“Every once in a while, there comes a bit of tech that lets you do what you’re already doing, but in simpler and more effective ways,” Michael deAgonia writes for Computerworld. “After using the Apple Watch for a month, I’ve decided that the watch is that kind of product. If you’re already in the Apple ecosystem, chances are that you’ll want one.”
“I consider the Watch a breakthrough product — but that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone,” deAgonia writes. “It’s a relatively expensive accessory for the iPhone rather than a necessity, and as a fitness tracker, there are alternatives that are much cheaper yet do the same things — some even offer features the Watch doesn’t include, like live UV sensor and proper water-proofing.”
MacDailyNews Take: Beyond water, food and shelter, absolutely nothing is “for everyone.”
“Overall, the Watch is well-designed, well-executed, fits perfectly into the Apple digital lifestyle, and offers access to an entire ecosystem of apps, hardware accessories, and media that Apple has spent over a decade building up,” deAgonia writes. “Over all, after a month of use, I’m very positive on the Apple Watch, but the folks at Apple have a much larger audience to convince. Time will tell if the combination of functions and fashion will be enough to lure even more users than the rush of early adopters.”
Much more in the full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: After six and a half weeks with Apple Watch on our wrists every waking hour, we’ll never give it up. It saves us far too much time!
The top issues are, in no particular order: Third-party apps are sometimes slow (but, that’s about to change with Apple soon to allow native third-party apps), the display is difficult to see in direct sunlight, the Watch should recognize repetitive motions (sit-ups, for example) and not turn the display on and off with each rep, email should have a reply option, and (a very minor quibble) the app icons should display the app name when dragged while the apps are in “jiggle” mode for rearrangement (icons alone sometimes get confusing as to what’s what). Other than that, we have no issues of which to speak.
SEE ALSO:
Living with Apple Watch: One month in – June 3, 2015
Apple Watch: The early adopter’s take – June 1, 2015
Jean-Louis Gassée: Five weeks with Apple Watch – May 31, 2015
Ben Thompson: Apple Watch is being serially underestimated – May 20, 2015
BGR reviews Apple Watch: ‘A major technological achievement; you won’t want to take it off’ – May 7, 2015
The Telegraph reviews Apple Watch: Object of desire – May 7, 2015
Cult of Mac reviews Apple Watch: ‘Futuristic, fun and fan-flipping-tastic’ – April 28, 2015
PC Magazine reviews Apple Watch: ‘The best smartwatch available’ – April 28, 2015
Apple Watch owners shame so-called professional reviewers – April 27, 2015
The 2:26 Apple Watch review (with video) – April 9, 2015
Tech.pinions’ Ben Bajarin reviews Apple Watch: ‘Powerful’ and ‘completely new’ – April 8, 2015
WSJ’s Stern reviews Apple Watch: ‘Good looks and coolness’ – April 8, 2015
The Verge’s Patel reviews Apple Watch: ‘A masterpiece of engineering’ – April 8, 2015
WSJ’s Fowler reviews Apple Watch: ‘The first smartwatch worth buying’ – April 8, 2015
Yahoo Tech’s Pogue reviews Apple Watch: ‘Magical’
New York Times’ Manjoo reviews Apple Watch: ‘A power you can’t live without’ – April 8, 2015
Bloomberg’s Topolsky reviews Apple Watch: ‘The world’s best smartwatch’ – April 8, 2015
USA Today’s Baig reviews Apple Watch: ‘Second to none; I want one’ – April 8, 2015″
Tech.pinions’ Ben Bajarin reviews Apple Watch: ‘Powerful’ and ‘completely new’ – April 8, 2015
WSJ’s Stern reviews Apple Watch: ‘Good looks and coolness’ – April 8, 2015
The Verge’s Patel reviews Apple Watch: ‘A masterpiece of engineering’ – April 8, 2015
WSJ’s Fowler reviews Apple Watch: ‘The first smartwatch worth buying’ – April 8, 2015
Yahoo Tech’s Pogue reviews Apple Watch: ‘Magical’
New York Times’ Manjoo reviews Apple Watch: ‘A power you can’t live without’ – April 8, 2015
Bloomberg’s Topolsky reviews Apple Watch: ‘The world’s best smartwatch’ – April 8, 2015
USA Today’s Baig reviews Apple Watch: ‘Second to none; I want one’ – April 8, 2015
MDN youre a finicky one.
I remember you blasting those that wore watches saying they were outdated/useless because the time was on the iPhone…so essentially you had to pull out the iPhone out of your pocket (like an old pocket watch of the 17th century with a chain on it) and hit the home button to see the time (much like pushing the button to open the cover of an old timer pocket watch)…so essentially you went BACK in time with new tech.
Now….you’re wearing one on your wrist. So, when you want to see the time it’s on your wrist. Make up your mind…or quit judging.
Sometimes it takes a great product to change one’s mind. I’d rather see MDN change their mind based on available tech than cling to out-dated ways of thinking.
