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I hope that redesign you mention at number 4 (Series 4 would be this year) allows us to use the current bands, a lot of people (myself included) have a band collection.
No kidding.
I would be upset if they changed but the blow might be lessened if it was a really unique/cool design
 
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No kidding.
I would be upset if they changed but the blow might be lessened if it was a really unique/cool design

The only thing I wouldn’t mind them changing the band design for is if it was health related and allowed things like smart bands that I would get behind. I’m in the market for a new Apple Watch this year I’ve been thinking about what they could do this year as a stand out feature, last year had LTE for example and the only thing that springs to mind is health related.
 
Some reactions are hysterical to me. Just because you don't want something doesn't mean it shouldn't be offered.

And this reaction is hysterical to me. When technology companies offer something people don’t want, a ton of money is lost and it’s always considered a failure.

However, we are now looking at the first fully functional flexible displays for example.

Fully functional flexible displays have been shown off at CES since 2006 and Samsung has been hyping it since 2011.
 
Some reactions are hysterical to me. Just because you don't want something doesn't mean it shouldn't be offered. I know implementing a camera in the watch would not be easy or as practical as what the iPhone/iPad can accomplish. However, we are now looking at the first fully functional flexible displays for example. There are tons of innovations in battery capacity and structure. Technology improves at a very rapid rate. Just because you can't see something being implemented now doesn't mean you should just dismiss it. We were primitive baboons once that pushed rocks around all day - now we are talking about colonizing Mars. Do you follow the timeline?
"Do you follow the timeline?" you ask.

Have you paid any attention to the smartwatch industry so far? I mean, have you really taken note of which ones succeeded and which ones are in the graveyard?
 
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Some reactions are hysterical to me. Just because you don't want something doesn't mean it shouldn't be offered. I know implementing a camera in the watch would not be easy or as practical as what the iPhone/iPad can accomplish. However, we are now looking at the first fully functional flexible displays for example. There are tons of innovations in battery capacity and structure. Technology improves at a very rapid rate. Just because you can't see something being implemented now doesn't mean you should just dismiss it. We were primitive baboons once that pushed rocks around all day - now we are talking about colonizing Mars. Do you follow the timeline?

But I also question if there is actually a need for a camera on a smart watch. I’m not necessarily against having the functionality of a camera on a smart watch, but I think the Apple Watch has a much different focus which contributes to the success with the health related aspects and the watchOS integration with the iPhone. I just think the Apple Watch with a camera is an unnecessary feature , but again, I understand everything appeals to everybody differently. I just don’t think Apple shares your views on implementing a camera.
 
But I also question if there is actually a need for a camera on a smart watch. I’m not necessarily against having the functionality of a camera on a smart watch, but I think the Apple Watch has a much different focus which contributes to the success with the health related aspects and the watchOS integration with the iPhone. I just think the Apple Watch with a camera is an unnecessary feature , but again, I understand everything appeals to everybody differently. I just don’t think Apple shares your views on implementing a camera.

Just to be clear - I have NO VIEWS on adding a camera. I could care less. I just think that eventually there will be a need to incorporate more and more functionality into the watch or a device like it. I've also watched way too many sci-fi movies where someone is able to control stuff/communicate with people and do all sorts of crap from a watch-like device on their wrist. I just think it'd be cool if we live to see something like that. I certainly never thought I'd be able to leave my phone at home and stream music/text/take and make calls from my watch but that day came so I think the sky is the limit when it comes to tech
 
But I also question if there is actually a need for a camera on a smart watch. I’m not necessarily against having the functionality of a camera on a smart watch, but I think the Apple Watch has a much different focus which contributes to the success with the health related aspects and the watchOS integration with the iPhone. I just think the Apple Watch with a camera is an unnecessary feature , but again, I understand everything appeals to everybody differently. I just don’t think Apple shares your views on implementing a camera.

"Smart watch" is a marketing tag for what is the new "iPhone" being delivered to the market in iterative development. Yeah it will need a camera, once the phone/data radio has been fully established as standalone and primary more. Same as you need a camera on your iPhone.

But as stated, battery life and viewing/display capabilities need to be solved before you have a real standalone device that needs a camera.
 
Just to be clear - I have NO VIEWS on adding a camera. I could care less. I just think that eventually there will be a need to incorporate more and more functionality into the watch or a device like it. I've also watched way too many sci-fi movies where someone is able to control stuff/communicate with people and do all sorts of crap from a watch-like device on their wrist. I just think it'd be cool if we live to see something like that. I certainly never thought I'd be able to leave my phone at home and stream music/text/take and make calls from my watch but that day came so I think the sky is the limit when it comes to tech
"The sky" has nothing to do with it.

The watch lives on the wrist. It's more convenient -- you don't have to hold it in your hand -- but it's less versatile, too, because you can't aim it easily, nor can you use it very well after setting it down somewhere besides your wrist.

