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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > iPhone, iPad & iPod > Apple Watch...why bother?

Apple Watch...why bother?
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Kensington
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Sep 9, 2014, 09:33 PM
 
At first I thought the Apple Watch was a great idea....but now that I think about it more I can't really see any point in getting it. (especially with that starting price of $350) Besides being able to say "oh, yeah...this is totally an Apple Watch...not one of those hundreds of other watches that look just like it, cost less and do the same things...can't you tell by the cool wristband attached?" I don't see any benefit in having this.

Perhaps one of you folks could enlighten me.
     
ShortcutToMoncton
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Sep 9, 2014, 09:49 PM
 
I think everyone needs to use one first. And it likely depends on how you interact with your mobile phone in the first place.
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turtle777
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Sep 10, 2014, 12:05 AM
 
Originally Posted by Kensington View Post
Besides being able to say "oh, yeah...this is totally an Apple Watch...not one of those hundreds of other watches that look just like it, cost less and do the same things...can't you tell by the cool wristband attached?" I don't see any benefit in having this.

Perhaps one of you folks could enlighten me.
Are you someone who would wear a fake Rolex, just because it looks "he same" or "just like it" ?
If yes, I don't see the point of going into more details.

-t
     
abbaZaba
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Sep 10, 2014, 12:40 AM
 
Is there a tidbit I am missing or will wearing the watch on the right hand make using the crown awkward?
     
Brien
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Sep 10, 2014, 01:34 AM
 
Its reversable.
     
anthology123
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Sep 10, 2014, 11:58 AM
 
The watch is merely an extension of the iPhone, and it would be safe to say this is far more advanced than any other watch. To call it a watch is misnomer, it does more than just tell the time. Apple probably chose a watch instead of something like glasses is because historically, a watch is probably the one tool that the mainstream public has worn on their body.
I will agree that this watch makes the Samsung wearables look like a joke, so now Samsung has basis on where to start now. Even the Apple Watch makes Google Glass look like a work in progress and not really a finished product.
     
rotuts
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Sep 10, 2014, 12:03 PM
 
nobody wears a watch to tell time.

they wear a watch to impress. remember those cheap Casio's a million years ago ?

w the calculator ?

this watch will do well if it generates cache, then will hold on if it does something interesting for the wear-er.

battery life will be a key.
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Kensington  (op)
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Sep 10, 2014, 12:26 PM
 
turtle777 The only reason I ever go to Canal Street in NYC is to hunt down Rollex street vendors
     
turtle777
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Sep 10, 2014, 05:49 PM
 
LOL, I'm sure they'll sell you a genuine Apple Watch for pennies on the dollar soon

-t
     
iBook_Clamshell
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Sep 10, 2014, 06:46 PM
 
I'm not going to spend $350 on an Watch+whatever an iPhone costs. I'm going to wait until the iWatch comes out-which will be a stand-alone device capable of doing everything a smartphone can do.
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turtle777
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Sep 10, 2014, 08:07 PM
 
Originally Posted by iBook_Clamshell View Post
I'm going to wait until the iWatch comes out-which will be a stand-alone device capable of doing everything a smartphone can do.
Not gonna happen anytime soon.

Technology is not there yet. If they had to put a full radio and SIM card in the watch, battery would last for 1 hour.
Also, if they had to add GB of RAM to the watch, it wouldn't fit the size, and would get even more expensive.

-t
     
Brien
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Sep 10, 2014, 08:36 PM
 
I'm looking back to those reports of versions of the watch that cost 'thousands' and can't help but wonder what the 18k versions will sell for.

My bet is that $349 gets you the aluminum/glass Sport version and it only goes up from there.
     
ghporter
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Sep 11, 2014, 06:53 AM
 
Originally Posted by rotuts View Post
nobody wears a watch to tell time.

they wear a watch to impress. remember those cheap Casio's a million years ago ?

w the calculator ?

this watch will do well if it generates cache, then will hold on if it does something interesting for the wear-er.

battery life will be a key.
I wear a watch to tell time, and do so all the time. I'm certainly not working at impressing anyone with my watch, especially my work watch (a Victorinox quartz gadget whose primary qualification is that it's waterproof).

The draw of the Apple Watch for some will indeed be "lookie here!" but others will simply use it as an extension of their phone - which they won't have to dig out of a pocket or purse to look at, now that they can see what's going on with their "watch."

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
SierraDragon
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Sep 12, 2014, 04:25 PM
 
Larger less convenient smart phones are creating need for more convenient peripherals to run them for those many usages that do not require viewing the increasingly large displays. The Apple Watch is a logical extension in that regard.

