
Apple Watch – 6 Months Later, Not That Great - jandll
http://prodissues.com/2016/01/apple-watch-6-months-later-not-that-great.html
======
wlesieutre
It sounds like he'd be happier with a pebble. Battery lasts for most of a week
and it's closer to just being a watch than the other smart watches.

I mainly use mine for clock, stopwatch, two factor auth, weather, and music
control. Big fan of the hardware buttons that your can bind two favorite apps
to, instant access to your commonly used features makes for less poking around
on it.

~~~
hunvreus
I'm really not into gadgets and accessories and haven't owned a watch in more
than 15 years, but I've been considering getting a Pebble Round. It looks like
it would be actually useful and help me dress up for events or meetings.

You recommend it? I thought the battery was 2 days max..?

~~~
commandar
I loved my OG Pebble from a functionality standpoint.

That said, if your goal is for dressing up... I would probably recommend
against the Pebble Round. Drop by a Best Buy and check one out in person at
least; my impression is that it looks terribly toy-like for a watch and would
_not_ be something I'd choose to wear in a more formal situation.

------
nodamage
> Having to take off your watch, every night, is like a Chinese torture – it
> impinges you one drop at a time, until you can’t stand it anymore.

Huh? Does this mean that he normally sleeps with a watch on?

~~~
dikaiosune
I've known many people who do, but I couldn't ever understand it. It seems
more common with people who have fully waterproof sport watches, I assume at
least in part because they can wear them in the shower.

~~~
coldtea
> _I 've known many people who do, but I couldn't ever understand it._

What's there to understand? It all comes down to whether the watch troubles
you at all when sleeping. And if it doesn't bother you during the day, why
would it bother you at night, when you are mostly unconscious?

I sometimes wear it (during sleep), and others not. Analog watches I can't
usually wear when going to sleep, because I have my wrist close to my head,
and the "tick tick" noise annoys me. Digital watches, no problem.

> _It seems more common with people who have fully waterproof sport watches, I
> assume at least in part because they can wear them in the shower._

Huh? You can just wipe the watch every now and then.

~~~
dikaiosune
> What's there to understand?

I can't sleep with one on, and I don't understand why it doesn't bother others
who can.

> You can just wipe the watch every now and then.

Even if I could sleep with a watch on, not having a sport watch means that I
would have to take it off every morning anyways, so why not just take it off
at night?

~~~
coldtea
> _I can 't sleep with one on, and I don't understand why it doesn't bother
> others who can._

What's there to bother them? It's just something you have on you wrist all day
anyway and barely notice it when you're not checking the time.

I guess some people can't sleep with socks on or pajamas either, but it's not
something that's anything more than a personal curiosity.

It's not like having a watch on while sleeping brings in any pain/noise/other
issues that make it objectively bad for sleep.

------
pmontra
I stopped wearing watches 25 years ago and I can't stand strapping anything
around my wrists any more, watches, bands, anything. Before then I took off my
watch every night. So that won't be a problem for me, an anecdotal data point
vs another one. The problem is that's a watch. Am I alone with that?

~~~
cm2187
Me too. Watches and glasses. So not exactly excited about Google pushing their
Google Glasses and Apple the Apple Watch. Waiting for Microsoft to come up
with the Microsoft Braces!

~~~
WalterBright
3 times glasses have stopped something headed for my eyes. I kinda prefer
having them on. I also wear a watch because when driving it's easy to check
the time without having to dig something out of a pocket. It's also easy to
surreptitiously check the time when you're bored :-)

~~~
jquast
Your automobile doesn't have a clock? A motorcycle?

Anyway, boredom is healthy, embrace it!!

~~~
WalterBright
> Your automobile doesn't have a clock?

Nope. But I have had cars with clocks, and they were unusable due to:

1\. They stopped whenever the electrical system had troubles. So they were
either behind or showed what was essentially a random time, because they
needed constant resetting.

2\. They were either woefully fast or slow.

