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Apple Watch: Initial Thoughts and Observations

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Re: Apple Watch: Initial Thoughts and Observations

#71

Post by Watabou »

drcode wrote: post #55
YuriNiyazov wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As your comment rightfully deserves due to language and general non-contribution, you've been down-voted into oblivion. Nevertheless, educating the uninformed is a public service, so here goes: amongst professionals and connoisseurs in the watch industry, the "knob" is called a "crown", so they have every right to call it that; they didn't just make it up.

To defend my position: They're not calling it a "crown", they're calling it a "digital crown", and digital knobs are common place objects that already have a name. If I build a car with a joystick instead of a steering wheel and call it a "digital steering wheel" everyone would say, "No, somebody invented that already, it's called a 'joystick'"... they would not say "I am going to educate the uninformed and tell them…

And they would be right. Why? Because the joystick doesn't look the same as a steering wheel, so it's a stretch to call it a digital steering wheel (though you wouldn't exactly be wrong)

The crown on watches and the crown on Apple Watch look the same. It's a crown with digital functionality. Thus, the digital crown.

Re: Apple Watch: Initial Thoughts and Observations

#72

Post by rtpg »

peteretep wrote: post #64
rtpg wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> don't see how the overall point doesn't equally apply to the Apple Watch. This is something that nobody seems to want to acknowledge in (for lack of a better word) the Apple fanclub. If you look at the features of the Apple watch, they are basically the same as every other smartwatch released by Samsung and motorola (except for the NFC/Apple Pay stuff, which I am genuinly excited for). People are trying really hard…

Apple fan-boy here. I agree with the grandparent that Gruber didn't really make this point well. But: > If you look at the features of the Apple watch, they are > basically the same as every other smartwatch released by > Samsung and motorola This is basically true of almost every Apple product ever, except perhaps the iPhone at launch. I'll go a step further, and agree that Apple generally lags on features compariso…

I also own some Apple products,and one thing that is substantially different has been build quality and ease of use.

iPods were fun to use, iPhones had enough UI differentiation with things like blackberries to be "different".

the Apple Watch doesn't seem to have that. As a cousin post commented, Android Wear's UI almost seems more Apple than Apple's own UI.

Maybe the Zoom-UI and the crown are it. maybe this will tackle people's issues with usability. But there seems to be little differentiation. I won't argue about it being the best on the market (it might be), I just doubt this changes the marketplace as much as we might want.

This might end up being like the iPad. A lot of people ended up buying iPads, but unlike the iPhone, we didn't get a very large new tablet market from it.

Re: Apple Watch: Initial Thoughts and Observations

#73

Post by elblanco »

Watabou wrote: post #66
elblanco wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And we know that Android Wear kind of sucks. So if they're not that different, Apple Watch will probably not be that great. that's really the salient point isn't it? Apple's playing catchup, but shooting for targets that probably aren't all that great to begin with.

What part is Apple playing catch up with exactly? Based on what I saw, Apple Watch seems to me, a lot more than just a notification device that Android Wear is. Additionally, there's nothing in Android Wear that I've seen that focuses on the watch being, well, a watch. All the straps sucked, we don't know if the time is precise (this is the first thing Apple said about the Apple Watch), and most importantly, none of…

> What part is Apple playing catch up with exactly?

Existing.

Re: Apple Watch: Initial Thoughts and Observations

#74

Post by blinkingled »

IBM wrote: post #69
dilap wrote: post #63

Here's a fun sport for Apple watchers, aficionados and detractors alike: has Apple jumped the shark yet in the post-Steve era? (The game's a bit Candyland-esque; we always arrive at "yes": if Apple's strategy is inflexible post-Steve, they're doomed, if they make any changes, they are also doomed.) Let's play anyway. The big, flashing, worrying sign of changed-for-the-worse Apple isn't any hullaboloo about Warhol and…

Much like the iPhone announcement then.

Ugh, I am not sure if you are being sarcastic but it in fact is exactly unlike the original iPhone announcement. The OG iPhone solved a long standing problem that no one else had managed to solve elegantly. It did few things and it did them better than anything else before it.

Apple Watch - well your turn to tell me how it is anything like the iPhone - Apple actually did not tell us what problem it is solving - why competitors' watches are horrible, why I need the Apple Watch etc. That's the worrying thing about this.

Re: Apple Watch: Initial Thoughts and Observations

#75

Post by glenra »

adventured wrote: post #14
blainsmith wrote: post #5

And yet it is still square and ugly because of it.

I actually like some square and rectangle watch designs, but in this case I dislike the particular overall shape of the Apple Watch. It has something to do with the combination of the thickness, and the specific rounding of the corners and sides, that I find off-putting aesthetically. I want to wear a watch, not a gadget. So I want the technology to be submissive to the watch. When you look at what is on my wrist, I…

The best thing about Apple selling this watch now is that it puts them on track to make one half as thick a few years later that really will be aesthetically competitive. Within the decade, smartwatches will undoubtedly be thinner than mechanical watches, but they've gotta start somewhere.

