
The Apple Watch does not play nicely with some tattoos - SpaceInvader
http://www.imore.com/heres-why-apple-watch-does-not-play-nice-with-some-tattoos
======
kazinator
That dainty watch doesn't even _esthetically_ play along with that hairy, ink-
covered arm. Particularly when it's displaying that cute little heart.

Headline: "Biker ganger robs Japanese tourist" ...

A good all-round fix may be for the watch to detect this situation and display
a Hello Kitty skull.

~~~
feld
Did you consider that maybe the author was testing the watch on her husband?

~~~
gambiter
Did you consider that it was a joke?

~~~
feld
How inconsiderate of me! :-)

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epaga
It's fascinating how each Apple release seems to follow precisely the same
pattern without fail.

1\. Media predicts failure of the new device since "it's not revolutionary
like the original iPhone was".

2\. Device is sold out within a short amount of time. Demand dwarfs supply.

3\. Tech reviews are either breathless praise of the product or completely
negative.

4\. Customer satisfaction values are off the charts for the new device.

5\. Something-gate - some usually minor technical issue is discovered and the
media have another chance to write more articles.

6\. The device continues to sell like hotcakes and everyone forgets about the
technical issue.

We have now entered phase 5...

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k-mcgrady
Surprised Apple didn't discover this - or maybe they did and just didn't think
it was a big issue. Could this be part of the reason behind the try-on
appointments, so people with tattoos/scars/hairy arms can make sure all the
features work correctly before purchase?

Edit: Also, why does the comment section here look like a reddit thread?

~~~
revscat
I suspect -- but have no proof whatsoever -- that Apple is the target of a
widespread astroturfing campaign. The quality of other subjects on HN seems to
be close to the normal (high) quality. Threads involving Apple, on the other
hand, see an immediate influx of stupidity. As the downvotes accumulate, the
thread drops of the front page.

I realize that Apple has always been controversial, but this seems to have
become especially egregious since the sometime around the beginning of the
year.

~~~
rsynnott
I doubt it's astroturfing; it's merely that Apple being supremely evil is an
important religious matter for many people (see r/technology on reddit for the
ultimate example).

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ejdyksen
Counter-example from Reddit:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleWatch/comments/348gop/for_thos...](https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleWatch/comments/348gop/for_those_worried_about_the_sensor_having_issues/)

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conphill
So I have a basic understanding that blood is red due to the chemical bond
between iron and oxygen, and how both elements together reflect light, but out
of curiosity, can anyone touch on the significance of green light?

~~~
draven
The section "The science behind Apple's sensors" in the article contains some
details about that.

Quick google search returned this:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoplethysmogram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoplethysmogram)

According to this:
[http://bsn2014.org/poster/BSN2014-poster09s-maeda.pdf](http://bsn2014.org/poster/BSN2014-poster09s-maeda.pdf)
Green light seems to be used to lessen the impact of motion on the
measurements.

~~~
conphill
Awesome resources. Thanks for providing this.

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josephagoss
Does the Apple Watch use the same type of sensor as competing Watch devices?

~~~
rsneekes
Don't know if it's the same sensor, and in the article comments they say hairy
wrists shouldn't be a problem, but last year I tried a TomTom Cardio watch for
a week which also had problems with my hairy/sweaty wrists during a run. On
the product forum I read a lot of similar stories, don't know if it was a
faulty batch or if the combination of the technology and my wrist was the
problem.

------
mistercow
Apparently optical heart rate monitors also often fail on dark skin (or have
to shine a brighter light, so they run out of battery faster). So they might
have a "racist HP webcam"
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4DT3tQqgRM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4DT3tQqgRM))
situation on their hands.

~~~
MBCook
This is apparently why Apple uses infrared LEDs in addition to the green ones.

Plus the real power drain is when trying to measure heart rate, which the
watch only does once every 10m so it probably doesn't make a large difference
in battery life.

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spacefight
In other news, the sensor is really something. I wonder if it's possible to
identify people uniquely with it.

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blinkingled
This is where Steve would've stepped in and said if you want tattoos use
Android Wear.

~~~
ithingsnoway
Do you think steve would have let the current iwatch, as is, go to market? So
many little flaws.

~~~
jeromegv
Did he let iPhone 4 "antennagate" on the market?

~~~
rsynnott
I think the seriousness of that one was a bit exaggerated by the press,
really. I mean, I used an iPhone 4 for 3.5 years. I could cause signal to drop
a bar or two by pressing a specific point, hard. In general, I got better
signal most places than with my old 3G. Maybe if you lived in an area with
extremely poor mobile signal and held the phone a certain way it could be a
big issue, but I never really saw it as a problem.

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dang
Url changed from [http://www.dailydot.com/technology/apple-watch-tattoo-
issues...](http://www.dailydot.com/technology/apple-watch-tattoo-
issues/?fb=dd), which points to this.

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jgalt212
This will spawn 1,001 hipster existential crises. Am I more committed to my
"individuality" through my commitment to body art or my usage of Apple
products?

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sakri
Sorry hipster, can't have your cake and eat it too

~~~
classicsnoot
you and @jgalt212 seem to believe tattoos are an exclusively hipster thing...
which implies that you believe that having tattoos is somehow a mark of a
shallow, transitory nature or perspective... which naturally leads one to
conclude that you two are in some way above it all...

...you hipster fucks