3\. They were digital (no hands) and small, requiring you to peer at them to
read the time, taking eyes of the road for seconds.

4\. They were accessible through a 'mode' button, which of course I never
could remember how to scroll through the modes while trying to drive in
traffic.

5\. My analog watch I can read in 1/10th of a second with just a flick of the
eye.

TL,DR: all clocks in cars suck. Not that they have to suck, they just do
because of lousy human factors design.

------
alkonaut
Am I the only one who wants a dumber smart watch? I'll be carrying my phone at
(almost) all times, so I don't need the watch itself to have a power sucking
processor and the battery to go with it.

I'd be happy if it just used some low-power communication to relay information
from my phone. It doesn't need a big touchscreen either. Imagine a "smartwatch
communication standard" that let normal good-looking watches with months or
years (or perpetual) battery time display info from all smartphone platforms
would be fantastic. That way I could get an expensive watch and not have to
worry about whether it's going to be an expensive paperweight in a few years.
I'm happy to buy a $1000 smartphone, but a $1000 watch I want to use for a
decade, even if its smart features don't work any more.

~~~
rtpg
Pebble Time is within $200-250. Battery life is almost a week (I don't take a
charging cable when going on small trips). It is basically a notification
display + fun aesthetics.

Though if you're talking about wearing a $1000 watch, the pebble watches as a
whole might not be your vibe. The Pebble Time (especially the red one) can
look like a McDonald's toy from afar

But if you remember that you're wearing things like a smartwatch to _get your
shit together_ (or whatever), after powering through the initial self-
conciousness of wearing a Game Boy Color on your wrist goes away. Well, did
for me at least. But the first couple of weeks were almost embarassing.

~~~
alkonaut
Yes my hope of a simple standard would be that you could could choose any
watch with any design and still have some smart features. I don't really like
the idea of the big black flat screen watch, I want my smart watch to look
more or less exactly like my dumb watch - which I'm admittedly wearing only as
an accessory.

I'd prefer physical hands on the watch even if it meant the info display was
limited. I'd be happy with a good looking chronograph that could just _notify_
me of messages from apps, and display short texts. 2x16 chars lfs mono text
would be enough to not ruin the design of the watch.

Edit: it's a thing! [http://www.slashgear.com/hps-isaac-mizrahi-smartwatch-
woos-l...](http://www.slashgear.com/hps-isaac-mizrahi-smartwatch-woos-ladies-
with-crystals-29424831/) (Perhaps a bit blingy but just what I'm talking
about)

------
LeoPanthera
Just to add another data point: I have no problem with charging it nightly.
Dropping it on the charger before I get into bed each night has become almost
a reflex, I don't even think about it. I put it on in the morning even before
I get out of bed.

I've forgotten two or three times, and every time the watch has easily lasted
through two full days without dying.

Like the author I don't use third party apps very much (except maybe for
Wunderground), but unlike the author I find the built-in functions more than
justify the cost. I would recommend it and look forward to seeing what the
Watch II brings.

~~~
rickyc091
Agreed. What watch don't you have to take off daily and put it back on your
wrist the very next day? I personally have no issues with the charging aspect.
I mainly use mine for notifications and the occasion siri for timers /
reminders.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Like... any watch? :). Lots of people (myself included) sleep with their
watches on; there's a big parallel comment subthread about it here :).

------
cm2187
It's like the idea of forcing people to use Bluetooth headsets (if they do
remove jack ports from iphones). One more battery to worry about.

Next unicorn idea: a checklist app of all the devices to charge before going
to bed every night!

~~~
bane
New product idea: bUcket.

A powered bucket that you toss all your crap into to wirelessly charge all the
electronics you're carrying around with you. Room for at least 1 mobile phone,
1 bluetooth headset, 1 smartwatch and 1 wearable hud-like device.

Notice the "u" in bUcket is uppercase since it looks like the product, making
it easy for people to write about in facebook and twitter without having to
past the logo everywhere. In fact the logo is just the simple text version of
the product name.

