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Apple's Smartwatch Draws Competition And A Very Bad Review (businessinsider.com)
Apple's share of the smartwatch market actually started declining in 2016, dropping down to just 52.4% (down from 63%), according to Business Insider. And following up on Apple's first drop in earnings in over 10 years, Slashdot reader Zanadou shares a Gizmodo's latest story about the Apple Watch.
"I stopped wearing it two months ago, and I'm not sure if I'll ever wear it again. That's because it doesn't really do anything that anyone needs, and even when it does, it doesn't always work like it's supposed to. Here are some things I learned over the past year of strapping the screen vibrator to my wrist."
The article describes wanting to try a new form factor, but ending up confused by the watch's two-button interface (where the buttons perform multiple functions). Gizmodo's writer complains that "there's literally no comfortable way to actually use it," and while he did appreciate things like the time-of-sunrise feature and the ability to read text messages on your wrist, most Apple Watch apps "just end up being a shell of the iPhone app". And worst of all, it was difficult to use the watch to actually tell time, since "the screen doesn't always turn on when you raise your wrist like it's supposed to."
"I stopped wearing it two months ago, and I'm not sure if I'll ever wear it again. That's because it doesn't really do anything that anyone needs, and even when it does, it doesn't always work like it's supposed to. Here are some things I learned over the past year of strapping the screen vibrator to my wrist."
The article describes wanting to try a new form factor, but ending up confused by the watch's two-button interface (where the buttons perform multiple functions). Gizmodo's writer complains that "there's literally no comfortable way to actually use it," and while he did appreciate things like the time-of-sunrise feature and the ability to read text messages on your wrist, most Apple Watch apps "just end up being a shell of the iPhone app". And worst of all, it was difficult to use the watch to actually tell time, since "the screen doesn't always turn on when you raise your wrist like it's supposed to."
News Flash! This is the beginning of end of Apple, I tell you! Where is John Sculley! Actually, Apple's history is littered with stuff that never quite made it, that's the way it works. And, many say that Apple's "drop in earnings" is simply due to the fact that most of what they do sell is not crap, so people replace it less often. Even with Apples "drop in earnings", they are at no risk of financial disaster. Disclaimer, I own an iPhone 5s which still works just fine for me, but in general I can not afford any of the other flashy baubles from the Apple line-up...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Apps take too long to launch to be useful, but features such as calendar display, notifications, find my phone, ApplePay, temperature make it worth putting on every work day.
I was impressed, kinda, by the Pebble, which doesn't have either of these problems, but it still never jumped out as something I'd definitely use. The iWatch is more expensive, you can't glance at it to tell the time, and it needs to be made part of an evening ritual of charging. All for the ability to reduce the number of times you take your phone out of your pocket.
Beyond "Yes, but it's Apple, you're always wrong about Apple" I don't see why this was ever thought to be a thing people would desperately want.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
The Macalope has already deconstructed this bit of click-bait. http://www.macworld.com/article/3061053/ios/over-the-top-making-your-apple-watch-diatribe-stand-out.html
If it doesn't work for you then fine, I actually find it quite handy. (note that it's nowhere near perfect though but the real issues have been discussed before (battery life being the biggest)).
My test of usefulness was a week long trip I took for business and forgot to grab it on the way out. I missed being able to figure out what phone call to ignore or answer, seeing the next meeting or the text I just got without dragging the phone out of the pocket all the time is where it's a time/effort saver for me.
I can see if you are one of those people who get hundreds of notifications a day then it might be a pain but I only have family and work setup to buzz the watch. So if I get buzzed more than a couple times an hour that is unusual. Everything else I check when I have time.
It reminds me of the first apple phone, I came from using a palm treo so it wasn't an evolutionary jump for me (I also a couple windows devices). The first apple phone really didn't do much. Apple is frustratingly slow to market with features.
