“After careful thought, the best tech I purchased this year is the Apple Watch,” James Kendrick writes for ZDNet. “This choice surprised me as much as it probably does you but after careful consideration the Apple Watch tops my purchase list.”
“I not only buy lots of tech gadgets, I use them every day. New purchases are made with the expectation each will add value to my work day. The gadget picked as the best must add a lot of value on a regular basis,” Kendrick writes. “The Apple Watch has been doing that since the purchase.”
“When I got the Apple Watch I didn’t think I’d use it for phone calls much but that’s turned out to not be the case. Most incoming calls get answered on the watch and it has a positive impact throughout the day… My iPhone 6 Plus stays securely in the bag due to the contribution of the Apple Watch,” Kendrick writes. “The Apple Watch has a positive impact on my daily routine. This is done with little effort on my part. Because it’s sitting on my wrist it is very useful for someone in a wheelchair. Perhaps I wouldn’t designate it the best purchase I made this year if that wasn’t the case, but it is and I did.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Watch is slow. It needs much work and many improvements. Apple Watch currently in the same situation as iPhone was in 2007. A few of us had iPhones for that year while the rest of the world looked at them as a curiosity, but we knew.
We wouldn’t trade that early iPhone or this early Apple Watch experience for anything. You can have our Apple Watches when you pry them off our cold, dead wrists.
SEE ALSO:
It’s official: The Apple Watch is destroying the so-called competition – November 20, 2015
As Apple Watch sales ramp, Swiss watch makers suffer biggest slump in six years – November 19, 2015
Apple Watch models take top four spots on 10 most-wanted smartwatches list – November 18, 2015
Apple Watch is 2016’s hottest holiday gift – November 18, 2015
Apple Watch changed my life; it’s a great gift for many
Monday, November 16, 2015
Apple has already sold more than $1.7 billion worth of Apple Watches – October 29, 2015
Strategy Analytics: Apple Watch sells 4.5 million units in Q315, takes 74% global smartwatch market share – October 28, 2015
Apple Watch users are abandoning traditional watches – September 15, 2015
Over 1 million Apple Watches already sold in China – September 3, 2015
Apple Watch already dominates smart-wearables market, says IDC – August 28, 2015
IDC estimates Apple sold 3.6 million Apple Watch units in Q2 – August 27, 2015
Best Buy CEO: Apple Watch demand is ‘so strong’ that we’re expanding sales to all 1,050 stores – August 25, 2015
Swiss watch exports decline most since 2009 – August 20, 2015
Apple Watch takes 88% of total smartwatch revenue – August 14, 2015
Apple Watch kills a entire industry in three months – August 12, 2015
U.S. wristwatch sales post biggest drop in seven years after Apple Watch debut – August 7, 2015
Apple Watch dominates smartwatches with 75% market share – July 28, 2015
Juniper Research: Apple is world’s #1 smartwatch maker – July 23, 2015
Canalys: Apple ships 4.2 million Apple Watches in Q2 to become world’s top wearables vendor – July 21, 2015
Apple Watch satisfaction is unprecedented at 97%; beats original iPhone and iPad – July 20, 2015
Non-techies love their Apple Watches even more than tech users – July 20, 2015
Apple Watch is Apple’s most successful product debut ever – June 1, 2015
MDN, Apple watch is not slow. Is there anything faster? Anything that does the same stuff as the Apple Watch? Nothing!
It could be faster, just as anything else could be faster. The iPhone could be faster. The iMac could be faster. These two examples could be faster but they are not slow. Same with the Apple watch. It could be faster, but it it is not slow.
Paul,
I assume MDN means it’s too slow when trying to perform some actions. My Apple Watch is sometimes too slow in delivering what I’m asking it to deliver. Therefore, it is slow.
Meaningless semantics drivel isn’t going to speed up things to useful levels for the end user.
Apple Watch is slow.
Just because there might not be anything faster doesn’t mean Apple Watch isn’t slow, Mr. False Dichotomy.
Ok Mr Superior and Mr AWU, in what way is it slow? It tells me the time instantaneously, it directs me on Apple Maps at the right time for turns, it gets me iMessages at the same time as my iPhone, it sends iMessages faster than my iPhone, It answers my phone calls just a little slower than my iPhone but not so slow that I would go out of my way to call it slow (It is within my expectation…. as well it should be within anybodies expectation of a breakthrough 1st gen product), it measures my heart rate within 5 seconds, it opens my front door lock in (let me just do it right now)…….that took 4 seconds to open the app make a bluetooth connection and offer me the “Open Lock” button.
These actual performance facts show it is not slow. These are not mere semantics as you put it.
Let me try just a few more things….Playing music took no waiting time at all, as did forwarding to next track, deleting a track from the library. Using Siri to select a specific track (while the significant noise of the present track was still playing) took no time at all….maybe 2 seconds. Lets try another….how about remote. Tapped on remote and almost immediately brought up all three of my Apple TV’s. One of those Apple TV’s could not connect but the others came up instantly…no waiting whatsoever….straight into the swipe interface. Lets try Apple Wallet…again 1 to 2 seconds…nuthing at all. Lets try camera app…..no…..again just fine. Lets try Shazam…..this failed because it said it could not hear. Lets try again with better position to listen with….took 3 seconds to identify the track.
