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Watch owners what do you wish it had?

M

MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
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UK
Still on fence about getting a watch. What do owners who've had there's a while now wish it had? Or what do you think is really missing from it?

Software features may come in the future, but still please put them in to.

Anything that needs adding hardware wise? Looking at them I'd prefer thinner definitely, but probably a few generations away yet.

Although Apple will bring out new ones regularly, I'm wondering if not as regularly as iPhones.

Thanks
 
In all honesty I'm perfectly happy with my watch although I would like the support for Facebook messenger to be closer to the iMessage support with dictation replies. I guess that isn't down to Apple but it's how I talk to my friends so it's a personal want.

Thickness, I did think they looked a bit large but after nearly a week I can honestly say it's actually fairly slender. Of course, I'd be happy if it were thinner but it's by no means big, actually very comfortable.

The only thing that REALLY annoys me about the watch is that you can't have complications with watch faces like Solar despite the gaping amount of space on the screen. That's scraping the barrel a bit though, by no means a deal breaker.
 
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Eye-tracking would be good. Seeing that red dot and not being about to open up notifications by eye or thought waves is a real bind when you're carrying anything in your right hand. I have discovered only too well that you get funny looks when you wipe your nose down your watch face and then stare at it...

Still, in a few years time, we'll all look back and mock because the :apple:Watch 4S will be out and none of us will believe how anyone could be stupid enough to buy a watch which doesn't come with a time-vortex manipulator built-in...
 
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Unless they come up with different battery technology only hardware and software improvements will allow more functions without increasing thickness. This has got to happen if Apple brings us new features like facetime on the AW.
 
I guess my main hardware gripe is I want red leather loop and sport bands. 38mm leather loop and Black Milanese would be pretty sweet. I'm pretty happy with the watch itself. I think they did a great job with the hardware side of things.

My biggest gripes with it are software based and should hopefully be taken care of with os2. 3rd party apps need to speed up. Weather needs to speed up and 3rd party complications will be great and really allow you to personalize. I wish the weather app would refresh in the background maybe once an hour so it was available when you glance at it and if it updates refresh the data if not, data from an hour ago is better than seeing nothing and waiting.
 
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rasputin1969 said:
I sold mine but here is my wish list for gen 2

1. Continuous heart-rate monitoring to accurately help track daily calories.
2. Waterproof to 50m. This seems to be the industry metric to allow you to surface swim.
Click to expand...


Yep, I very much miss the detail my FitBit Surge did. Even their app was far superior for tracking HR.

Water Proof would be nice to 50m but do not think we will be seeing that.

Also Apple can not give us too many new features that use the battery, looks like constant HR tracking will not happen unless they make the sensor more efficient.
 
MrMister111 said:
Still on fence about getting a watch. What do owners who've had there's a while now wish it had? Or what do you think is really missing from it?

Software features may come in the future, but still please put them in to.

Anything that needs adding hardware wise? Looking at them I'd prefer thinner definitely, but probably a few generations away yet.

Although Apple will bring out new ones regularly, I'm wondering if not as regularly as iPhones.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Not having GPS is a big miss. I hope it makes it into the next version. Would be an amazing running / cycling watch if it just at a GPS chip.
 
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Solar charging to keep the battery topped up longer would be very useful IMO and could pave the way to having a GPS chip in the watch

Apart from that, I'd like to see more medical sensors at some point in the future (blood pressure, glucose, oxygen sats, etc) once the technology is there and reliable
 
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Independence of the iPhone would be good and i think it will go that way as there are indications of it with the rumours about Apple Watch 2. Looking forward to FaceTime. Apart from that, software mostly. Reminders, more flexibility with responding to emails and texts and i think a lot of this will come with software updates. Would like to see additional watch faces and more customisation.
I think that Apple haven't exploited the true power of the watch yet and we will see that in the software updates. It would be good if they let the developers off the leash to really make the watch rock.
Over the next year, Apple will trickle out more and more functionality to keep attracting new customer interest and ensure that their current customers remain interested and invest in the second gen next year.
 
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Doesn't it track HR all the time now? Did I read that it's now only every 10 mins or something? Why? Has this made battery life better?

Haven't actually had one on wrist yet only seen through the glass, unsure on size yet, I have skinny wrists, so unsure on size and the thickness worries me a little
 
Newtons Apple said:
I would like USER customization for notifications for both the haptic tap and for the "ding". Would not require a single hardware change just a software adjustment.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with this. Will be very useful.

Also, I want the watch to have the cellular connection, and the "phone" to tether from it. Not sure whether the battery technology will ever allow for such a thing, but logically, the smallest device is the one you are likely to always have with you, so that should be the hub.

MrMister111 said:
Doesn't it track HR all the time now? Did I read that it's now only every 10 mins or something? Why? Has this made battery life better?

Haven't actually had one on wrist yet only seen through the glass, unsure on size yet, I have skinny wrists, so unsure on size and the thickness worries me a little
Click to expand...

