Apple announces Apple Watch

Status
Not open for further replies.
This little piece at Venture Beat got the juices flowin' today . . .

I spotted an Apple Watch on the train this morning, and now I’m a believer

The man to whom I gave a gentle push so that I might fit inside the crowded commuter train this morning was wearing an Apple Watch.

As the train stopped in a tunnel, the man apparently received a reminder on his wrist, and when he raised his wrist I got a clear view. No, it wasn’t one of the knockoffs they were selling at CES. This thing looked like a luxury item, and it had the now familiar “bubbles” Watch user interface.

I saw a text reminder on the screen, and then, briefly, a map. It appeared that the guy had been using the Watch for some time and was pretty used to it. The product is supposed to go on sale in April, but Apple gave Watches to a number of its employees to gather feedback and fix bugs.

On this guy, at least, the Watch looked proportionate to his wrist. The polished metal watch band looked very traditional, and, it seemed to me, made the Watch itself seem less out of the ordinary. It’s very much within the wristwatch paradigm, and doesn’t scream for attention.

One thing that disturbed me slightly about the device?

Like other blockbuster Apple products, when you see it, something somewhere in the corner of your mind clicks on, and then you realize:

You want one.


. . .

More at the link: http://venturebeat.com/2015/01/29/i...n=naytev&utm_content=54ca9e7ee4b019ca3928704b
 
Android, WIndows and Samsung user myself. What you say about not buying crap tech for long term use makes sense to most financially minded people, and each piece of kit I've bought from each provider has lasted me a long-ass time, it really does help to do your research, and I agree 100%.

But there's still that huge subset of people that seem to eat up the whole marketing spiel that large tech manufacturers feed to people about having the newest slightly improved version of a product, regardless of how up-to-date and high quality their current version is. And that slice seems large enough to fuel the want for companies to keep releasing these short-term incremental upgrades. It baffles me, and even some of my close friends purchase each version constantly then complain about owing money to credit companies, or not being able to pay bills and stuff when they keep purchasing these things outside of their means for upwards of a few hundred quid each time.

Glad to see you're going to be using your phone for a long time to come. Kudos!

There certainly is too much of a consumerist culture driven by marketing. I think advertising is one of the great evils of our age.

It is possible to get every upgrade with only a small premium spent, and it might make sense for people who enjoy playing with new toys, but it requires keeping the phone pristine and selling it on to another buyer (and not via a trade-in scheme). I prefer to just avoid reading about new phones so I'm not tempted.

Hold onto your kudos though, I've fallen victim to this kind of thinking recently... bought a 3DS XL last year which I'm now replacing with a non-XL just for the smaller screen. I hope to get back 60% of the purchase price by selling but it's still an unnecessary expense.
 
News to me. I always wear it on my right. Whoops!

Or should I say used to wear it... until smartphones came out!

People wear their watches on non dominant arm because its more productive, in a sense, that it allows you to continue doing "whatever" with your dominant arm while checking out the time. Plus, you had to wind watches with the dominant hand back in the day

If you wore this "watch" you're gonna navigate it with the non dominant hand?
 
considering the navigation consists of spinning the crown and swiping/ tapping a screen, it can be done with a non dominant hand for those who want to wear the watch on the dominant wrist.

there’s nothing there that requires any real dexterity.
 
*hugs my Pebble*

I would have at least thought it was cool if it was like this.

iWatchMock-Top.jpg

Does anything like this exist? And if no, why?
 
If you wore this "watch" you're gonna navigate it with the non dominant hand?

I switch back and forth constantly between both hands when doing pretty much anything except writing so navigating with either wouldn't be a problem for me. So it'd be the watch on the right wrist, and good ol' lefty for smartwatch navigation if I ever did own one. Probably won't though.Unless they end up eclipsing phones in specs, features and ease of use.

Does anything like this exist? And if no, why?

Does look more comfortable than the current designs.
 
I wish it could work with an iPad or iPod touch. I don't have an iPhone but most of my notifications would be email, calendar stuff whic is fine on my iPad - I'd only miss call screening and texts
 
I'm still excited about the potential of the thing, but I don't think it will be fully realized with the first generation.
 
