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Will Apple Watch Wear Smartwatch Crown?

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US | B 29 comments

We've finally set eyes on the much-anticipated Apple Watch. I wore it in a controlled setting — so controlled that I couldn't interact with it. In other words, I was asked to marvel at it. And I did. The Apple Watch represents distinct, compelling steps forward for this nascent technology category — steps that, once again, Apple proved only it can make. [A hands-on video from Apple's event is embedded below.]

As exciting as it was, I was left wanting more. For one thing, the Apple Watch is still probably six months away. For another, it will still be tethered to a phone (and specifically an iPhone 6 or iPhone 5). To top it all off, it will cost $349 just for the least expensive model. In hindsight, I guess I'm not all that surprised.

But none of this will deter the Apple faithful, the first movers, the hip, the rich. (Will those who follow Apple still be called Apple watchers?) The Apple Watch will do gangbusters, if for no other reason than it's Apple. Love or hate Apple, the company doesn't just rush a product to market without a few attempts at creating something iconic.

The most obvious example in the Apple Watch is the digital crown, a user interface so obvious and simple, watching it in use made me feel stupid for forgetting about it. Scrolling through notifications or within an app, zooming in and out, even pressing it as a home button all seemed pretty obvious.

The device changes from a watch to a phone peripheral by sensing that you're looking at it. There is subtle haptic feedback (via linear actuator — Apple calls this its "taptic" engine) when getting a notification. You can input with a touch, but the watch can sense force, so it can detect a tap versus a press. You can send quick, fun messages using the watch face as a drawing board. You can even send your heartbeat to another user.

The watch's 38mm face (42mm for the bigger versions) has a retina display, protected with a Sapphire lamination. The watch supports Siri in addition to typical swipe gestures and the digital crown UI.

Oh yes, Apple intends to make the Apple Watch the ultimate fitness device, too, detecting your pulse, but also tracking daily activity, helping you establish milestones and view them throughout the day.

And I haven't even talked about the choices — choices in size and style, from the strap to the face of the watch body, including 18-karat gold. There's no telling what Apple's legion of developers will do with Watchkit, the new SDK for Apple Watch apps. Apple showed off customized versions of Twitter, American Airlines (check in from your watch), and Starwood Hotels (you can not only check in, but you will be able to unlock your room door by waving your watch in all W Hotels by next Spring). Control lights in your home, your Apple TV and so on. Like the iPhone 6, the Apple Watch will make payments using NFC.

With Apple's S1 chip for the Apple Watch, along with the normal assortment of gyros and accelerometers, and using the GPS and Wi-Fi from an iPhone, the roads are certainly being paved. If the smartwatch industry moves as fast as the smartphone market did, we'll have it all baked-in in short order.

Until then, the Apple Watch will remain simply the most compelling accessory to an iPhone ever created, and that's where I still grapple with the smartwatch, no matter what bells and whistles are included: it still seems like it solves a need that doesn't quite exist. But then again, isn't that where Apple truly thrives? Tell me: Will you be lining up to buy the Apple Watch?

Apple Watch Event September 2014

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Top Comments
  • 10 Hide
    Murissokah , September 9, 2014 8:30 PM
    Aaannnd.... I still can't see a point in smart watches.
Other Comments
  • 3 Hide
    BlasterX , September 9, 2014 6:03 PM
    The watch looks bulky as hell like a kid's watch. Even the Asus Zenwatch looks better in this case with the brown leather band.

  • -3 Hide
    soldier44 , September 9, 2014 6:33 PM
    I stopped wearing watches in the 90s, this basically takes all that your cell phone does away. No thanks.
  • Add your comment Display all 29 comments.
  • 1 Hide
    velocityg4 , September 9, 2014 6:44 PM
    With there douchebag move of putting 16GB storage in the bottom line iPhone 6 plus and expecting you to pay $750. I couldn't imagine also dropping at least $350 on a watch I'd have to throw out in a couple of years.
  • 3 Hide
    beayn , September 9, 2014 6:56 PM
    But... hippies don't wear watches?
  • 3 Hide
    daekar , September 9, 2014 7:58 PM
    Is it waterproof to 10 feet? Does the battery last 72 hours or more?
  • 10 Hide
    Murissokah , September 9, 2014 8:30 PM
    Aaannnd.... I still can't see a point in smart watches.
  • 2 Hide
    Bloob , September 9, 2014 9:17 PM
    The UX seems decent, but I don't like the bulkiness of it. Looks like it needs to be strapped pretty tightly for the heartrate sensor to work. Also no mention of battery life and it seems to use iPhone GPS instead of it's own, and yeah, needs an iPhone. The fanboy -reaction of the press during the live event was frankly shameful.