HR was supposed to measure once ten minutes. It was never supposed to measure it all the time, that would deplete the battery fast. But when they issued the 1.01 software update, it changed so it only measured HR if you were still when it attempted to make a measurement. If you moved, it wll skip that attempt and wait ten minutes to make the next attempt. A lot of people found that they only got a few readings a day. You can force it to measure HR by starting a Workout, but you can't keep that going all day because that measures continuously and depletes the battery.

As for size, I have small wrists, and am using the last hole on the small sports band with the 38 mm watch. The 42 was too big for me. And yes, I do wish the watch was thinner. Wearing it is comfortable, but not quite like "you forget it's there" which is how most people (presumably with larger wrists) seem to feel about it. If you can get to the store, I suggest you ask to try on the watch, I believe you can do it now without having to make an appointment beforehand.
 
Like most I'm quite pleased with my watch. One thing I miss from my Pebble is the ability to design my own watch face. The :apple: Watch customizations are nice and the ability to use photos and photo albums for watch faces that is coming in watch OS2 will be great, but you never get exactly what you want.

With the Pebble there is a watch face generator that will allow you to design your own unique watch face in either digital or analog mode. This was not actually from Pebble but was an app, so perhaps down the line Apple will allow the same thing to happen.

I will admit that the the customizations that we can do with the :apple: Watch come close to what you could do on the Pebble, and are much better than I thought it would be before I got my watch and started playing around with it.
 
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I was going to start a thread about this, but I will just post it here. I have loved my watch since day one. I have the SS leather loop, and bought the link bracelet and sport band. I really don't see what needs to be added but native apps which is coming.

I keep hearing people say they want custom watchface, and open up the API so developers can make them. Why I love the chronograph watchface, and really don't need anything more. I knew what I was getting when I got the watch, and could not ask for too much more.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1434722302.741506.jpg
 
Another vote for GPS and continuous HR monitoring for logging and graphing. Battery life will most likely go up by gen 2 as they double the battery life without increasing the battery size. This will offset adding GPS and HR but require nightly charging most likely. Open up the other sensors - body temp, etc.

Open up the watch faces or allow any watch face to add complications if wanted.

Native App's (coming this fall)
Third Party App's as Complications (coming this fall)
 
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Most of my gripes are software. The value of the watch is efficiency. 3rd party apps take forever to load, to the point where I'd be done already if I had just pulled out my phone. I'd like for it to bring my timer to the front when in use, but disappear when not in use. I don't need the timer complication all the time, but when I am using it, I'd like it to be up front. Maybe a complication that just shows what the watch thinks is relevant to you right now.

Otherwise, notifications are fantastic. They're very quick. It's neat having it right there, but responding to texts is still a job for the iPhone.
 
Not that I swim a lot, or at all, but I do think a 50m water resistance rating would be good. I also would like more color options on the bands. I LOVE the dark blue and orange ones Johnny Ive showed off once (biased since I'm a Broncos fan).

Most hardware improvements others have thrown out seem like gimmicks to me to be honest. I don't need (or want to pay for) my watch to have its own cellular connection. I never make FaceTime calls on my phone, so why would I want to do so on my watch? I don't run (back issues), so standalone GPS is not something I need either. Improved battery life is always nice, but I never worry about my battery as it is.

On the software side I would like contextually aware complications and watch faces. During the day I care about calendar events, but in the evenings less so. When I have a timer running I like seeing it, but don't need it there all the time when I don't. I even like to change my watch face based on the time of day and day of the week. It would be nice if the Apple Watch could pick up on all of this and just change on its own as the day goes on. At least to a degree, I can also see that it would be annoying for something to go away when your behavior deviates from the norm.

Also, more watch faces. I don't care if they open the doors to the entire world, just create more of every type of face. More analog, digital, whiz-bang (astronomy), and fun faces.

Make complications more flexible. For example, perhaps on the modular face let me decide to replace the center big complication with three smaller ones.
 
I don't really need it to have much beyond what it does, I just want what's there to work better. I hope wOS2 will improve these things.

Wish-wise for the future:

- More customization (for screen timeouts, messages, faces, etc.)
- Better battery
- More band options for the Sports
- Better/on-going HR tracking

I'd also love a cellular option (like there is with the iPad) since there are times I'd love to be able to bring my phone places without having to lug my 6+ around. If I could whip the SIM out of the phone and pop it into the Watch for brief periods, that would be amazing to me.
 
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Customizable side button.
Force touch in glances to fast switch to the first glance; force touch on the first glance to switch to the last. Or, spin the crown to speed through glances.
3rd party dials.
Some kind of shake interaction for when the other hand is busy. Shake to view notifications? Shake to dismiss? User definable.
Messages and mail in glances.
 
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anez said:
If I could whip the SIM out of the phone and pop it into the Watch for brief periods, that would be amazing to me.
Click to expand...

Yes, exactly. I do usually bring my phone when I go out, but there are times when I don't want to lug it around, but still want to be connected.
 
I'm pretty happy with the watch as it is and most of the things that are coming in watch Os 2 are going to be icing on the cake. The only things I'd like is the ability to reply to what's app messages and for Apple to make the modern buckle available to purchase as a separate band. A Star Trek watch face wouldn't go a miss either:p
 
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