Apple Watch reviews are in: Best smart watch, but smart watches are unnecessary.

[Ichinisan]

Trolls tend to be very active. Maybe before I came to this forum he was a fan, but I've been here for months and haven't seen a single example of him liking any Apple product... that says something considering I usually agree with the sentiments he has and also, he posts (as you said) all the time. I mean he has been one of the most vocal detractors of the Apple Watch, along with a few others here that for some reason love to post in this thread but also don't care about it at all because 'it's not useful to me'. LOL.



Maybe he has all of you fooled, but not me.

There's a lot to like about Apple stuff. I still spend all day dealing with problems I have to tolerate with my Apple stuff.

I think most Apple products are very good or even great, but most also have significant room for improvement and criticism. The Apple Watch is everything I never wanted from a smart watch. I groaned as I watched the keynote and presenters doodled and tapped codes to each other, shared heartbeats, and tweaked smileys.

Should I be ostracized simply because I don't rush to buy and defend every single Apple product? Should I be ostracized because I don't claim or pretend to be a fanatic?

I just don't want this one. I'm not even on-the-fence at the moment. Maybe some software updates will add some killer app that appeals to me. Maybe a hands-on experience will change my mind. Maybe Apple will nail it with the next iteration. About the only reason I would consider buying it would be if I start making iOS apps.

I didn't come here to troll or criticize a product I do not own. I came here to read impressions from owners to see if I missed some awesome compelling reason to own it. So far, it seems that I did not. I found your posts to be very funny.

"This thread is only for Apple Watch owners and Apple fanatics that plan to own it. Everyone else is a troll. If you claim to like Apple, but criticize Apple products, you are not welcome."

 

[touchstone]

I did not come close to saying 'everyone else is a troll'. In fact, the vast majority of contributors to this thread have expressed similar opinions to Eug, which I have acknowledged and possibly tried to refute, but I have only called one person a 'troll' and it was for very specific reasons.


Eug and everyone on this forum are entitled to their opinion, but I personally take issue with a person prefacing every conversation with the remark that 'By the way, I'm a huge Apple fan. The biggest fan on this forum. I've owned Apple stock since before Woz split. I eat only apples 24/7 because they contain all the carbohydrates the body needs.... etc' and then following that up with blistering, and sometimes very correct, criticisms of Apple products. It just stinks of a very clever troll, or just somebody who has totally changed their opinions of Apple but won't admit it. I don't know the pathology.

Anyway, he can have whatever opinion he likes. I, personally, disagree. Lets leave it at that.

 

[CZroe]

I did not come close to saying 'everyone else is a troll'. In fact, the vast majority of contributors to this thread have expressed similar opinions to Eug, which I have acknowledged and possibly tried to refute, but I have only called one person a 'troll' and it was for very specific reasons.


Eug and everyone on this forum are entitled to their opinion, but I personally take issue with a person prefacing every conversation with the remark that 'By the way, I'm a huge Apple fan. The biggest fan on this forum. I've owned Apple stock since before Woz split. I eat only apples 24/7 because they contain all the carbohydrates the body needs.... etc' and then following that up with blistering, and sometimes very correct, criticisms of Apple products. It just stinks of a very clever troll, or just somebody who has totally changed their opinions of Apple but won't admit it. I don't know the pathology.

Anyway, he can have whatever opinion he likes. I, personally, disagree. Lets leave it at that.

You are STILL doing absolutely nothing for this conversation. Leave.

 

[touchstone]

You are STILL doing absolutely nothing for this conversation. Leave.

Have you figured out that I actually have no regard for your opinion whatsoever? I am neither less likely, nor more likely to contribute to this thread after your remark. You bore me.


I looked at your post history.... wow. If anybody is curious which of us is a decent human being, take a look. It explains a lot.

 

[Eug]

Video review from my local paper, The Globe and Mail:

We're not there yet: Travelling with the Apple Watch

 

[CZroe]

Have you figured out that I actually have no regard for your opinion whatsoever? I am neither less likely, nor more likely to contribute to this thread after your remark. You bore me.


I looked at your post history.... wow. If anybody is curious which of us is a decent human being, take a look. It explains a lot.

Have you figured out that I[we] actually have no regard for your opinion whatsoever? You bore us.

Your post history in this thread is despicable. If you took two steps back you'd see that you have been every bit as bad as the stark raving mad unreasonable anti-Apple rabid Android fans. You are the worst of the Apple fans just like they are the worst of the Android fans and you certainly aren't doing anyone any good behaving as you are.

Oh! Thanks for further derailing when we begged you not to, by the way.

 

[touchstone]

Video review from my local paper, The Globe and Mail:

We're not there yet: Travelling with the Apple Watch

After attempting to make a video indicating that the wrist gesture works 95% of the time I found out that I was wrong about that figure. It is more like 65-75% which I have to say is less than I would have liked, but adequate for me personally.

