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Apple Watch |OT| Apple invents the watch!

ryan299

Member
No company is going to expect people to pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for a new product and then replace it literally three months later. Even Sport buyers would be furious if Gen 2 released this fall, let alone those who splurge on a Watch or Edition model.

Apple did it with the ipad 3 and 4
 

Fliesen

Member
Agreed. And I wouldn't expect onboard GPS to come before that timeframe either simply because it puts a hit on the battery.

When people have said that the iPhone or iPad made substantial leaps forward from first generation to second, it was because those products were missing some key technologies upon first release, like 3G networking or a camera. I don't feel that is the case with the Watch, which will probably mostly get a slimmer design and faster processor, while maintaining the same battery life. As I said in my previous post, most improvements are probably going to come via software and native apps.

which was true for the iPhone as well.

iPhone OS 2.0 was a bigger leap in functionality than including a 3G antenna and GPS.

just like iOS 4's Multitasking made the iPad family of devices much more worthwhile than the inclusion of a camera did. (imho. not a heavy facetime user, also - the iPad 2's camera sucks balls)
(of course, in both cases, the 2nd gen device with the 2nd gen software is the obvious sweet spot. But software advances are often overlooked in hindsight.)
 

Majine

Banned
They are not gonna update it this fall because they want the attention to be on iPhone and iPad at that point.
 

Nafai1123

Banned
Can someone give me a quick summary of pros/cons of this first iteration of iWatch compared to Pebble?

I am thinking about getting a Pebble for now and jumping in on Apple's watch in a yea or two

Apple Watch
+Voice Control
+Color hi res display
+Touchscreen
+HR Monitor
-Battery life
-No native apps at this time
-Price
-Proprietary bands (that are ridiculously priced)
-Display cannot be set to any kind of ambient mode
-Not waterproof

Pebble
+Battery life
+Always on display
+Price
+Mature app development
+Waterproof
+Standard 22mm band compatible
-No touchscreen
-No mic for voice control
-b/w screen

I'm sure some people will contend that UI is a big factor, but without actually using the Apple Watch it's a hard to argue one way or another. The current Pebble UI is easy to use, and though some people dislike the lack of touchscreen, it makes certain tasks far easier while not looking at your phone. The new Pebble Time will include a mic and color screen (though lower res/less colors) and they are going to be rolling out their new UI when Time launches, which will eventually be available on all Pebbles.

Honestly, I would at least wait until Pebble Time comes out to compare. I have a OG Pebble and don't regret it at all, especially considering the price.
 

Fliesen

Member
They are not gonna update it this fall because they want the attention to be on iPhone and iPad at that point.

i think so too, the fall release schedule is way to crammed. (iPhone, iPad, iOS, Mac OS, ... )

they might eventually switch to a fall release window for that tasty holiday quarter, but i don't believe they'd do it with gen 2.

once they have a really solid gen 3 or 4 out there that'll last even those who always buy the newest model for 18 months, they might shift it to a fall release.

Does anyone know this because it would be really useful.

http://www.apple.com/watch/built-in-apps/

doesn't show a reminders app, nor an icon on the grid of stock icons.
 
Apple Watch
+Voice Control
+Color hi res display
+Touchscreen
+HR Monitor
-Battery life
-No native apps at this time
-Price
-Proprietary bands (that are ridiculously priced)
-Display cannot be set to any kind of ambient mode
-Not waterproof

Pebble
+Battery life
+Always on display
+Price
+Mature app development
+Waterproof
+Standard 22mm band compatible
-No touchscreen
-No mic for voice control
-b/w screen

I'm sure some people will contend that UI is a big factor, but without actually using the Apple Watch it's a hard to argue one way or another. The current Pebble UI is easy to use, and though some people dislike the lack of touchscreen, it makes certain tasks far easier while not looking at your phone. The new Pebble Time will include a mic and color screen (though lower res/less colors) and they are going to be rolling out their new UI when Time launches, which will eventually be available on all Pebbles.