E.g. I use Siri a lot, mostly in a vehicle, and have become accustomed to accessing the iPhone via a bluetooth headset. It works, and I can see how a watch could also be a very useful front end to a smartphone. Certainly talking into a watch is not any more lame than talking into a phablet.
     
Charles Martin
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Sep 12, 2014, 04:57 PM
 
EDIT: "Larger less convenient smart phones are creating need for more convenient peripherals to run them for those many usages that do not require viewing the increasingly large displays." -- Holy cow, SierraDragon, I never even considered that. Very insightful.

I wrote this elsewhere, but here's a summary of why I'm reserving judgement on the Watch:

First, I should mention that I'm not a watch wearer, and like it that way. But I *do* pride myself on trying to be open-minded, so I'm prepared to reconsider that position if something compelling comes along.

Second, I don't think I would buy one on top of buying a new iPhone -- nor do I have to. The Watch works with the iPhone 5 and higher (I have a 5s). So I might have the money to spare on one of these things at some point.

For me personally, what makes Apple products "cool" and desireable is not so much the style -- the imitators will come along soon enough, have you noticed that EVERY ultrabook looks more or less like an MBA? -- but the engineering. From a "fan of great engineering" point of view, the Watch has a VERY high cool factor with me. Certainly no other watch -- or smartwatch -- has impressed me with its engineering so much. People really tend to overlook this in my view, and at least at the moment all the other smartwatches suddenly look like jokes by comparison. Some have attractive styling but not that level of functionality, others have loads of functionality (mostly gimmicky, but whatever) but look hideous. Some have great battery life and do practically nothing.

Do I need an Watch? Well. I suppose I do if I want to use Pay (and I do!!), since otherwise I'd need to buy an iPhone 6 and I have a little over a year left on my contract. But that's not enough to get me to buy one.

However, I have been thinking a lot lately of buying a fitness band, as I've noticed the very positive effect it has had on my friends. Naturally, I wanted one that was really good, not a cheapie. Say, you know what? Really top-of-the-line fitness bands cost about $200. Suddenly the Watch still looks steep, but not as steep as it did a minute ago.

I'd also prefer to lose the bluetooth headset I have to wear on long drives. I've never found them comfortable, and I think people look like cyborgs wearing them (especially the more obnoxious ones). I don't even get that many calls. Hey, look at that, a good BT headset costs $100 or more. Hmmm.

As stated above, I don't wear a watch at all -- but I do dig my iPhone out at least a couple-dozen times a day to check the time or reply to notifications/messages. But if a watch is going to be a status symbol, I'd at least like it to do more than just be a timepiece. Did you know a high-quality wristwatch (not smartwatch) starts at around $500, and can easily get into the thousands? Not some I (or perhaps you) would ever consider spending, maybe, but watches do hold a lot of cache as literal status symbols -- they have, for literally hundreds of years, symbolized a certain level of success in business or life.

So on balance, I can easily see why Apple priced this thing at $350 (if I bought one, it would be the regular edition). I don't see it as so overpriced anymore. That level of amazing engineering and interaction costs a LOT to produce at this level of quality.

I don't know if Apple will be able to convince me -- a non-watch wearer -- to change my "lifestyle" enough to adopt any watch, let alone a Watch. But on consideration, I can appreciate that there's a market out there that would find it worthwhile. I am definitely interested in trying it, and maybe at that point I'll be able to reconsider my position and make a decision one way or another. Chances are good that laziness will put off that decision until I have the "iPhone 6s" next year, when (perhaps) the Watch Mk II is out. But I am definitely keeping an open mind -- I would like to buy a fitness band fairly soon, so now I have some more thinking to do about that.
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Sep 12, 2014, 06:20 PM
 
"Do I need an Watch? Well. I suppose I do if I want to use Pay (and I do!!), since otherwise I'd need to buy an iPhone 6 and I have a little over a year left on my contract. But that's not enough to get me to buy one."

Chas - the Watch will work with Pay, and the Watch will work with an iPhone 5 or iPhone 5S, but Pay isn't going to work with an iPhone 5 or iPhone 5S. The Watch isn't a bridge around the "you need an iPhone 6X to use Pay" - you will need to pony up for an iPhone 6X if you want to use Pay.

Sorry man. Time to buy some cargo pants for those new, big phones
     
DCJ001
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Sep 12, 2014, 06:22 PM
 
Originally Posted by Kensington View Post
turtle777 The only reason I ever go to Canal Street in NYC is to hunt down Rollex street vendors
If the watches that you buy on Canal Street have the name Rollex on them, you will not be fooling anyone.
     
