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Is Apple Watch an iPhone on your wrist?

S

samiznaetekto

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 26, 2009
1,016
24
I see it argued a lot here when discussing Apple Watch (here and below i⌚ for brevity) limitations that "it's not an iPhone on your wrist".

Let's remember how Steve introduced iPhone:

Today, we're introducing three revolutionary products. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device. So, three things: a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough Internet communications device. An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone...are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device. And we are calling it iPhone. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.

Facts:

1. i⌚ is an iPod. You can store and play music on it.
2. i⌚ is a revolutionary mobile phone (you just need to carry an auxiliary SIM "delegate" called iPhone)
3. i⌚ is an Internet communicator. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. (these and other apps dependent on Internet are, in essence, more usable versions of a web browser for specific tasks) And if Apple allowed it, somebody could write a tiny web browser for it.

Q.E.D. i⌚ ***is*** a miniature iPhone on your wrist. It's just that you need to carry an auxiliary battery with powerful CPU and antennas attached to it to fully enable its communication functions.

TL;DR - If you're talking to your wrist and browsing Instagram photos and such on your wrist, the fact that it does't have its own SIM does not make it "not an iPhone on your wrist" - just not very capable and standalone one.
 
What? this is not an iPhone...

you can't "store" music on it, so its not an iPod.

its cannot make phone calls, it just uses bluetooth of your phones mic and speaker.

It IS a internet communicator of such, but only for notifications.

its a watch which notifies the user of stuff on your iPhone.
 
macdaddy86 said:
What? this is not an iPhone...

you can't "store" music on it, so its not an iPod.

its cannot make phone calls, it just uses bluetooth of your phones mic and speaker.

It IS a internet communicator of such, but only for notifications.

its a watch which notifies the user of stuff on your iPhone.
Click to expand...

You can store 2GB worth of music on it.
 
Well I never knew this, thanks for the info. How do you get it to your watch?

Excuse that comment then :eek: still not a iPhone on your wrist :D
 
macdaddy86 said:
What? this is not an iPhone...

you can't "store" music on it, so its not an iPod.

its cannot make phone calls, it just uses bluetooth of your phones mic and speaker.

It IS a internet communicator of such, but only for notifications.

its a watch which notifies the user of stuff on your iPhone.
Click to expand...

It has built in storage to 'store' music onboard.

It does not use 'bluetooth of your phones mic and speaker', it acts as a mic and speaker for your phone via bluetooth. Calls can be made from the watch and held on the watch.

It is capable of communicating with others via the internet so it is an internet communicator.

I think you underestimate this device. I can see the OP's point here although I don't entirely follow it.
 
macdaddy86 said:
Well I never knew this, thanks for the info. How do you get it to your watch?

Excuse that comment then :eek: still not a iPhone on your wrist :D
Click to expand...

I wasn't agreeing with the OP, just letting you know about that feature. You can sync the music from the watch app in your iPhone. You can sync 2GB of random music from your phone and/or a playlist and then listen to the music on the watch even when the phone is not connected. Great for workouts and whatnot.

Syncing music is VERY slow though so it's best to do it while it's on the charger.
 
@you can't "store" music on it, so its not an iPod.

Yes you can. 2GB of music storeable on i⌚.

@its cannot make phone calls, it just uses bluetooth of your phones mic and speaker.

What's the difference? You *are* talking to your wrist, seeing on your wrist who is calling, accepting, dismissing calls, hanging up, reading and replying to texts... doing pretty much same things as on iPhone. It's just the SIM, cellular electronics, and big battery are delegated to a "proxy" that you have with you anyway. If Apple released a version of i⌚ with cellular capability that looks and works just like current version, would it be called an iPhone on your wrist? Or still NOT an iPhone on your wrist?

@It IS a internet communicator of such, but only for notifications. its a watch which notifies the user of stuff on your iPhone.

Not only notifications. It can do a lot of Internet-related rasks, and will do even more when native apps are allowed.
 
