“The hardware of the [Apple Watch] is beautiful in a surgical way. The little cube of metal and glass wouldn’t seem out of place in a futuristic lab or sci-fi movie. It is very much an Apple product: clean, sleek, remarkably solid,” Joshua Topolsky writes for Bloomberg. “But as a piece of jewelry… Apple’s design doesn’t compete with Rolex, Omega, or Breitling for sheer style, but the more I wore the inconspicuous thing, the more I liked it on my wrist.”
“The looks are just the beginning. It’s loaded with cutting-edge technology,” Topolsky writes. “After using it, I had no question that the Apple Watch is the most advanced piece of wearable technology you can buy today.”
“The watch is not life-changing. It is, however, excellent. Apple will sell millions of these devices, and many people will love and obsess over them,” Topolsky writes. “It is a wonderful component of a big ecosystem that the company has carefully built over many years. It is more seamless and simple than any of its counterparts in the marketplace. It is, without question, the best smartwatch in the world.”
Read more in the full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple is about to change the world – yet again.
Related articles:
New York Times’ Manjoo reviews Apple Watch: ‘A power you can’t live without’ – April 8, 2015
USA Today’s Baig reviews Apple Watch: ‘Second to none; I want one’ – April 8, 2015
Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, & now Apple Slaughterhouse device #5 – the Apple Watch!
Everybody always forgets the Apple II.
MDN, as biased as ever.
Topolsky:
In some ways, [the Apple Watch] can be more distracting than your iPhone, and checking it can feel more offensive to people around you than pulling out your phone.
So Apple has succeeded in its first big task with its watch. It made something that lives up to the company’s reputation as an innovator and raised the bar for a whole new class of devices. Its second task—making me feel that I need this thing on my wrist every day—well, I’m not quite sure it’s there yet. It’s still another screen, another distraction, another way to disconnect, as much as it is the opposite. The Apple Watch is cool, it’s beautiful, it’s powerful, and it’s easy to use. But it’s not essential. Not yet.
New York Times:
The Apple Watch is far from perfect, and, starting at $350 and going all the way up to $17,000, it isn’t cheap. Though it looks quite smart… the Apple Watch works like a first-generation device, with all the limitations and flaws you’d expect of brand-new technology.
What’s more, unlike previous breakthrough Apple products, the Watch’s software requires a learning curve that may deter some people.
Still, even if it’s not yet for everyone, Apple is on to something with the device. The Watch is just useful enough to prove that the tech industry’s fixation on computers that people can wear may soon bear fruit.
Apple’s notification settings have long been unduly laborious; battling them while your hand is buzzing off the hook is an extra level of discomfort. The first Apple Watch may not be for you — but someday soon, it will change your world.
UDA Today:
Dick Tracy is overrated. Making or answering phone calls from your wrist gets a lot of attention. It’s not a great experience though. The speakerphone on the watch isn’t very loud. I struggled to hear the other person during watch calls in my car and in Times Square.
There’s a Maps app, too, with directions, but you’re relying on the phone for GPS. You feel taps when it’s time to turn, but there was no audible voice instructing you which way to go.
Pro. Beautiful design options, Apple Pay, versatile feature set.
Con. Expensive. Learning curve. Phone calling from wrist is not a great experience. iPhone only. Must be charged regularly.
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Everything I predicted is coming out in these reviews from places that are sort of Apple fans. Wait till all the reviews come out.
I didn’t read anything in those cherry picked paragraphs that would deter me from buying an Apple watch. Learning curve? REALLY? lmao
Expensive..again…REALLY?
More offensive to glance at your watch than pulling a phone out of your pocket? umm….no….
Thanks, Dftr! I was getting concerned with all of that glowing positive press about the Apple Watch. For previous Apple product releases, there was always a healthy dose of doomsaying about Apple being unable to innovate and the product being a flop. And the last time that everyone was jumping on the Apple bandwagon was just before AAPL tanked a few years ago. As a result, all of this wildly favorable press made my contrarian alarm go off.
But you fixed that by posting a few just-short-of-glowing comments about the Apple Watch. Only excellent and not essential? What a relief!
There’s cherry picking, and then there’s cherry picking.
My god you fanboys are more delusional than I thought. Here’s some snippets in what I posted above:
“…unlike previous breakthrough Apple products, the Watch’s software requires a learning curve that may DETER some people.”
“making me feel that I need this thing on my wrist every day—well, I’m not quite sure it’s there yet.”
“Con. Expensive. Learning curve. Phone calling from wrist is not a great experience. iPhone only. Must be charged regularly.”
I actually posted positive aspects to be objective, and that’s all you guys looked at. These snippets above from what I posted SHOW that the Apple Watch is being viewed as essential, that there’s a learning curve, and that battery life sucks.
Less than 42 hours til we can all Pay 💵 for the WATCH of our choice.💥😍
You know for the record I do hope you give us a review of it when you get it, and how what people’s reactions are.
It’s getting quite exciting.