What are you guys expecting out of the Apple Watch? (or smartwatch for that case)

[theuserjohnny]

As of late there have been a handful of articles talking about the Apple Watch leading up to it's March 9th event and in a lot of the comments I've been hearing about Apple Watch vs. Pebble Time this and that.

And from there have been comments about how Pebble shouldn't even been compared to the Apple Watch because it isn't a smartwatch?

I'm not trying to start a flame/fanboy war here but I'm just curious as to why? What is it then are you expecting out of a smartwatch?

Personally for me this is what I expect...
- Longevity of battery life
- Push reminders/notifications to my wrist
- Functional OS- ei easy to navigate, easy to add/remove, control music, track steps, essentially the basics that you would expect. (something that I'm very excited about in the new Pebble Time compared to the OG Pebble)

The point of a smartwatch is to be an extension of your phone... not actually replace your phone to the point that your watching movies or playing games on it. I mean is there nothing more we should expect from a smartwatch other than those 3 points?

Now we all know the Pebble has the week long battery life. We all know Pebble pushes notifications to the wrist. And the OS has been proven to work but they've greatly improved on in the upcoming Pebble Time. And even when you compare it's OS currently against say an Android or a Samsung smartwatch it's been way more functional than theirs.

And on top of that the Pebble has expandability with the smart-straps that they announced. Imagine the possibilities of changing out your straps to say increase battery life for weeks, or have a GPS tracker, a strap specific for monitoring heart-rate, or even add NFC wireless payments.

They also finally added a microphone this time around for short reply/reminders to the phone.

I kinda get confused when people bash the Pebble's screen vs. the Apple Watch screen. I mean why? It's a watch on your wrist, I mean let's be honest the screen is the main issue for battery life on a majority of smartwatches today. Its as if you people saying Apple screen > Pebble screen are people who say Form > Functionality

Now granted, yes, none of us have yet to use an Apple Watch. Yes granted the Apple Watch will work better than iOS integration. Yes it's all about the Apple ECO system. Yeah guys I get that, my point of this wasn't to try and sway you away from an Apple Watch or to try and again start a flame war saying Pebble Time > everything. All I'm trying to say is that if you strip your biased towards a your company the Pebble Time is in every way a smartwatch. It seems to provide everything an Apple Watch (or any other current smartwatch) out there has to offer...

 

[Mtmspa]

every thing or nothing. wait for reviews and release.

 

[KenAFSPC]

I really like the concept of an Apple Watch to remind me about meetings, deadlines, and other commitments with a tap on the wrist. I also like the ability to check messages with a casual glance, without pulling out my phone. I routinely miss reminders and messages because I can't turn on notification sounds (which interrupt meetings), and there are times when it isn't appropriate to pull out a phone.

That said, I think the battery life (one day) is a deal breaker for me. One day of battery life means that if I forget to connect the charger before bed, as will almost certainly happen from time to time, I can't use the watch the following day. At a minimum, I require battery life comparable to the iPhone, which will last several days per charge (with light usage), so I am not "screwed" if I get home late and forget to connect the charger.

Design-wise, the Apple Watch is much thicker than I would like, being 75% thicker than an iPhone. One year from now, Apple will undoubtedly introduce a thinner, lighter version with superior battery life. I may just wait for Generation 2.

 

[cleirac]

*Fanboy suit on*

If the other manufactures will give to me their smartwatches, I will take them and but will only check what they do - I will never wear any of it even if the Omega-like looking ones. Hey, I do not even want or find the need to wear the real deal beautiful watches like Omega or Tag etc for a long time now. Wear those Omega wannabes, no way!

Having said that, I would have bought AW just because it is made by Apple, thankfully, Apple nailed it at least on the design aspects of pretty much everything.

It will not be perfect. And will have many limitations. Like all of them. Even if there is a perfect one already, again, no way, I will put it in my wrist.

In addition to it's design to perfection materials , the flawless AW to AW communications feature will be enough for me.

With mix & heavy use of both AW and iP6+, I expect them to last for almost 2 days. I do no mind at all if I will have to charge it every night.

