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Battery, Screen and Manufacturing Issues Plaguing Apple's iWatch Development

mygoldens said:
Maybe they should talk to Samsung, I have the gear and it works GREAT!

Apple are you LISTENING!
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Just a word of advice: If you are ever on a ski lift and try to impress the girl besides you, don't follow the Samsung adverts and show her your "Gear" watch. She'll only think you are a freak. If you then show her photos of her that you took with your "Gear", she'll think you are a stalker and call her friends who beat you up.

Best hide it in a drawer, because it is is so fugly that nobody seeing it on you will ever take you serious again.

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AlexLamPhoto said:
I think Apple scare because Samsung bumping hard on their ads on their WATCH and almost everyone I mean 80% of the consumer buy it with their Galaxy Phones...
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You guys are hilarious.

Consider this: Anyone walking around with a "Gear" watch visibly in public has the huge risk of being publicly ridiculed and humiliated because they demonstrate clearly that they don't have the slightest bit of taste. You might as well tattoo "I'm a clueless nerd with no taste" on your forehead.

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Sedulous said:
Or basically Apple still can't make a "smart" watch that is something anyone would want.
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Making a watch that sells only twice as much as Samsung "Gear" and "Pebble" together would be a huge failure for Apple (like the "Gear" is a total and absolute failure for Samsung which shows they can only make good products if there is a good product out that they can copy).

And making something with features that would sell more than that is difficult. Mostly because adding features doesn't actually make it a better product, quite the opposite, which is why the Gear is such a total failure.

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ThisIsNotMe said:
Just what I want. A watch that looks like it belongs to a nerd. Make a smart watch that looks like a real watch and they will sell millions.

Image
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Now consider the whole visible area, including the outer ring, to be a high resolution display, with resolution high enough that you can't distinguish it from this watch without looking very closely.
 
Well if it was easy there would already be dozens of companies selling useful and practical smart watches and there wouldn't be any point Apple producing one at all.:rolleyes:

These are the same problems that 'plague' the design and production of any complex product.
 
everything-i said:
Well if it was easy there would already be dozens of companies selling useful and practical smart watches and there wouldn't be any point Apple producing one at all.:rolleyes:

These are the same problems that 'plague' the design and production of any complex product.
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Exactly my thoughts. The headline is just there to grab you. It is quite inaccurate.
 
Maybe this is a "Build it and they will come" type of product but I think it's a bit more of a shark jump than anything.... This strikes me a leading from behind.

Not interested in an iWatch-type of product here.

But we'll see.... That's why I don't work for :apple: either I guess.... :D
 
cmChimera said:
Why do you buy products you don't use?
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He didn't. He bought them thinking he'd use them and enjoy them and that they would add something to his routine.

Most likely they did for a time, but then as other products caught up and offered more, he went and bought them. I have an Apple TV that's been replaced by a Roku (for the wife) and a PS3 (for me). My iPad has been replaced by a Windows 8.1 tablet that boots a full OS and can be used a desktop rather easily. My iPhone 3GS was replaced by a Note II.

That's pretty much what happened to every Apple product I owned save for my iMac and laptop, which makes Winni's point all the more valid.

Winni said:
At least he's honest about it. We spend a lot of money on things that we don't need, but (pure) tablets and toys like the AppleTV fall in the category of mostly useless things - especially when you own a notebook or desktop machine.
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I would agree. There was a time when Apple gave us the best of work and play. Now, I do see and how current Apple products "work" but most of the time I need a $30-$100 accessory to do so.

The OSX running devices are still the best of both work and play IMHO, but there's not much separating Windows and OSX nowadays. In fact, Windows 8.1 exemplifies more of what Steve Jobs was talking about when he mentioned a "post pc" world.
 
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FUNNIEST line in the article

"These snags are not expected to delay the iWatch, however, which still has a prospective release date of late 2014 according to the most recent rumors."

How can you delay something that has no release date.

When Apple announces an actual product and GIVES a release date - then you talk about delays.

Funny.
 
WisdomSeed said:
Yeah, I remember how no one wanted an iPhone either. And the iPod was a stupid idea too. Why wait to see, when you can deem it impractical off the cuff?
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Ya know, it's not that simple. I was open to the idea of the iPod before it launched because I like music and was looking for something better than a Walkman.

Your memory and mine diverge when it comes to the iPhone. Far from being a device that "No one wanted" I seem to remember everyone wanting it. It was talked about for 4 or 5 years before it came out in 2007. Many people (including me) bought the Rokr hoping it was the phone of their dreams.

I can only speak for myself, but the concept of an intelligent wristwatch is not a product that I am interested in. I make my judgements on a product by product basis. I use Macs, an iPhone, and an iPad. I'd like a great smart TV or media player but AppleTV comes in a distant 3rd to me compared to a Roku or a XBMC system (my fav being my Rasp Pi system)...

So "wait till it comes out before you judge" won't work for me. I don't want a watch under any circumstances. If you do, I think that's great. I do want a good media player, and I'd like to buy an Apple one - - unfortunately their offering falls short for me and that's where personally I'd like to see them concentrate their efforts.

I don't understand some of you guys. You sit here 24/7 waiting to criticize and personally attack people who don't share your vision of the world.
 
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"Plaguing"? It's a prototype. There are always going to be issues that have to be resolved, especially if the company developing the product is not interested in simply copying established production standards.
 
NYR99 said:
So, basically, everything.
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Which means they are building something completely different than the other smart watches that have already been released. It would be easy to build something like the Galaxy Gear or Pebble-- i.e. a brick on the wrist.
 