That would be quite the event if they announced a 12" MacBook Air and a 12" iPad.

I still think they're the same device, to be honest, since the iPad Pro rumors have all come from supply-chain details about screen size and analysts are pretty notorious about wishfully thinking that everything Apple does is solely about iDevices and never about Macs.
 
Tim Cook says the watch doesn't release till April, odd they'd talk about it again more then a month out

There's a lot of stuff that didn't get announced when it was initially unveiled - pricing structure, how upgrading will work, many of the details about the OS, and so on - and I'm sure Apple wants a chance to re-unveil it in fuller detail along with having the chance to show off some third-party apps.

The initial unveil basically had to be done so it could be officially announced instead of leaked through schematics or FCC disclosures - same reason the original iPhone was announced like six months before it came out.

That said, yeah, it seems odd to do such a re-unveil in February instead of March. I've read that sometime in March is when Apple Watch apps that want to be present at launch have to be submitted for approval, so perhaps Apple's looking to make sure they get some good examples of third-party apps out there well before that deadline.
 
I’d put serious money down on “upgrading” working just like buying a watch or an iPhone.

you buy a new one.

people online will gnash their teeth about spending, say, 4k on a gold watch with innards that are upgraded in a year. people with the money to buy the gold watch won’t give a shit.

no upgrading for the Watch.

Anyway, seems like Feb is a no go. March seems to make more sense. (Although, personally, I’m more interested in the new Air and if it really ships with just one combined USB C port.)
 
Yeah this design is great.

If Apple hadn't decided to push the watch as a fashion item maybe they would have gone this route.

Customizablity being a major concern.

Also many people dont realize that the long vertical format isnt practical for running text. So while you'd be able to press some icons - you cant really do things like text heavy apps or graphics created keeping widescreen/landscape in mind (a map apps for e.g).

If you want a practical version of that thing - get the microsoft band. Its literally as close as you'd get to that sort of thing (except the curved surface) with a good UI.
 
I’d put serious money down on “upgrading” working just like buying a watch or an iPhone.

you buy a new one.

people online will gnash their teeth about spending, say, 4k on a gold watch with innards that are upgraded in a year. people with the money to buy the gold watch won’t give a shit.

no upgrading for the Watch.

Anyway, seems like Feb is a no go. March seems to make more sense. (Although, personally, I’m more interested in the new Air and if it really ships with just one combined USB C port.)

I can't wait until we find out it's not upgradable. Apple has never indicated it would be, barely anything they sell is, and that rumor seems to have sprung out of general pondering because it's a system-on-a-chip encased in resin. Are other smart watches upgradable in that fashion? Where did those rumors really come from?

Even if it's not upgradable, Apple hardware holds its value nicely and I am fairly sure you'd be able to get a good price from gazelle or Amazon on your used Watch. That's the same way I've upgraded to new iPhones year after year.
 
I would put serious money on Apple not even announcing the price of the gold one (e.g. each Edition watch is individually weighed and price is 'calculated' on the spot) especially if Apple are going to try and sell it through the classic luxury watch dealers and distribution channels where the prices are 'fluid'
 
http://iphone.appleinsider.com/arti...-will-connect-your-apple-watch-to-your-iphone

An in-depth look at the Apple Watch companion app from Apple Insider.

I'm a bit surprised this doesn't go into security options like what happens if your watch gets stolen. I'm assuming especially at the beginning that will be an issue - there's one screen here that shows an option to erase the watch but of course it cuts off what the setting is.
I'm trying to look at those screenshots but honestly all I see is the low battery icon (I believe there was a xkcd comic about this too).
 
so, my Nike Fuelband just died ...

i sure hope the appleWatch is gonna be released prior to may 3rd, so i can properly field test it during an actual running event
 
so, my Nike Fuelband just died ...

i sure hope the appleWatch is gonna be released prior to may 3rd, so i can properly field test it during an actual running event

They said during their earnings it's still on track for release in April - that is prior to May 3rd.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom