Apple Watch's Life-Saving Potential Highlighted in Suspenseful '911' Ad

[DrV]

In Norway this the govermental rescue tips:
For those who do extreme sports or hiking, that they have non-cellular personal rescue beacons. (PLB)
And do not rely on cellular things.

Which means, you should not RELY on cellular things for safety, but other standards.
After what I am informed, these persons were lucky that the cellular way is improving.
PLBs vs. Satellite Messengers are still the primary way. I guess also for America.

I do not know what to think of Apple on this, because every life is so precious. But, I think that for those who do extreme or hard sports or hiking. Cellular has improved. We should keep improving, testing and maybe bring both a PLB and eventually some Apple Watch, if proven good ?

This is a very good point. I use my Apple Watch when running, as my iPhone is too clumsy to carry. However, I have noticed my watch loses the cellular connection even in local parks and forests where my iPhone never drops the connection.

Of course, the watch is so small that building a decent antenna is difficult, and most probably also the transmission power is limited. I tend to run in the night, and even in this urban area it may take a long time before anyone finds me if I break my leg.

So, I’d say Apple Watch is next to useless as a safety device outside of very densely populated areas. LTE-M1 might help a lot.

 

[Rainshadow]

The world doesn't hold its breath for those who only understand how something can't work.

Being creative is one thing. Walking an idea through to its eventual implementation to see how it could be improved takes vision

I’m not trying to be mean - my main point is there will be countless accidental calls that would continue to tax firefighters, EMS, and police. You can design whatever software you want, but you have to balance that with how effective AND how useful AND how many negative impacts it may have.

 

[jimimac71]

A $500 life saver. For some, that kind of security simply costs too much.

 

[Jason111001]

I took a hard spill biking a few months ago. When my head started to clear I could feel my wrist vibrating. My watch detected the fall and was counting down to call 911. Thankful that I didn’t need it. Grateful that it’s a feature.

 

[EdT]

A $500 life saver. For some, that kind of security simply costs too much.

And your other, better monitoring option is? I'm not going to pretend that an Apple watch is cheap, but even as watches go its nowhere near the most expensive. If the requirements for a safety/Health device is the ability to monitor O2, to detect severe falls or impacts, and to be capable of notifying 911 for any of these emergencies then whatever that device is it's going to cost more than $1-200 dollars. The cellular ability alone probably adds close to 100 by itself, before you get to the fall detection and oxygen level and heart monitor.

 

[jimimac71]

And your other, better monitoring option is?

Don't have one. The Samsung watch, I looked briefly, doesn't have full cellular capacity. It all costs some of us too much. Like a cell plan that is $30/month. That's if you have 4 phones. I live in CA. where everything costs too much. Apple is a premium company and has been for a long time, going way back to when they almost went under.

 

[lartola]

And your other, better monitoring option is? I'm not going to pretend that an Apple watch is cheap, but even as watches go its nowhere near the most expensive. If the requirements for a safety/Health device is the ability to monitor O2, to detect severe falls or impacts, and to be capable of notifying 911 for any of these emergencies then whatever that device is it's going to cost more than $1-200 dollars. The cellular ability alone probably adds close to 100 by itself, before you get to the fall detection and oxygen level and heart monitor.

Not just close. Indeed, the price of the watch goes up by exactly $100 just for choosing the cellular model instead of the Wifi model according to Apple’s website ($529 with cellular vs just 429 without it for the series 7 aluminum models in 45 mm case and $499 vs $399 for the same S7 aluminum models with or without cellular in 41 mm case).

 

[EdT]

Ok I’ll Not just close. Indeed, the price of the watch goes up by exactly $100 just for choosing the cellular model instead of the Wifi model according to Apple’s website ($529 with cellular vs just 429 without it for the series 7 aluminum models in 45 mm case and $499 vs $399 for the same S7 aluminum models with or without cellular in 41 mm case).

Not just close. Indeed, the price of the watch goes up by exactly $100 just for choosing the cellular model instead of the Wifi model according to Apple’s website ($529 with cellular vs just 429 without it for the series 7 aluminum models in 45 mm case and $499 vs $399 for the same S7 aluminum models with or without cellular in 41 mm case).

My original reason for buying the Apple Watch was pretty pedestrian. I get in trouble for looking at my phone to read texts when I’m at work. But I can glance at a watch and see who the text was from and see the message, even if I can’t reply to it. With relatives who were ill at the time I was afraid of missing an important message.

I found that there were other useful aspects to the watch. It will vibrate 2 times if I need to turn left and 4 times for right if I have the Map app for directions. In most situations I don’t need to actually see the map or hear voice directions, just the vibrations at the turn are enough. Nebraska doesn’t have a lot of complicated cities so that factors in to that ease of use.

I didn’t buy it for the health functions but I didn’t turn them off either. I find I do actually walk a little more if I am near closing a ring on the progress function. I also didn’t think that the phone would work well to actually answer phone calls, but yes it does. I can hear and be heard fine.

There are other things I have found useful, especially using it to control my phone camera, as I work for a machine manufacturer and sometimes you can’t get close because of safety devices when a machine is running so you don’t see what is going wrong. I can put the phone inside the safety area and control the camera or video functions with the watch, even filming in slo motion. THAT has been a huge benefit that I didn’t expect.

Most of the exercise and health I look at, but don’t rely on. The fall calling 911 notice I was unaware of until my dog bolted after a rabbit and I fell hard myself. I am diabetic. I know that Apple is working on blood sugar monitoring using the watch. It may never get approved, it might not be accurate enough, but for a possible health feature that could monitor me and notify if I’m going high or low is definitely a health item that I would buy the watch for just because of that function, if it is accurate. I currently spend over $1200 a year on how I currently monitor my blood sugar levels, and that is all those devices do. Even a $1000 watch would be cheap, especially if there isn’t some consumable that I would need to go along with the watch. A year and a month or so and it would be saving me money.