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I find fitness trackers/smartwatches expensive, useless, and frankly, creepy. Why do I need to pay $400 for an Apple Watch that sometimes doesn't have enough b

I find fitness trackers/smartwatches expensive, useless, and frankly, creepy. Why do I need to pay $400 for an Apple Watch that sometimes doesn't have enough battery to make it through the day, and aggressively insists on tracking every movement of mine on the grounds of 'fitness'? Seriously, that 10 hour stand goal and 'streaks' and what other achievements are just to make sure this GPS and heart rate measuring device is on your wrist every day of every week. It's utterly incapable of measuring anything fitness related, perhaps with the exception of some cardio stuff, but it's useless for any kind of weight training. It's baffling to me that Apple somehow got the population at large to pay for its overpriced ankle monitor and got them to upgrade to the newest model every year.

BoingBoomTschak 2y ago
This, the only "fitness tracker" I need is a sufficiently large mirror.
- seper8 2y ago
  Self image is highly subjective and what you see in the mirror is influenced by what you ate or drank, how the lighting is positioned, your mood at that moment etc etc...
  - BoingBoomTschak 2y ago
    I didn't say it's perfectly accurate, but enough to see when things are getting bad enough.
    - dijit 2y ago
      Didn’t work for me until I saw pictures of myself where I didn’t recognise myself. I saw a picture from behind and didn’t think I saw that person at my friends wedding, but then realised it was actually me, and I was not the shape I thought I was.
      - seper8 2y ago
        i hope in a positive way :)
        dijit 2y ago
        No, I was much fatter than I appeared to myself in the mirror. It lead to a health journey, but the gradual fattening wasn't visible until I saw myself with "fresh eyes".
Foofoobar12345 2y ago
Cellular smartwatches allow you to leave your phone behind, and still be "somewhat" connected - e.g. allowing people to reach you during emergencies, calling a taxi, checking maps etc. It can unlock my front door, be used for pay for a coffee or food, and can control all the lights in my home and allow me to answer my doorbell with a view of who is ringing it. Now it also has a digital drivers license and a mobile key to my car, so I can walk out just with my watch and nothing else, and that feels liberating. The fitness stuff is a plus - its better than nothing, and answers simple questions like how long I've hiked or walked. Battery life is an issue yes, but that's simple - pay more and get the $800 version ;)
- nicce 2y ago
  > Battery life is an issue yes, but that's simple - pay more and get the $800 version ;) If you mean Watch, the best uptime has been 2 days for me. Usually just one day. It gets much worse with cellural. I don’t buy new watch until they last for week.
  - Foofoobar12345 2y ago
    Apple Watch Ultra 2 - yeah it can last 2 days if you carry it with a phone, a day without a phone and limited cellular use. It does require daily charging ideally.
dijit 2y ago
Flagged because you're not engaging curiously, and instead trying to preach your opinions and deride people based on falsehoods you believe to be true. FD: I don't work for Apple (never have) but don't necessarily hate their devices, despite being a very ardent linux user. The Apple watch itself has proven to be quite reliable in some independent tests; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSmfM0djAE4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSmfM0djAE4 Gamified health is a net positive when the US and UK are dealing with an obesity crisis. Sedentary lifestyles are directly linked to this issue, and Apple even permits you to change your standing requirements (because of feedback like yours I suspect). The battery on a new watch lasts 2 days, and after 3 years will last about a day, this depends on battery technology which degrades over time, doubly so because it's charged wirelessly and that causes stress (via excess heat) near the battery while charging. Fast charging has made this even worse, so I would consider this a knock against Apple. - But unless your battery has degraded severely: an apple watch easily lasts an entire day, even a long one. Finally, this mindset of "people buying new ones every year" is not based in reality and I am tired of this trope. Do you buy a new Windows computer as soon as HP/Dell release one? No, because that's stupid. If Garmin or Polar release a new watch after you just bought the latest one, do you buy it? Probably not unless it has features you specifically want and are willing to sacrifice for it. It is *not* a common thing for people to upgrade a single revision of a device, wether it be apple or otherwise. The first article I found on the topic says that most people upgrade their devices every 2-3 years, which I think is still a bit much, but at least the incremental improvements are reasonable; and in business' the lifecycle of a computer in tech companies is approx 3 years too; https://www.phonearena.com/news/How-long-do-iPhone-users-take-to-upgrade-their-device_id147005 https://www.phonearena.com/news/How-long-do-iPhone-users-tak...

