Apple Watch Doubters Wrong: You Need a Smartwatch Now

[vertigo_2000]

Moving closer and closer to the humans portrayed in Wall-E.

Seriously... how &^%$ing lazy are we becoming as a society where we can't be bothered to reach into our pocket to grab our phone to see if the notification is worth our energy to deal with.

It reminds me of that Verizon (I think it's Verizon) commercial where some people have more money than they know what to do with. Those 4 kids get off the private plane to sit on a golf cart that drives them 4 feet to their fancy cars which they drive 10 feet to get out and board a second private jet to whisk them off o some other secluded destination. Don't get me wrong, I love the commercial, but it really is ridiculous.

 

[Ninjawithagun]

Apple Watch Doubters Right! You need to get a much better Smartwatch than the total crap called Apple Watch now!

 

[f-14]

Apple Watch Doubters RIGHT ON THE MONEY!: Current Smartwatch WORTHLESS

there title fixed.

any and all watch functions are absolutely WORTHLESS. even siri answers voice command of what time is it from your pocket while running around. ain't nobody got time to take their eyes off the prize and road infront of them. might be useful for kim kardashian or tv production if it gave live viewer ratings. other than that.....even the secret service has better than that since star trek first came out.

 

[jldevoy]

Judging from those number a lot of phone users need psychiatric help, not a smart watch...3 hours a day looking at your phone?

 

[grumman]

I would also point out that I only wear a regular watch if it's not hugely bulky, which all of the smartwatches are so far. I agree with the other comments that I would absolutely not blow $350 on something which adds nothing to my life.

 

[rluker5]

If the band broke, I could make it a pocketwatch, like I used to do when I was a kid. Wait I already have a pocketwatch - my phone!

 

[captaincharisma]

hey toms you forgot to put your usual (op-ed) at the end of the article

 

[Kunari]

...I recently saw a commercial for an Apple product (can't even remember what it was, so they failed apparently) and it showed an idiot husband needing a reminder to remember their anniversary and to make dinner reservations...

...are actually doing nothing but making our brains smaller.

Well, you're last sentence is correct. Not to defend Apple *shutter* but, the ad in question wasn't for an Apple product, but for a Windows Phone. IIRC it still used the Nokia name and not Microsoft.

 

[rluker5]

Instead of a watch they should make a smart necklace. You could talk right into it any time. It may even be precise enough at reading biometrics to show your mood. It would work great with large chested women .

 

[none12345]

What a load of tripe.

So instead of carrying around 1 device, i should carry arround 2. And instead of waking up my smart phone, i should wake up my watch instead. To check my spam and likes, and other tripe i dont wouldnt even bother checking in the first place.

No, really i don't need a smart watch. Not until they do something amazing a phone cant. Or until they are a straight replacement for a phone in the first place. I dont know if that would do it, but then at least it would have real value.


Its not the same thing as when smart phones came out. It was a game changer.

Its not the same thing as when tablets came out. They were no where near as big as a smart phone. Really transitioning to bigger phones was better then tables. But tablets have definite function. They are useless for content creation tho.


Smart watches in their current form are really rather useless. They are too small to consume content in any meaningful way. Swipe, swipe, swipe, god this is annoying, swipe, swipe, screw it pull out the phone. I dont see how tney can ever fix it. The screen will never be large enough to be a replacement device. And as long as you have to carry the phone.....there is no point of the watch.

 

[Innocent_Bystander]

I got by without a smartwatch for the last 36 years of my life and somehow I don't feel like I've been missing out.

Smartphones are useful, they are portable computers without having to haul around a laptop. There's utility there that a tiny device like a smartwatch just can't match.

If Apple and its ilk can figure out how to make a smartwatch with a 2 year battery life (as in 2 years between charges, not two years by the time the battery is useless), it might replace some watches on the market.

But I will take a well built, classic, elegant watch over one of these any day of the week.

Call me old fashioned, but for the 10K that Apple is charging for their gold one, I'll take a Rolex.

 

[TechJunkie69]

This is my opinion of smartwatches. They are not for everyone. Does anyone NEED one, no.

However, there are some advantages to having one. Mostly it has to do with notification handling. Not having to take your phone out of your pocket (which can be annoying to do constantly with bigger phones) is nice when you just want to quickly see a text/email or who is calling. Having a built in GPS is nice if you just want to go for a walk without a phone. Better at heart rate monitoring and keeps track of steps without a phone. For some, they want a full phone replacement, but it looks awkward to me unless they have a bluetooth ear piece.

The only issues I feel that smartwatches have now are design and battery life. Most of the square watches (including Apple's) are just unappealing. Some look decent enough, but the round ones certainly win out in design. In regards to battery life, currently it is only at a day to day and a half. People want 2-7 days between charges where they don't have to worry about it dying mid day after pulling it off the charger in the morning due to heavy use.

Some could say pricing is still an issue, but the best watch in design and function right now (personal opinion) is the Moto 360 which ranges from $250-330 compared to $350 for the cheapest/ugliest Apple Watch (who's other pricing options become ridiculous) and there are cheaper options as well.

However, in the end, to each their own.

 

[wiyosaya]

If your e-mail is an

urgent missive from your boss

then the phone should be one that your company bought you. In all likelyhood, that same company will not buy you a smart watch. If that e-mail is an

urgent missive from your boss

and the phone is not one that your company bought you, then I suggest that you need counseling regarding how to separate your private life from your work life as this is situation would be highly suggestive of a workaholic personality to me.

 

[razor512]

Technology simply has not reached the point where a smart watch can be a worthwhile tool. Once the novelty wears off, they become a lot less useful and interesting to have, but you can't just leave it at home as you will then have to admit that you wasted a ton of money on a device that really does not cost much to make, but has a massive price markup.
http/electronics360.globalspec.com/article/4913/teardown-moto-360-broke-ground-with-round-display

A smartwatch will become truly useful when the battery life is long enough that you essentially forget about it, e.g., a standard modern digital watch can go 10+ years on a single battery (with some atomic watches lasting upwards of 5 years per battery).

I don't want a watch which I have to press a button or perform a gesture to see the time and other basic info.

I want at least a few weeks to a few months of battery life on a single charge which a reasonable amount of usage.

I do not want a device that I have to charge every day or 2, and have to worry about using for fear that the battery will not last through the day.

Then again, even though I have a smartphone, for most days, I still use my flip phone since I bring my tablet with me which is far more usable when it comes to the functions that you would use a smartphone for (besides calls).

 

[dodt911]

Screw what this article says, I won't by that ugly ass watch.

 

[Anaxamenes]

So the one thing I never see mentioned in ANY of these smartwatch stories is the fact that looking at your watch (I'm old school, I know) is a sign that you are either bored or impatient and is downright rude. Now we have devices that are practically screaming for people to be disengaged and rude to one another. Lets put down our devices for a moment and engage with other people. It can be quite fun actually.

 

[Lyndon Boychuk]

I'll take something with Android Wear running on it...just my opinion.

 

[falchard]

I would also point out that I only wear a regular watch if it's not hugely bulky, which all of the smartwatches are so far. I agree with the other comments that I would absolutely not blow $350 on something which adds nothing to my life.

The Microsoft Version is not that bulky.

 

[jhgoodwin]

Apple watch will fail. It solves a problem that doesn't exist for a high price and does it while bringing new problems. It's not a watch, it's a bluetooth headset with a screen for $1k. You shouldn't solve how to look at your wrist/phone all day to figure out if you have important messages. You should solve how to get less crap asking you to look at it.

 

[never use it]

I don't want to wear the worlds smallest iPad on my wrist--I much prefer my Rolex
Stan