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Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

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Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#111

Post by emsy »

amatecha wrote: post #31
emsy wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had several pebbles (2 b/w and the colored one) and now have an apple watch. You don’t know what you’re talking about, the tech in the apple watch is years ahead. There’s much to criticize about the apple watch but it does the important things just so much better than the competition. I also never understood the focus on battery life. I put my watch on the charger whenever I go to sleep. If I forget it either still…

I mean, sure the Apple Watch is "years ahead". It not only came out two years later, but is developed by one of the most wealthy consumer tech/software companies in the world. Pebble was acquired by FitBit right around the time the second iteration of the Apple Watch was out, so there's really not much point in comparing the two in terms of technology. Despite Apple Watch's merits over the Pebble, I still miss my Peb…

The actual buttons on the pebble were terrible though but I do agree, it really sucks that this isn’t possible. I remember having a jailbreak tweak that allowed to use long presses on volume up/down to skip songs. Something like this could be done with the crown on the watch but we’re talking about apple, so don’t even think about using the physical inputs for something useful.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#112

Post by emsy »

salamandersauce wrote: post #37
emsy wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had several pebbles (2 b/w and the colored one) and now have an apple watch. You don’t know what you’re talking about, the tech in the apple watch is years ahead. There’s much to criticize about the apple watch but it does the important things just so much better than the competition. I also never understood the focus on battery life. I put my watch on the charger whenever I go to sleep. If I forget it either still…

What is years ahead? It has a better SoC than competing watches for sure but what's the point? I wouldn't be surprised if the first Apple Watch has a faster SoC than my Fenix 5 Plus but other than the time it takes for it to make up a random running route I don't really care because the device feels snappy. My Pebble felt snappy too. I think other than EKG (don't care about that) my Fenix has all the same sensors, GP…

The functionality. I can use it as a flashlight, call, dictate messages, listen to music without phone, control my phone camera, use it for 2FA, map navigation, notifications with images and control smart home stuff. And yes, much of this convenience is due to the walled garden. I never had issues reading the screen, which I did have with my color screen pebble.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#113

Post by Mandatum »

least wrote: post #17

I'm pretty skeptical that Apple has a decade-long lead on any of the other big players in the market. Any innovations that one company can make can be more quickly adopted than new innovations occur and there's nothing as far as software goes that Apple is uniquely positioned to create. The other factors mentioned such as silicon tech being years ahead of the competition is one that is hardly a factor for the smart w…

The software side, they’re so far ahead it’s ridiculous. Google couldn’t put out a watch to match the generation 3 Apple Watch today. They probably couldn’t even do that in 2-3 years. Same goes for Microsoft’s and Amazon.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#114

Post by solarkraft »

least wrote: post #17

I'm pretty skeptical that Apple has a decade-long lead on any of the other big players in the market. Any innovations that one company can make can be more quickly adopted than new innovations occur and there's nothing as far as software goes that Apple is uniquely positioned to create. The other factors mentioned such as silicon tech being years ahead of the competition is one that is hardly a factor for the smart w…

> On a tangential note, I'd like to take a moment to recognize the amount of work that Apple has put into its accessibility features. Assistive Touch on the apple watch will probably serve a remarkably small portion of the user base

On a similar note I’d like to point out that accessibility affects everyone. You don’t need to be disabled to enjoy accessibility. My eyes are fine, (I think), but I find the iPhone X’s lowest screen brightness too bright iOS’s blue filter to be barely effective, so I use a custom color filter (almost full red) and “Reduce white point” and am super happy it’s an option. People used and probably use assistive touch for things that don’t compensate a disability, but just add useful features. The back tap shortcuts are just a nice feature. The zoom is nice if you want to show something to someone a bit further away. I could go on.

As someone with perfectly fine hands I love this feature because one thing I hate about modern smart watches (RIP Pebble) is that you have to touch and inevitably smudge up the screen. Bam, problem single-handedly (what pun are you talking about?) solved. Massive kudos. The other, more obvious advantage is that your other hand stays free, of course.

> and perhaps costs more to develop than the return they'll ever see on it.

As you see, the user base for such features is bigger than you may think. Besides collecting some easy sympathy points for helping disadvantaged people, Apple also seems to be huge in the business of servicing small, but under-served and vocal minorities (where can someone who wants a modern, small phone go?), which will turn into strong advocates for their brand.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#115

Post by mmmmmbop »

orev wrote: post #108
sQL_inject wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm have to sort of disagree, not a decade but easily half a decade lead. Source: I worked in this space years ago with what was, at the time, the leader in the space, and remember how many of my coworkers laughed at the Apple Watch unveil. Now Apple is the one laughing with a girthy, multibillion dollar schadenfreude. Apple has leads in silicon and cross-platform integration which is inarguably led to a better user…

I’m glad you highlighted the materials/manufacturing component, which I think is frequently overlooked by tech people (who mostly focus on the chips and software). Apple’s ability to build millions of devices with such precision and tight tolerances is really a huge accomplishment.

