Apple Watch

gawkgawk

gawkgawk

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 29, 2015
Messages
362
Anyone else buy an Apple Watch and return it a few days later?

It was nice and all, but I have nice mechanical watches I don't have to charge every day and I'm not that goddamn fat I can't pull my phone out of my pocket for my text messages, plus no GPS for the workouts I do.....
 
All current 'smart' watches are idiotic IMO due to the fact that they really need to be with a phone to be of any use. If I wanted something simple that did GPS for tracking my running/hiking I'd just get a Garmin watch.

I've wrote a lot about this before, but a -real- smart watch is the future. It's just that technology isn't there yet.

Once you have the power of something like a current high-end smartphone, but inside something as small as a 42mm watch; Everyone will want one.

Imagine being able to travel around and basically always have ALL of your information, and your current workstate/desktop wherever you go. Work, home, the hotel, wherever will just have fairly cheap and cost effective docking stations so to speak. You will 'dock' your smartwatch 100% wirelessly to a dumb terminal that is basically just input devices, and a monitor that connect to your smartwatch. All processing, all data storage, EVERYTHING will be on your wrist. Further, companies could sell tablets in numerous sizes (4 inches like a cell phone, or 12 inches like a tablet) that would also wirelessly connect to your smartwatch and again just be like dumb terminals that allow you to interface with the watch.

IMO when the technology gets to the point that a smart watch is ACTUALLY SMART as I described that is when they will be worth owning. The first company that does what I described with a watch will make billions. Everyone will want one. No more laptops, no more cell phones as we currently know it, no more tablets, no more desktops, no more anything really. You'll only need to buy fairly cheap dumb terminals as I described that just work as an interface with the computing power inside the watch.

I'll also add that I think Apple was really stupid for not waiting to release the 'iWatch' until they could actually do something like this. They jumped the gun IMO, and I'm willing to bet Jobs's original vision for the iWatch before he died was something like I described, and I'm also willing to bet Jobs would have never released what the iWatch is right now. The iWatch is a really lame market responder from Apple, nothing more. It's not market defining like the original iPhone was and could have been if they had just waited a few years for the technology to get there. If any company could pull off what I've described it would be Apple as you'd need to have a company that is capable of defining their own standards and working closely with other large companies like Intel to really nail down things like wireless display, etc

Oh, and the iWatch is fugly. It manages to be even uglier then most other smart watches. I wouldn't be caught dead with any current 'smart'watch due to this fact alone.

I really need to bitch more about the fact that 'smart'watches shouldn't be called smart. Were smartphones ever as limited in capability as smartwatches? Nope. They were/are called smartphones because they can do everything independent of another computing device. It would be like if you had to carry around a laptop that wirelessly connected to your 'smart'phone just so the smartphone could do basic compute/data tasks. We would have never called it a fucking smartphone if that ever happened.
 
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That's great and all Mchart, but why the hell would I carry my life on my wrist when I almost certainly carry it on my phone?

Also, last time I checked we already have a device like that. It's called a Windows to go USB stick
 
Mchart said:
I'll also add that I think Apple was really stupid for not waiting to release the 'iWatch' until they could actually do something like this. They jumped the gun IMO, and I'm willing to bet Jobs's original vision for the iWatch before he died was something like I described, and I'm also willing to bet Jobs would have never released what the iWatch is right now. The iWatch is a really lame market responder from Apple, nothing more. It's not market defining like the original iPhone was and could have been if they had just waited a few years for the technology to get there. If any company could pull off what I've described it would be Apple as you'd need to have a company that is capable of defining their own standards and working closely with other large companies like Intel to really nail down things like wireless display, etc.
Click to expand...


Apple only started work on the Watch shortly after Jobs died. From interviews, it doesn't sound like the man was involved at all. And my golden rule: whenever someone says "Steve Jobs would never have done X," that means that he probably would have. Why? Because that statement comes from a distant, rose-tinted view of the past, not a close-up look at what actually happened.

