very watch can pull all by itself... if it only had GPS.

Some people like competitions... some people like being offered challenges.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Robin4
Cause the basics of training, if you take it seriously is time v distance.

You will find come the Olympic , distance and time a major factors to winning gold.

good quality fitness apps require your distance as a variable . The more accurate the better.

Still you don't need any sort of tracking for that. This is just OCD about record keeping and lets leave olympic in a separate box shall we. I run every other day and never same path twice without any watches.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Precision Gem
Nearly fifteen months after the Apple Watch launched in the U.S. and eight other countries on April 24, 2015, new data shows that sales of the device have yet to experience an overly precipitous decline so far this year.

Apple Watch sales have remained steady throughout the first half of 2016

UBS forecasts that Apple Watch sales will rise to 2 million in the September quarter, contributing to a total of 10.35 million units in the 2016 fiscal year. If those estimates are accurate, that would make Apple Watch the most popular smartwatch for the second consecutive year

Read it and weep, (professional?) naysayers. :D
 
So you don't workout. Glad we made that known.

Route recording benefits you by telling you the distance you travelled, the speed you travelled, peaks and lulls in speed, heart rate analysis to help you through certain segments of your path to assist you in correcting them so you can go further, go faster, and do so while remaining healthier -- running just to run without any understanding of what your body is going through can have the opposite results, strain on the heart and muscles. The analysis also delves deeper, using altitude measurements to help show you where things went wrong, where things went right and how to correct things or avoid them.

Some apps have users that drop routes in, and it's an open challenge on their times - running or biking. A great way to learn new routes or offer you new challenges beyond your once-around-the-block routines. Some offer challenges and goals just to log a certain amount of miles or hours in a time frame. Some, like Strava, track your form -- a lot of data is stuff this very watch can pull all by itself... if it only had GPS.

Some people like competitions... some people like being offered challenges.

I don't obsess about useless things is what you wanted to say.
 
So if apple sold 10.35 million units in the 2016, how many units were sold in the 8 months of 2015.
Also anyone know the approximate number of iPhone 5 or later in operation?
 
Sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

Sounds more like you don't know any serious runners or bikers.

GPS equipped wrist fitness devices have been a viable market for years, reaching over $2.6 billion in yearly revenue by 2014.

Much of that GPS wrist band revenue is predicted to move over to GPS equipped smartwatches, which have even more functionality.
 
I don't obsess about useless things is what you wanted to say.

You're too cool for school. I got that much.

These devices that do this sell in the millions. "Yuge" numbers. People are getting instant feedback on things that they'd normally only get once a year at a physical - if they even go to the doctor - probably something else you're too cool for.

In summary: tens of millions of people are using these things that are assisting them in making a greater effort to be fit and healthy... And you're arguing about it. What's that say about you?
 
Still you don't need any sort of tracking for that. This is just OCD about record keeping and lets leave olympic in a separate box shall we. I run every other day and never same path twice without any watches.

In which case, how do you know how far you have run, and if you are improving ?

Are you arguing against GPS in sports or just the Apple Watch?

Im into rugby , have a read of this http://www.sporttechie.com/2014/05/19/how-gps-technology-is-changing-rugby/

GPS is becoming very important in sport , amateur or professional. The concept is quite simple
 
And the benefits of that are?
I like having the data (I'm a scientist, which has something to do with it too). With GPS I know where and how far I ran (I live near woods with a number of trails and don't always run the same route), how fast I was at different segments of a run, and so forth. It is really helpful when I want to run, bike, or walk a particular distance - I can just go and not have to plan route before. This makes things more interesting. Maybe it's just my short attention span.

From your other comments I can tell you don't see the need. That's fine. I use GPS tracking (and heart rate, sleep tracking, etc.) to improve my health activities. I have a large database with much of my health-related data (exercise, sleep, weight, calorie expenditure, heart rates, estimated VO2 Max...) in it for the past year (and counting). Is it necessary? No. It is useful and interesting to me? Yes. Is broader collection and analysis of these data going to be useful from a public health standpoint? Yes, within the next decade. Am I a data geek? Yes.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.