Honestly, I would at least wait until Pebble Time comes out to compare. I have a OG Pebble and don't regret it at all, especially considering the price.

3rd party bands are supposedly coming so hopefully there will be more affordable bands for the watch soon.
 

Majine

Banned
i think so too, the fall release schedule is way to crammed. (iPhone, iPad, iOS, Mac OS, ... )

they might eventually switch to a fall release window for that tasty holiday quarter, but i don't believe they'd do it with gen 2.

once they have a really solid gen 3 or 4 out there that'll last even those who always buy the newest model for 18 months, they might shift it to a fall release.

Sure, I could see them eventually moving iPad to spring again because of its sales plateauing and let Apple Watch take over the October spot.

Not this year tho.
 
i think so too, the fall release schedule is way to crammed. (iPhone, iPad, iOS, Mac OS, ... )

they might eventually switch to a fall release window for that tasty holiday quarter, but i don't believe they'd do it with gen 2.

once they have a really solid gen 3 or 4 out there that'll last even those who always buy the newest model for 18 months, they might shift it to a fall release.



http://www.apple.com/watch/built-in-apps/

doesn't show a reminders app, nor an icon on the grid of stock icons.

I would love it for when I am doing shopping so I don't need to keep pulling my phone out to look at a list. I have a terrible memory lol

I have already pretty much decided to get one as it would be great for going running. But 2 minutes into doing my run today, my phone fell out my pocket and slid downhill on the pavement face down. So that has pretty much cemented my desire to get one :p
 

Fliesen

Member
I would love it for when I am doing shopping so I don't need to keep pulling my phone out to look at a list. I have a terrible memory lol

I have already pretty much decided to get one as it would be great for going running. But 2 minutes into doing my run today, my phone fell out my pocket and slid downhill on the pavement face down. So that has pretty much cemented my desire to get one :p

maybe give wunderlist a try, it's a great app that my girlfriend and i use to coordinate grocery shopping.
it's already AppleWatch compatible!

https://www.wunderlist.com/blog/designing-wunderlist-for-apple-watch-from-benedikt-lehnert/

it's one of those little use cases i'm really looking forward to, as well, being able to tick items off the shopping list while pushing the shopping cart.
 

jts

...hate me...
Gen 2 by fall is ludicrous.

Gen 1 will be barely rolled out worldwide by then.

Besides gen 3 to 4 iPad was kinda of a low-profile thing, not what's expected from a gen 2 Apple Watch.
 

Fliesen

Member
Gen 2 by fall is ludicrous.

Gen 1 will be barely rolled out worldwide by then.

Besides gen 3 to 4 iPad was kinda of a low-profile thing, not what's expected from a gen 2 Apple Watch.

If they had a meaningful gen 2 ready in fall, they would have just skipped gen 1 altogether, so don't expect that to happen, people.

Gen 3 to 4 iPad was just a change of the connector to lightning and a slight decrease in weight right?

iPhone 4 to 4S (the shift to a fall release) took 18 months.
 
If they had a meaningful gen 2 ready in fall, they would have just skipped gen 1 altogether, so don't expect that to happen, people.

Gen 3 to 4 iPad was just a change of the connector to lightning and a slight decrease in weight right?

iPhone 4 to 4S (the shift to a fall release) took 18 months.
They also added the better graphics chip in the iPad 4th gen.
 

