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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

#61

Post by chrisseaton »

drewg123 wrote: post #20
lettergram wrote: post #4

Pebble IMO was and still is the best wearable watch. I don’t think anything worked better largely due to the long battery life and generally the e-ink design. Had they added different wrist bands with smart tech in it, it would have gone even further. I don’t really think apple has a decade lead, what they do have is minimal innovation they’re competing with. AND more importantly, a brand and ecosystem. That being sa…

You should look at Garmin. They have models with battery life measured in weeks, not hours like the Apple watch. My 3+ year old 645 still gets 6 days of battery life.

I use a Garmin Tactix Bravo in tactical situations and it's brilliant! I think the battery lasts about two weeks.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#62

Post by renewiltord »

emsy wrote: post #14
lettergram wrote: post #4

Pebble IMO was and still is the best wearable watch. I don’t think anything worked better largely due to the long battery life and generally the e-ink design. Had they added different wrist bands with smart tech in it, it would have gone even further. I don’t really think apple has a decade lead, what they do have is minimal innovation they’re competing with. AND more importantly, a brand and ecosystem. That being sa…

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 love my Apple Watch but the battery life thing is annoying because I do want to wear it to bed so the alarm can fire without waking a sleeping companion.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#63

Post by ValentineC »

thekyle wrote: post #56
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 put my watch on the charger whenever I go to sleep. One of the things that always confused me about the Apple Watch (and other smartwatches) is that they market them as sleep tracking devices, but if you do use it for that purpose then I'm not sure when you're supposed to charge it. I guess you could charge it during a morning (or evening) shower but is ~30 minutes a day of charging enough?

> I guess you could charge it during a morning (or evening) shower but is ~30 minutes a day of charging enough?

As someone who does this, yes. (It's more like twice a day, roughly ~30 minutes each.)

If it helps, I also usually turn on cinema mode on my Series 5 before I go to sleep.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#64

Post by Fomite »

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…

I'm skeptical anyone has a decade long lead on anything in the consumer electronics space.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#65

Post by ErikVandeWater »

Don't understand why this is upvoted. The math used to get to 10+ years assumes competitors address each element of the lead one-by-one:

> Custom silicon / technology / sensors (a four to five-year lead over the competition, and that is being generous to the competition)

> Design-led product development processes that emphasizes the user experience (adds three years to Apple’s lead)

> A broader ecosystem build-out in terms of a suite of wearables and services (adds two years to Apple’s lead)

Why would competitors wait to start on emphasizing user experience and broader suite of wearables until after they create "custom silicon" (whatever that means)? And the claim that user experience is superior for an Apple itself is unsubstantiated. As an Android/Windows person, I would most likely have a better experience with an Android-based wearable than an Apple-based wearable because of the integration. If the claim is that Apple has a lead against competitors for owners of Apple products, why is that interesting enough to write a blog post? I bet Apple has a lead in Lightning to 3.5mm headphone dongles too.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#66

Post by ValentineC »

btowngar wrote: post #30
flyinglizard wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t get why battery life is important beyond 24h. I just put the watch on its charger at night. Only downside is during traveling, one more thing to carry and possibly the watch won’t make it through excruciating international travel. So it won’t matter to me if the watch lasts a day or a week, it’s off my wrist when I sleep and goes on it’s charger.

I’m T1 diabetic and use my watch for monitoring my glucose levels. I wear it 100% of the time, aside from showering when it charges. Charging quickly and having a minimum of 24hrs of charge is really important to me. Apple Watch hits both of those.

Do you have a separate accessory for monitoring glucose? I'm really looking forward to the Series 7 which is rumoured to have blood glucose monitoring.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#67

Post by soneil »

emsy wrote: post #14
lettergram wrote: post #4

Pebble IMO was and still is the best wearable watch. I don’t think anything worked better largely due to the long battery life and generally the e-ink design. Had they added different wrist bands with smart tech in it, it would have gone even further. I don’t really think apple has a decade lead, what they do have is minimal innovation they’re competing with. AND more importantly, a brand and ecosystem. That being sa…

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 know you said you don't care about camping, but I have to point out it's simply not as big a problem as people like to imagine either. I take a battery to charge my phone for maps anyway. The big difference between charging my watch camping, and charging my watch at home, is when I'm camping, I put it on the charger and take it off when it hits 80%. I don't just leave it there while I sleep.

5-8 days on 1 or 2 powerbanks is normal. Most people hiking more than that are going to find somewhere to stop and charge (and restock food) at least that often anyway. Truly hitting wilderness for 2+ weeks is the actual edge case where I'd want to leave my watch at home.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#68

Post by threeseed »

jiggawatts wrote: post #58
unparagoned wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got a Samsung watch and the the heart rate monitor has serious reliability issues. Apples is not only suppose the be better but you got blood pressure and o2 monitoring. I'm definitely going to switch over in the future

Most of the Apple Watch health features are blocked in Australia because they were literally too lazy to submit the paperwork to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)! All a competitor has to do is submit their paperwork and they won't get any competition from Apple. Easy!

ECG has been available in Australia for the last month.

Only health feature that isn't approved is O2 levels.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#69

Post by t-writescode »

nostromo wrote: post #59
JKCalhoun wrote: post #3

I didn't think I would like the Apple Watch as much as I do. I swear, add a camera, and I'll leave my phone at home. I know, it's not a mobile browser, not really much as a mobile messaging device — but that's fine. One one hand, I'm not your stereotypical phone user that is always engrossed in the black mirror but furthermore, the Apple Watch means I am even less inclined.

I liked my Apple Watch for a while. Then… I forgot to wear it sometimes. Then everyday. I’d love to buy one again if it could hold a charge for several days. But the value proposition isn’t high enough for the pain of daily charging.

I tend to charge mine in the shower or when I’m sitting at my computer at work. It handles a day just fine with a couple 30-or-hour long charges

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#70

Post by jayd16 »

krrrh wrote: post #38

I think people underestimate how big of a factor weight is going to be when it comes to face wearables. Apple’s lead in terms of performance/watt is so massive at this point, they’re going to have a few years where no other AR solution can even compete.

They can't even make a pair of headphones under 300 grams.
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