The force touch sounds really cool. I am very much looking forward to experience that as well.

So many possibilities with the taptic engine technology, I expect a surprise on that. If it is not ready or any of it at launch day - it might be done via a software update only. Or I would not mind to wait until they are sure and have perfected it.

I really hope I get a fantastic or smooth experience when receiving calls with or without a bluetooth headset.

Blah, blah ... it will be worth, just for me to have it in my wrist and not do a thing on it ... after a long wait and long time not wearing a watch. And for me to just sit back with the real world, with my iP6+ in my pocket most of the time.

/end.*

 

[theuserjohnny]

Design-wise, the Apple Watch is much thicker than I would like, being 75% thicker than an iPhone. One year from now, Apple will undoubtedly introduce a thinner, lighter version with superior battery life. I may just wait for Generation 2.

Yeah personally right now the two things I think Apple needs for the second generation is improved battery life and maybe a lower price point. I mean Apple does have the iPhoneC line maybe have an Apple WatchC line to go along the standard? So they'd have three price points... the Gold, Sport Edition, and just a Standard edition to maybe compete with smartwatches with lower price points.

----------

*Fanboy suit on*

So many possibilities with the taptic engine technology, I expect a surprise on that. If it is not ready or any of it at launch day - it might be done via a software update only. Or I would not mind to wait until they are sure and have perfected it.

/end.*

I actually think that's one thing Apple has going for them in terms of smartwatch technology. I've played around with Android one's and they're "ight" and of course the Pebble relies on the three buttons (I'm pretty sure Pebble would have horrible battery life if they introduced such a feature).

But to be honest I think they'll have that feature in the bag when compared to the rest of the comp. which they've proven they have with their iPads/iPhones, hell even their trackpads on Macbooks have great response.

While I don't think touchscreen is absolutely necessary (because of it being a small screen on your wrist)... the idea of being able to swipe notifications away at a glance or decline is a nice feature.

 

[Skylitfly]

-minimum of 1 day battery life
-notifications & reminders
-fitness & activity tracking features
-navigation features
-jewelry like good looking design

 

[KauaiBruce]

All of the notifications I get with my Pebble except I get to raise my arm to look at them instead of them just flashing across the screen.

Fitness stuff without adding a second thing to my arm.

Love the new Braintoss app that will work on it that I just saw on the new app list someone started.

Watching everyone's faces when they realize I have an AW. I work at a job where I only make money when people stop and talk to me. I can only sell them stuff if they stop and talk to me. This will possibly get people to engage in conversation that I can easily steer back to making $$.

Fun story: I pulled out the very first iPhone on a plane between London and Barcelona before they were available outside the US. People 20 feet away spotted it and went NUTS with excitement. There were members of a British Orchestra that begged me to let them hold it for a second.

 

[troop231]

People 20 feet away spotted it and went NUTS with excitement.

Man I miss those days, they sure were great!

 

[Michael CM1]

I have only owned a Fitbit, so I am not expecting much since I don't know what all can be packed into the device. A lot of it obviously depends on the hardware inside. What's going to keep me on the fence, at least for a couple of years until I get a job making way more money, is not knowing what features it will add.

A couple of things I have heard about that are intriguing are controlling an Apple TV and opening your car. I use my Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air for all of my TV and movie stuff. So if a watch became some super remote control, especially if somehow it could also control the TV and sound system, then I'm listening. I doubt this is a thing coming in the first generation, but Tim Cook mentioned unlocking your door with the watch instead of a key fob. I'd much rather keep my keys in my backpack or not even carry them and have a watch that unlocked the door. But since I'm guessing this is nothing easy to replicate in cars already on the road, I'm betting this is down the road.

I like the step counter and heart rate tracker. But I think I would need to see much more in terms of health monitoring before it would be some sort of killer app. If someone figured out a freakin' magical way to figure out your calorie intake and burning by using a watch, I would buy it in a minute. I don't even know if intake would be physically possible from a wrist, which is why I said it would be magical.