Useful and a viral marketing plan all at once.

~~~
cm2187
And it will even microwave your popcorn if you throw it in the bucket!

[edit] And you will need a bucket next to every bed, any hotel. I wonder what
Borat would do with them. Reminds me of this scene:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdnuOa7tDco](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdnuOa7tDco)

~~~
coldtea
> _And you will need a bucket next to every bed, any hotel._

So? Most hotels managed to keep up with stuff people need over the decades --
phones, air-conditioning, TVs, microwaves, cable, ethernet-based internet
access, wi-fi, movies on demand, frequently USB charging ports, etc.

------
MCRed
Apple Watch is fantastic. It keeps introducing me to new features...like I got
a phone call and took it from the watch. That was unexpected (I didn't bother
to read up on it before buying-- I just wanted it for fitness tracking.)

Hell ,yesterday I wanted to take a picture of the underside of my car with my
phone. Turns out the watch works as a remote camera display... very happy with
that!

The watch is slowly taking over a big chunk of the stuff I used to use my
iPhone for...

I didn't like having to take the sport band off every night, so I got one of
those knockoff link bracelets from Amazon- it looks just like the one Apple
sells at 1/5th the price.

I've decided that if they release a new watch this spring I will buy it. Even
though I was late to get mine, It has more than paid for itself in 6 months.
Whatever the new features of the new watch will likely make it worth the
upgrade to me. (The workout app alone is worth $350 for me. I've already saved
$30 in gas with the navigation reminders I expect... the watch just keeps
paying dividends.)

------
markpapadakis
Apple definitely hoped for an iPhone like leap forward for smart watches, and
certainly tried hard to accomplish just that - but they probably realised soon
after it was made available for purchase that this was no repeat, maybe even
long before that.

The fact of the matter is, the iPhone was a truly revolutionary product(they
often quoted that in their marketing material, but that was no hyperbole),
whereas the Watch has been an evolutionary advancement compared to what was
already at the market, at best. That is to say, it didn’t do anything
particularly different, or did what alternative products did differently. It
integrates well with the Apple ecosystem, and that digital crown is
interesting( from what I am hearing, it’s not that great in practice ),
and..well, that’s about it, really.

I believe Apple can eventually transform this into a great product, one step
at a time. I am not personally drawn to the Watch, or any ‘smart watch’ for
that matter, but maybe it’s because I haven’t experienced yet what Apple
hasn’t invented yet that would make me want to buy and wear it. Maybe next
year when the Home Kit initiative enables ‘smart devices’ and the watch to
play nice together, or when you can control your Apple Car using the watch and
Siri (if you can name your Apple car, I ‘ll name mine KITT), then I ‘ll really
want it.

~~~
noelsusman
This is something I've been wondering about for a while in regards to Apple.
Like you said, the iPhone was truly revolutionary. It was the best phone on
the market by a very large margin. The iPad was also significantly better than
the competition when it first came out (mostly due to Apple's iron fist
approach to app developers).

These days the only product Apples makes that is significantly better than the
competition is the MBP, and even that gap is slowly disappearing. The iPhone
is not significantly better than the top Android phones. Microsoft has
leapfrogged Apple in the tablet space. The Apple Watch was anything but
revolutionary. Their desktops have never been better than the competition.
Apple TV doesn't offer much compared to the competition. Their recent service
offerings (e.g. Apple Music) haven't been better than the competition.

I can't remember the last time Apple released something that was clearly
better than anything else on the market. That used to be routine for Apple. I
don't know if it's due to Apple getting worse or everyone else getting better,
but it's interesting to note.

~~~
mavhc
I didn't know Microsoft had leapfrogged Apple in the tablet space.

------
sirn
There's an interview with Phil Schiller a while back[1] that explains where
Apple is going with their line of products. Quoting from the article:

> "The job of the watch is to do more and more things on your wrist so that
> you don’t need to pick up your phone as often."

> "The job of the phone is to do more and more things such that maybe you
> don’t need your iPad, and it should be always trying and striving to do
> that."