This is kind of a pointless exercise to be honest. The reason people were bringing up the fact that it's "not an iPhone on your wrist" is to make it clear that it's intended to be used in a very different manner than an iPhone. An iPhone is something you can use for hours at a time with various apps, etc. The watch is for quick checks or notifications. There's a reason Apple said interactions with the watch should be limited to 10-15 seconds. If you come at the watch thinking you'll be able to use it in the same way as an iPhone, you will be very disappointed (as some were). That's not to say that it's not just as capable as an iPhone in many ways, but it's just not something that you can sit and tinker with all day. And that's the entire point!
 
mightyjabba said:
This is kind of a pointless exercise to be honest. The reason people were bringing up the fact that it's "not an iPhone on your wrist" is to make it clear that it's intended to be used in a very different manner than an iPhone. An iPhone is something you can use for hours at a time with various apps, etc. The watch is for quick checks or notifications. There's a reason Apple said interactions with the watch should be limited to 10-15 seconds. If you come at the watch thinking you'll be able to use it in the same way as an iPhone, you will be very disappointed (as some were). That's not to say that it's not just as capable as an iPhone in many ways, but it's just not something that you can sit and tinker with all day. And that's the entire point!
Click to expand...

Oh I agree. The tiny formfactor dictates shorter interactions and other limitations such as no keyboard. That's why it's not just iPhone, it's a miniature iPhone on your wrist. If Apple added cellular capability but didn't change the look and called it "Wrist iPhone", or "iPhone nano", would people still insist that it's not an iPhone on your wrist?
 
DavidLynch said:
You can sync 2GB of random music from your phone
Click to expand...

You can? That's cool. I only knew about syncing a playlist.

Any idea how it chooses what songs? Is it truly random (thus creating a possibly terrible mix) or does it use some logic (such as most-played songs)?
 
flur said:
You can? That's cool. I only knew about syncing a playlist.

Any idea how it chooses what songs? Is it truly random (thus creating a possibly terrible mix) or does it use some logic (such as most-played songs)?
Click to expand...

I've only synced a playlist, but my understanding is it works much like an iPod shuffle.
 
samiznaetekto said:
I see it argued a lot here when discussing Apple Watch (here and below i⌚ for brevity) limitations that "it's not an iPhone on your wrist".

Let's remember how Steve introduced iPhone:

Today, we're introducing three revolutionary products. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device. So, three things: a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough Internet communications device. An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone...are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device. And we are calling it iPhone. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.

Facts:

1. i⌚ is an iPod. You can store and play music on it.
2. i⌚ is a revolutionary mobile phone (you just need to carry an auxiliary SIM "delegate" called iPhone)
3. i⌚ is an Internet communicator. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. (these and other apps dependent on Internet are, in essence, more usable versions of a web browser for specific tasks) And if Apple allowed it, somebody could write a tiny web browser for it.

Q.E.D. i⌚ ***is*** a miniature iPhone on your wrist. It's just that you need to carry an auxiliary battery with powerful CPU and antennas attached to it to fully enable its communication functions.

TL;DR - If you're talking to your wrist and browsing Instagram photos and such on your wrist, the fact that it does't have its own SIM does not make it "not an iPhone on your wrist" - just not very capable and standalone one.
Click to expand...
I think a distinct difference here is that the iPhone could actually replace your current phone, internet communicator (whatever that means) and iPod (see declined iPod sales as evidence of that).

The Apple Watch could only replace your iPod if your music collection is 2GB or less, and even then you wouldn't have a way to sync the music in its current form. It can't replace your phone - it's intended as and functions as a bridge between you and your phone, wherever you may have left it (within bluebooth/wifi range).

When people say, "it's not an iPhone on your wrist", what they mean is you shouldn't expect it to do everything a device with a 4-6" screen does, nor was it intended to.
 
When it can make phone calls without a phone attached, use every app on the App Store, take photos, browse the web fully...

Then i will call it a miniature iPhone on my wrist.
 
Your watch is a handset for your iPhone, because your iPhone is so big that it needs a handset.

TL;DR: your phone is so big it needs a phone.
 
I really think of the Apple Watch as a watch that can do a lot more things than any other watch I had before it, and even looks good doing it. Yes, it needs my iPhone to make calls, but my old watch couldn't even do THAT much.

If you treat this thing like a watch and not an iPhone, you will love it. If you expect it to be everything an iPhone is but attached to a strap, you are in for a world of disappointment.
 
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