The watch is not gonna revolutionize your life overnight, but it is a glimpse at the revolution in wearables and health data tracking. Once Apple sorts out the blood pressure and skin conductance, this thing will basically be a doctor on your wrist. It could tell you before you have a heart attack, to take nitroglicerine. It could track your blood pressure and stress levels... the possibilities are huge. So far they have sorted out the heart monitoring and fitness tracking. Imagine when it's waterproof and integrated into your phone/car/house...


You are basically saying "I'm going to sit on the sidelines, because I think Apple will fail (here) because this is a junk product". That's what I'm hearing, or are you saying that this is just not good enough for you personally, and you will wait until samsung brings something even nicer possibly in 2016? The next time Apple makes a wearable will be 2017 at the earliest, they will just do bands for awhile.

Have you figured out that I[we] actually have no regard for your opinion whatsoever? You bore us.

Your post history in this thread is despicable. If you took two steps back you'd see that you have been every bit as bad as the stark raving mad unreasonable anti-Apple rabid Android fans. You are the worst of the Apple fans just like they are the worst of the Android fans and you certainly aren't doing anyone any good behaving as you are.

Oh! Thanks for further derailing when we begged you not to, by the way.

*yawn*

 

[Michael]

One annoyance I have with the Apple Watch is that when I dictate into Siri, the time to turn it into text and send it back is often long enough for the screen to blank. If that happens, I lose the text I dictated.

Michael

 

[lopri]

The reliability issue of screen on/off behavior was a fairly predictable one. Today's techs still have trouble when it tries to reconcile the analog world with the digital one. Smartphones have similar issues; double-tap to wake, twist to start camera, or eye-tracking whatever Samsung did a couple years ago, etc. They have not been as reliable as one had hoped. Not yet.

It will improve over time, no doubt. But it is possible (and more desirable) that improvement in power efficiency will allow the watch face to be on all the time and arm-shaking becomes unnecessary.

 

[Eug]

This probably partially explains the battery life:

The CPU is made on a 28 nm process.

 

[RichieZ]

so far i have forgotten to wear it for the last 3 days, haven't missed it

probably going up to ebay soon

 

[gbeirn]

so far i have forgotten to wear it for the last 3 days, haven't missed it

probably going up to ebay soon

What version? PM me, I'd be interested in it.

 

[Artdeco]

I got mine on Friday, hate that I had to lose jailbreak to use it.

eTrade has a pretty decent app, actually listed it for sale, then started using the eTrade app, I'll be keeping it for the ETrade app alone.

Much like smartphones, I think the secret sauce for smart watches will be apps.

Obviously, there's going to be some bugs worked out in the next few months and gen 2 will be the one to buy, but it's pretty good for a first gen product.

I got a 42 mm stainless steel, and strangely enough, saw a 38 mm in the wild on Friday, it was a SS Milanese band, and looked really good. I have a 3rd party Milanese band and a link band coming, and a combo phone watch charging stand, supposed to ship tomorrow.

 

[sportage]

If Apple could get a full week of battery life, especially when just using as a watch, AND make it even thiner, AND add a built-in camera that works thru your phone, then maybe.
But I just don't see this type of watch catching on main stream.
People want and like really cool phones and pads, but not necessarily a smart watch.
Someone will need to make a really paper thin screen, and a battery that lasts for weeks before this catches on.
And would anyone buy this first generation if they knew the second or third generation would have a camera and much longer battery life? And probably cost half the price.
With all the new upcoming smart gadgets, someone needs to reinvent the battery.
A totally new concept in battery allowing for weeks and months of power.

 

[CZroe]

If Apple could get a full week of battery life, especially when just using as a watch, AND make it even thiner, AND add a built-in camera that works thru your phone, then maybe.
But I just don't see this type of watch catching on main stream.
People want and like really cool phones and pads, but not necessarily a smart watch.
Someone will need to make a really paper thin screen, and a battery that lasts for weeks before this catches on.
And would anyone buy this first generation if they knew the second or third generation would have a camera and much longer battery life? And probably cost half the price.
With all the new upcoming smart gadgets, someone needs to reinvent the battery.
A totally new concept in battery allowing for weeks and months of power.

Are you joking?! Who the hell wants a camera smooshed in there?! That was the most eye-rollingly stupid thing about the first Galaxy Gear... an immediate indication that they did exactly what NO ONE wanted: shoved a full Android device on your wrist but made compromises in every area to do it (storage, performance, battery, functionality, etc). I don't need an Android or iOS tablet on my wrist to get Caller ID there. I don't need a tablet on my wrist to get a notification there. I don't need a tablet on my wrist to control music from there. I don't want to run full-color whiz-bang app's on my wrist when I have a phone in my pocket for that. I want to be able to use it with gloves and don't need a full touch screen OS shoved in there. Even if I DID want that, the wrist-worn device should be a dumb screen interfacing wirelessly as a secondary display for the phone in my pocket. No sense in fragmenting resources (is that picture/MP3 on my watch, phone, or SD card?), compromising performance, and killing battery life when you have all that in your pocket.