The concept of people using pocket watches was essentially outdated for many years. YET…MDN (and many of us) was doing the very thing only with an iPhone without realizing it. The concept of checking time or doing other tasks on the wrist or forearm will never be outdated…the very thing MDN blasted without thinking. Maybe there are those that love a vintage timepiece and it’s fine engineering and mechanics…for engagements or whatever fancies them. Who are we to judge?…Or maybe an advanced alien species uses an arm/wrist device to set the time to set a bomb off in the forest to beat Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger – Predator). MDN basically blasted an advanced alien species as well as many who like to wear devices on our wrists/arms. 😜
Life, get one. There are no aliens.
Oh so clever! You cut through the hypocrisy like a hot knife through butter. NOT!
All you did was confuse a watch with a computer. The Apple Watch is not a Watch. It’s a Watch, it’s a communicator, it’s a Bio Analyser………ARE YOU GETTING IT? It’s a Watch, it’s a communicator, it’s a Bio Analyser……These are not three different devices. It is a single device and we call it Apple Watch.
For such a device you can wear it on your wrist and not be deemed “silly”. For “just a watch” function it would indeed be silly to wear one.
MDN, Paul, and other fanboys:
Guess what? The market will decide whether it wants/needs an Apple Watch or not. No amount of your handwaving and getting blue in the face is going to change that. So just stop already trying to convince people that they need to be geeks like you and buy this $450 watch. People will decide on their own if they want it or not. Because you like the Apple Watch and think it’s fucntional and useful and in some ways necessary doesn’t mean anyone else will or should or needs to.
MDN’s response is typical: “Outside of food, clothing, and shelter you don’t need anything”. Well, that’s a strawman. The bottom line is this: if you had to choose between an Apple Watch and an iPhone, you’d go with an iPhone everytime. People NEED telecommunications. Many people do. And there’s pesuasive arguments that telecommunications should be a right and not a privilege. Not the least of which is to communicate with EMS and family and do this mobily.
The Apple Watch is a mere accessory to a smartphone and requires a smartphone to perform many of its functions. In this way the Watch is much lower on Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs.
The other issue with the Watch, in my opinion, is that it’s fatally flawed. Sure, there are cool things about it, but that fatal flaw is this: it’s a watch trying to be a computer. Cook tried to bring watches back from the dead. It’s an antiquated form factor and presents no end of problems for computing. It’s small screen is its biggest killer. Trying to run Apps on such a small screen is doomed to failure in many respects.
What happens is, you think Apps will get even more focused and easy to use, but the result is things get so stripped away they don’t work better than a smartphone: they’re worse. You then have a device that doesn’t really do much of anything better than a smartphone and for this reason, has very little resaon to live.
Here’s an example. I’ve said this many times that the Apple Watch is notification hell. This means that you really have something that tends toward INCOMING communications and not outgoing. So when you get text messages unless you can talk to Siri (limited because of environments that we’re in), you’re stuck sending canned responses (there’s no keyboard).
The Watch presents some solutions for the user but many problems at the same time. And those problems are solved by using a smartphone.
I simply do not see my mother, father, and even some friends and their wives wearing and using Apple Watches. I do not think the Apple Watch will be successful for all of these reasons and more. No version 2 or anything will change this because it’s a fundamentally flawed format.
Do not attack me. I am bullish on Apple and am a shareholder of Apple. I use Apple products. But I’m not a fanboy and am not a geek to the point where I’m clinging to some Steve Jobs magic world. Jobs is dead. This is the post-Jobs era, and I can’t help but witness MDN and some of you guys clinging to something that doesn’t really seem to be existing right now: that’s the magic that Jobs had.
I think the Apple Watch is a mistake.
Since the iPod, pundits have declared Apple products ‘mistakes’. It’s amazing how often they are proved wrong, yet they still keep doing it. This is not an attack, but rather an observation that you are most likely wrong.
tech-52:
People keep posting the exact same reply that you just posted. Can you actually imagine a possible situation where Apple creates something that people don’t really need nor want to buy? Yes, that is a possibility. So time will tell whether the Watch takes or not. My prediction is that it won’t.
I loved the iPod and pretty much every other new product Apple has released since. I got why the iPod was created and what problem it solved, just like many of the other Apple products. This is the first time since the Newton that I’m not only not buying this new product, I think it’s going to outright fail because it’s fatally flawed.
You sure typed a lot of words that no one will read troll.
The Apple Watch is a watch in name only.
As is the iPhone.
I agree with most of MDN’s issues. Slow third party apps (of which I’ve written many and am frustrated by their performance myself) is a big issue. Behind that is the the built-in daily tracker really SUCKS unless you’re, I guess, a basic runner. All my weight workouts severely undercount my calorie burn, the bike app has no auto-pause (dangerous to be looking at a watch in traffic–hello, Apple!!!), and several other more minor quibbles. It’s 1.0.1 at this point, so hopefully this’ll get better soon enough.
Oh, I should follow up my other comment with: I wear mine every waking minute, even with my quibbles. I will NOT give it up any time soon. I did a thought experiment the other day: how much would you have to pay me to go without my watch for a day? It would take a significant sum of money to get me to put it away for a day….. I think that’s proof positive I like it–or am addicted; one or the other. 😉
Apple Watch needs to be powered by BB sized Thorium so, I don’t have to worry about taking it off to have it charged and be able to survive 300 feet underwater…otherwise I am still wearing my old timer self winding piece. I think it is great for athletics and health use. It has immense potential…it just needs to mature a bit more…before I take a dive with it.