> "The job of the iPad should be to be so powerful and capable that you never
> need a notebook. Like, why do I need a notebook? I can add a keyboard! I can
> do all these things!"

> "The job of the notebook is to make it so you never need a desktop, right?
> It’s been doing this for a decade."

> "[The job of the Mac] is to challenge what we think a computer can do, and
> do things that no computer has ever done before—[it should] be more and more
> powerful and capable so that we need a desktop because of its capabilities."

I can relate to what Phil Schiller is saying. For me, the Apple Watch become
more useful once I stopped having the phone in my hand all the time.

Nowadays I either leave the phone on my desk or leave it in my pocket and
accomplish basic tasks on the Watch. Checking OmniFocus, checking Fantastical,
calling Uber, answering calls, making quick iMessage reply, turn-by-turn
navigation, etc. You could say these tasks are boring and could be done on a
phone. But the point is that I can do it on my wrist without picking up the
phone, which, sometimes, very convenience to have both of my hands free.

[1]: [http://fortune.com/2015/12/04/schiller-apple-
theory/](http://fortune.com/2015/12/04/schiller-apple-theory/)

------
nostrademons
Yet another data point: I'm very happy with mine. Mostly use it for the
Activity monitor, Notifications, weather, hike/bike tracking, and music
controller. It's handy for taking phone calls when I'm not near my phone, too.
Sport band is a little annoying but bearable. I don't care about the charging
every night - I do that with all my devices, and can't imagine wearing a watch
to sleep.

I'd _like_ to use third-party apps but haven't found any that are particularly
well-done. I see this complaint on Reddit a lot too - people are looking for
apps but all the existing ones suck. I've heard that WatchOS 2.1 is still
pretty buggy and the processor is underpowered, which makes it very difficult
to write a high-quality app at the moment.

------
tunesmith
I've had the sport band and have successfully taken it off and put it back on
probably 500 times in a row since I've gotten it (showers and sleeping) - it
just takes a bit of practice at first.

I'm also solidly in their target audience since I follow the fitness wheel
religiously - about 125 straight days of meeting my "goals", which really has
made a marked positive difference in my life and health. I hadn't used
anything like a fitbit before that.

------
0xCMP
(Website down. Couldn't read) Love my apple watch. Notifications are good,
I've found my lost phone a number of times, I talk to siri via it, I've
noticed things that come in after wards by checking notifications while phone
was in a tough pocket or bag. The faces I have setup give me all the info I
need. Recently I found some of the watch apps are much better now and I've
been using their views in glances.

Granted, I don't usually go in to apps on the watch cause they're slow, but it
is very useful to me. I have a sport band and it is super easy to take off and
tighten/loosen.

Plus it looks leagues better than the pebble I had.

------
watmough
The form factor of the Apple Watch ruins it for me. Watches are (generally)
round. The square shape has the same jarring effect on my aesthetic sense as
the rounded PIMs from the Danger HipTop/Nokia N-Gage era.

A Moto360 but at about 1/3 the thickness would be something I might consider.
I would have bought one already if it didn't look thick enough to be a Woz-
style nixie-tube watch.

In fact I'm rather hoping my next watch might be a used Rolex GMT Master II
(Black/Red or 'Coke' bezel).

TL; DR: Keep iterating.

------
j45
Watches being early in their platform generationally, I'm finding there's been
little that's been interesting to dive in to try out. Apple Watch was
definitely the first, but I was quickly reminded how fast I got rid of my
iPhone 1, and Note 1.

Part of a young platform is the tasks it can allow you to do vs what you
quickly wish it could do.

A watch to me is just another screen that I'd expect to be able to behave like
my phone, or tablet.

Watches, as young as they are in their platform cycle, are going to see a lot
of hardware development from iPhone 1 to 3GS which was the first viably
performant phone.

Likewise, the Galaxy Note 1 was interesting enough but underwhelmingly powered
that the Note 2 replaced it within a year. What was remarkable became
applicable.