DCJ001
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Sep 12, 2014, 06:28 PM
 
Originally Posted by chas_m View Post
I'd also prefer to lose the bluetooth headset I have to wear on long drives. I've never found them comfortable, and I think people look like cyborgs wearing them (especially the more obnoxious ones). I don't even get that many calls. Hey, look at that, a good BT headset costs $100 or more. Hmmm.
A BlueTooth car stereo is what you need for long drives. I have one and I play music from my iPad/iPhone through it. I also use TomTom's U.S.A. GPS app in my cellular iPad or iPhone, and the directions are played through the stereo speakers. And, when the GPS app gives directions, or when I make/receive a call on my iPhone, the music pauses.
     
chris v
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Sep 12, 2014, 09:08 PM
 
No Wireless. Less Space Than A Nomad. Lame.

When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
     
Gazoobee
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Sep 13, 2014, 12:05 PM
 
Originally Posted by iBook_Clamshell View Post
I'm not going to spend $350 on an Watch+whatever an iPhone costs. I'm going to wait until the iWatch comes out-which will be a stand-alone device capable of doing everything a smartphone can do.
Ding-Ding-Ding! Exactly. The Watch is destined to actually replace the iPhone, but it won't happen right away.

What you are missing though is that different people use their phones in different ways. For me, except for the (very, very) occasional phone call, the Watch can actually replace my iPhone already in terms of the things I use it for. All my serious work I do on the iPad mini, my iPhone only exists because I'm required to have it for connectivity, I would just as soon ditch it. Hopefully with the next iteration, the Watch will work with an iPad as well as an iPhone. I'm a bit surprised it doesn't now.

If Watch had a SIM in it right now, I would toss my iPhone into the sea and never look back.

IMO phones of any size are just too small to get any real work done on them, and are soon to become an outdated requirement.
     
Gazoobee
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Sep 13, 2014, 12:15 PM
 
Originally Posted by chris v View Post
No Wireless. Less Space Than A Nomad. Lame.
Well NOMAD was pretty small, but it still managed to wipe out whole solar systems and totally killed at least a half dozen of the enterprise crew.
     
besson3c
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Sep 13, 2014, 06:04 PM
 
I still think the potential for walking billboards is huge. If I was a marketing company, I would think about looking for people that look like they could sell my brand and get them to walk around with my logo/branding on their watch (so long as they were to make sure it was highly visible to the public).
     
Waragainstsleep
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Sep 14, 2014, 06:44 AM
 
Originally Posted by Useless Message Poster View Post
"Do I need an Watch? Well. I suppose I do if I want to use Pay (and I do!!), since otherwise I'd need to buy an iPhone 6 and I have a little over a year left on my contract. But that's not enough to get me to buy one."

Chas - the Watch will work with Pay, and the Watch will work with an iPhone 5 or iPhone 5S, but Pay isn't going to work with an iPhone 5 or iPhone 5S. The Watch isn't a bridge around the "you need an iPhone 6X to use Pay" - you will need to pony up for an iPhone 6X if you want to use Pay.

Sorry man. Time to buy some cargo pants for those new, big phones
Wrong.

"Apple Pay will also work with the newly announced Apple Watch™, extending Apple Pay to over 200 million owners of iPhone 5, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s worldwide. "

https://www.apple.com/pr/library/201...Apple-Pay.html
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
Waragainstsleep
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Sep 14, 2014, 07:12 AM
 
Watch doesn't do much that other smart watches don't do, but it will do much of it better. More accurately, more usably, more intuitively, more reliably. As you'd expect from a purpose built Apple device thats been years in the making rather than something Samsung cobbled together from off the shelf parts in order to copy a rumour of what Apple was going to do next so they wouldn't get accused of copying them again.
Pay will drive sales as well, especially if they can get their act together and bring it to Europe and China by the time the Watch ships.

Watch is more stylish than all the other offerings on the market IMO and even if you disagree, it will be more fashionable. No-one cared when Samsung and Moto did it. They care that Apple did. The mainstream is beginning to understand that Apple does these things right.

Perhaps unusually, Apple has left the killer features to 3rd parties but this is fine. It means anything your Galaxy Gear can do that you actually give a damn about, your Watch will do too. Most importantly, developers will take notice of this device because like everyone else they know it will high enough adoption to be worth making the effort for.