Jobs was far from perfect (G4 Cube and iPod Hi-Fi, anyone?), and he was practically the poster child for leaping into categories before the hardware was ideal. Look at the original MacBook Air: it was slow and had just one USB port, but there was no question that it represented the future of laptops. Legions of Windows PC makers eventually felt obliged to copy it, and Intel even established the "Ultrabook" category with dimensions that were eerily familiar.

The Apple Watch may be in a similar boat. It has a number of problems (slow-loading apps, that bulbous look, a lack of device independence), but it's still clobbering every other smartwatch (if estimates of 2.7m per quarter are accurate) and hints at where the wearable market might be going.
 
Apple Watch is only killing the others because it is one of the only smartwatches that normal people can purchase in a normal retail store. It also has the marketing. Your average person has an iPhone as well.

That said, the Apple Watch isn't selling nearly as good as it could have because, as I stated earlier, it isn't that great. 'Smart'watches are really stupid right now IMO. There is no functional leap in owning any current smartwatch because of the simple fact that you have your smartphone on you anyways. Once a true smartwatch replaces the smartphone as I've described; Then we're talking.
 
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defaultluser said:
That's great and all Mchart, but why the hell would I carry my life on my wrist when I almost certainly carry it on my phone?

Also, last time I checked we already have a device like that. It's called a Windows to go USB stick
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Because carrying around a phone is a phone. It's a larger object. Something on your wrist like a watch is ALWAYS on you. You don't have to worry about anything. Each phone is it's own platform. My tablet is different from my phone. My desktop is different from my tablet and phone. My desktop at home is different from the one at work. With the technology I'm describing your work state / personalization / all data are accessed within seconds wherever you go and from a variety of different form factors. This is also a far better solution then the 'cloud' as all compute and data storage is actually being done on your wrist. The 'cloud' will still be used for backing up your device if you choose, although with the device I describe you could easily just back it up to a stand alone hard drive at whatever interface/terminal you choose.

Windows HDMI/USB sticks come nowhere near to what I'm describing.
 
Mchart said:
Because carrying around a phone is a phone. It's a larger object. Something on your wrist like a watch is ALWAYS on you. You don't have to worry about anything. Each phone is it's own platform. My tablet is different from my phone. My desktop is different from my tablet and phone. My desktop at home is different from the one at work. With the technology I'm describing your work state / personalization / all data are accessed within seconds wherever you go and from a variety of different form factors. This is also a far better solution then the 'cloud' as all compute and data storage is actually being done on your wrist. The 'cloud' will still be used for backing up your device if you choose, although with the device I describe you could easily just back it up to a stand alone hard drive at whatever interface/terminal you choose.

Windows HDMI/USB sticks come nowhere near to what I'm describing.
Click to expand...

Now I'm sure you can't actually research on your own, so let me spell this out for you nice and simple:

Windows to go carries your Windows image ANYWHERE YOU GO. You plug it into any computer and treat it as a dumb terminal, regardless of the os installed on t the pc.

All your data, all your preferences, all your media all in one place. And believe me, nobody seems to mind that it doesn't fit on their wrist-it's even smaller than a watch, since it's on your keychain.

I ask again: why the hell do I want this on a watch that haven't worn since the day I got a cellphone?
 
Windows go is shit. It isn't an instant process, and you know, only works on windows machine. Again, it isn't even what I'm talking about.

"I ask again: why the hell do I want this on a watch that haven't worn since the day I got a cellphone? "

Because it will do everything your cell phone does and more.

Your lack of vision is disturbing. I don't think you quite comprehend what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about a device that does all compute, all storage, all comms, and wirelessly displays/inputs/outputs to any imaginable form factor of cheaply produced terminals. Oh, and it fits into a 42mm case that looks like a watch on your wrist. No carrying around some stupid fucking dongle, no relying on a larger device for compute/storage/coms, no more carrying around huge cell phones.

I fully understand the technology is at least a decade or two away from allowing this to happen, but once this does happen cell phones will be a thing of the past, as will most other portable devices.

My cell phone replaced my need for a laptop, but if you told people in the '80s that they would have a 5'' device that was 1/4'' thick that did everything their laptops did, but more, they'd have been just as confused.

