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Apple Watch Review: The Smartwatch Finally Makes Sense

15 points by robgibbons 12y ago

smackfu 12y ago
Lots of reviews out today. Pretty mixed, definitely sounds like an Apple 1.0 product, especially on the software side.
nickysielicki 12y ago
I love how the title is "The Smartwatch Finally Makes Sense" and yet his main criticism is that the software is not up to par with current market offerings. So why does Apple's smartwatch make more sense, exactly? The fact that Apple makes it? Garbage article.
robotnoises 12y ago
> if you can tolerate single-day battery life, half-baked apps and inevitable obsolescence, you can now wear the future on your wrist. ... seems like a lot to tolerate for $500+ USD, and yet I still kinda want one.
- dlp211 12y ago
  Maybe I'm weird, but single day battery life is not a "knock" against the smart watch. I'm 32 and have worn a watch since I can remember, but I never wear it to bed. I currently have been wearing a Moto 360 and have no problem docking it every night. My complaint main against the smart watch is I hate that the watch face is digital. I want a smart watch that looks like a normal watch or I'd rather the smart watch take on another form (eg: Microsoft Band) which I can wear in conjunction with a traditional watch.
higherpurpose 12y ago
Sounds like the smartwatch Samsung would've built (and has kind of already done it). Except I remember the idea of "smartphone on your wrist" being met with much more hostility in reviews than in Apple Watch's case. In the reviews for Samsung's smartwatches it was called a "stupid idea". In the Apple Watch's reviews it's "well...you learn to cope with it". I'm not defending Samsung's watches. I think all smartwatches are a solution in search of a problem right now, and that most implementations are either terrible or insufficient. Just pointing out the obvious bias for one company.
- bydo 12y ago
  Samsung's watch was a smaller, worse smartphone strapped to your wrist, down to a camera, dialer, etc. They marketed it based on that: do everything your phone can, less comfortably and conveniently, without taking your phone out of your pocket! Unsurprisingly this was not an attractive use case to many. Apple is positioning their watch as something to get you off of your phone, rather than another way to access it (Google did this a little more than Samsung's first offering, but Apple is taking it much further). There's a reason every review is seeded with the narrative of spending too much time with technology. We'll see how this bears out—a lot of us have no problem keeping our phones in our pockets already, and many smartphone obsessives wouldn't be able to make the switch with the Watch in its current state if they even could be convinced that they wanted to—but at least it makes somewhat more sense. (I'm not buying one, either. Yet.)
danso 12y ago
Maybe it's because the OP/WSJ review got posted a few minutes earlier, but why is The Verge's much more thorough, well-produced review flagged down into the second page? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9340254 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9340254 Though I'm eternally miffed at The Verge for giving a high rating to the HTC One brick-of-a-phone, they generally do produce in-depth, engaging reviews.
bla2 12y ago
>T he battery lives up it [sic] its all-day billing, but sometimes just barely. If a new watch barely makes it through the day, a months-old watch won't.

15 points by robgibbons 12y ago

Lots of reviews out today. Pretty mixed, definitely sounds like an Apple 1.0 product, especially on the software side.

I love how the title is "The Smartwatch Finally Makes Sense" and yet his main criticism is that the software is not up to par with current market offerings. So why does Apple's smartwatch make more sense, exactly? The fact that Apple makes it? Garbage article.

robotnoises 12y ago

> if you can tolerate single-day battery life, half-baked apps and inevitable obsolescence, you can now wear the future on your wrist. ... seems like a lot to tolerate for $500+ USD, and yet I still kinda want one.

dlp211 12y ago
Maybe I'm weird, but single day battery life is not a "knock" against the smart watch. I'm 32 and have worn a watch since I can remember, but I never wear it to bed. I currently have been wearing a Moto 360 and have no problem docking it every night. My complaint main against the smart watch is I hate that the watch face is digital. I want a smart watch that looks like a normal watch or I'd rather the smart watch take on another form (eg: Microsoft Band) which I can wear in conjunction with a traditional watch.

higherpurpose 12y ago

Sounds like the smartwatch Samsung would've built (and has kind of already done it). Except I remember the idea of "smartphone on your wrist" being met with much more hostility in reviews than in Apple Watch's case. In the reviews for Samsung's smartwatches it was called a "stupid idea". In the Apple Watch's reviews it's "well...you learn to cope with it". I'm not defending Samsung's watches. I think all smartwatches are a solution in search of a problem right now, and that most implementations are either terrible or insufficient. Just pointing out the obvious bias for one company.

bydo 12y ago
Samsung's watch was a smaller, worse smartphone strapped to your wrist, down to a camera, dialer, etc. They marketed it based on that: do everything your phone can, less comfortably and conveniently, without taking your phone out of your pocket! Unsurprisingly this was not an attractive use case to many. Apple is positioning their watch as something to get you off of your phone, rather than another way to access it (Google did this a little more than Samsung's first offering, but Apple is taking it much further). There's a reason every review is seeded with the narrative of spending too much time with technology. We'll see how this bears out—a lot of us have no problem keeping our phones in our pockets already, and many smartphone obsessives wouldn't be able to make the switch with the Watch in its current state if they even could be convinced that they wanted to—but at least it makes somewhat more sense. (I'm not buying one, either. Yet.)

danso 12y ago

Maybe it's because the OP/WSJ review got posted a few minutes earlier, but why is The Verge's much more thorough, well-produced review flagged down into the second page? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9340254 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9340254 Though I'm eternally miffed at The Verge for giving a high rating to the HTC One brick-of-a-phone, they generally do produce in-depth, engaging reviews.

bla2 12y ago

>T he battery lives up it [sic] its all-day billing, but sometimes just barely. If a new watch barely makes it through the day, a months-old watch won't.