Though I do have to admit that going into this thing, my guess was that they'd be using a new color e-ink display to save battery life, not a "raise your arm to turn it on" sensor.

Re: Apple Watch: Initial Thoughts and Observations

#76

Post by elblanco »

dilap wrote: post #63

Here's a fun sport for Apple watchers, aficionados and detractors alike: has Apple jumped the shark yet in the post-Steve era? (The game's a bit Candyland-esque; we always arrive at "yes": if Apple's strategy is inflexible post-Steve, they're doomed, if they make any changes, they are also doomed.) Let's play anyway. The big, flashing, worrying sign of changed-for-the-worse Apple isn't any hullaboloo about Warhol and…

> in the traditional Gruber understanding of what makes Apple great

The thing is, Gruber's mutant power is the ability to turntwist just about anything Apple does into a core Apple value and what defines them and makes them great.

In other words, what Gruber thinks and writes about basically doesn't matter, because Apple could do just about anything and he'd clap for it and stand in line.

Re: Apple Watch: Initial Thoughts and Observations

#77

Post by awinder »

elblanco wrote: post #76
dilap wrote: post #63

Here's a fun sport for Apple watchers, aficionados and detractors alike: has Apple jumped the shark yet in the post-Steve era? (The game's a bit Candyland-esque; we always arrive at "yes": if Apple's strategy is inflexible post-Steve, they're doomed, if they make any changes, they are also doomed.) Let's play anyway. The big, flashing, worrying sign of changed-for-the-worse Apple isn't any hullaboloo about Warhol and…

> in the traditional Gruber understanding of what makes Apple great The thing is, Gruber's mutant power is the ability to turntwist just about anything Apple does into a core Apple value and what defines them and makes them great. In other words, what Gruber thinks and writes about basically doesn't matter, because Apple could do just about anything and he'd clap for it and stand in line.

Except that he continually derides iCloud...

Re: Apple Watch: Initial Thoughts and Observations

#78

Post by elblanco »

rtpg wrote: post #72
peteretep wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple fan-boy here. I agree with the grandparent that Gruber didn't really make this point well. But: > If you look at the features of the Apple watch, they are > basically the same as every other smartwatch released by > Samsung and motorola This is basically true of almost every Apple product ever, except perhaps the iPhone at launch. I'll go a step further, and agree that Apple generally lags on features compariso…

I also own some Apple products,and one thing that is substantially different has been build quality and ease of use. iPods were fun to use, iPhones had enough UI differentiation with things like blackberries to be "different". the Apple Watch doesn't seem to have that. As a cousin post commented, Android Wear's UI almost seems more Apple than Apple's own UI. Maybe the Zoom-UI and the crown are it. maybe this will tac…

> Maybe the Zoom-UI

The ZoomUI looked terrible to me. After years of huge iPads with only 4 icons across on it, because that supposedly makes them easier to use, the tiny tight grocery fruit pack of the icons looks like a usability nightmare. Fiddling with the knob (it's not a crown, crowns have specific functions in watches) also looks like a terrible time with every interaction. There's so many other ways they could have gone with it, and it's like they chose the wrong way just to be different.

Re: Apple Watch: Initial Thoughts and Observations

#79

Post by elblanco »

freshyill wrote: post #24
DannyBee wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"He thinks Apple is holding some details close to the vest and he has a plausible reason for why. Say what you will about Gruber's Apple partisanship, but he's always been great at reading between the lines of Apple's publicity events." And he also thinks that no android wear device manufacturer is doing the same, for no plausible reason. He's basically saying "apple has secret plans, they are awesome" and "Nobody el…

AND he says that if it turns out Apple doesn't have secret plans, then he will indeed be very disappointed. Everybody else's watches are shipping. If they've got secret plans, they should probably get around to revealing them.

just like he backed out of being disappointed in the watch itself?

Re: Apple Watch: Initial Thoughts and Observations

#80

Post by peteretep »

rtpg wrote: post #72
peteretep wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple fan-boy here. I agree with the grandparent that Gruber didn't really make this point well. But: > If you look at the features of the Apple watch, they are > basically the same as every other smartwatch released by > Samsung and motorola This is basically true of almost every Apple product ever, except perhaps the iPhone at launch. I'll go a step further, and agree that Apple generally lags on features compariso…

I also own some Apple products,and one thing that is substantially different has been build quality and ease of use. iPods were fun to use, iPhones had enough UI differentiation with things like blackberries to be "different". the Apple Watch doesn't seem to have that. As a cousin post commented, Android Wear's UI almost seems more Apple than Apple's own UI. Maybe the Zoom-UI and the crown are it. maybe this will tac…

    > iPods were fun to use, iPhones had enough UI]
    > differentiation with things like blackberries to be
    > "different".
These things are true only in hindsight. When the iPod came out, how would it ever compare to the Nomad? How was a phone that had no keyboard going to compete with people's beloved Blackberrys?

    > the Apple Watch doesn't seem to have that
I'm wrong a lot, but I'll be amazed if that's a comment you can stand by a month after it's in consumers' hands.
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