Posted on 07/10/2015 2:27:37 PM PDT by 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.
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).
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).
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.
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
Consider carefully, what I told you on the other thread, crim. You have no interest in Apple products. . . yet here you are again, slinging insults toward me. What is your purpose in doing that? Do you have a purpose other than disruption of the thread or to attempt to tweak me? I doubt it. See the comment you claim is projection. I assure you I have a very rich life and many accomplishments in it. I doubt the same can be said of someone who spends his time stalking Apple threads to sling insults at the people who read or post on them.
Long live three ring binders!
sounds a bit like those "Why I switched from being a Republican to a Democrat" articles life-long liberals love to write.
I guess Apple is having a hard time convincing their loyal iPhone users that they absolutely must double down on their investment with Apple or risk being technologically obsolete.
Fine just get the damn stock living the right direction!
.... or (shudder) Windows lovers, ....
If a piece of technology can “transform” somebody they were a puss to begin with...which makes them a perfect Apple customer.
Well its better than pro Apple propaganda fud. Seriously the title is an ad and I am betting Apple is paying you and many others to try and prop up the watch.
Go ahead and reply, I wont respond. I realize you are paid well to promote Apple so thats that.
I see. And you've used it how long to make this judgement? Again, we have people like you who don't use the Apple Watch telling those of us who have one on our wrist right now, that the screen size is too small. By-the-way, there is no such product as an iWatch. That's the denigrating name the Apple hate Brigade uses. The product is simply the Apple Watch.
Apple has, so far according to The Motley Fool, sold 5.5 million of those "TOO DAM (sic) SMALL" Apple Watches through June 26th when they were finally started selling in the Apple brick and mortar stores. That does not strike me as a "mistake." At the estimated more than $500 average retail selling price, that's an additional $2.75 Billion in revenue for Apple in less than two months, and an additional $1.5 Billion in profits. . . with 37% still yet to deliver of the pre-sales.
1) I like the way the new music works, but APPLE IS NUTS TO THINK I WILL PAY $10 A MONTH FOR IT after 3 months. Im dropping it.
As for the music, I am neither pro not con on Apple's new Music Service. I've been a professional Musician in my past. . . and in the not so distant past I've performed in Carnegie Hall. However, I don't seriously listen to that much music anymore. I just don't have that much time on my hands.
In the past, I agreed with Steve Jobs that most people would not want to subscribe to a music service. I don't know where this one is going. I am withholding my judgement. You may be right. However, it is not a big gamble for Apple. It will neither be a big profit point or a big loss, either way. It is more intended to be a service for Apple's content on their devices.
I am much more interested in seeing where they are going with Apple TV.
I have been involved with technology for many decades and one thing I have learned over and over is that buying version 1 (v.1) is fun but frustrating. Waiting for the second or third generation is frequently a better use of your money unless your priority, a valid choice, is to be visibly on the cutting edge of technology. If I were going for a tech job in mobile technology, I’d be sure to have this on my wrist - good bona fides!
This watch-type mobile tech is, indisputably, a new vector in personal technology. I remember Arthur Clarke’s 1979 novel “The Fountains of Paradise” where the protagonist has a Cardiac Monitor (CORA) that is implanted in the chest and capable of audio messages like an ear-splitting alert about someone having a heart attack. I can see this as being tech that will be built into a this kind of wrist device based on biometric changes.
However for now, I will look seriously into the next generations of this ‘watch’ as the abilities grow to meet ever new requirements. Technology that enables the individual to be ever more knowlegable and in control of the environment is an ideal for our individual conservative view.
Really. What an empty brain — completely devoid of any real thought — can be transformed by a bit of technology.
I love technology, but this piece proclaims the shallow emptiness of the writer.
Whatever.
AAPL is up 2.67% or $3.21 today. That's should be better than the last five days. A lot of the downward pressure was put on by the FUDsters and their false Apple Watch is down 90% claims from Slice intelligence that was spread by a lot of people who wanted to short Apple and buy in while it was down.