When we FaceTime with my dad, he usually puts his phone on the table and props it up against a book. He can't do that with a watch if it's on his wrist; and if he were able to take off the watch and still video chat with it, it'd too small to be worth looking at.

You can "do all sorts of crap" from today's smartwatches already, in case you haven't noticed. You can change the lights in your house, set schedule reminders, create and check off grocery lists, read the news, screen your emails, check local weather radar, play little games, log your sleep patterns.... oh yeah, and MAKE PHONE CALLS.

(seriously: before you post again, you need to sit there with your forearm at face height for ten minutes as if you were having a video chat conversation on your watch. Do it. Then tell us how great you think it'll be to do for real.)
 
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Some reactions are hysterical to me. Just because you don't want something doesn't mean it shouldn't be offered. I know implementing a camera in the watch would not be easy or as practical as what the iPhone/iPad can accomplish. However, we are now looking at the first fully functional flexible displays for example. There are tons of innovations in battery capacity and structure. Technology improves at a very rapid rate. Just because you can't see something being implemented now doesn't mean you should just dismiss it. We were primitive baboons once that pushed rocks around all day - now we are talking about colonizing Mars. Do you follow the timeline?

What’s hysterical about people thinking a camera attached to your wrist isn’t very useful and could be seen as a privacy issue?

It has been done by others but Apple Watch is still the go to smart watch.
 
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I believe the future of WATCH is going to be health and safety, which I’m really looking forward to.

It's not really what you beileve, but more like what you want.

Hell no. It’s already been proven to be a stupid idea. Name another currently popular smartwatch that has a camera. Moto360? Samsung S3? Garmin Fenix? TAG Heuer Connected? Fitbit Blaze? NONE of these have cameras. The early Samsung ones with cameras are dead and gone.

Privacy issues are one thing (who wants to see the creepy snowboard stalker commercial again?). Technical limitations are there, too (don’t you want a smaller bezel around the screen?). Plus, go ahead and hold up your arm for ten minutes like you’re doing a video chat on your wrist.

No. Stupid. People have been asking for five goddamned years and the market has decided: “Nope.”

— I know it’s been three and a half years since the AW was announced, but people have been asking the same question for as long as rumors n’ speculation has talked about an Apple smartwatch.

I would say never.

See ALL following posts. None of these guys agree that the watch will have a camera anytime soon. Technically speaking, having a camera would be too awkward to design a watch. Practically speaking, there is no need to transform a watch into an even smaller full function computer. No one wants to play PUBG using a watch even if they can.

The best would be a system that is similar to iPhone X attention-aware camera to supplement raise to wake feature, and that’s about it.

It never ceases to amaze me how close minded people is:

"It doesn't have a keyboard"

[doublepost=1520565280][/doublepost]
"The sky" has nothing to do with it.

The watch lives on the wrist. It's more convenient -- you don't have to hold it in your hand -- but it's less versatile, too, because you can't aim it easily, nor can you use it very well after setting it down somewhere besides your wrist.

When we FaceTime with my dad, he usually puts his phone on the table and props it up against a book. He can't do that with a watch if it's on his wrist; and if he were able to take off the watch and still video chat with it, it'd too small to be worth looking at.

You can "do all sorts of crap" from today's smartwatches already, in case you haven't noticed. You can change the lights in your house, set schedule reminders, create and check off grocery lists, read the news, screen your emails, check local weather radar, play little games, log your sleep patterns.... oh yeah, and MAKE PHONE CALLS.

(seriously: before you post again, you need to sit there with your forearm at face height for ten minutes as if you were having a video chat conversation on your watch. Do it. Then tell us how great you think it'll be to do for real.)


Nobody is having a 30min conversation using a watch in their home. The idea is more like to answer a 2min call when walking on the street. Like:

*incoming call*

-Where are you dave? you were supposed to be here 10 minutes ago
-I'll be there in a minute

*call ended*
 
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It never ceases to amaze me how close minded people is:

I don’t think you understand what being “close-minded” means.

Nearly all of the responses to the OP’s question were reasonable, well-thought out, valid explanations for why a FaceTime camera on the WATCH is impractical.
 
Which doesn’t require a video camera.
Neither is a Smart watch really needed for the type of tasks it does, yet here we are...
[doublepost=1520571277][/doublepost]
I don’t think you understand what being “close-minded” means.

Nearly all of the responses to the OP’s question were reasonable, well-thought out, valid explanations for why a FaceTime camera on the WATCH is impractical.

"I don’t think you understand what being “close-minded” means." I think it's the other way around. All the responses categorically reject the idea. You're not opened to new things or things you've not experienced. You don't even give it a chance. "Impractical" were touchscreen keyboards. I'm pretty sure if a question about an all screen phone was asked 12 years ago, the responses would be in a similar fashion.

