Apple Watch Transformed Me — Other Reviewers Myst Like Windows

EE Times ^ | July 10, 2015 | R. Colin Johnson, Technology Editor, EE Times

[Swordmaker]

The Apple Watch has changed my life for the better, solving all the problems I had with the iPhone (such as missing calls while I tried to find it) as well as solving other problems I didn't even now I had until I got it.

I didn't want to write this blog about the Apple Watch, because I didn't want to seem like an Apple geek. But after reading the misleading reviews by other editors that shall remained unnamed, I just felt like I had to set the story straight. For one thing, all the features that one reviewer panned (he had put his Apple Watch on Craigslist because of them) were exactly the ones that not only work for me, but have streamlined by workflow and changed my life for the better.

I know that Apple CEO Tim Cook showers with his Apple Watch and its supposed to be water proof to 5 meters or some such, but I put my Apple Watch on as soon as I get out of the shower--it doesn't seem right to me to shower wearing a watch. But as soon as I put it on I start using it. I check the weather first, which tells me hour-by-hour (on a round display that shows temperatures instead of hours) so I know what layers to wear to make it through each day. While I'm dressing I turn on some mood music from the watch which is paired to my "bedroom" Mac. And at breakfast I continue listening to music in the kitchen by streaming it from my iPhone to my Bluetooth headset I wear all day to answer the phone. Whenever a phone call comes through I get a tap on the wrist then it goes straight to my headset, or if I'm not wearing it, it "rings" on my wrist where I can them answer directly from the watch, which has a small but very hearable speaker, to which I answer back by talking into the MEMS microphone on the same side of the watch (opposite the crown) just like Dick Tracey.

To do a selfie, all you do its put your iPhone where you want it (I have a stand built into my ZeroChrome case, so it can be propped up either horizontally or vertically). Using the photo app on the Watch I can see in realtime what the iPhone's camera is seeing, and after getting every-one, -thing or -whatever framed properly I snap the shutter directly from the watch.

The edition I bought was 38 millimeter (because the 42 millimeter doesn't look like a watch on your wrist unless you are a giant) with the black anodized aluminum case for light weight and sweat-resistant band which is curved underneath so it breathes).
(Source: Apple)

I never miss an appointment anymore, because it taps me on the wrist in plenty of time, even if I have to account for driving time to get there--which the calendar keeps track of for me. It also gives me a summary everyday of what I need to do and even reminds me to get up and walk around at least every hour to maximize circulation or something which it keeps track of with infrared sensors on the bottom side of the watch that look through my skin to track my heart rate by the minute. (You can also send an "intimate" heartbeat message to someone, if you're into that kinda thing).

It also reminds me to do my exercises everyday (which for me is yoga, but it can track any type of exercise, multiplying your heart rate times your movement to estimate calories burned). When I walk the dog everyday it keeps track of that too, telling me afterwards how long it took, how far I went, how many calories I burned and a bunch of other details it automatically transfers to my iPhone for long-term logging and for setting automatic goals. Its smart about goals too, normally encouraging me to gradually increase them everyday, but also letting me drop back and get a new start (say after a business trip when I haven't been exercising).

The edition that only millionaires can afford, but whose functionality is essentially the same as mine.
(Source: Apple)

I also use the timer daily for all sorts of things--from timing how long things are baking in the oven (yes, the oven his its own timer, but you have to be in the kitchen to hear it) to keeping me from wasting water by tapping me on the wrist when its time to turn off the sprinklers.

I also check the sports scores I am interested in and have switched to only watching games (on replay) when my team wins (its too depressing to watch games where I know my team is going to lose).

At Starbucks I pay for my drinks with two taps on the screen, likewise at the airport I just show them my boarding pass bar code at the gate-again with just two taps. My friends all have their credit cards scanned into their Apple Watches so they can pay for things with their watches, but for me that's just an invitation to accumulating credit card debt (so I carry cash on a money clip, and when my discretionary money of the month runs out, I stop spending, which my girlfriend says makes me "cheap" but I'm wise to that trick).

The app screen lets you touch it to activate it (usually running on your nearby iPhone).
(Source: Apple)

I could go on and on, such as about turn-by-turn warnings it gives with a tap on the wrist and a voice in my headset (or coming out of my iPhone), the notifications it gives of incoming mail, the instant access to Siri (which seems to work even better than Siri on the iPhone), the voice-based dictionary access and a hundred other apps I haven't even tried yet.

I got the cheapest model ($349) which is more than I've ever spent on a watch, but the Apple Watch is more like an iPhone on your wrist. I've started carrying my iPhone in my tiny briefcase that's just big enough to hold my 12" Macbook, a single file folder and my iPad too. I hardly pull the iPhone out anymore (except to read the funnies everyday). Likewise, I've stopped carrying my iPad all the time (unless I want to use it as a second screen for my Macbook--yes, there's an app for that). But I still use my iPad everyday at home for things like watching sports on the back porch.