Fliesen

Member
They also added the better graphics chip in the iPad 4th gen.

is there any iPad iteration where they didn't improve on the GPU, though? ;)

but yeah, they needed to do that because the 3rd gen used some weird beefed up old-architecture SoC that drew so much juice powering that retina screen , they had to dramatically increase to battery size to keep battery life similar to previous models.
 

btrboyev

Member
who are you people complaining about battery life!?!?!

a) all of the reviews seem pretty uniform in saying that there is more than enough battery life for all day usage.. one saying they went from 5:xx am to 11:xx pm when it just hit "low power". Granted they were all 42mm.. but that's what I'm getting

b) "I don't want to worry about charging multiple devices nightly" What? I mean seriously, do you like go to sleep and then Batman uses your devices to patrol the streets at night? How hard is it to plug in 2 or even like 4 cables before going to bed? And it's not even JUST apple watch.. I mean I don't get people raving about phones having 42 or 60 hours of battery life. Does it really make your life better by not having to spend those 2 seconds at night plugging your phone in?

first world problems and all of that...

Stop defending a device that clearly is ready for prime time.

Why should anyone have to charge a watch every damn day? Think about how annoying that is.
 
Stop defending a device that clearly is ready for prime time.

Why should anyone have to charge a watch every damn day? Think about how annoying that is.

I'd love longer battery life but I think you're overstating how annoying it is to charge the device. Just take it off and lay it on it's charger before you go to sleep.
 
Stop defending a device that clearly is ready for prime time.

Why should anyone have to charge a watch every damn day? Think about how annoying that is.

Not at all..? I've never slep with my analog watch, I didn't sleep with my Fitbit even though I was moderately amused by the sleep tracking, and I wouldn't sleep with an Apple Watch. Wake up, unplug and put on wrist, wear all day, take off and put on bedside charger when going to sleep. It's no less convenient than my current watch.
 

Fliesen

Member
Stop defending a device that clearly is ready for prime time.

Why should anyone have to charge a watch every damn day? Think about how annoying that is.

it's gonna be a while for smartwatches to reach a point where they have a battery life that will comfortably last you more than 2 days. Anything below that means you'll have to charge it during night. Even 36 hours of standby time means charging every night, as otherwise, your watch will die during day 2.

It's like the shift from dumbphones to smartphones. We're just on our way to reaching multiple day standby times because phones can eventually not get any thinner.

Is it so hard to accept that for some people, taking off the watch over night is just not that huge of a deal as it is to you?

and for power users, i'm sure there's going to be mobile power banks that you can just dock your phone to for a few minutes to give it some extra juice. A credit card sized power bank could contain multiple days worth of charge for your AppleWatch.

x119133343-F.jpg
(1650mAh on that baby, that is 4x as much as the LG G Watch R holds)

so i'd argue it'll be incredibly easy to keep your Smartwatch charged throughout the day by using tiny ass external battery packs.
 

Blackhead

Redarse
it's gonna be a while for smartwatches to reach a point where they have a battery life that will comfortably last you more than 2 days. Anything below that means you'll have to charge it during night. Even 36 hours of standby time means charging every night, as otherwise, your watch will die during day 2.

It's like the shift from dumbphones to smartphones. We're just on our way to reaching multiple day standby times because phones can eventually not get any thinner.

Is it so hard to accept that for some people, taking off the watch over night is just not that huge of a deal as it is to you?
A couple of other smartwatches already comfortably last more than 2 days.

and for power users, i'm sure there's going to be mobile power banks that you can just dock your phone to for a few minutes to give it some extra juice. A credit card sized power bank could contain multiple days worth of charge for your AppleWatch.
you can't properly use an AppleWatch while it's charging and it doesn't charge quickly enough anyway for a few minutes boost to make a meaningful difference.
 

jts

...hate me...
If they had a meaningful gen 2 ready in fall, they would have just skipped gen 1 altogether, so don't expect that to happen, people.

Gen 3 to 4 iPad was just a change of the connector to lightning and a slight decrease in weight right?

iPhone 4 to 4S (the shift to a fall release) took 18 months.

Connector and A5X to A6X.

I believe the weight was around the same, as it was almost literally a part swap.

Anyway, besides all that, I think that a pre-summer release is a great slot for the Watch, because summer is the perfect time to go out and about, and the fitness features will appeal to those who intend to shave some weight for the summer.