Thank god there are many companies who are willing to try new ideas, especially Apple.
 
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Remember these?
Do you also remember wondering why the girl in this ad didn’t get creeped out?
I hadn't seen this before-- what a train wreck of an ad... It's been like 15 minutes since I've watched it and my skin is still crawling...
 
Neither is a Smart watch really needed for the type of tasks it does, yet here we are...
[doublepost=1520571277][/doublepost]

"I don’t think you understand what being “close-minded” means." I think it's the other way around. All the responses categorically reject the idea. You're not opened to new things or things you've not experienced. You don't even give it a chance. "Impractical" were touchscreen keyboards. I'm pretty sure if a question about an all screen phone was asked 12 years ago, the responses would be in a similar fashion.

Thank god there are many companies who are willing to try new ideas, especially Apple.

You haven’t been paying attention.

Cameras in watches have been tried. Several times, in fact. I gave examples, too. Guess what: they’re all dead and buried.

“We” on this forum haven’t had to reject them. The manufacturers and the open market already have done the rejecting.

Onscreen keyboards are a false equivalent. They’re simpler to manufacture (literally zero moving parts), easier to reconfigure through software (have you realized how many different keyboard layouts you have available?), and disappear when an app doesn’t need them.

A camera does not make a wristwatch better.
 
You haven’t been paying attention.

Cameras in watches have been tried. Several times, in fact. I gave examples, too. Guess what: they’re all dead and buried.

A camera does not make a wristwatch better.

What Apple Watch version had a camera? because we're talking about Apple. They were already touch screen phones and touch screen computers, many in fact, before the iPhone and iPad.

If we go by what other companies have tried, we would have no iPhone today because touch screen phones were very bad at the time.

Onscreen keyboards are a false equivalent. They’re simpler to manufacture (literally zero moving parts), easier to reconfigure through software (have you realized how many different keyboard layouts you have available?), and disappear when an app doesn’t need them.

And you know all of this because Apple has successfully done it. In fact, those words are very similar to Jobs' words. Had he not introduced the iPhone, everyone would be defending their blackberries, how their keyboards were superior, etc, as you were doing when the iPhone was first introduced.

How do you know a camera on an Apple device, integrated to its ecosystem is a gimmick if you have never used it?
 
How do you know a camera on an Apple device, integrated to its ecosystem is a gimmick if you have never used it?

Because all the reasons camera-equipped watches already failed have nothing to do with software, wattage demands, or processing power, and everything to do with the notion of a wrist-mounted camera.
 
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Because all the reasons camera-equipped watches already failed have nothing to do with software, wattage demands, or processing power, and everything to do with the notion of a wrist-mounted camera.

I have the feeling you didn't read my post.
 
I have the feeling you didn't read my post.

Go back through my posts in this thread and tell me one instance where I faulted the hardware or software of other smartwatch cameras.

Tell me when I said that their photo resolution wasn’t up to par, or the UI was clunky, or the screen wasn’t responsive, or the battery life sucked, or they were ugly.

These factors are what Apple improved upon with the iPhone (well, apart from battery life, but hey...).

But none of them can help a smartwatch camera become anything more than a stupid idea.
 
Oh, and this snarky little snipe:
Had he not introduced the iPhone, everyone would be defending their blackberries, how their keyboards were superior, etc, as you were doing when the iPhone was first introduced.

Really? You weren’t there when I tried my coworker’s brand-new first-gen iPhone, and then turned to my little Blackberry Pearl and knew I would get rid of it within a year.
 
But none of them can help a smartwatch camera become anything more than a stupid idea.

Sure they can. If there's a good integration both in the device and with other services it can be a very good idea. But we'll never know if you keep rejecting the idea of innovation.

Oh, and this snarky little snipe:


Really? You weren’t there when I tried my coworker’s brand-new first-gen iPhone, and then turned to my little Blackberry Pearl and knew I would get rid of it within a year.

Oh-oh! This is exactly what I meant. You weren't sold until you tried it yourself. How can you absolutely reject the idea if you haven't tried it on an Apple watch with apps dedicated to the camera, with facetime integration, the Apple way, Not a lame samsumg after thought.
 
Please tell us how “FaceTime integration” solves the issues of privacy, awkward arm positions, tiny screen size, and everything else I’ve already written about.

Please. You’re such a genius.
 
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Because all the reasons camera-equipped watches already failed have nothing to do with software, wattage demands, or processing power, and everything to do with the notion of a wrist-mounted camera.
On top of that, Apple almost never implement a new technology first, unless it is their proprietary technology.

I don’t need to FaceTime with my mom through my watch. But I may need to call her in case of emergency. That’s why LTE watch is more practical than camera in watch in the near future.
 
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