At this time, I've been looking into the Asus ZenWatch 2 as a more capable
alternative when loaded with WearTasker.

The $129 for a ZenWatch 2 that I can program any which way I want with
WearTasker while the platform matures is almost too good to pass up while the
platform develops and matures. Far less thought to buy the next one.

Would love to hear about any other watches other that Pebble that may have
caught your interest.

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cuberob.we...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cuberob.weartasker&hl=en)

[http://amazon.com/ASUS-ZenWatch-Android-Wear-
Smartwatch/dp/B...](http://amazon.com/ASUS-ZenWatch-Android-Wear-
Smartwatch/dp/B0163HRGNC/)

------
lmedinas
Since some time i want to express my opinion on Smartwatches specifically the
Apple Watch.

\- The UI, imho, it's ugly when compared to Android Wear. It needs a refresh
to keep up and align with iOS. Possibly better hardware ?

\- First of all this is a watch, stop treating like it's the ultimate
Computer. It has potential to be great but it isn't yet.

\- Apple needs to stop advertising like "you badly _need_ an Apple Watch as a
companion for your iPhone or you will have a not so happy life. This is a
watch, there are people who never use a regular watch and those that will
probably buy one will use it as a regular watch plus Phone notifications or
tiny apps.

\- All these reviews are a result of Apple Marketing, see above, the product
is just the first model it will get better just don't expect to replace your
Phone or laptop.

\- Why don't people threat it just like a regular nice watch like Fossil,
Citizen or Seiko ? Or even if they want like a Tag Heuer (for the gold model).

~~~
nostrademons
I've got a G Watch, Moto 360, and Apple Watch. The bit about the UI is
interesting - IMHO, Apple's launcher and glance mechanism is _much_ nicer than
Android Wear, but Android Wear's notifications and watchfaces are a lot
prettier than the Apple Watch. I also think that Android Wear feels more
integrated as a UI; it feels like Apple put a whole lot of effort into the
stock apps, but their notifications are a kludgy afterthought.

I'm using the Apple Watch as my primary smartwatch right now, largely because
I think the _hardware_ is better, but I've got the Android watches charging on
the shelf and thought it was pretty ironic to see a Google product be
_prettier_ than an Apple one but less practical.

~~~
lmedinas
> it was pretty ironic to see a Google product be prettier than an Apple one
> but less practical.

Completely agree but still Apple has again some advantages since they own both
hardware and software so this means in future once Apple get their design
improved it might be better than Android Wear. But also i'm looking what
traditional Watches Makers like Tag Heuer and Fossil will do with Android
Wear.

------
zepto
Basically a rant about not wanting to charge it every night.

I like mine, and I don't have a problem charging it frequently enough nor do I
find it hard to take on or off with the sport band.

I do a major criticism which is that 3rd Party apps are essentially useless
because they are too fiddly to launch.

Luckily the built in features make it a good product anyway.

------
Aardwolf
> "If it wasn’t too big of a statement, I would have gone back to my Polar
> RS-100."

I don't understand... the choice of what watch to wear is hindered by it being
a "statement"?

~~~
HillRat
It's a honking great running watch, not a "watch watch," so the statement
would be something like "My GOD I'm too busy being incredibly fit to even
remove my workout equipment! Look at how low my resting heart rate is!" So I
sympathize with him not wanting to wear one of those off the trail. :)

------
bbarn
Have a Samsung Gear Live - basically the vanilla android wear watch - from
it's release, about a year total. I liked it, liked the simple snap closure,
functionality it provided, and tolerated the charging frequency.

Then the apple watch came out and every other person in public started asking
me if that was the apple watch, and I got tired of having the same discussion
all the time, and stopped wearing it.

I wouldn't say I miss it - it was nice not reaching for my phone as often, but
I've found just not being so glued to my devices even more liberating. I've
set expectations of those around me, and my jobs, that I'm not constantly "on"
and it might take ten whole minutes to get me sometimes.

------
seiji
_I brought its charger with me, yet I’m too lazy to connect it to the outlet,
take off my watch and connect it to the charger._

Not sure how that's the watch's fault?

 _I don’t suppose to take off my watch every night and charge it!_

That's kinda part of the deal.

 _the sport band, which doesn’t make it easier to take the Watch off and put
it back on._

But, it does. For putting it on you just have to brace it against something
else to hold it in place. A couple practice times gets it down pretty good.
For taking it off, it's basically a pull tab. Can't be much easier than that.

It's a physical watch, not our abstract lord and savior we can offload all
subjectivity onto to make us feel better about ourselves.

 _keep telling myself it’s the best watch ever designed…_

Just wait until it's also the key to your Apple Car.

