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This is so amazing. Serious kudos to the apple watch team for this.

awad 7y ago
Apple don't get nearly enough credit for the thought and effort they put into these sorts of features. The same goes to their dedication to accessibility, which is industry-leading and honestly pretty inspiring.
- Rapzid 7y ago
  Doesn't seem like outsized thought and effort given the companies size, resources, and relatively small product focus..
  - cheeze 7y ago
    No, but they are one of the few _actually_ thinking about it rather than devoting their resources to something "more worthy". It's easy to criticize a company their size, but they definitely do this very very right.
  - shanev 7y ago
    Apple has had strong accessibility features since before they were a household name, when they were a fraction of the size of the company they are today. Here's a post from 2006 for example, talking about accessibility in Mac OS 9: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/724948 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/724948. Here's about accessibility in Mac OS X Tiger (2005): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X_Tiger#Accessibility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X_Tiger#Accessibility.
    - Rapzid 7y ago
      It's 2019, not 1980.
      - gzer0 7y ago
        Evidence is simply being brought forth to showcase that before Apple became as large as they did, they still cared about accessiblity, irregardless of their "company size" as you stated.
        Rapzid 7y ago
        I don't see how that's relevant at all in 2019. People WERE giving Apple mad props for their thoughtfulness back in the day. Now, they have revenue over a third that of Saudi Arabia's GDP. I was responding the OPs point. That's evidence for an argument nobody made.
        gzer0 7y ago
        > Doesn't seem like outsized thought and effort given the companies size, resources, and relatively small product focus.. It was evidence to elucidate upon a baseless statement you made earlier.
    - microtherion 7y ago
      Ironically, I think the accessibility focus started because they were a fraction of today’s size: in the early 2000s, section 508 requirements were becoming more stringent; there was an increasing risk that Apple would get shut out of government contracts, and due to the small market share of OS X, it was not considered a viable market for commercial screen reader vendors, so Apple decided to roll their own. Thanks to strong leadership in the accessibility team, there was an increasing buy-in from the top, and throughout the company. Today, accessibility is indeed in Apple’s DNA, but initially, there was quite a bit of genetic engineering and (dare I say it?) government regulation involved.
      - bluGill 7y ago
        Apple was known for easy to use in the 1980s. While that isn't entirely accessibility, the two are related. The early macs had some accessibility features.
snuxoll 7y ago
I ordered my grandmother a Series 5 for this feature alone, in fact it just arrived at my door today and she’s coming over later this week so I can get it setup and walk her through the basics. She has a hard time getting up from the floor if she kneels or sits down as is, one good fall from a cat tripping her or something is likely to be devastating.
- vinni2 7y ago
  Just curious did she already have an iPhone? I want to buy one for my mother but she doesn’t use iPhone. First I would have to buy her an iPhone.
  - snuxoll 7y ago
    We just switched her to an iPhone 8 recently because her Lumia 950 wouldn’t hold a charge and W10M is going EOL soon anyway.
  - Angostura 7y ago
    If you're interested, it might just be worth buying a second hand or refurbed SE.
  - criddell 7y ago
    The only iPhone I've owned is asecond hand iPhone 5C that I used for a few months. The watch is making me think my next phone will be an iPhone. Fortunately, I don't think there are any Android only apps that I depend on so the switch should be easy.

awad 7y ago

Apple don't get nearly enough credit for the thought and effort they put into these sorts of features. The same goes to their dedication to accessibility, which is industry-leading and honestly pretty inspiring.

Rapzid 7y ago
Doesn't seem like outsized thought and effort given the companies size, resources, and relatively small product focus..
- cheeze 7y ago
  No, but they are one of the few _actually_ thinking about it rather than devoting their resources to something "more worthy". It's easy to criticize a company their size, but they definitely do this very very right.
- shanev 7y ago
  Apple has had strong accessibility features since before they were a household name, when they were a fraction of the size of the company they are today. Here's a post from 2006 for example, talking about accessibility in Mac OS 9: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/724948 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/724948. Here's about accessibility in Mac OS X Tiger (2005): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X_Tiger#Accessibility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X_Tiger#Accessibility.
  - Rapzid 7y ago
    It's 2019, not 1980.
    - gzer0 7y ago
      Evidence is simply being brought forth to showcase that before Apple became as large as they did, they still cared about accessiblity, irregardless of their "company size" as you stated.
      - Rapzid 7y ago
        I don't see how that's relevant at all in 2019. People WERE giving Apple mad props for their thoughtfulness back in the day. Now, they have revenue over a third that of Saudi Arabia's GDP. I was responding the OPs point. That's evidence for an argument nobody made.
        gzer0 7y ago
        > Doesn't seem like outsized thought and effort given the companies size, resources, and relatively small product focus.. It was evidence to elucidate upon a baseless statement you made earlier.
  - microtherion 7y ago
    Ironically, I think the accessibility focus started because they were a fraction of today’s size: in the early 2000s, section 508 requirements were becoming more stringent; there was an increasing risk that Apple would get shut out of government contracts, and due to the small market share of OS X, it was not considered a viable market for commercial screen reader vendors, so Apple decided to roll their own. Thanks to strong leadership in the accessibility team, there was an increasing buy-in from the top, and throughout the company. Today, accessibility is indeed in Apple’s DNA, but initially, there was quite a bit of genetic engineering and (dare I say it?) government regulation involved.
    - bluGill 7y ago
      Apple was known for easy to use in the 1980s. While that isn't entirely accessibility, the two are related. The early macs had some accessibility features.

snuxoll 7y ago

I ordered my grandmother a Series 5 for this feature alone, in fact it just arrived at my door today and she’s coming over later this week so I can get it setup and walk her through the basics. She has a hard time getting up from the floor if she kneels or sits down as is, one good fall from a cat tripping her or something is likely to be devastating.

vinni2 7y ago
Just curious did she already have an iPhone? I want to buy one for my mother but she doesn’t use iPhone. First I would have to buy her an iPhone.
- snuxoll 7y ago
  We just switched her to an iPhone 8 recently because her Lumia 950 wouldn’t hold a charge and W10M is going EOL soon anyway.
- Angostura 7y ago
  If you're interested, it might just be worth buying a second hand or refurbed SE.
- criddell 7y ago
  The only iPhone I've owned is asecond hand iPhone 5C that I used for a few months. The watch is making me think my next phone will be an iPhone. Fortunately, I don't think there are any Android only apps that I depend on so the switch should be easy.