Now I've gone and revealed I'm an Apple nut. Sprint gave me a Samsung tablet for free--all I had to pay was $10 per month for 4G access--but I took it back after a week and had to argue with them to not charge me a $75 restocking fee. Samsung must have made a lot more tablets than people are buying. Others rave about Android, but it just seemed as clunky as Windows to me.

The message app lets you respond by just dictating verbally which almost always seems to duplicate your voice perfectly--at least for my voice.
(Source: Apple)

So if you are an iPhone and Mac user, the Watch is an essential accessory in my book. I guess those other reviewers must be Android lovers or (shudder) Windows lovers, or are just used how they work, but for me Apple's stuff all fits together nicely and the watch is definitely worth $349 even if it will be obsolete next year.

— R. Colin Johnson, Advanced Technology Editor, EE Times

[amigatec]

This has already been discredited, the points i made in post #118 are still valid. You are sewing lies, and misinformation.

[MortMan]

Actually, I agree that the title is overbearing and farcical. The author writes a good article how he has found the watch useful, but there is nothing transformative about this tech’s effect on his life.

It’s a good, even glowing review, but what did the author point to that changed his life? I did not find that in the article.

[mad_as_he$$]

Right just because you say so. Why isn’t Apple suing the many sites(some of which are news operations) that carry this “discredited” story? BTW Apple’s suppliers employ thousands of workers that are under 18 in their factories which is also illegal in the US.

[amigatec]

Maybe Apple should sue you for retelling the lie??

[IncPen]

Thank God you’re up there on the wall, protecting the disaffected workers of the world.

[mad_as_he$$]

Like I said just because you say so doesn't make it true.

STOP calling me a liar when it is clear that you didn't even look at the links I provided. Stick to your preconceived notion at your peril.

Sticking you head in the sand is not going to make the fact that Apple made a deliberate choice to make obscene profits off the backs off teenage labor. Well proven fact. Your Apple products which you bought freely enriched the Chi-coms and were made, in part, by labor that would be illegal in the US.

Now who is the name caller? Don't call me a liar for the third time. If you feel the needs to respond do so with some FACTUAL information. http://www.thestreet.com/story/11718458/1/heres-how-much-apple-makes-per-iphone-5.html

[mad_as_he$$]

That all you got is cheap sarcasm? Don’t want to debate the facts?

[amigatec]

Sword maker has already posted the real story behind this. But you refuse to believe it.

Just like I stated in post #118, you come on here and post lies and nonsense .

[IncPen]

No one cares.

[Swordmaker]

Actually, I agree that the title is overbearing and farcical. The author writes a good article how he has found the watch useful, but there is nothing transformative about this tech’s effect on his life.

In any major publication, which is what the EE Times is, the author of an article, especially one like this where, although he is an editor, is writing outside of his field of expertise and authority, seldom has any control what ever over the headline the head Editor puts on the top. This is always true in major newspapers when you get away from weeklies, unless the writer is a bylined columnist. They put headlines on articles to create clicks. I've seen headlines mentioning Apple for articles that only peripherally involve Apple. . . and sometimes the connection is a real stretch. This is probably no different, it's click bait. It has probably succeeded in doing exactly that.

[Swordmaker]

Are you in the mood to sell anything?

I might be. . . I have been toying with the idea of repairing the Longines and putting it up for sale on eBay. Every so often I check the latest price on that model and keep seeing it going up and up. I paid around $500 back in 1968. I probably will sell the Invictas and the Seiko. . . but I've never checked to see how much they are worth on eBay, probably not much. Invictas are heavily discounted on Jewelry TV and the Seiko is an older model. My Stührling was a gift from my girlfriend and is precious to me for that reason.

[Swordmaker]

Absolutely true. A revenue stream is a revenue stream. I don't know what the margins are on these things, but I suspect it is not a pittance. Many companies would be happy for total revenues to equal the profits Apple will make off these watches. Will it be a profitable enough revenue stream for them to stick with for the long haul? I suspect so.

Apple said 42% on the lower end models. . . and of course a lot higher on the gold models. I calculated there is only about $900 to $1100 worth of gold at max in the Gold watches. The markup on those is astronomical.

[zeugma]

Yeah, the Invictas these days use cheap Chinese movements. It really depresses everything surrounding them. Seiko has some good stuff, ablogtowatch recently did a review on a limited edition Grand Seiko Spring Drive Chronograph that was pretty cool, but most of their stuff is quartz driven, which I'm not interested in at all. Longines has some pretty nice models out these days.

One of the things I need in a watch is a rotating bezel, so I'll probably end up getting a diver like the Submariner or something that works similarly. Though I'm not interested in taking it underwater, I've found it's useful when I'm out riding to be able to track how long I'm riding between stops, and a bezel with a time indicator seems to work pretty well for me. I recently checked out some Omegas that would pretty much fit my needs. 