~~~
jandll
Well said. I enjoyed reading your comment.

------
devereaux
I am waiting for a LTE watch, that is able to go online without a phone.

Due to bad luck, I went to buy a LG Watch Urbane 2nd ed 3 days after it was
pulled from the store :-/

At the moment, there is no Android/iOS/Windows Phone LTE watch on the market.
I would even settle for 3G :-/

~~~
grubles
Why not just put all of the phone functionality into the watch? Maybe with a
little bluetooth ear-piece that pops out of the watch similar to the S-pen
with Samsung Note devices. Feel free to steal my idea, fellow HNers, because
that is what I want!

~~~
shavingspiders
Huawei kind of started something like that. Fitness band that pops out to be a
bluetooth earpiece. I've seen it around a few times.
[http://consumer.huawei.com/minisite/worldwide/talkband-b2/](http://consumer.huawei.com/minisite/worldwide/talkband-b2/)

------
vannevar
I can't help feeling that the Apple Watch is more or less a prototype. It
reminds me of the first generation iPod, which also did not sell terribly
well. That first iPod looked like a high school shop project, basically a
laptop hard drive with a piece of Lucite screwed on top. But it had the
clickwheel, which was genuinely innovative, and at the time iTunes was a
competitive option for managing a music collection. You could see the
potential in the platform. It may not be as easy to see where the Apple Watch
is going, but I think the difference between the next-gen and this first model
will be as great as the difference between the original iPod and the later
iPod Touch.

------
Maarten88
I have a Microsoft Band 2 since a few weeks. Like others, I stopped wearing a
watch 20 years ago (when I got a mobile phone) and did not know if I would
actually wear it.

For now I quite like the Band: it's not as fashionable as other smartwatches,
it's more a utility/health device. It gives feedback on health, and it has
motivated me to walk more during the day and sleep longer (yet most days I
still don't do enough). I also did some running and biking with it, and the
feedback I get from it makes me feel good.

I wear it at night too. It measures sleep; I use the smart alarm that wakes
you up according to your sleep cycle. I charge it every two days during
breakfast or in the evening.

------
richardking
Hmm, I've had the watch for about 6 months too. I agree with the review that I
rarely switch from the main screen, and almost never use any apps. Charging is
a little bit of a pain but not nearly as much of a dealbreaker as he's making
it seem. And I feel like the sports band is super easy to use and way better
than normal watches.

------
quellhorst
If you get a charging stand it makes it easier to keep the watch charged and
activates the nightstand mode.

I got this one for $10. [http://www.amazon.com/Orzly-Night-Stand-Apple-Watch-
Conceali...](http://www.amazon.com/Orzly-Night-Stand-Apple-Watch-
Concealing/dp/B0127F1IC4/)

------
37prime
One could easily make counterpoints to each and every single argument he has.

~~~
jandll
Well, why won't we begin with yours? ;-)

------
jlgaddis
I've been strongly considering buying one of these the last few days. I think
I'm gonna hold off for a while longer, probably at least until the next
generation comes along.

------
pfarnsworth
I have/had a Fit and the charging every 7 days got on my nerve to the point
where I stopped after 4 months. I can't imagine having to charge it every
night.

------
plg
It's like iPhone all over again. Remember iPhone 1?

~~~
st3fan
I do remember the iPhone 1!

And now eight years later they have a billion active devices.

