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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

#81

Post by graeme »

usaphp wrote: post #9
cozzyd wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to track your sleep that doesn't work so well

I never understood the point of tracking your sleep or even steps. It’s not like knowing that I had N hours of deep sleep will somehow change my sleep the following night. Same with steps, it’s pretty easy to understand without a tracker when you were active and when you weren’t.

What gets measured gets managed. Both my fitness and sleep improved after tracking.

At the start I was able to use the sleep tracking to troubleshoot sleep issues and improve. After that, it’s mostly a warning system for when I may need to nap later (and thus plan for it) or make sure to get to bed early.

The steps are also a fun social thing. My dad and I talk about them and have streaks of 10,000. If we handle our days well, that’s what we’d get anyway. But somedays, you slack. Being accountable to each other is a fun game and we walk more and are happier for it.

The key to this kind of tracking is you mostly don’t think of it. It happens automatically in the background.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#82

Post by modeless »

gnicholas wrote: post #74
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…

Still loving my Pebble, but sad as I've watched the battery life dwindle to ~4 days. I even put my phone in airplane mode overnight, which has extended it a bit. Does anyone else have any tips on how to make a Time Steel last? (I considered putting the Pebble into airplane mode, but it seems to be less reliable reconnecting to the phone if I do this.) What do Pebble-lovers get if they don't want an Apple Watch? I was…

I recently replaced the battery in my Pebble Time Round. Replacements are on iFixIt. It's not easy, but not impossible either. For me, it's well worth another 5+ years of use while I wait for someone, anyone, to make a decent competitor.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#83

Post by cglace »

rubicon33 wrote: post #27
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…

You must not care about sleep tracking? That's why I find battery life annoying on the apple watch, it always runs out by the end of the day. Luckily, it does charge really fast so 30 min before falling asleep and its back on.

Do you have series 6?

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#84

Post by least »

DennisAleynikov wrote: post #54
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

I have been using the samsung line of watches since before apple watch was ever a thing, despite some heart rate variance the leadership in payments samsung commanded was and still is unparalleled. people with apple pay carry a backup card, a samsung watch allows paying with magstripe emulation in case of legacy terminals. pre 2020 pandemic this was indespensible and there are still often inoperable nfc terminals and…

When I first saw that feature of the Samsung watch I thought it was really awesome. I still do. But I also remember it being excluded from some of their watches? Is that not the case anymore?

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#85

Post by least »

efields wrote: post #45
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…

Your last p contradicts the first. Part of what makes apple products so good is the software, the depth and complexity of things like Assistive Touch doesn’t happen in a few sprints. Their software isn’t perfect, but it’s so thorough that it allows them to do levels of polish that competitors have a hard time catching up to.

Once a feature is shown off in the real world it usually doesn't take long to replicate its functionality to an acceptable level. This give Apple a lead in that respect, but not years of a lead.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#86

Post by leoc »

CoolGuySteve wrote: post #5

Around 10 years ago I wrote a Linux driver for the OCZ Nia, a super cheap EMG device. The Nia was actually a $10k medical device for paralyzed people to control computers with their face and tongue repurposed as a gaming input and sold for $120. While I'm certain the technology has advanced, what surprises me most is how basic these finger reading devices seem. They're basically some electrodes on your skin near majo…

There was also the Myo armband by Thalmic Labs, later North, later a division of Google. Apparently it didn't work very well though.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#87

Post by pram »

melling wrote: post #10

Apple needs a little competition. I expected the Watch to advance much quicker. 6 years ago I wrote this blog saying everyone would be wearing a smart watch within a decade. My reasons were “health and safety“ https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/in-the-future-everyo... “ There has been much discussion on the need for smart watches like the Apple Watch. People have a hard time believing that a large market exists.…

Looks like you were wrong.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#88

Post by rubicon33 »

cglace wrote: post #83
rubicon33 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must not care about sleep tracking? That's why I find battery life annoying on the apple watch, it always runs out by the end of the day. Luckily, it does charge really fast so 30 min before falling asleep and its back on.

Do you have series 6?

Yes I do, and I use it for a number of things including sleep tracking which its great at.

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#89

Post by gnicholas »

modeless wrote: post #82
gnicholas wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still loving my Pebble, but sad as I've watched the battery life dwindle to ~4 days. I even put my phone in airplane mode overnight, which has extended it a bit. Does anyone else have any tips on how to make a Time Steel last? (I considered putting the Pebble into airplane mode, but it seems to be less reliable reconnecting to the phone if I do this.) What do Pebble-lovers get if they don't want an Apple Watch? I was…

I recently replaced the battery in my Pebble Time Round. Replacements are on iFixIt. It's not easy, but not impossible either. For me, it's well worth another 5+ years of use while I wait for someone, anyone, to make a decent competitor.

Awesome. How does it affect water resistance?

Re: Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables

#90

Post by d3nj4l »

mcny wrote: post #75
nickbauman wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree on all counts. It's very hard to put time horizons on anything. But I started wearing a Series 3 watch (3 generations old now) when I started a project my client in 2019 insisted I wear it as I was writing code that utilized HealthKit data from the Apple Watch. Check my past posts I'm NOT an Apple fan boi at all. But compared to the competition, there's nothing coming close to the integration and the UX out the…

The only real complaint I have is 8GB is not enough storage to update watch os. But there is praise in the complaint: you can update it at all.

On that note, it feels so un-apple like that their official way of resolving the storage issue with updates is to unpair the watch and pair it again.
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