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Apple hasn’t solved the smart watch dilemma
Medium.com ^ | September 9, 2014 | Felix Salmon

Posted on 09/10/2014 7:11:15 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

There’s a decent rule of thumb when it comes to anything Apple: When it introduces something brand new, don’t buy version 1.o. Wait until the second or third version instead; you’ll be much better off. Does anybody remember OS 10.0? It was a disaster, and even people who installed it spent 90% of their time in OS 9 instead. The very first MacBook Air? An underpowered exercise in frustration. The original iPad? Heavy and clunky. The original iPod? Was not only heavy and clunky and expensive, it was also tied to the Macintosh and didn’t work either alone or with a PC.

The best-case scenario for the Apple Watch is that the product we saw announced Tuesday will eventually iterate into something really great. Because anybody who has ever worn a watch will tell you: this thing has serious problems.

For one thing, Apple has been worryingly silent on the subject of battery life, but there’s no indication that this thing will last even 24 hours. A watch’s battery should last for months; even watches which don’t have batteries will last for a couple of days, if you have to wind them manually, or indefinitely, if they’re automatic and all you have to do is wear them. Watches might be complicated on the inside, but they’re simple on the outside, and they should never come with a charging cable. (To make matters worse, even though the Apple Watch only works if you have an iPhone, the iPhone charging cable will not charge the Apple Watch; you need a different charging cable entirely.)

Of course, the Apple Watch is more than just a watch. But it’s also less than just a watch, which is a problem. It probably isn’t waterproof,

(Excerpt) Read more at medium.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: apple; iwatch
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1 posted on 09/10/2014 7:11:16 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Just never been a fan of Apple at all.


4 posted on 09/10/2014 7:13:44 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: SeekAndFind

I’ll leave the timekeeping to the timekeepers.

I’ll leave the health monitoring to Polar.

I’ll leave the toys to apple.


5 posted on 09/10/2014 7:16:39 AM PDT by TomServo
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s Donn Tatum and Card Walker time at Apple.


6 posted on 09/10/2014 7:17:01 AM PDT by ifinnegan
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To: SeekAndFind

I’m a big fan of Apple stuff.

Nothing announced yesterday excited me in the least.

The title — “It’s Time Someone Said It” — is just dumb. Lots of people are independent thinkers, and can see that the new iPhones and iWatch are kinda boring.

Me? I’m waiting for the new AppleTV to come out, hopefully with a Blu-Ray player built in ...


7 posted on 09/10/2014 7:18:19 AM PDT by Theo (May Christ be exalted above all.)
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To: SeekAndFind
For one thing, Apple has been worryingly silent on the subject of battery life, but there’s no indication that this thing will last even 24 hours. A watch’s battery should last for months; even watches which don’t have batteries will last for a couple of days, if you have to wind them manually, or indefinitely, if they’re automatic and all you have to do is wear them. Watches might be complicated on the inside, but they’re simple on the outside, and they should never come with a charging cable. (To make matters worse, even though the Apple Watch only works if you have an iPhone, the iPhone charging cable will not charge the Apple Watch; you need a different charging cable entirely.)

This is a stupid argument, I am not saying the apple watch is the be all end all, but the same argument was made about the iPhone... at the time most cell phones could be charged, and unless used heavily would last for a week or more.... DIdn't stop anyone from buying their smart phone that was lucky to last a day under normal use.

I am far more interested in the NFC agreements they made in the retail space, and thing that is a huge market disruption that will make Apple a ton of money. The watch may or may not turn into something big, but the battery life issue has already been shown to be a non started. IF the product delivers something people want, they will have no issues charging it more frequently. Trying to compare this thing to a classic watch is idiotic.

8 posted on 09/10/2014 7:18:57 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: Theo
Me? I’m waiting for the new AppleTV to come out, hopefully with a Blu-Ray player built in ...

Don't hold your breath. Apple has essentially declared optical media dead and they never included a Blu-Ray drive in any of their devices, even the ones that still have optical drives (are there any new ones that do?).

9 posted on 09/10/2014 7:25:57 AM PDT by kevkrom (I'm not an unreasonable man... well, actually, I am. But hear me out anyway.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well, it certainly is not a Mido Multifort Chronograph.