(Okay okay, Cook probably meant all device types combined, but iPhone would
still be a huge portion of that)

~~~
eloisant
Yes, and the (regular) watch I bought 8 years ago is still as good as new,
while an iPhone 1 today would be considered barely usable.

------
irascible
Someone should make a watch that is just a second display for your android
phone, via bluetooth.

------
sebular
Everyone trying to make smartwatches a "thing" is doing it completely
backwards and it makes me disappointed.

The successful smartwatch wiill function and look like a normal analog watch
with real mechanical hands, except it will be stuffed to the brim with mobile
CPUs, Bluetooth, cellular, WiFi,GPS, NFC, accelerometers, heart rate monitor,
flash storage, and batteries. Batteries in the watch face as well as
throughout the entire wristband. Just cram it with all that modern crap but
make it look and function like a watch that an actual normal person wouldn't
be embarrassed to wear. A smartphone with everything except for that obnoxious
screen.

If that existed, consumers could pick and choose from an infinite buffet of
accessory devices that are purely designed for user interaction, while leaving
the connectivity and processing up to your headless wrist-mounted computer,
which one again, isn't a complete embarrassment to wear.

Your "smartphone" should just be a screen for your wrist computer. Your laptop
should just be a bigger screen for your wrist computer, with a keyboard that's
also just an input device for your wrist computer. Your television is just a
really big screen for your... You get the idea. Good news: you don't even have
to own a crappy proprietary IR-based remote that you'll inevitably lose,
because your TV UI exists on the handheld "smartphone" screen that passes data
to the big screen via the watch computer.

Your wrist computer would have awesome battery life because it's not powering
an LCD screen and the whole device can just be packed with batteries. Notice
how the Pebble's battery life puts the Apple Watch to shame, and it could be
even better without any screen at all. I have a Withings Activite and the
battery lasts for months, even though it has bluetooth and a haptic motor.

Your wrist computer can be upgraded and you can still have compatibility with
all of your same accessories, giving you the freedom to upgrade each device
piecemeal. Drop your handheld "phone" screen in the toilet? Good thing it was
just an LCD panel with a WiDi chip so it only cost 100 bucks, and you didn't
lose any phone numbers despite not having cloud backup.

Bottom line: Everyone is trying to make the smartwach work as some kind of
pale shadow of a smartphone that has a worthless interface, a garbage battery
life, and doesnt even functuon as a decent timepiece. Even with all that, you
still have to have a smartphone to make it a functional device. As long as
tech manufacturers continue to follow that strategy, the smartwach will
continue to be an abysmal failure.

Everyone's been looking for the "smartphone killer" and they're hoping it's
the smartwach. It will be, but only once we actually let the smartphone die.
What does the iPhone 6s / Galaxy [whatever] offer over the iPhone 5 / Galaxy
[whatever - 3]? Nothing. Maybe some new color options. Webpages started
scrolling smoothly on phones about 3-4 years ago,and since then its been a
wasteland of innovation. We're at the "look how many cupholders we have" phase
of smartphone advancement.

It's plain that the future is one device, always on your person, impossible to
lose, one unified OS, and with an infinite ecosystem of compatible auxiliary
interfaces. If the tech giants don't already have their engineers working
toward this vision, they should feel shame.

Why does it even have to be a watch? How much processing power and battery
life could you stuff into a subtle, tasteful belt? Nobody has any vision.

~~~
peterbraden
The future is quite clearly not this, why put your one computer in a tiny
battery constrained wristwatch when it can live in a data center somewhere?