It will still be a hot product by christmas time, and the matured yields and fully deployed worldwide roll out by then will ensure fewer to no shortages.

Besides that period being already cluttered.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
it's gonna be a while for smartwatches to reach a point where they have a battery life that will comfortably last you more than 2 days. Anything below that means you'll have to charge it during night. Even 36 hours of standby time means charging every night, as otherwise, your watch will die during day 2.

It's like the shift from dumbphones to smartphones. We're just on our way to reaching multiple day standby times because phones can eventually not get any thinner.

Is it so hard to accept that for some people, taking off the watch over night is just not that huge of a deal as it is to you?

and for power users, i'm sure there's going to be mobile power banks that you can just dock your phone to for a few minutes to give it some extra juice. A credit card sized power bank could contain multiple days worth of charge for your AppleWatch.

(1650mAh on that baby, that is 4x as much as the LG G Watch R holds)

so i'd argue it'll be incredibly easy to keep your Smartwatch charged throughout the day by using tiny ass external battery packs.
There is a difference.

Whereas people may have accepted that heavy phone usage may mean it doesn't even make it through a day ... are the masses going to be okay with the same for their watch?
 

Flo_Evans

Member
I dunno, I think they could of done more with the battery.

The newest watch I bought charges itself in the sun and has a battery reserve of months.

They should have but batteries in the band or made the face a solar panel.

Still waiting till I can actually get my hands on one.

so i'd argue it'll be incredibly easy to keep your Smartwatch charged throughout the day by using tiny ass external battery packs.

sure its possible... but that really doesn't make your life easier. People put up with short smartphone batteries because the smartphone can do so much, the extra hassle of nightly charging is worth the utility it provides. The smart watch doesn't really add any killer features, just extended your phone to your wrist. I'm not convinced its worth the extra hassle at this point.
 

Fliesen

Member
There is a difference.

Whereas people may have accepted that heavy phone usage may mean it doesn't even make it through a day ... are the masses going to be okay with the same for their watch?

where have they accepted it? people constantly whine about the short battery life of smart phones. They just learned to live with it because the increase of functionality just came with this trade-off. Also, a Smartwatch simply isn't "a watch". It's a companion device that you just happen to wear on your wrist, instead of a watch. It's not "replacing your watch", it's extending your phone to your wrist.

whoever wants a less functional watch with great battery life should either get an analog watch. If they wanted smartwatch features, though at a lower fidelity, they should opt for a pebble.

thank god there's enough options along the spectrum of functionality -> longevity.

and as some have pointed out already: There's plenty people who take off their watches when going to bed already, for not-battery-related reasons.

sure its possible... but that really doesn't make your life easier. People put up with short smartphone batteries because the smartphone can do so much, the extra hassle of nightly charging is worth the utility it provides. The smart watch doesn't really add any killer features, just extended your phone to your wrist. I'm not convinced its worth the extra hassle at this point.
some would consider that a killer feature already ;)

my grandma doesn't care about smart functionality either, so a dumbphone is all she needs. And there's people who use their smartphones exclusively for texting and making phonecalls and they're fine with charging it every night, too.

it's just not as big of a deal as some make it out to be, right now. Sure, there's plenty of room for improvement, but right here, right now, the tradeoff exists, and it's a perfectly reasonable for a lot of people.
 

Flo_Evans

Member
I am just thinking about travel, cause I am going on a trip this weekend.

One of the few times I actually wear a watch is out of town, very useful when catching a plane, ground transport ect.

Packing another charger and worrying that the watch will last a full day of travel is a concern.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
where have they accepted it? people constantly whine about the short battery life of smart phones. They just learned to live with it because the increase of functionality just came with this trade-off. Also, a Smartwatch simply isn't "a watch". It's a companion device that you just happen to wear on your wrist, instead of a watch. It's not "replacing your watch", it's extending your phone to your wrist.

whoever wants a less functional watch with great battery life should either get an analog watch. If they wanted smartwatch features, though at a lower fidelity, they should opt for a pebble.

thank god there's enough options along the spectrum of functionality -> longevity.

and as some have pointed out already: There's plenty people who take off their watches when going to bed already, for not-battery-related reasons.