BoingBoomTschak 2y ago

This, the only "fitness tracker" I need is a sufficiently large mirror.

seper8 2y ago
Self image is highly subjective and what you see in the mirror is influenced by what you ate or drank, how the lighting is positioned, your mood at that moment etc etc...
- BoingBoomTschak 2y ago
  I didn't say it's perfectly accurate, but enough to see when things are getting bad enough.
  - dijit 2y ago
    Didn’t work for me until I saw pictures of myself where I didn’t recognise myself. I saw a picture from behind and didn’t think I saw that person at my friends wedding, but then realised it was actually me, and I was not the shape I thought I was.
    - seper8 2y ago
      i hope in a positive way :)
      - dijit 2y ago
        No, I was much fatter than I appeared to myself in the mirror. It lead to a health journey, but the gradual fattening wasn't visible until I saw myself with "fresh eyes".

Foofoobar12345 2y ago

Cellular smartwatches allow you to leave your phone behind, and still be "somewhat" connected - e.g. allowing people to reach you during emergencies, calling a taxi, checking maps etc. It can unlock my front door, be used for pay for a coffee or food, and can control all the lights in my home and allow me to answer my doorbell with a view of who is ringing it. Now it also has a digital drivers license and a mobile key to my car, so I can walk out just with my watch and nothing else, and that feels liberating. The fitness stuff is a plus - its better than nothing, and answers simple questions like how long I've hiked or walked. Battery life is an issue yes, but that's simple - pay more and get the $800 version ;)

nicce 2y ago
> Battery life is an issue yes, but that's simple - pay more and get the $800 version ;) If you mean Watch, the best uptime has been 2 days for me. Usually just one day. It gets much worse with cellural. I don’t buy new watch until they last for week.
- Foofoobar12345 2y ago
  Apple Watch Ultra 2 - yeah it can last 2 days if you carry it with a phone, a day without a phone and limited cellular use. It does require daily charging ideally.

dijit 2y ago

Flagged because you're not engaging curiously, and instead trying to preach your opinions and deride people based on falsehoods you believe to be true. FD: I don't work for Apple (never have) but don't necessarily hate their devices, despite being a very ardent linux user. The Apple watch itself has proven to be quite reliable in some independent tests; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSmfM0djAE4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSmfM0djAE4 Gamified health is a net positive when the US and UK are dealing with an obesity crisis. Sedentary lifestyles are directly linked to this issue, and Apple even permits you to change your standing requirements (because of feedback like yours I suspect). The battery on a new watch lasts 2 days, and after 3 years will last about a day, this depends on battery technology which degrades over time, doubly so because it's charged wirelessly and that causes stress (via excess heat) near the battery while charging. Fast charging has made this even worse, so I would consider this a knock against Apple. - But unless your battery has degraded severely: an apple watch easily lasts an entire day, even a long one. Finally, this mindset of "people buying new ones every year" is not based in reality and I am tired of this trope. Do you buy a new Windows computer as soon as HP/Dell release one? No, because that's stupid. If Garmin or Polar release a new watch after you just bought the latest one, do you buy it? Probably not unless it has features you specifically want and are willing to sacrifice for it. It is *not* a common thing for people to upgrade a single revision of a device, wether it be apple or otherwise. The first article I found on the topic says that most people upgrade their devices every 2-3 years, which I think is still a bit much, but at least the incremental improvements are reasonable; and in business' the lifecycle of a computer in tech companies is approx 3 years too; https://www.phonearena.com/news/How-long-do-iPhone-users-take-to-upgrade-their-device_id147005 https://www.phonearena.com/news/How-long-do-iPhone-users-tak...