"Battery, Screen and Manufacturing Issues Plaguing Apple's iWatch Development"
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"Apple is working hard to pull the impossible with iWatch: craftsmanship, durability and long battery life"
 
Digital Skunk said:
He didn't. He bought them thinking he'd use them and enjoy them and that they would add something to his routine.

Most likely they did for a time, but then as other products caught up and offered more, he went and bought them. I have an Apple TV that's been replaced by a Roku (for the wife) and a PS3 (for me). My iPad has been replaced by a Windows 8.1 tablet that boots a full OS and can be used a desktop rather easily. My iPhone 3GS was replaced by a Note II.

That's pretty much what happened to every Apple product I owned save for my iMac and laptop, which makes Winni's point all the more valid.



I would agree. There was a time when Apple gave us the best of work and play. Now, I do see and how current Apple products "work" but most of the time I need a $30-$100 accessory to do so.

The OSX running devices are still the best of both work and play IMHO, but there's not much separating Windows and OSX nowadays. In fact, Windows 8.1 exemplifies more of what Steve Jobs was talking about when he mentioned a "post pc" world.
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I pretty much agree with everything you have said.

1. As far as desktop PC's are concerned, my preference is still a Mac because it is able to run OS X without hacking the EFI. Other than that, there's nothing about Apple's hardware that would cause me to buy one brand over another. As I have said many times, Apple should really spin off it's PC division into a separate company "Macintosh, Inc." where the platform can be maintained now and in the future.

2. In the case of Post-PC devices, not only does the brand no longer matter but the platform is also becoming irrelevant. So it's the user's personal preferences which dictates which which device to buy. Features and price are going to be the 2 most important factors going forward as more software is moved into the cloud and devices of quite modest specs are able to generate all the performance a user needs (The Raspberry Pi is probably my favorite product in 25 years)...

My wife updated to an iPhone 5 last year, but my old 4S is coming off contract and when it does I'll be giving other devices a long look (as I have to change most of my accessories anyway, I might as well change to something that uses industry standards) .....

Apple has done an outstanding job in identifying and driving the post PC-Era. But, unlike the PC Era, no one company will monopolize the Post-PC Era. There will be no Microsoft type domination in the future because no one platform will be, or will need to be, dominate. And while Apple is and can remain a powerhouse in this arena, they must constantly compete with other devices to maintain a strong market-share. The future has not yet been written....
 
roadbloc said:
I'm still not convinced by this wearable tech. As far as it goes for me is a normal watch.
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I hope it will be more that just a watch, but will wait to see. Personally, I am looking for these wearable tech items to replace my phone, but that doesn't seem to be the direction these items are going.

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WisdomSeed said:
Yeah, I remember how no one wanted an iPhone either. And the iPod was a stupid idea too. Why wait to see, when you can deem it impractical off the cuff?
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Of course the same can be said about the iPad.

I never thought there would be a need for 'a giant iPhone' when the iPad came out, but now I am on my second iPad.

i will wait and see what shows up.
 
KdParker said:
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Of course the same can be said about the iPad.

I never thought there would be a need for 'a giant iPhone' when the iPad came out, but now I am on my second iPad.

i will wait and see what shows up.
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Indeed. I was dismissive of the iPad at first. But I bought the first iPad as I was about to leave on my honeymoon and thought it was a great device to consume media on the plane and train trips, airport and quickly check email from time to time. Carrying that instead of a laptop (which we probably wouldn't even have done) or a phone (too small for two people to watch really) made sense and so I dove in.

But on that note - I haven't bought any of the updates to the device. The original iPad does everything I need it to do. I just bought a Nexus 7 for a smaller form factor.
 
I wish we could get a watch running on an ethanol fuel cell. That way it would never run out of 'juice'.
 
mw360 said:
I suppose it was barely a half joke. My watch charges by harnessing wrist movements (go ahead an insert a joke right there) which is great, but the power required to keep a simple timepiece running is quite a bit lower than that required to power an OLED screen and all the motion tracking, bluetooth etc. I suspect it would be the same issue for solar - benefits would be negligible even if the whole strap were a solar panel.
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I remember the old self winding watches, but they didn't have a battery. What watch do you have that charges the battery by movement? I was thinking that maybe the solar charging could just be a supplement to help get longer battery life, but obviously I don't anything about the technology or how much power it could produce. You're probably correct that it is negligible, otherwise one someone would have used it on a smart watch by now.
 
Winni said:
At least he's honest about it. We spend a lot of money on things that we don't need, but (pure) tablets and toys like the AppleTV fall in the category of mostly useless things - especially when you own a notebook or desktop machine.
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You may buy things you don't need, but I have an Apple Tv, an iPad, and a Retina Macbook Pro and use all of them sufficiently enough to justify the purchase. I'm sorry that you haven't found a use for your purchases, but to say people that are using them are being dishonest is pretty nonsensical.

Digital Skunk said:
He didn't. He bought them thinking he'd use them and enjoy them and that they would add something to his routine.

Most likely they did for a time, but then as other products caught up and offered more, he went and bought them. I have an Apple TV that's been replaced by a Roku (for the wife) and a PS3 (for me). My iPad has been replaced by a Windows 8.1 tablet that boots a full OS and can be used a desktop rather easily. My iPhone 3GS was replaced by a Note II.

That's pretty much what happened to every Apple product I owned save for my iMac and laptop, which makes Winni's point all the more valid.
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Uh, cool story? You aren't making any real point. You replaced your tablet with a tablet you like better, and set-top box with another set-top box. Congrats for having a different preference than another person. I prefer the products I chose to purchase, you chose yours. That doesn't at all justify the idea that the iWatch is going to be a "mostly useless" device. Nor does it make any of the other products mentioned "mostly useless."
 
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