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Honey, he shrunk the watches

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Re: Honey, he shrunk the watches

#51

Post by bluGill »

telesilla wrote: post #44
bluGill wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That activity monitor caught my mom's cancer early enough that it was treatable. My looked at the activity, said no way, checked and her heart rate was too high so went in to get it checked. Most activity monitoring isn't useful but the exceptions are very valuable.

For the aged or others outside normal healthy boundaries, wearable tech is a life-saving benefit. Otherwise it's a life-style option.

You never know when something will take a bad turn, age makes it more likely

Re: Honey, he shrunk the watches

#52

Post by Cerium »

lmz wrote: post #39
kQq9oHeAz6wLLS wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So wear it every day, get an device that keeps it wound, or just shake it for 30 seconds a day. Full disclosure, I'm a mechanical watch nerd, to the point that I enjoy repairing them. So I'm a bit biased towards them.

I have a few of them too, but let's be honest when it comes to their limitations. How is a watch winder any better than the Apple Watch's charger?

If you forget the winder you always have a backup winder.

Re: Honey, he shrunk the watches

#53

Post by randycupertino »

modeless wrote: post #14

Off topic I guess but I wish smart watches would shrink. Anyone else find them just too bulky for something you wear all the time? Especially in thickness with the protruding sensors.

> Anyone else find them just too bulky for something you wear all the time?

Nope! As long as it's robust enough to hold up and not get scratched or smashed while I slam it in the car door or whack it against the cage at the gym or whatever else clumsy thing I do each particular moment, I think bigger is better.

Re: Honey, he shrunk the watches

#54

Post by vidarh »

Auracle wrote: post #32
modeless wrote: post #14

Off topic I guess but I wish smart watches would shrink. Anyone else find them just too bulky for something you wear all the time? Especially in thickness with the protruding sensors.

I’m the opposite. I’d love to have a full forearm device instead of a cell phone. Or at least something that could be worn on my arm and popped off - give me that sci-fi futurism.

If you search for "Android wrist phone" on Aliexpress, you'll find anything from stuff to strap your full phone to your arm to ~3" Android phones on a watch strap...

There's also one (search for Nubia) which seem to have a foldable screen.

They all look like they're at least 2-3 generations away from having something great, though...

Re: Honey, he shrunk the watches

#56

Post by hinkley »

dan1234 wrote: post #45
hinkley wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m a little shocked the Apple Watch hasn’t slimmed down yet. I would have thought based ion the iPhone product history that they would realize a higher sales rate once the dimensions came down. But they’re still adding new sensors instead of shrinking the battery.

I’d really appreciate longer battery life before they start thinking of making it thinner! The current battery life is fine for day to day use (lasts 28-32hrs, can be charged while getting ready in the morning), but it’s a pain having to remember to take the charger when you’re away for a weekend.

Definitely. My recollection is that the 3g came around the time that battery life was improved.

Historically in Apple's product line, an improvement in either battery capacity or system efficiency was accompanied by a shrink in footprint.

Batteries, especially the sorts Apple used in laptops, have some flexibility in shape and thickness. At this point I don't think they can make the display much larger than the 7 without increasing the footprint again. If they can keep boosting the efficiency per pixel, a larger display should mean slightly larger battery volume as well.

I'm still a little bummed that their plan to incorporate batteries into the band never materialized. I was further disappointed when the hidden connector in the band slot went away after the beta program ended. (Also a little disappointed that the covers went magnetic with no way to include a small supplemental battery in place of the stiffeners). There are definitely some opportunities to expand the system to include these peripherals that we largely ignore. And there may be some opportunities to pack more of the circuitry into the curved areas on the sides of the watch. Currently the speaker takes up one side, the wheel takes a chunk of the other. I'm not sure how much of the band attachments require reinforcements at the ends but I would imagine it's the corners that matter the most there. I'm not sure how big the taptic package is in the 7 but in the 6 it was a significant fraction of the size of the battery.

Also with the iPhone every time the screen got thinner either the device got thinner or the battery bigger. Not so with the watches. Thinner displays lead to an SPO2 monitor. How about we tap the brakes on more sensors for now and work on lifetime and package density for a couple iterations?

Re: Honey, he shrunk the watches

#57

Post by moron4hire »

eternityforest wrote: post #43
moron4hire wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love my Garmin Vivoactive 3 specifically because it's not a massive chunk on my wrist. It's a little taller than other, regular watches I've had, but not by much. My wife got the 4s recently and it's definitely "regular watch size". And the battery life is pretty good, as smartwatches go. I usually go 3 days between charges. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/c/wearables-smartwatches/?serie...

I love the Garmin watches! Not the best features compared to Wear, but Wear has intolerable battery life.

My only problem right now is that I prefer a nylon strap to the provided rubber strap (I think I might have a mild allergy?), but all the nylon straps I've found end up covering the heartrate sensor. I've tried cutting a window out of the straps, but it doesn't work, and the way I cut the window (soldering iron) left rough, irritating edges. I have an idea for v2 of modifying the straps (and luckily nylon straps are extremely cheap, plus v2 cuts out all of the effected area of v1), but I might go for a chainlink strap instead.

Re: Honey, he shrunk the watches

#58

Post by colordrops »

modeless wrote: post #35
colordrops wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what you want it to do. I've been using a Mi Band which you can get for $35 on Amazon and has some 3rd party software options on android if you don't want corporations sucking in your health data.

You mean the one without a screen? I want the opposite, a smartwatch with a screen, but without the health sensors which I find inaccurate and and overall rather pointless.

It has a color screen, but it's focused on health sensors. It does support other things though like "find my phone", alarms, text message notifications, music control, weather etc. Lasts 14 days on a charge.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09D2RJ2RP

Re: Honey, he shrunk the watches

#59

Post by tinus_hn »

hinkley wrote: post #56
dan1234 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d really appreciate longer battery life before they start thinking of making it thinner! The current battery life is fine for day to day use (lasts 28-32hrs, can be charged while getting ready in the morning), but it’s a pain having to remember to take the charger when you’re away for a weekend.

Definitely. My recollection is that the 3g came around the time that battery life was improved. Historically in Apple's product line, an improvement in either battery capacity or system efficiency was accompanied by a shrink in footprint. Batteries, especially the sorts Apple used in laptops, have some flexibility in shape and thickness. At this point I don't think they can make the display much larger than the 7 wit…

How about, it’s thin enough and lasts long enough and Apple needs new features to sell new watches.

Re: Honey, he shrunk the watches

#60

Post by hinkley »

tinus_hn wrote: post #59
hinkley wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely. My recollection is that the 3g came around the time that battery life was improved. Historically in Apple's product line, an improvement in either battery capacity or system efficiency was accompanied by a shrink in footprint. Batteries, especially the sorts Apple used in laptops, have some flexibility in shape and thickness. At this point I don't think they can make the display much larger than the 7 wit…

How about, it’s thin enough and lasts long enough and Apple needs new features to sell new watches.

Whole sub thread is people saying it isn’t thin enough. Honestly I think the phone and iPad are too thin, and I’d appreciate it if a couple engineers got reassigned. Not the whole team mind you, but just a couple more pairs of eyes would be lovely.
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