Where is the slow????
I love my watch, but no way it takes 5 seconds to measure your HR. The camera app frequently crashes or doesn’t connect. Some apps simply never open and are perpetually loading. It’s a great product, but the speed you’re describing doesn’t match my experience.
actually if your heart rate is about 60, averaging over five beats sounds reasonable…
My Apple Watch is pretty responsive. Where it’s slow is in pulling data from the iPhone.
This year I have purchased from Apple:
A new Mac mini
A new MacBook Pro Retina
A new iPad Air 2
An Apple Watch
What I want is a proper Mac Pro or call it what you want mini tower with the ability to use standard PC cards and hard drives. Some of us want and need something not sealed up and do not give a damn about how fucking thin the profile is.
Almost all of today’s Macs have Vampire Video that Apple used to make fun of- and not just on mobile devices where there might be an excuse. A $1,500 iMac should not have Intel Integrated Graphics- Iris Pro or not.
a 21.5″ 4k iMac with i7 CPU, Fusion Drive, 16 GB of Memory, and a Trackpad is over $2,000- with vampire video. This model also cannot add memory. What you buy is what you are stuck with.
The Mac pro is not sealed. You can upgrade the memory. You can upgrade the graphics card. You can upgrade the Processor.
The design is not thin. It is “round” and “compact”. It is that because of ENGINEERING.
Look, you are the type that likes big boxes with see through electronics, and probably think that liquid cooling is…..er, “cool” or something. I know your mentality, I come across it all the time. When someone like you hears the words “Intel Integrated Graphics” that alone is enough to put you off. Never mind that they “just maybe” could have improved it significantly and be quite capable from an ENGINEERING standpoint. Along the same line, you probably also think that Vampire video could not have improved themselves to the point where Apple goes from “making fun of them” (as you put it) to actually using their product.
What you don’t understand is that Apple is an ENGINEERING company. To all engineering there are tradeoffs and many offsetting benefits. The Mac Pro makes some tradeoffs while offering other many significant engineering benefits.
Mac pro is totally configurable (not sealed) in RAM, Processor and Graphics. While also, offering very fast ports to connect to other remote boxes of whatever shit you want.
Embrace the Engineering. Move forward. stop with the “I want my extra PCI slot” crap.
No, I have a REAL Mac Pro- the tower that can hold stuff inside and run off of one power supply instead of a spaghetti bowl of cables and wall warts.
The Trashcan cannot take standard cards, drives or anything else. It is an overpriced answer to a question nobody was asking. It makes a nice Home Theater PC for your $3,000+.
As to your I know your mentality, I do not think so. Having used everything from Wang, to Burroughs, to Unisys, to IBM, to Silicon Graphics, to Data General, to Digital Equipment to the workstations and consumer products of today- I doubt you have some secret stash of knowledge and insight. I remember saving BASIC programs written on Apple II’s, Commodore PETs and TRS-80s on cassette drives as a College Freshman.
I did not switch to the Mac- I never went away.
As to your posit about Apple being an engineering company- no they are not. They are a consumer products company that hires engineers.
Form should follow function and not fashion. Jony Ive is a stylist that needs to go back to London and design dresses or something where people care about a thin profile.
As of this morning, I’m 100lbs down from my highest weight. Apple Watch is the thing that made my weight loss possible and gave me my life back. My Fitbit didn’t do that. My previous attempts at diet and exercise didn’t do that. Apple Watch was the tool I needed to succeed.
I don’t care if Apple Watch is “too slow.” It changed my life. And that’s all I need to say about it.
I doubt your veracity. Why don’t you prove your claim that you lost “100 pounds”?
Sure, troll. What’s your email? I’ll send you the 9-plus months of data recorded in the Health app. I’ll send you before/after pictures. I can get a long list of friends, family members, and coworkers who I can put you in touch with, as well as staff from my local YMCA. Hell, what’s your mailing address? I’ll send you the 46″ pants I was wearing the day my Watch arrived, and proof that I can now wear 36″ pants.
Will that be enough, troll, or do you want more?
A 100 lbs? Post photos here. I’m sure all your fanboy friend would be thrilled to see you svelte self.
Uh, oh. Looks like lardass, I mean GQ, hasn’t posted photos of himself. No time lapse documentation of his glorious transformation. I am not surprised. Lardass, I mean GQ, could show the whole world how beautiful he is, but lardass, I mean GQ doesn’t, or, more likely can’t. You are a bigger loser than you claim.
The Apple Watch may be slow, but if so, they are all slow in perfect synchronicity! Four times better than the iPhone!
For my limited need for any third party apps beyond Runtastic Pro makes me think it’s fast enough. Only a new hardware feature would inspire me to buy the second version. I mostly use the built in alarm and timer apps in Airplane mode to extend battery life.
You really should disclose this was the only device you bought in 2015.
Like the first iPhone, I love my Watch, but can’t wait for the 2nd gen device.
I am so happy for you. You have undoubtably found relevance, meaning, and purpose in life. The Apple Watch will inspire you to be a better person, more technologically savvy, a true hipster. You are fashionable and unashamedly willing to tell and show the world.