Just to clarify, Apple doesn't actually build any devices. They are built by Foxconn, mainly. It's still very impressing, of course.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#116

Post by salamandersauce »

dagmx wrote: post #93
salamandersauce wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is years ahead? It has a better SoC than competing watches for sure but what's the point? I wouldn't be surprised if the first Apple Watch has a faster SoC than my Fenix 5 Plus but other than the time it takes for it to make up a random running route I don't really care because the device feels snappy. My Pebble felt snappy too. I think other than EKG (don't care about that) my Fenix has all the same sensors, GP…

A better SoC usually means better power efficiency, where the speed means it can get through tasks faster under the same wattage, so it helps battery life.

Which is then completely blown by the screen anyways? It's not like you're tearing up complicated calculations on your watch. This makes sense on other devices but not so much on a watch. My Garmin lasts a week with the screen always on, several hours of GPS on and music playing during workouts. The most draining thing is music.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#117

Post by salamandersauce »

emsy wrote: post #112
salamandersauce wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is years ahead? It has a better SoC than competing watches for sure but what's the point? I wouldn't be surprised if the first Apple Watch has a faster SoC than my Fenix 5 Plus but other than the time it takes for it to make up a random running route I don't really care because the device feels snappy. My Pebble felt snappy too. I think other than EKG (don't care about that) my Fenix has all the same sensors, GP…

The functionality. I can use it as a flashlight, call, dictate messages, listen to music without phone, control my phone camera, use it for 2FA, map navigation, notifications with images and control smart home stuff. And yes, much of this convenience is due to the walled garden. I never had issues reading the screen, which I did have with my color screen pebble.

I can do most of that on my Garmin. Really only stuff that requires mic is not doable because it doesn't have a mic. And I guess notifications "with images". Heck some of it like 2FA I did on my Pebble!

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#118

Post by emsy »

salamandersauce wrote: post #117
emsy wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The functionality. I can use it as a flashlight, call, dictate messages, listen to music without phone, control my phone camera, use it for 2FA, map navigation, notifications with images and control smart home stuff. And yes, much of this convenience is due to the walled garden. I never had issues reading the screen, which I did have with my color screen pebble.

I can do most of that on my Garmin. Really only stuff that requires mic is not doable because it doesn't have a mic. And I guess notifications "with images". Heck some of it like 2FA I did on my Pebble!

I can’t compare with the Garmin, but the Pebble experience was subpar. I stopped wearing mine after a few weeks and gifted them to my mother after a while (she loved the pebbles but had constant issues with connectivity on Android). On the other hand, I expected to return my Apple Watch (it was an impulse buy due to a discount). But it really grew on me. It’s actually a “it just works” product (which I can’t say of a lot of Apple products these days). A friend of mine has a Garmin, but afaik he can’t do much with notifications. On the other hand I have quick replies, voice to text or depending on the app quick actions. That’s just not in the same ballpark. Do I need it? No. But it’s really convenient once you got used to it. I don’t know how many times I set the timer with Siri because my hands were full or dirty. If a second SIM card wasn’t so pricey in Germany I would probably get one and leave my mobile at home most of the time.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#119

Post by salamandersauce »

emsy wrote: post #118
salamandersauce wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can do most of that on my Garmin. Really only stuff that requires mic is not doable because it doesn't have a mic. And I guess notifications "with images". Heck some of it like 2FA I did on my Pebble!

I can’t compare with the Garmin, but the Pebble experience was subpar. I stopped wearing mine after a few weeks and gifted them to my mother after a while (she loved the pebbles but had constant issues with connectivity on Android). On the other hand, I expected to return my Apple Watch (it was an impulse buy due to a discount). But it really grew on me. It’s actually a “it just works” product (which I can’t say of a…

Yeah, quick replies only work if you have Android with Garmin and other smart watches because Apple doesn't let them.

The only thing I really hate about the Garmin is that they kneecap CJK support by region locking it.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#120

Post by ValentineC »

emsy wrote: post #118
salamandersauce wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can do most of that on my Garmin. Really only stuff that requires mic is not doable because it doesn't have a mic. And I guess notifications "with images". Heck some of it like 2FA I did on my Pebble!

I can’t compare with the Garmin, but the Pebble experience was subpar. I stopped wearing mine after a few weeks and gifted them to my mother after a while (she loved the pebbles but had constant issues with connectivity on Android). On the other hand, I expected to return my Apple Watch (it was an impulse buy due to a discount). But it really grew on me. It’s actually a “it just works” product (which I can’t say of a…

> If a second SIM card wasn’t so pricey in Germany I would probably get one and leave my mobile at home most of the time.

This reminds me: it's silly that the Apple Watch eSIM has to be from the same provider as one's iPhone, and some providers which offer a phone eSIM don't support provisioning it for the Apple Watch, and vice versa.

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