I probably won't buy v2 of the apple watch, I'm saving up for the next Garmin Forerunner (9xx) if it is a big enough jump from my 910XT but I do wear the apple watch daily and like it.
It's hilarious that someone is complaining that an Appl product has too many buttons
I found it interesting that Apple's 'digital crown' concept apparently isn't very comfortable to use while my Android Wear watch (an LG G Watch R) is perfectly serviceable with just a single button (to wake it up) and the rest of the UX being driven via the touch screen itself. (The apps you open most often are always at the top of the list, so getting to my groceries app is a simple swipe left and a tap.) Similarly, it's screen is always on, so the most basic function of telling the time is always right there, no matter whether the accelerometer noticed me raising my wrist or not.
Of course, it does suffer from the same 'what can you do with it' problem that the Apple Watch does. Apart from dismissing notifications, using voice commands to set Google Now reminders or start the occasional timer/countdown, there really isn't that much useful functionality to benefit from. App-wise, I really only use two: one to track my groceries (Bring!) and one to tell me I've left my phone somewhere by alerting me of the Bluetooth connection loss (Cerberus).
Have gnu, will travel.
It means you aren't in the crowd that would appreciate a Rolex. Its like showing up for a fast food job in a 3-piece suit- so out of place as to not be recognized for what it is.
On the flip side wearing an apple watch to the Rolex set is like wearing a cheap poleyester suit when every one else is wearing $5,000 suits that are hand tailored for that social event.
Exception and Corollary: The high money tech crowd *might* eat up your smart watch. The big money lawyer and finance guys will look at you like you are wearing a polyester suit.
An aside:
In business: Suits are a form of war paint. Expensive suits, matching belts and shoes, tie tacks, cuff links, watches, impeccable grooming and cologne are all part of the war paint. If you don't show up looking like you are on your A-game: People won't take you seriously and you have to work that much harder to be treated seriously. The best analogy is your suit gets combo bonus when everything is at the same tier and matches. Apple watches do not get combo bonuses with the clothing set the Rolexes get combo bonuses with. If you show up without all your combo-bonuses in place you will be treated like you deserve to be at the kiddie table.
Architectural plans are like computer source code with a couple of differences: You only compile once.
I can see Steve Jobs launching the prototype watch mockups into the wall yelling, "Why the poop would I want to wear a brick on my arm? This isn't elegant, this isn't design, this is a committee who put everything that popped into their heads into a single thing." "Boil this thing down until it is slim and does what people want. Not all these stupid menus."
I can see him then making a rule. "Only use the watch for features where people glance at their phones; time, weather, notifications, minimal navigation. If it more than a glance then we don't put it on the watch."
But instead they allowed the "creatives" to do whatever they wanted without any reigning in their stupider ideas. Many of the ideas such as incorporating the heartbeat or the apple pay should have waited until the technology was a few generations in and those features could be added to the super slim long battery lived watch.
Apple is clearly a company that has had one home run every few years with a new product that soon eclipses the former products as they go into the sunset. Macbooks are a big market, just not a terribly big one for apple, yet in their day they were king. The iPhone was certain to meet the same fate. So while the watch could have been great, it certainly wasn't going to eclipse the iPhone. Thus Apple seems to have forgotten this little factoid. Build something that can eclipse the iPhone. Maybe that is what they were trying with whatever car project they have going. Maybe it will come out and blow everyone away. The critical bit being that I hope they have more than one high risk project in the works.
If Steve Jobs had any one superpower it was that he didn't accept other people as having genuine expertise no matter how much they were at the top of their field. He knew that it was too easy for them to get caught up in group think, or to think that their shit smelled better than others just because of their qualifications. Thus he was perfectly happy to call the top experts in any domain an idiot if what they were proposing didn't make sense. He was also happy to demand that they do things that went against every industry norm that they understood, and could justify all day long. I don't see anyone at Apple willing to call Ivy an idiot for his ugly flat designs, or his stupid fat crappy battery watch. He is the expert you know.