10 posted on 09/10/2014 7:27:16 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: SeekAndFind

Stuff this BS. I am never wearing one of their little Nazi watches. I got enough people complaining about me already, I dont need a watch scolding me. I will grind it to dust under my hobnailed boots!


11 posted on 09/10/2014 7:29:06 AM PDT by olepap (Your old Pappy)
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To: SeekAndFind

I have a hard time understanding what the watch does, that people would ‘want’. I see it does some health monitoring...but so do a lot of other gadgets. I assume it displays the time? And they showed some way to know your friends are nearby, and send a twitter message...but in reality isn’t your I-Phone really doing that, and the watch is just a peripheral device (and a small one hat you can only type on with one hand) for the actual phone?

The one handed thing is my biggest question. If you’ve got a phone in your pocket, are you really going to tap out a one handed message on the watch? Most would just pull out the phone.


12 posted on 09/10/2014 7:31:55 AM PDT by lacrew
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To: SeekAndFind

I was a life-long watch wearer until I finally got an android phone. Since I always have it with me, and it shows me the right time if I only jostle it, what do I need a watch for?

All those features in the article do sound cool, but most of them are (or will be) on the phones anyway. When I bought my new android upgrade phone from Horizon in August, they were already selling phones that could take your blood pressure.

So again, who needs a watch these days?


13 posted on 09/10/2014 7:36:09 AM PDT by Maceman
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To: SeekAndFind

Not to mention everyone stopped wearing watches because we have clocks on our phones.


14 posted on 09/10/2014 7:43:31 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: SeekAndFind

I love my Samsung gear which does, as far as I can tell most of what the apple watch does at 1/3 of the cost. Health monitoring included.


15 posted on 09/10/2014 7:46:10 AM PDT by Solson (The Voters stole the election! And the establishment wants it back.)
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To: lacrew

Yeah and besides, with the government take over of our healthcare system, and the general lack of privacy in all smart phones, why would anyone want their health info monitored by one of these devices that, in the end, reports it all back to big brother.

Sounds paranoid but in today’s world I could see an insurance company denying benefits for someone because “they did not walk enough according to the records of their watch”


16 posted on 09/10/2014 7:51:21 AM PDT by eXe (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: Maceman

I still wear a watch.... My left arm would probably not work right without a watch on it.....


17 posted on 09/10/2014 7:57:02 AM PDT by kjam22 (my music video "If My People" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74b20RjILy4)
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To: SeekAndFind
To make matters worse, even though the Apple Watch only works if you have an iPhone,

Feh. Well, to heck with that.

A few years ago when Apple came out with the 6th-generation iPod Nano (the little square one with the touchscreen), there was a modest aftermarket in watch straps. From what I've heard, it actually made a pretty decent wristwatch, without having to be tied to a phone. Should have bought one when I had the chance.

18 posted on 09/10/2014 8:13:48 AM PDT by RansomOttawa (tm)
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To: eXe
Yeah and besides, with the government take over of our healthcare system, and the general lack of privacy in all smart phones, why would anyone want their health info monitored by one of these devices that, in the end, reports it all back to big brother.

Well, that would be a valid point, if it actually did report back to "big brother". It doesn't. All of the data is stored in a special "secure enclave" on the phone and the use control what data to share with whom (that is, approve apps to use the stored data on an app-by-app basis).

I have no idea if this is going to be a winner for Apple, but there's no point in criticizing it for things it won't even do.

19 posted on 09/10/2014 8:19:52 AM PDT by kevkrom (I'm not an unreasonable man... well, actually, I am. But hear me out anyway.)
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To: Maceman; Boogieman; kjam22

I stopped wearing a watch for about a year thinking that the smartphone had timekeeping covered.

My left arm felt naked the whole time.

I hated having to grab the phone out of the holster (if it wasn’t charging) and then having to activate the display to read the time.

I got a Citizen Eco-Drive solar powered watch for Christmas. Never needs batteries, keeps good time, and the analog display is more intuitive than numbers.

It also takes no effort to check.

Phones are good for lots of things, but telling time isn’t one of them.

As for a wearable “smartwatch” I’ll pass. Too small to make use of the “smart” and too dumb to survive as a stand alone device.

#Applefail


20 posted on 09/10/2014 8:24:04 AM PDT by NY.SS-Bar9 (Those that vote for a living outnumber those that work for one.)
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