Some good examples:
I worked in a CD/Games/DVD store a decade and a half ago and even then their system for looking up stock was an antique. Those stores may be gone now but all stores and warehouses need stock tracking and while its been possible for some time technically speaking, the tech is finally going mainstream that will mean that spotty oik who has to type long boring barcode numbers into a DB from 1988 in order to find out if there is any chance they have that thing you need will now just be able to ask his wrist: "Hey Siri, do we have any of the 18" screwdriver in a left-handed version?" and Siri will tell him fast.

This one would be cool:
Video games will be able to write iOS companion apps that actually play a more interesting part in the experience instead of just a re-skinned version of Tetris or some other poorly conceived virtual merchandising junk.
Imagine a Silent Hill sequel that is tied into your heart rate via your Watch? Those guys could have serious fun with that. More generally, responsible game devs could use it to remind you to take a break, walk around, eat, sleep, don't die at your desk playing WoW, etc.
Same goes for movies. Companion apps are going to become fun.

Its all about confidence in the product and its adoption rate. Everyone has it and that will make it a roaring success. The question then is can Google build both a watch and a platform/framework that people have the same level of confidence in by the time this thing this shelves? I can see them playing catch up again here.

I guess in three years there will be a bunch of 10" Samsung watches that only cost $100. Not sure that will work as well for smart watches as it did for phones though.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
Kensington  (op)
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Sep 16, 2014, 03:57 PM
 
I'm thinking I'll just wait for the Canal Street special. Snag up a Mapple Watch for $35 and maybe get a set of these too so all the cool kids think I'm listening to a MyPod...
     
BLAZE_MkIV
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Sep 16, 2014, 04:21 PM
 
A "smart watch" needs to do two things all by itself.
1. Tell time
2. Make video calls. (adjusted for 22nd century)

Sacrifice everything else for size and battery life.
     
turtle777
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Sep 16, 2014, 07:08 PM
 
Originally Posted by BLAZE_MkIV View Post
2. (adjusted for 22nd century)
Since you can't call the future, I'm sure your wish will be granted in 86 years

-t
     
BLAZE_MkIV
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Sep 16, 2014, 07:15 PM
 
At this rate that's what it will take.
     
emilyheming
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Oct 6, 2014, 06:38 AM
 
I don't have Apple watch.Presently I am using iPhone 6. I think this has driven a craze among people. Even I would like to experience this and will surely buy it in future.
     
Kensington  (op)
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Oct 7, 2014, 06:12 PM
 
Surly none of us have this current Apple watch craze in our possessions, but we too would be most honored to experience it!
     
Ham Sandwich
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Oct 8, 2014, 02:15 PM
 
1. WATCH looks painful to wear.
2. WATCH screen is way too small. They should have bend it around the wrist and made it wider.
3. WATCH requires a phone... really?
4. WATCH needs to be charged every few days. (My old Casio lasted 10 years on a single charge.)
5. I don't want to pay $349 to have people spam my wrist with their heartbeats.


On the plus side..., it tells accurate time and I can talk into it to have it do something.
     
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Oct 13, 2014, 03:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by Brien View Post
I'm looking back to those reports of versions of the watch that cost 'thousands' and can't help but wonder what the 18k versions will sell for.

My bet is that $349 gets you the aluminum/glass Sport version and it only goes up from there.
I wear a watch because, let's face it, it's the only piece of jewelry a man can really pull off with style. (Well, except perhaps their wedding ring) If it does something beyond tell the time, that's pretty slick. But IMHO, it really needs to be competitive with existing NICE $500 - $3500 watches. (That's the range I usually play in.) $10k+ watches will be fine on their own, they have a whole different clientele. Sub-$500 watches are simply time-pieces.

From what I can see, Apple will do nicely in this space.

The only drawback I see is this: Up until now, if I buy a $1000 watch, it will last me for a good number of years. (Unless I lose it, break it, or get it taken by armed thug). The Apple Watch will likely need to be upgraded in 2-4 years, adding to the cost of ownership. But hopefully, they add value with each upgrade so perhaps my point is moot.
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Charles Martin
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Oct 18, 2014, 04:35 AM
 
I don't know Apple's thinking on the Watch in terms of replacement cycles, but they are very aware of what watch-wearers think is an appropriate cycle. I guarantee that came up in their research.

Given some of the materials Apple has chosen for some of the editions, I'd like to think that they are shooting for the hardware to last quite a long time (by computer standards) and for the software to be quite upgradeable. I'm thinking along the lines of the usual computer replacement cycle of 5-6 years (sorry, that's a Mac replacement cycle, not PC!). And even then, it should be because you want some features not available in the hardware of your watch, not because it no longer works properly or is unsupported ...
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