 

[Swordmaker]

Apple accepts it's suppliers working 16 year olds in a factory environment. Illegal anywhere in the US. They made billions doing it. Enough said.

This quotation taken FROM the article YOU linked to shows your statement is ENTIRELY FALSE!

In 2013, it audited 451 different facilities in 16 countries, and found 23 people who had been hired when they were younger than 16. Eleven were still underage at the time of the audit. In all of its publicly available audits, from 2006 to 2013, the company has found 349 child laborers.

What happens after they are found?

. . .

Forty-two of them (under age workers — Swordmaker) were found at a single facility in China that had partnered with a vocational school which forged hiring papers. You can see how it drove up the numbers in the chart above. Apple promptly stopped doing business with the company and reported it to the government.

The article says that there are over 1.5 million workers at these companies and there were a total of 349 under age workers discovered between 2008 and 2013. All of which were apparently using forged paperwork. WOW! What a problem. That is 0.00000233% of Apple's work force.

It is obvious you did not even bother to read that article. Notice that Apple stopped doing business with the contract company that had employed 42 underage workers. What it does NOT say is that company lost a $2 Billion contract because they violated their contract with Apple. Does that look like "Apple accepts it's suppliers working 16 year olds in a factory environment" that you claimed? Your statement was a bald lie. Apple does NOT, and your article boldly provides proof they do not and even shows they will even take costly steps to prevent it.

You anti-Apple haters will believe the MYTHS promulgated by the main stream media over the actual facts. Even your article got some of the facts wrong. . . claiming it was the suicides in 2010 that caused Apple to start doing this, but Apple had their program in place since 2003, when they first started doing business in China. Incidentally, not one of those suicides involved a worker on an Apple assembly line. . . they were working on Microsoft Xboxes, HP computers, Nokia phones, and Sony playstation, and the rate of suicide among all of FoxConn's 750,000 workers was a mere 0.25 workers were 100,000 per year. One eighth the rate of suicides among young people of the same ages in American Ivy League Universities in the same year. It was 1/4 the over all Chinese suicide rate for the same age cohort. The over all American suicide rate is 11 per 100,000 per year. WHAT were people complaining about except a created hyperbolic, manufactured FUD campaign against Apple. . . which ignored all sane facts.

When Apple finds an underage worker, their contract with the supplier requires the employer to offer that worker a full college and university education while still paying them until age 25. . . and they do not have to work while doing the education. Strangely only 34% of the underage workers accepts this great offer.

So YOU don't know what you are talking about and Apple does NOT accept any such thing. YOU hoist yourself on your own petard and provided your own evidence against your claim! Thank you for saving me the trouble of posting it. That is hilarious. Enough said.

[Swordmaker]

Right just because you say so. Why isn’t Apple suing the many sites(some of which are news operations) that carry this “discredited” story? BTW Apple’s suppliers employ thousands of workers that are under 18 in their factories which is also illegal in the US.

From YOUR OWN linked article in Quartz:

There are more than 1.5 million workers making products for Apple, and some of them are children.

The company knows this, and it will tell you:In 2013, it audited 451 different facilities in 16 countries, and found 23 people who had been hired when they were younger than 16. Eleven were still underage at the time of the audit. In all of its publicly available audits, from 2006 to 2013, the company has found 349 child laborers.

OK, mad_ashe$$, that's the article you claim proves your claim that thousands of underage workers are making Apple products. Except your "thousands" turns into only 23 at time of hire and just 11 at time of audit. . . and 349 over seven years. Are you using Liberal math? Where are the rest of them???? Are they kept in dungeons? Chained to the walls? Whipped into cells where no one can find them? Forced to use "Looney Tunes" vanishing cream? What? Where are they?

Either produce them or admit you are WRONG, mad_as_he$$, since your own evidence you produced shows you are full of it. . . and overflowing. China is a modern country with very strong child labor laws, but you simply want it to be something different. People will, just like in the USA, try to find ways around those laws.

It is nice to run across journalists who have ethical standards left and know what to do with the facts when they find them.

Maybe next time you Google you should be more careful and find one of your preferred FUD articles that lies about this instead of one that actually researched the facts and published the TRUTH. LOL!

[Admin Moderator]

No - and don’t ping us. One more thing. It would be in your best interest to refrain from mentioning suing other FR members. We’ve banned people for that.

And finally, we’ve moved this to the backroom so your girls can have your catfights at will. We won’t intervene.

[Admin Moderator]

No - and don’t ping us. One more thing. It would be in your best interest to refrain from mentioning suing other FR members. We’ve banned people for that.

And finally, we’ve moved this to the backroom so you girls can have your catfights at will. We won’t intervene.