Why does this matter? This matters because it goes into my point that 'smart'watches are a joke and it's why they will never be hugely successful like cell phones until they do what I've described.
 
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Mchart said:
Windows go is shit. It isn't an instant process, and you know, only works on windows machine. Again, it isn't even what I'm talking about.
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You obviously didn't read the fucking documentation. It works on any machine that can run Windows 7 and has USB 2/3 (3 preferred), AND DOES NOT REQUIRE WINDOWS ALREADY BE INSTALLED. That's any Windows/Linux x86 machine sold in the last 6 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_To_Go#Hardware_considerations

It can also run on any recent Mac using a fairly simple procedure detailed here:

http://www.extremetech.com/computin...dows-8-and-your-files-with-you-on-a-usb-stick

That covers 95% of machines you'll find out there in the field. What the hell else do you want? The machine to hold your hand while you stick the drive in the slot?

"I ask again: why the hell do I want this on a watch that haven't worn since the day I got a cellphone? "

Because it will do everything your cell phone does and more.
Click to expand...

I stopped wearing a watch because it does nothing for me. Once I had the time on my cell, it felt like a waste. The entire watch industry has been feeling the pinch, so I'm certainly not alone.

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/11/cell-phone-killing-wristwatch

Mid through premium priced watches will not be going away anytime soon, but it's not a growth industry any more. People have been freed from the necessity to wear a watch just to know the time, and they have beetter ways to waste their time now than playing with their watch (definitely something I used to do when bored).

The smartphone industry is now approaching saturation, so they're looking for any potential untapped market to make you buy more products. This is the only reason smart watches are even a thing - they will end up selling (to idiots like you who think crap hanging on their wrist is a good thing), but in even smaller number than the iPad. It is a niche need already 95% satisfied by smartphones/tablets/specialist wearable products.
 
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defaultluser said:
You obviously didn't read the fucking documentation. It works on any machine that can run Windows 7 and has USB 2/3 (3 preferred), AND DOES NOT REQUIRE WINDOWS ALREADY BE INSTALLED. That's any Windows/Linux x86 machine sold in the last 6 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_To_Go#Hardware_considerations

It can also run on any recent Mac using a fairly simple procedure detailed here:

http://www.extremetech.com/computin...dows-8-and-your-files-with-you-on-a-usb-stick

That covers 95% of machines you'll find out there in the field. What the hell else do you want? The machine to hold your hand while you stick the drive in the slot?



I stopped wearing a watch because it does nothing for me. Once I had the time on my cell, it felt like a waste. The entire watch industry has been feeling the pinch, so I'm certainly not alone.

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/11/cell-phone-killing-wristwatch

Mid through premium priced watches will not be going away anytime soon, but it's not a growth industry any more. People have been freed from the necessity to wear a watch just to know the time, and they have beetter ways to waste their time now than playing with their watch (definitely something I used to do when bored).

The smartphone industry is now approaching saturation, so they're looking for any potential untapped market to make you buy more products. This is the only reason smart watches are even a thing - they will end up selling (to idiots like you who think crap hanging on their wrist is a good thing), but in even smaller number than the iPad. It is a niche need already 95% satisfied by smartphones/tablets/specialist wearable products.
Click to expand...

I could keep explaining this for days but each time it would go over your head apparently. Have fun with windows go. It is so far and away from what I've described.

You don't wear a watch because you have a phone. If your watch did everything your phone did and more you wouldn't carry around a phone anymore. I'm baffled that you don't understand this.
 
Mchart said:
I could keep explaining this for days but each time it would go over your head apparently. Have fun with windows go. It is so far and away from what I've described.
Click to expand...

You know it's just not worth convincing you anymore.

You don't wear a watch because you have a phone. If your watch did everything your phone did and more you wouldn't carry around a phone anymore. I'm baffled that you don't understand this.
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You can't browse the web on your watch, no matter how powerful it gets. You can browse the web on your phone, because the screen has at least 4x the surface area. To a point, larger screens = better interaction with content. IF you're going to carry around a screen to interact with the world, you might as well put the smarts in there.

