So the Reviews Do Not Do Apple Any Favours

[MagicBoy]

I think the lag will match nicely with the stylish bend I'll put in my IPhone!

Lag-gate...the next hot forum topic for MacRumors!

Oh no, lag affects every single Apple product since Call of Duty 4 launched. Did you miss the memo where operating systems had an FPS counter?

Have to think for a nano-second longer than you like while an application processes = LAG!
Scroll speed not as anticipated in <insert application here> (even if it's got 300MB of images in it that can't possibly fit in VRAM) = LAG!
One tiny little frame drop in an OS X/iOS animation = WORLD ENDING LAG!

Can't be a bad ping, so no idea what causes it. Kids today.

 

[Tsuchiya]

Reviews should be doing consumers favours.

 

[Rogifan]

Reviews should be doing consumers favours.

Then the Verge totally failed.

 

[whtrbt7]

The reviewers are using the watch wrong . It's a watch first and a device second. Its main purpose is to tell the time. If it has problems doing that, the device will be a failure. Everything else is frosting. You don't "need" to get notifications, activity monitor, or other nick knacks. You "want" those things but the main reason people wear a watch is to tell what time it is. If the time isn't important to you, then you probably don't need a watch or a clock.

 

[samiznaetekto]

Reviews should be doing consumers favours.

...by providing an honest reviews of products. That's what The Verge did to the best they could do while maintaining the continuing "will get review units in the future" relationship with Apple.

Kudos to them!

Nilay's review reminded me of a soldier who by blinking Morse code on video taken by his captors transmitted valuable information to his army...

 

[ksuyen]

...by providing an honest reviews of products. That's what The Verge did to the best they could do while maintaining the continuing "will get review units in the future" relationship with Apple.

Kudos to them!

Nilay's review reminded me of a soldier who by blinking Morse code on video taken by his captors transmitted valuable information to his army...

More like The Verge still bound to individual opinion. Oh I don't doubt they call themselves expert and such, but I don't have to take what they said at face value.

 

[Arran]

So the Reviews Do Not Do Apple Any Favours

Apple didn't do themselves any favors by overhyping it for so long.

We had a big splashy "event" in the fall of last year, and other "happenings" in the interim. Everyone's imagination ran riot and expectations got out of hand. And now reality bites.

They did this to themselves.

 

[KPOM]

Apple didn't do themselves any favors by overhyping it for so long.

We had a big splashy "event" in the fall of last year, and other "happenings" in the interim. Everyone's imagination ran riot and expectations got out of hand. And now reality bites.

They did this to themselves.

Apple is doing just fine. If they had called this a hobby then reviewers would have treated it as such and said it was a waste of time. This is a major new undertaking for Apple, and the reviews objectively speaking aren't bad. Wearables as a category have not done well and tech reviewers go into reviews with that mindset. Apple also has a history of making great strides in second and third generations, which sets expectations in the minds of reviewers like Joanna Stern who otherwise might have been more willing to recommend it.

Soc Gen downgraded the stock on the fairly obvious observation that the Watch won't have a significant impact on revenue this fiscal year. But on the whole financial analysts don't seem worried. Enough people will buy the first generation in order to justify the second generation. That's the version that is more important to the long term success of Apple Watch. They have an opportunity to accentuate what's good and fix what's not so good with the current generation.

 

[Bigserver1]

I feel like if there is an early software update that addresses some of the speed/lag concerns, and 3rd party apps that are designed specifically for the watch start to drop, it will address a lot of the concerns that people (reviewers) have.

I'm not worried about charging nightly, which seems to be the other main gripe, along with price. So for me, I think Apple can make version 1 a success. Will version 2 be better? Undoubtedly, but I think this product needs some time to breathe in reality before it's really, honesty reviewed.

When the iPhone came out it had 16 apps. Think about how much better even the original iPhone got when the App Store came around.

 

[docprego]

Any criticisms in these early reviews are temporary and will all be addressed by Apple rather quickly.