It's also FUD season, the three weeks before any major Apple announcement. This consistently occurs and you can watch it happen. Any time Apple is going to have an event or an announcement, the press trots out a campaign of anti-Apple FUD articles drumming a beat of incessant Apple negativity for three weeks prior to the event or announcement.
The event coming up is the quarterly Financial Conference Call where Apple's CFO and CEO report the results of the immediate previous quarter's revenues and profits, plus numbers of Macs, iPhones, iPads, and other products sold. The Street is expecting record numbers of Macs and iPhones over the previous YoY quarter. . . and also YoY revenues and profits. Apple may or may not report the number of Apple Watches sold in their debut quarter. In any case, FUD season started three weeks prior to July 21st, the date of that conference call. . . and that's when the stock started dropping.
This time the FUD season also coincided with the crash of the Chinese Stock Market and the Grecian crisis. . . perfect storm for AAPL stock prices.
And another anti-Apple hate Brigade member sticks his oar into a thread he really isn't interested in to insult all Apple users.
90210 iOS Munchausen's Apple-Plexy Syndrome (MAPS), The overwhelming compulsion to post negative, judgmental, aggressive, and false commentary on any website thread related to Apple products wherever found, including phobic reaction to projectedv Apple user euphoria. First and subsequent encounters.
Can I “high five” your post? :)
And one more anti-Apple hate Brigade member drops in to spread his bile and propaganda. I am glad you won't respond. Saves me time from having to repeat myself countering your misrepresentations like this one.
And for the umpteenth time, which makes you a serial liar, I tell you I am NOT being paid. Cut out the repeated lie. . . Nor is the EE Times Advanced Technology Editor going to be advertising Apple Products.
You bet! Thumbs up/down buttons would be a great feature for FR.
“90210 iOS Munchausen’s”
First, that zip code? Really? Your head is stuck as a teenager?
Second, Munchausen? Do you even know what that is? I don’t think it means what you think it means.
I don’t see anything in the article that I thought rose to the level of “transforming” someone’s life - unless they were leading a really pathetic life to start with.
I do think that the exercise monitoring functions would be nice. You can get that with a fitbit or similar device a lot cheaper. Beyond that, I think I’d have to live with it for at least a week to see if there was anything I felt was particularly nice to have and better than what I’ve got now. In order to have an informed opinion, I think the experience is necessary. But I can tell by what the author has written that most of what he regards as “transformative” is a big cipher for me. It’s as if he were raving that he got an automatic sock knitting machine. Unless you’re in the sock knitting business or there is something wrong with your socks, it’s not likely to be “transformative.”
I have no interest in taking selfies. I can check the weather on my iPhone and elsewhere. I listen to music at times, but I do not need a constant stream of music or other entertainment because I actually like to have plenty of peace and quiet to think my own thoughts.
I love my iPhone and all it does for me, but I can get along just fine without it. It’s a big plus to have it with me if I’m lost or need quick answers to my questions (Where is the nearest gas station? Is it going to rain tonight? Who is right about that bar bet - me or the other guy?). I refuse to be tethered to it. When a watch or a phone can provide hot showers, I might change that opinion.
The really transformative technology will be when they invent something that gives us all this functionality without lugging so much hardware around. Notice that the author is lugging around a watch, a phone, a tablet, and a laptop. Additionally, when the technology is able to handle the decreased vision of older users, that will be a real plus. Having an encyclopedia on a quarter does me no good when I can’t squint enough to read it. When I was 20, I would have loved it. At this point, I would love it more if I could read it more easily.
Actually I do. . . it means you lie to get attention. All of you are doing exactly what Liberals do. . . try to squash the minority opposition with lies. YOU are not interested in the Apple products. You don't use them. Instead you come into the threads and throw bricks and feces to make the threads unpalatable to those who want to be left alone by YOU and your cohorts. You are not interested in having a civil conversation. You've been told facts, provided links to those facts, and you repeat MYTHS over and over and over. repeatedly for the purpose of propaganda and to make the threads unusable for your amusement. Even JR has deleted your replies and told you that if you don't like the threads to read something else. NOW JUST GO AWAY!
Post 39 is civil discourse?
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