People started carrying smartphones because they want to access the internet and interact with the world, and because they were trendy. Since you can barely read customized apps and BARELY interact with a smartwatch, I don't see one replacing the other.

People started carrying watches because they wanted to know the time, and because they were trendy. Now that we have smartphones, guess which ones are never going to wear a watch again?

Yeah, I know you think you're going to change the world, but just stop.. It's getting stupid at this point even trying to have a discussion wit you, since you obviously live on another planet.

Why would you put the processor and memory in a watch anyway? I thought all you crazy nutheads had a hard-on for implanting them in the body? You could certainly implant it if you got power consumption that low, so why the hell are you thinking so damn SMALL? WATCHES? LOL!
 
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"Why would you put the processor and memory in a watch anyway?"

:facepalm:

No, I'd rather not implant my body, thanks. I'd like to have something as small as watch that I can wear.

"You could certainly implant it if you got power consumption that low, so why the hell are you thinking so damn SMALL? WATCHES? LOL!"

BAR015.jpg
 
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Mchart said:
"Why would you put the processor and memory in a watch anyway?"

:facepalm:
Click to expand...

I'm so sorry Follower Mchart, I don't know what came over me!

I completely forgot that, as Jobenites, it is our sworn duty to suck Robo-Steve's golden-plated WÜnderSchong™ at least ten times a day. The profits say "his brain lies within!"

I hope you were able to cover for me, brother? I'll never doubt His Golden Reality Distortion Field again!
 
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I'm not convinced the "watch as host for dumb terminals" thing will fly. Part of why Windows PCs are hurting is that a lot of people find their smartphone to be a good-enough computing device for their daily tasks. Why go hunting for a bigger screen when you're content with the one in your pocket?

Reminds me of those claims that Windows will surely rule the smartphone world once you can dock your phone and use it like a PC. Both ideas sound cool if you're a techie, but they might not light the world on fire for most people.
 
oh shit, they are only starting @ $500. I'm fucking on it....not. again, this would be cool for $100, not $500
 
defaultluser said:
I'm so sorry Follower Mchart, I don't know what came over me!

I completely forgot that, as Jobenites, it is our sworn duty to suck Robo-Steve's golden-plated WÜnderSchong™ at least ten times a day. The profits say "his brain lies within!"

I hope you were able to cover for me, brother? I'll never doubt His Golden Reality Distortion Field again!
Click to expand...

You have serious reading comprehension issues. From my very first post in this thread I've indicated that the iwatch is fucking stupid, along with all current smart watches.

Try again.
 
Aurelius said:
I'm not convinced the "watch as host for dumb terminals" thing will fly. Part of why Windows PCs are hurting is that a lot of people find their smartphone to be a good-enough computing device for their daily tasks. Why go hunting for a bigger screen when you're content with the one in your pocket?

Reminds me of those claims that Windows will surely rule the smartphone world once you can dock your phone and use it like a PC. Both ideas sound cool if you're a techie, but they might not light the world on fire for most people.
Click to expand...

Because you'll have whatever you want in your pocket. I never said you wouldn't still carry around a tablet, or small display to still do tasks. The point is that the watch will be doing all compute, store all data, etc and then connect to whatever form factor display/input device you want. This way you have truly persistent work state and data wherever you go instantly. This is, again, far different from something like windows go, or anything you currently see in the mobile space where you have a million different devices all with their own degree of compute/storage. Something like windows go is only a Band-Aid solution, not the future.

The first step is getting smartphones to do what I've described. The hardware is currently powerful enough to do it. The problem is that it will take a number of different companies coming together to push some sort of standard and writing OSs/software for your smartphone that can deal with all the different GUI sizes/states that will be required.

I should be able to keep my phone in my pocket and have any number of different sized tablets, work stations, etc that allow me to interface with my phone however I want. I should be able to sit down at a desk, press a button on a terminal, and start interfacing with my phone like a desktop computer. Then once I'm done walk away, and go on and pick up a dumb tablet type of device that also interfaces with my phone. Etc, Etc.
 
