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Digital Touch

A

amirite

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 17, 2009
880
691
Digital Touch is being seriously underestimated. This really is a completely (and extremely simple) new way of communicating with others.

It's not just sending silly drawing to your friends. It's about communicating sometimes-complex messages in an extremely simple way.

Anyone else see the potential (that Apple presumably sees) in this?
 
amirite said:
Digital Touch is being seriously underestimated. This really is a completely (and extremely simple) new way of communicating with others.

It's not just sending silly drawing to your friends. It's about communicating.

Anyone else see the potential (that Apple presumably sees) in this?
Click to expand...

I also see Morse code making its way back for some reason. Seriously! :D
 
amirite said:
Digital Touch is being seriously underestimated. This really is a completely (and extremely simple) new way of communicating with others.

It's not just sending silly drawing to your friends. It's about communicating sometimes-complex messages in an extremely simple way.

Anyone else see the potential (that Apple presumably sees) in this?
Click to expand...

I do I just didn't want to start a thread about it. :)
 
imagine if the captain of the titanic had an apple watch

those people might still be alive , oh wait they would be too old , so they still be dead now
 
someones gonna spam your watch with dick drawings all day

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troop231 said:
You clearly don't get it. Where did I mention anything about the animated emoji or sketches.
Click to expand...

please enlighten me of something important someone can send you with that useless feature.
 
lakaiordie said:
please enlighten me of something important someone can send you with that useless feature.
Click to expand...

It's called a message? Without having to look at a screen or be interrupted while I'm doing something else? You can be tapped a message with a 3rd party Morse code app..

I feel like I'm speaking to the wrong generation. :)
 
troop231 said:
Why? The idea of silent received communication without having to look is very cool.
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I think it's a cool idea but it seems like more of a niche thing. Perhaps an App will fill that void (unless DT can already send short and long taps)
 
amirite said:
I think it's a cool idea but it seems like more of a niche thing. Perhaps an App will fill that void (unless DT can already send short and long taps)
Click to expand...

A niche for sure, and I'm talking about a 3rd party eventual app anyways.
 
lakaiordie said:
what do you want, someone to send you a happy face? its a small screen, what important thing could they draw?
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We've already seen some examples, but friends with Watches will develop their own "code". Take a look at the September presentation where a wine glass and a question mark meant "Hey do you want to meet up for drinks?".

There are literally infinite possibilities and this is far more convenient than pulling your phone out and typing a message. It may be seen by some as the further dumbing down of communication, but in the same way texts have all but replaced phone calls for short messages, this could do the same to texts.
 
I wrote all the watch's cutesy communication features off as a sad joke when I first saw them. But one night they really clicked for me.

A couple years ago, my wife took a job here in Boston and I stayed behind in Chicago to sell our house. We were apart for almost three months, the longest we've been apart since we moved in together almost two decades ago. We flew out to see each other a couple times and we talked on the phone once a week. But what really helped was our constant texting. It was like having her with me sort of in a way.

If I could have bought us both  watches so she could send me her heartbeat during the day, it would have meant so much to me. That would have been money well spent. And that's why the touches and heartbeats and postage stamp sized finger drawings of cat faces don't seem so silly anymore.
 
lakaiordie said:
someones gonna spam your watch with dick drawings all day

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please enlighten me of something important someone can send you with that useless feature.
Click to expand...

You don't get it, and that's fine. Your condescending attitude is unnecessary though.
 
csixty4 said:
I wrote all the watch's cutesy communication features off as a sad joke when I first saw them. But one night they really clicked for me.

A couple years ago, my wife took a job here in Boston and I stayed behind in Chicago to sell our house. We were apart for almost three months, the longest we've been apart since we moved in together al out two decades ago. We flew out to see each other a couple times and we talked on the phone once a week. But what really helped was our constant texting. It was like having her with me sort of in a way.

If I could have bought us both  watches so she could send me her heartbeat during the day, it would have meant so much to me. That would have been money well spent. And that's why the touches and heartbeats and postage stamp sized finger drawings of cat faces don't seem so silly anymore.
Click to expand...

This is wonderful and something that many of the people bashing this feature will not be able to understand.

I'm not saying "anyone who dismisses this feature is a lonely basement-dweller", but rather some of us have relationships with others which this feature could compliment beautifully.

Imagine you get a tap on your watch. You raise your wrist to look, and it's a simple drawing from your other half. Not a text message, just a heart—a "hey, I just wanted you to know I'm thinking of you... I may be in a boring meeting, driving, or even just lying in bed. But I'm thinking of you".

Twenty years ago that would require a phone call. Now it's socially acceptable to send texts (after the initial luddite backlash against texts for these things)...

In 3-5 years the norm may well be Digital Touch.
 
troop231 said:
Why? The idea of silent received communication without having to look is very cool.
Click to expand...

You've sold me. That would be pretty awesome. Still a niche, but awesome. Too bad I'm not fluent in morse code ;)
 
i can receive a silent communication without having to look while my phone is in my pocket set on vibrate.


whats the difference? its on your hand?
 
It isn't a major purchase factor or anything, but I am looking forward to having access to it and it is part of the reason I will probably end up getting a watch for the wife. She normally doesn't care about tech at all, but several of the watch features appeal to her.
 
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