Let me get this straight.


You're arguing that people have unconditionally not accepted that their phone sometimes needs multiple charges per day ...

... but will be fine with it on a watch?


seh6p.gif



what's more amusing is I explicitly stated 'may' have accepted when referring to phones
 

Fliesen

Member
I am just thinking about travel, cause I am going on a trip this weekend.

One of the few times I actually wear a watch is out of town, very useful when catching a plane, ground transport ect.

Packing another charger and worrying that the watch will last a full day of travel is a concern.

it's not gonna be a super reliable travel companion, i can tell you that right now

unless it's only about telling the time - power save mode lasts up to 72hours

Let me get this straight.


You're arguing that people have unconditionally not accepted that their phone sometimes needs multiple charges per day ...

... but will be fine with it on a watch?
they will be fine with it if the hassle of charging it every day is outweighed by the benefits of having a much more capable device on their wrists. Do we agree on that?
 

Nafai1123

Banned
I don't have a problem with the overall battery life, but I do have a problem with the fact that it has that battery life despite the screen being off a majority of the time.

Pebbles last up to a week with the screen always on (yes I understand that it's because it uses E-ink)
LG Watch R and Asus Zenwatch last a full day with the screen in ambient mode

I understand that Apple wanted to make the device small, but the Zenwatch is only slightly wider/taller than the 42mm, and is thinner as well. That would be the first thing I would fix with the gen 2. It NEEDS to be able to last a full day with some sort of watchface on the device at all times. As one of those review pointed out, it is unnatural/inconvenient to have to perform an action to look at the time on your wrist (plus I think it's dumb to have a blank screened piece of plastic/metal on your wrist).
 

Fliesen

Member
I don't have a problem with the overall battery life, but I do have a problem with the fact that it has that battery life despite the screen being off a majority of the time.

Pebbles last up to a week with the screen always on (yes I understand that it's because it uses E-ink)
LG Watch R and Asus Zenwatch last a full day with the screen in ambient mode

I understand that Apple wanted to make the device small, but the Zenwatch is only slightly wider/taller than the 42mm, and is thinner as well. That would be the first thing I would fix with the gen 2. It NEEDS to be able to last a full day with some sort of watchface on the device at all times. As one of those review pointed out, it is unnatural/inconvenient to have to perform an action to look at the time on your wrist.

i have no doubts whatsoever that cranking up the battery life is their highest priority for gen 2 right now.
 

LeleSocho

Banned
And because of that lack of fans, it would heat up so much that chips would literally pop off the MoBo due to the solder becoming too viscous and / or the casing would physically crack due to the differing thermal signatures between materials :p


It was absolutely gorgeous, no doubt ... but was also one of the all-time poster boys of 'form over function'.

That wasn't completely Apple's fault though Motorola did their best to produce crappy G4 chips at the time.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
they will be fine with it if the hassle of charging it every day is outweighed by the benefits of having a much more capable device on their wrists. Do we agree on that?
Yes I disagree, since that means potentially two different devices they need to do it with ... both with differing chargers. And what do you mean everyday? I'm talking about more than once a day.


Moreover, your logic makes zero sense. You just said people haven't accepted it with their phone, yet it too could be argued as being 'outweighed by the benefits of having a much more capable device on their wrists'.




The reality here is this and other smart watches, while cool and all, currently do not offer enough benefits for many people to deal with the problems.

You've got it backwards. The majority of people will be less likely to want to deal with charging issues on their watch than on their phone since it's the phone that offers far more benefit for the pain.
 

Guess Who

Banned
fuckin' lol at describing the act of taking your watch off at night and putting it on your bedside table as "pain" and not "a thing most people who wear watches already do, the only difference being having to snap a cable on it to charge"
 

Epix

Member
Lets see how it sells before we make statements about what the majority of people are and aren't willing to put up with.
 