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Mchart, just helping you out here. Giving an example would probably illustrate the "dream" better. http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/17/neptune-duo/

Unfortunately, the Neptune Duo is not the droids (or Windows) I'm looking for. Quite frankly, our technology isn't there yet for this to be good. First, the watch is not a watch but a bracelet. When the watch could be a watch, then we can talk about it more. Second, that bracelet is going to get hot... Our SoC's needs to get better too. I would like to say I will see suitable SoC's by 2018.

The "dream" is to have a really small footprint device, such as a watch, to stream to larger displays of various sizes and resolutions at the same time. I think, for now with our current level of technology, the Neptune Duo should probably have been a belt buckle streaming to a watch-sized and another phone/tablet-sized dumb displays. That bracelet is male birth control...
 
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sethiano said:
oh shit, they are only starting @ $500. I'm fucking on it....not. again, this would be cool for $100, not $500
Click to expand...

They start at $350, actually. $550 (not $500) is for a stainless steel model. Still not cheap, but it's much more feasible if you're only really interested in functionality. Apple is trying to sell the Watch the way you would a conventional watch, as a fashion item, and uses the materials to match.

Whether or not that works is up for debate -- the gold edition is absolute overkill -- but you simply aren't going to get a good-looking smartwatch for $100 (see: the original Pebble). At least, you won't until the components are so cheap that the vast majority of the cost is rolled into the casing and strap.
 
Gf surprised me with an Apple Watch for my birthday. I didn't ask for one and I sure as hell wasn't going to buy one for myself. I didn't even want to open the package and wanted to straight up return it then and there. Gf got so mad, haha. Anyway, I put it on and test drove it for a few days and now I'm a believer.

For reference, I'm a heavy smartphone user and drain my 6+ battery down to 20% daily using my phone mostly for work :D B

How many times do you take out your phone when you get a notification and it's either something unimportant, spam, or something not urgent? With the Apple Watch on, you can quickly glance at the notification and decide whether it's important enough to really sit down and whip out the phone to do something or not, or just ignore it, or postpone it for later. It's really great when having a group conversation on Line or Wechat for example, you can glance and keep track of the conversation instantly.

Also, the sound quality on the watch is fucking amazing. Everyone I called from the Apple Watch said they could hear me crystal clear, moreso than with my iphone (is it possible?). I'm not sure what kind of microphone technology they have in this phone but it's pretty amazing. The speaker is not as loud though and the volume is kind of low but I prefer it that way since I can imagine hearing others' conversations could become a huge nuisance really quickly. Remember a few years back those asswipes on their push to talk phones? The lowish volume of the speaker to me is a good idea.

Anyway, the smartwatch has benefited my life positively so far and I'm really excited to see what kind of new tech will grow from this. I hope they they can figure out how to incorporate projection technology in the watch kind of like BMW's head-up display. That would be cool.
 
Of course your GF doesn't believe you when you say any of that...she thinks you're just saying that for her benefit.
 
At the time, I really wanted a nice leather briefcase, not an Apple Watch which I decided I don't need. Now you're gonna have to box me to get me to take off the watch. :D
 
Think you've discovered one of the big things about smartwatches (not just the Apple Watch). It's hard to sell people on a smartwatch until they've lived with it for a while, because you can't easily show off "it saves you time" in a store. And that isn't even touching on the fitness features.

I'd say that the speaker needs an upgrade for version two. You don't want people listening in on your conversations, but it should be loud enough that you don't have to put your wrist up to your ear if the other caller is occasionally quiet.
 
I did a 30 day trial of the LG Urbane while testing smartwatches for viability in a health care unified communications setting, and loved it. None of these devices are ready for what I would like to leverage them for in our setting however on a personal note, I found the Urbane to be quite useful in screening calls, texts and checking notifications in general. I did not feel compelled to remove it after leaving work either since it has the look of a classic watch. I look forward to second generation devices to see what functionality they have to offer , especially security features that can stand up to Hippa Compliance standards.
 
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