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Slashdot Asks: It's Been a Year Since Apple Watch Release, What's Your Thought On It?
In an op-ed, Quartz's Mike Murphy writes that Apple Watch, the Cupertino-based company's first wearable device, hasn't been the success the company was hoping it to be. Apple unveiled the Apple Watch alongside the iPhone 6 at a media conference in September 2014. It wasn't, however, until April 2015 that the company began selling it. The Apple Watch has received a mixed response from people. While some have found the design premium-looking, almost everyone has complained about the battery life. Many have found the health-centric features of Apple Watch useful. though the lack of apps, in general, is a downer for many. Apple, which usually doesn't miss boasting sales number, remains tight-lipped on exactly how many Apple Watch units it has sold. Murphy writes: Every Apple product in the last 15 years or so has been two things: desirable and useful. They've made it easier for people to be creative, listen to a lot of music on the go, communicate with anyone in the world or find out any piece of information wherever they are. The Apple Watch looks good, but from a desirability perspective, some argue that the most interesting thing about it has been the collaborations it has had with Hermes, rather than the watch itself. Apple has always prided itself on 'thinking different', and has stood out by creating differentiating products. But different in the case of the Apple Watch right now just means "weird." Apple probably doesn't want a product where using one gets you referred to as "that guy." Do you own an Apple Watch? If not, are you planning to purchase one? Those who own it, what features do you like in the Apple Watch that you think other watches cannot offer.
My wife works for Apple, and at the end of last year they had a deal to allow Apple employees to buy an Apple Watch for nearly half the retail price. She didn't really want one, so she bought one for me.
TLDR: Definitely useful, but I doubt I would pay full price to replace it.
The biggest feature for me, actually, is the notifications. Basically, with just a phone, you have the choice between cranking up the volume on notifications and having them be super-loud when you're in a quiet environment, or turning them down and miss missing them if you're in a loud environment. The watch has a dynamo that actually taps your wrist when you get a notification; so you're likely to notice it no matter how loud the environment is, but in a quiet environment the sound isn't too disruptive. (When I mention this to people they say, "But I wouldn't want to get notified all the time" -- no of course you don't, that's why you limit the notifications to only things you actually care about.) The notification aspect is handy when you're driving as well -- it gives you a little tap before you're supposed to turn to "wake you up".
The watch faces are pretty cool, with lots of pretty well thought-out features. It's nice being able, for example, to see what the temperature is like outside by just glancing at your wrist; and with the 2.2 update there's a watch face that cycles through photos from a designated photo album, so every time I look at the time I see photos of something that makes me happy.
The heart-rate monitor is pretty useful, but it seems like it's only mainly accurate for aerobic sports -- when I'm weightlifting it will often report obviously incorrect numbers (like, 40 BPM after I've just done a set of lifts and am breathing heavy).
The timer is quite handy, particularly with the "Hey Siri" feature -- "Hey Siri, set a timer for 5 mintues". The "Hey Siri" functionality is quite useful in a number of other situations as well: "Hey Siri, remind me when I get home to put the garbage out."
The Dick Tracy-style phone is a bit gimmicky, IMHO -- it's actually quite uncomfortable to try to talk to someone with your wrist held in front of you. It's almost always worth the 3 seconds of effort to just pull the phone out of my pocket / bag instead.
The awkwardness of holding up your wrist for long periods is the reason I don't use many of the other apps as well -- stocks, weather, browsing maps -- most things are much better just done by taking out your phone.
All in all, I'm glad I have it; and if it was like $150 I'd definitely recommend people buy it. But at the current price, it's a bit steep for what it provides.
TCP: Why the Internet is full of SYN.
My previous watch was a Traser, purchased at a similar price point as the (very slightly used) Apple Watch Sport I currently have.
Pros (Traser):
~3 years battery time
Relatively unobtrusive "always on" light (H3 capsules)
Pros (Apple Watch):
Silent notifications that I never miss - even when I forget the phone in the other end of my house.
Never having to set the time (even a good Quartz watch will eventually go out of sync with the real world).
Activity rings (even after several months of ownership I still move a lot more than I did before, and I get regular reminders that keep this behavior up. My changed moving behavior has in turn affected my eating behavior so I'm down 5 kg compared to before getting the watch (I wasn't spectacularly fat to begin with, but now I'm getting lean)).
I can control my most used media players from my wrist.
Not having to surreptitiously fish my phone out of the pocket in the store to check my shopping list.
Both watches can be rinsed in water but shouldn't be subjected to diving or fast pressure changes (I have an old Casio beater for that).
I have never had less than 40% battery left when I put my watch on the charger for the night - battery time was what I was most afraid of before I purchased the watch, but that hasn't been an issue at all.
To be honest I don't use many apps on the phone, and no third-party apps at all on my Watch, but for what I have it do for me, it has been great. What I most like about it isn't that it changes anything radically, but rather that it makes a few very common tasks a little more convenient.
The only thing I'll do differently the next time around is that I'll go for the stainless steel/sapphire glass version to get a more resilient case, since I wear the watch at pretty much all times when awake.