I couldn't care less what these reviewers think. They don't occupy my lifestyle and therefore could never judge the value of the watch to ME. I'll figure out exactly what I like and don't like about it and use it accordingly. I'm fully confident that within weeks it will be indispensable and I'll wonder how I lived without it. Sounds Kind of like 3 other products I never knew I needed. You might have heard of them, Hint: they all start with iP.

 

[wchigo]

I'll still get it but now I'm aware there's an undesirable lag in some functions. I'm still very enthusiastic about the Apple Watch overall. But this concern that the lag might not go away with software tweaks alone is pushing me toward the least expensive option. I had expected even with a first gen device that Apple would have ironed out such a noticeable detractor from the "at-a-glance" experience central to the concept of this device.

So are you thinking of going with a Sport version now? I had somewhat talked myself into the 42mm SS Milanese Loop prior but with the UI lag and slowness in data transfer, I'm not so sure. I think I'll likely look at the 42mm SS Sports Band or 42mm Aluminium version now...

 

[Multiverse223]

...by providing an honest reviews of products. That's what The Verge did to the best they could do while maintaining the continuing "will get review units in the future" relationship with Apple.

Kudos to them!

Nilay's review reminded me of a soldier who by blinking Morse code on video taken by his captors transmitted valuable information to his army...

This is how ignorant Nilay Patel is: "Anything that's not cardio doesn't really get picked up, so weightlifting, yoga...things that don't make your heartrate go up don't really get accurately tracked by the watch"

He literally said weightlifting doesn't make your heartrate go up. He is an absolute moron. Weightlifting makes your heartrate skyrocket during a set, and it slowly falls over the 1-3min interim between sets. Even yoga increases heartrate moderately in different poses, due to the fact that certain poses can use a lot of muscle activation.

That's just one example of his highly ignorant and unobjective review.

Apple's biggest mistake about the watch is giving it to absolute morons to review. I'd much prefer a 3/10 review from someone that isn't a complete idiot.

 

[samiznaetekto]

This is how ignorant Nilay Patel is: "Anything that's not cardio doesn't really get picked up, so weightlifting, yoga...things that don't make your heartrate go up don't really get accurately tracked by the watch"

He literally said weightlifting doesn't make your heartrate go up. He is an absolute moron. Weightlifting makes your heartrate skyrocket during a set, and it slowly falls over the 1-3min interim between sets. Even yoga increases heartrate moderately in different poses, due to the fact that certain poses can use a lot of muscle activation.

That's just one example of his highly ignorant and unobjective review.

Apple's biggest mistake about the watch is giving it to absolute morons to review. I'd much prefer a 3/10 review from someone that isn't a complete idiot.

Bloopers do happen in video production. They write a script (review in this case), then memorize parts of it and play short episodes in front of camera. In review, he wrote

"There’s nothing that captures lifting weights, yoga, or other exercises that don’t either crank up your heart rate or trip the accelerometer with movement."

which I understood as 2-part statement: you can't capture lifting weights with the accelerometer, because accelerometer cannot tell you what weight you're lifting, and you can't capture yoga where slow movements and slow changes in heart rate are too unreliable to detect.

The video blooper doesn't make him a moron. He's a highly intelligent and successful person.

Anything else in his printed review that you find wrong?

 

[Multiverse223]

Bloopers do happen in video production. They write a script (review in this case), then memorize parts of it and play short episodes in front of camera. In review, he wrote

"There’s nothing that captures lifting weights, yoga, or other exercises that don’t either crank up your heart rate or trip the accelerometer with movement."

which I understood as 2-part statement: you can't capture lifting weights with the accelerometer, because accelerometer cannot tell you what weight you're lifting, and you can't capture yoga where slow movements and slow changes in heart rate are too unreliable to detect.

The video blooper doesn't make him a moron. He's a highly intelligent and successful person.

Anything else in his printed review that you find wrong?

You just confirmed he has no idea what he's talking about, thank you. Weightlifting 'cranks up' your heartrate, as I specifically said. yoga, on the other hand will moderately increase heartrate in different poses. What in the hell does he mean 'capture'? Is he saying that the workout app doesn't capture heartrate if it doesn't begin to elevate? I'm guessing if you go into the workout app and choose 'other' and then hit start, it will start tracking you with all sensors, especially the heartrate sensor. I personally can't wait to see my fluctuations in heartrate translated to a graph where I'll visually be able to see when I was doing a set as opposed to resting in between sets.

