Posted on 04/09/2015 4:26:18 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Apple Watch puts the iPhone in its proper placeyour pocket.
Ive got a utilitarian view of the years most-hyped piece of bling. Sapphire crystal and $10,000 gold alloy arent what make the Apple Watch the first smartwatch worth buying.
Whats valuable is your time. The Apple Watch is a computer built to spend it better. And if you can tolerate single-day battery life, half-baked apps and inevitable obsolescence, you can now wear the future on your wrist.
Smartphones gave us the wondrous ability to take the Internet anywhere. But theyre not always productive. In fact, theyve become like cigarettes, leaving us itching for the latest affirmation from Instagram or Twitter. I found I spend 4.3 hours each day looking at my phonegood grief, even on vacation.
So the company that invented the iPhone has a solution: Buy another gadget! That irony didnt escape me a week ago when I began wearing an Apple Watch, on loan before they become available on April 24. Do I really need another connected screen blinking, beeping and buzzing all day?
Ive found the Apple Watch isnt a replacement for the iPhone, but its the right screen for many important things. I only look at it in blips, for rarely more than five seconds. It shows me the weather with one finger swipe. It gets physical, gently tapping my wrist when something important needs my attention and lighting up when I lift my arm to look. It nudges when Ive been sitting too long.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
My interest in this thing is somewhere between ‘never’ and ‘getting remarried’.
This is even cooler than Dick Tracy’s watch.
According to the author, Once I learned the basics, I found a surprising number of things I could do faster or better on my wrist than by pulling out my phone:
Making sure I dont miss that email from mom, or another VIP.
Dictating a text message.
Communicating an emotion, either through a set of cheesy animated iconsIm talking jazz hands in mime glovesor tapping with two fingers to literally share a simulation of your heartbeat. Maybe well get to blow a kiss in Version 2.
Buying something: Tap twice on the watchs side button to activate Apple Pay.
Checking on the weather or news through glances, available by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.
Asking virtual assistant Siri a question.
Controlling music, and sometimes even video, on my phone, Bluetooth headset or Apple TV.
Taking a photo: A wrist app gives a live view of your iPhones high-quality rear cameraso you can set the phone up for a better selfie.
Answering a call: Talking to your wrist might look funny, but its a remarkably good speakerphone, and you can switch over to your iPhone mid-call if youd like.
Certainly this thing will never distract any driver.
Funny - I’ve been able to do all those things from my watch for a year now...at half the price. Apple missed on this one.
What kind of watch are you using?
RE: Certainly this thing will never distract any driver.
The article does not mention how often we need to recharge the watch with all those features.
And exactly how many times a day does its battery need to be charged. Bluetooth and wifi are notorious energy eaters.
Ditto that...and add the fact of daily re-charging makes it pragmatically useless.
Aesthetically, the Apple watch is butt ugly and looks more like a plastic child’s watch you can buy from a “vendor” on the street corner.
Me too. I quit wearing a watch the day I got out of the Air Force in 1976 after 8 years. The very last thing I want to do is hang something on my wrist to worry about hitting up against something.
The battery on my iPhone already has me constantly looking for recharging opportunities without using Bluetooth.
Super duper GAY!
That's the dealbreaker for me.
I can no longer purchase new apps for the ipod touch I bought in 2011 because with almost no exception, every new app requires iOS 7 or higher, which my device does not accept.
While the PC I built in 2006 and have progressively upgraded since then can run any current flavor of Windows, Linux, or OSX and any application for any of the three.
I'll never willingly buy another guaranteed-obsolescence device.
It actually does mention the charging issue. The charge lasts all day, although it’s somewhat shorter when you use the watch for exercise tracking. You don’t, in any case, have to recharge it “every couple of hours,” as one of the many other people who did not read the article said.
Things become obsolete only because something better comes along and the old device or software can’t handle the new demands. Hence, it’s a good thing. Otherwise you’d be out there starting your car with a crank.
That said, the author recommends not buying he apple watch quite yet, because a new, slimmer version with better apps (and a lower price) will be out sooner rather than later. There’s a whole class of people known as “early adopters” who will buy it, of course, but for them the whole point is to have what’s newest!
Don’t forget to ping Swordmaker ... :-) ...
The thing about the APPLE WATCH is that it is not a watch ... :-) ...
It is not JUST a watch.
I’ve been using the Samsung Gear S. Great watch/phone, especially while working at my desk or out walking. It does everything that the Iwatch does and it has been out a good bit longer with a more readable screen. They make it sound like the Apple Watch is the first and only watch of its kind, which it is not.
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