The watch is just another room for an interaction. It shouldn't try and be a
supercomputer.

~~~
sebular
Who said anything about a supercomputer? If you put all of the components of a
modern iPhone into a wristwatch except for the screen, you get a device that's
more than capable of running for days on end. Sometimes you'll connect through
a headset, sometimes input through a keyboard, and often you'll access it
through displays of various sizes. Wireless, of course, with something like
WiDi.

You talk about the watch like it's inherently got to have a slow CPU and short
battery life. But it's the display that's the single largest consumer of
battery, and the CPU is relatively weak in an effort to compensate for that.
On top of that, a leather or plastic band is a complete waste of wrist real
estate that could be put to use as batteries or sensors or anything else.

A device like that could be your watch, phone, tablet, laptop, TV, smarthome
remote, fitness tracker, and wallet. The wrist device shouldn't be an
accessory, everything else should be an accessory for the wrist device.

Your comments about cloud storage and data centers is no more relevant to this
topic than it is in any other. There's nothing mutually exclusive about
"headless" wrist computers and the cloud. Obviously with a data connection,
your wrist device would in fact be your always-present connection to that
remote data center.

------
coldtea
> _Having to take off your watch, every night, is like a Chinese torture – it
> impinges you one drop at a time, until you can’t stand it anymore._

Oh, the humanity.

Imaging us with those old mechanical watches. That we had to wind-up AND set
to the correct time.

~~~
vacri
You mean the winding that takes just a few seconds, that can be done anywhere,
doesn't require additional equipment, and doesn't need the watch to leave your
wrist? :)

~~~
taneq
Mechanical watches don't hold terribly good time and need to be re-set every
few days at the outside. It's quite a pain.

~~~
allengeorge
They're nowhere near as accurate as a quartz, but...I only have to adjust mine
every week(ish) and it takes a minute. Not sure about the "quite a pain" part.
And, even if I let it drift for a while it takes around a month for it to hit
a couple minutes off.

Source: couple of beaters (Hammy Khaki Auto and an Orange Monster)

------
LargeCompanies
I and oodles of people don't wear a watch, thus I feel Apple shouldn't have
wasted their time.

Rather they need to focus on things like..

\- Add wireless charging in the iPhone & make it waterproof

\- Force the copyright cartel's hands by buying one of them so they can get
their cable TV (OTT) service up and running. Everyone hates Comcast and Apple
offering an innovative cable like TV service over the Internet I feel would be
game changing .. put a hurt on comcrap.

I and millions of others will never bother wearing any type of smart watch ...
our phones do us fine!

~~~
paulcole
You do see that the market exists though, right? If there are millions of
people who will never buy one, that's great! Still millions who will.

Of course, maybe you are right and it is the oodles of non-watch wearers who
will finally bring Apple down.

------
codeshaman
I'm totally indifferent to the Apple watch and what it has to offer. I don't
need it and I don't want it, even if they gave it away for free.

When I see people wearing an iWatch - here in Spain it's usually the tourists
and some local "uber-geeks" \- I can't help but feel sorry for them, because
they've paid so much money to unnecessarily complicate their lives and now
everyone has to see that.

Lost souls, seeking to be different by thinking different, except of course
everybody does that and now different means not thinking differently... Or
something like that.

Maybe in the future the smart watch will be a practical and useful thing.
Right now the iWatch seems like a terrible watch and nothing more.

/rant.

~~~
davorb
Why can't you just accept that people are different, like different things and
have different needs?

~~~
codeshaman
Why do you think I don't accept other people. By all means, be and do what
your heart desires.

I just think it's unwise to throw $600+ on a piece of experimental tech which
is cumbersome to use and makes you look like a "me too" teenager.

That, when more than half the people on Earth earn less than that in a year
...

~~~
chrisdhal
So just because somebody earns more than "half the people" they shouldn't buy
things that they are able to afford? That makes no sense.

~~~
codeshaman
Of course it makes no sense - it's a paradox ! But that argument is always a
nice touch (and a down vote magnet) - it pisses people off because it makes
them feel guilty for reasons that are beyond their control.

But you can think deeper than "earn" and "afford". You don't _have_ to, but it
won't hurt if you started looking beyond the linguistic abstractions so
conveniently given to us by the media and corporations.

Look up the documentary "Darwin's nightmare", watch it and then look up the
Apple iWatch launch event with Christy Turlington and a video of her wearing
the iWatch in Tanzania.