So yes, he is not 'highly intelligent'. He is highly unobjective, and ignorant.

 

[samiznaetekto]

You just confirmed he has no idea what he's talking about, thank you. Weightlifting 'cranks up' your heartrate, as I specifically said. yoga, on the other hand will moderately increase heartrate in different poses. What in the hell does he mean 'capture'? Is he saying that the workout app doesn't capture heartrate if it doesn't begin to elevate? I'm guessing if you go into the workout app and choose 'other' and then hit start, it will start tracking you with all sensors, especially the heartrate sensor. I personally can't wait to see my fluctuations in heartrate translated to a graph where I'll visually be able to see when I was doing a set as opposed to resting in between sets.

So yes, he is not 'highly intelligent'. He is highly unobjective, and ignorant.

I think by "capturing" weightlifting he meant more detailed record of 1) exact weights lifted, 2) the particular way they were lifted, 3) repetitions. Doing such a detailed report using just acceperometer and HRM is not possible. Similar for yoga - accelerometer doesn't know what pose you're doing. It can't see if you put your feet behind your ears.

That's all. There's no mountain in this molehill.

 

[Arran]

...If they had called this a hobby then reviewers would have treated it as such and said it was a waste of time...

It didn't do the Apple TV any harm.

It lowered expectations and gave Apple breathing space to figure out what sort of device people actually want.

 

[Ries]

I think by "capturing" weightlifting he meant more detailed record of 1) exact weights lifted, 2) the particular way they were lifted, 3) repetitions. Doing such a detailed report using just acceperometer and HRM is not possible. Similar for yoga - accelerometer doesn't know what pose you're doing. It can't see if you put your feet behind your ears.

That's all. There's no mountain in this molehill.

It might not be possible to do yoga poses, but lifting is.

https://www.atlaswearables.com/

Apple is way behind the curve in fitness.

 

[Rogifan]

Apple's biggest mistake about the watch is giving it to absolute morons to review. I'd much prefer a 3/10 review from someone that isn't a complete idiot.

Exactly. How does this clown get a review unit but not Ars Technica or Rene Ritchie.

 

[Tsuchiya]

...by providing an honest reviews of products. That's what The Verge did to the best they could do while maintaining the continuing "will get review units in the future" relationship with Apple.

Kudos to them!

Nilay's review reminded me of a soldier who by blinking Morse code on video taken by his captors transmitted valuable information to his army...

Nilay has certainly pissed off a lot of people with his review, but given the general pro-Apple position him and the rest of the Verge usually take it seems unlikely at best, that he is out to sabotage. Some criticisms may be blown out of proportion, and we shall see if this is the case when we get our hands on our own Watches this month.

 

[RayDonovan]

Bloopers do happen in video production. They write a script (review in this case), then memorize parts of it and play short episodes in front of camera. In review, he wrote

"There’s nothing that captures lifting weights, yoga, or other exercises that don’t either crank up your heart rate or trip the accelerometer with movement."

which I understood as 2-part statement: you can't capture lifting weights with the accelerometer, because accelerometer cannot tell you what weight you're lifting, and you can't capture yoga where slow movements and slow changes in heart rate are too unreliable to detect.

The video blooper doesn't make him a moron. He's a highly intelligent and successful person.

Anything else in his printed review that you find wrong?

A man who wears a hideous cuff with giant spikes on it shouldn't be reviewing anything wearable.

 

[Donoban]

Reviews should be doing consumers favours.

Speaking of reviews. This is a day in the life of the elite tech reporter in 2015.

1 - wake up

2 - hit a cafe for breakfast

3 - do a bit of work

4 - hit the gym

5 - meet a date at a fancy restaurant

6 - sip on a bit of henny

7 - crash around mid night and repeat....

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A man who wears a hideous cuff with spikes on it shouldn't be reviewing anything wearable.

Thank god I wasn't the only one put off by this guys pretentiousness. If the verge are reading this, next time choose someone more appealing to the masses, preferably female with big... er hands..