My favorite complaint that I've seen is that the watch requires two hands to use.

As if it's a bid surprise that the hand it's freaking strapped on was gonna be available to use the watch in the first place.
 

Fliesen

Member
Moreover, your logic makes zero sense. You just said people haven't accepted it with their phone, yet it too could be argued as being 'outweighed by the benefits of having a much more capable device on their wrists'.
.

people still whine about battery life, yet they keep drooling over thinner and thinner smartphones.
They will whine about smartwatch battery life (compared to the good old times!) yet they'll be using smartwatches.

of course we won't see smartwatches selling as gangbusters as smartphones, we agree on that. Other than that, you clearly see no point in current smartwatches whatsoever, that's cool, just don't try to go pooping up the thread by calling people "apologists" who don't share your assumptions about consumers in general.

Lets see how it sells before we make statements about what the majority of people are and aren't willing to put up with.
I wholeheartedly agree.
This thread, however, as well as the AndroidWear OT should sign enough that there's at least some people obviously very psyched about this new product category and are willing to jump in.
 
fuckin' lol at describing the act of taking your watch off at night and putting it on your bedside table as "pain" and not "a thing most people who wear watches already do, the only difference being having to snap a cable on it to charge"

I agree with you, I already take off my watch ever night and put it in a case, but I can see why people wouldn't want another device to charge.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
Lets see how it sells before we make statements about what the majority of people are and aren't willing to put up with.
Actually let's looks at the number of complaints and how long terms sales of this iteration are impacted.

There's no guarantee people will be aware of this at launch, or even if they are, have fully reconciled whether it will be a pain-point or not.




fuckin' lol at describing the act of taking your watch off at night and putting it on your bedside table as "pain" and not "a thing most people who wear watches already do, the only difference being having to snap a cable on it to charge"
I don't think the majority of people interested in something like this will have an issue with nightly charging.

Where they'll have an issue is when it doesn't actually make it through the day during heavy usage.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
people still whine about battery life, yet they keep drooling over thinner and thinner smartphones.
They will whine about smartwatch battery life (compared to the good old times!) yet they'll be using smartwatches.
I disagree.

I think it isn't the same thing as their phone, and people will take bigger exception if it requires multiple charges.
 

Fliesen

Member
I agree with you, I already take off my watch ever night and put it in a case, but I can see why people wouldn't want another device to charge.

The very reason i opted against getting wireless headphones last year. The hassle of keeping more devices charged is real. It's all about how comfortably you can add the charging process to your daily routine.
Why is anybody complaining about battery life, when ALL reviews were happy with the battery life. Every single one. None had the battery run out in under a day, many said there was plenty of life left when they went to bed at night.

because it's currently the obvious "A WATCH THAT YOU NEED TO CHARGE EVERY DAY?!" reaction that you can just imagine Steve Ballmer saying ;)
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
My favorite complaint that I've seen is that the watch requires two hands to use.

As if it's a bid surprise that the hand it's freaking strapped on was gonna be available to use the watch in the first place.
"you're not flexible enough" is the new "you're holding it wrong"

:p
 

riotous

Banned
fuckin' lol at describing the act of taking your watch off at night and putting it on your bedside table as "pain" and not "a thing most people who wear watches already do, the only difference being having to snap a cable on it to charge"

He's addressing the straw man that you'll need to charge your watch multiple times a day.

If that is how it ends up for many users; that would be annoying.. far more annoying than a phone which isn't designed to be strapped to your wrist to be useful.
 
There is a difference.

Whereas people may have accepted that heavy phone usage may mean it doesn't even make it through a day ... are the masses going to be okay with the same for their watch?

If people find the Watch useful enough, absolutely. The phone I had before my first smartphone had an honest 3 day battery life; I was willing to make that trade.
 
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