Apple, Samsung, and Sony are barking up the wrong tree and you are telling them to go deeper in that rabbit hole. Dialing back to 2007's Sony Ericsson MBW-150 would have been a much better idea. Apple would have been able to position it as a fashion accessory that doesn't go obsolete and people would have accepted that.

 

[Red Storm]

Yesterday I sold my $400 Apple Watch Sport for $650.

Should've pre-ordered more of them...

 

[Ichinisan]

If Apple could get a full week of battery life, especially when just using as a watch, AND make it even thiner, AND add a built-in camera that works thru your phone, then maybe.
But I just don't see this type of watch catching on main stream.
People want and like really cool phones and pads, but not necessarily a smart watch.
Someone will need to make a really paper thin screen, and a battery that lasts for weeks before this catches on.
And would anyone buy this first generation if they knew the second or third generation would have a camera and much longer battery life? And probably cost half the price.
With all the new upcoming smart gadgets, someone needs to reinvent the battery.
A totally new concept in battery allowing for weeks and months of power.

LOL @ camera suggestion.

NO.

Yesterday I sold my $400 Apple Watch Sport for $650.

Should've pre-ordered more of them...

Dayum! Even at $200, I would still probably hesitate to buy one for myself. I don't know what makes people so desperate...

 

[smackababy]

You guys are telling me you wouldn't like a camera on your wrist where you aim it like you're the Predator? That is some James Bond type stuff!

 

[Eug]

You guys are telling me you wouldn't like a camera on your wrist where you aim it like you're the Predator? That is some James Bond type stuff!

Well, if it had a laser scope, and infrared sensor, as well as a rocket launcher, then maybe.

 

[Blackjack200]

People would bitch that it only holds three rockets, and the IR sensor only has a 47 degree field of view.

 

[Oyeve]

This is what kills me:

Product Information

A modern interpretation of a design developed in Milan at the end of the 19th century. Woven on specialized Italian machines, the smooth stainless steel mesh wraps fluidly around your wrist. And because it’s fully magnetic, the Milanese Loop is infinitely adjustable, ensuring a perfect fit.

And only $150 on top of the watch. Geez. A special Italian machine.

 

[Eug]

Apple Watch sales plunge 90%

Sales of the new Apple Watch have plunged by 90% since the opening week, according to a new market-research report.

Apple AAPL, -0.25% has been selling fewer than 20,000 watches a day in the U.S. since the initial surge in April, and on some days fewer than 10,000, according to data from Palo Alto, Calif.-based Slice Intelligence.

That is a sharp decline from the week of the April 10 launch, when Apple sold about 1.5 million watches, or an average of about 200,000 a day, Slice estimates.

Furthermore, two-thirds of the watches sold so far have been the lower-profit “Sport” version, whose price starts at $349, according to Slice, rather than the costlier and more advanced models that start at $549.

---

How worrying are these numbers for Apple investors, fans and customers? It’s a mixed picture.

On one hand, you’d expect sales of any new product to tumble after the initial bump (and the first week’s numbers are heavily weighted toward the opening day). The watch is only a tiny part of Apple’s business. Trefis, a stock-research company, ascribes just 4% of Apple’s current value to its watch business.

But this fall-off in sales, if confirmed, nonetheless looks ominous. And the Apple Watch is much more important than any immediate contribution to earnings would suggest.

I'm not really sure what to think of these estimates, even if we were to assume they are the least bit accurate. This still translates into millions of units, and way more than anyone else, so not a total dismal failure. OTOH, it's not really a success thus far, at least by Apple investor standards.

BTW, I was in the Apple Store on the weekend, checking out the new MacBook. The iPad and iPhone tables were absolutely packed solid. The MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro tables were also fully or near fully occupied. In contrast, the Apple Watch table was mostly empty of customers. Just an anecdote, but given that that store is always packed, having a display table right in the middle of everything but mostly devoid of customers was rather conspicuous, esp. considering it is a new product.

 

[Tegeril]

Slice Intelligence is a very dubious source and given that watch OS 1 is so limited in functionality, there isn't really that much to do with a watch in the store right now.

I'll wait for official numbers instead of fud.

 

[Eug]

Slice Intelligence is a very dubious source and given that watch OS 1 is so limited in functionality, there isn't really that much to do with a watch in the store right now.

Dubious yes, but right now not entirely surprising.

And yes, Watch OS is very limited, which was one of the points of this thread.

I'll wait for official numbers instead of fud.

Often when Apple has great initial sales, they gush all over it. No such gushing this time around.

 

[Tegeril]

I suppose we'll see what happens in the fall with OS 2