    Overall seemed like a decent entry to smartwatch market, but so far none of them appeal to me.
  • -1 Hide
    Nuckles_56 , September 9, 2014 9:44 PM
    Quote:
    The UX seems decent, but I don't like the bulkiness of it. Looks like it needs to be strapped pretty tightly for the heartrate sensor to work. Also no mention of battery life and it seems to use iPhone GPS instead of it's own, and yeah, needs an iPhone. The fanboy -reaction of the press during the live event was frankly shameful.

    Overall seemed like a decent entry to smartwatch market, but so far none of them appeal to me.

    Without the fanboy reaction, apple launches are nothing
  • 0 Hide
    rwinches , September 9, 2014 10:44 PM
    Note to presenter; less sales pitch more demo.
    Yeah, I can choose a friends picture and send a recorded burp instantly, I'm sure the others in the business meeting, especially the clients, will get a big kick out of it.
  • -1 Hide
    vaughn2k , September 10, 2014 2:36 AM
    Yes, and it is soooo... un-Apple... :D 
  • -1 Hide
    mr grim , September 10, 2014 3:31 AM
    Ugly ass crap is all I can say, I thought they would have at least made use of curved LCD technology, I much preferred the renders that have been shown on here previously, shame Apple didn't take note of them, here is an example of what an iWatch should look like http://max.macnn.com/article_images/1391428854-md-119305_md_12924_iwatch_release_date_is_october_2013.png or even this would be cool https://m1.behance.net/rendition/modules/54621669/disp/f47dd86baa3a7d25c96045d36a6584bb.jpg

    Nothing about this watch says Apple but saying that even the new iPhone 6 doesn't look like an iPhone anymore, looks like they have leaned more towards the styling of the Galaxy with the curved bezel and I guess in that respect the iWatch does resemble the new iPhone 6.

    Not that I would have ever bought one anyway, or any smart watch, but I was at least hoping to see something special and seeming innovative.
  • 0 Hide
    B4vB5 , September 10, 2014 3:50 AM
    If there is an Apple watch or other digital watch, that can do all of the following,
    - At least match what the Garmin 910XT can do, including being waterproof and built for sweat and slightly rugged too.
    - Have at least 6+ hours of battery time, while actively GPS records and doing feedback every 5 sec
    - Have touch and basic phone capabilities(receive texts, emails in text forms) and perhaps a full basic phone feature set(phone capabilities, voice msgs, two way communications)

    ..I would consider buying one. If it can match what an Edge 800 can do, as well as the above full feature set of the 910XT and two-way phone features, then I'll get one.
  • 1 Hide
    eriko , September 10, 2014 5:31 AM
    So no GPS on the watch then? I'll pass.

    But it does look lovely, I must say.
  • 0 Hide
    killer1one , September 10, 2014 7:23 AM
    I don't use watches, and i don't see myself recharging one every 24 hours to do stuff that my phone does. I am not into this "smart"watch thing. The phone market helped the people by reducing the amount of devices needed. Phones have replaced cameras for the common folk, portable multimedia players, calculators, even watches. And now we are going back to having a second device to do things that we can already do with a phone (With one or two minor exceptions maybe?)?

    Sorry not for me. Everybody has a portable computer know (Smartphone) you don't need 2, because they do the same thing: EVERYTHING
  • 1 Hide
    deftonian , September 10, 2014 7:23 AM
    "In other words, I was asked to marvel at it. And I did."

    You lost me right there.... I mean, you sound like a hypnotized goon and I feel everything beyond that point is going to be embellished rubbish because you're eyes are glossy over it being Apple.

    Toms has extremes. You mock Motorola before you even try it but then you post an Apple article like this.
  • 3 Hide
    srap , September 10, 2014 7:25 AM
    Quote:
    Aaannnd.... I still can't see a point in smart watches.

    There never was any from the beginning. It only a fusion of the shortcomings of a watch (small form factory, small 'display area') with the limitations of smart phones (battery life, possible and existing compatibility problems, short software support life, lack of security, artificially fast life cycles, etc.)

    A 100 year old pocket or wrist watch can be still functional with little care (and it's value only grows as it ages), these won't live to see the third generation of their kind.
  • 0 Hide
    sadsteve , September 10, 2014 7:33 AM
    Hm, so to get anything beyond time and health/fitness info on the watch you have to have your iPhone with you. I'm having problems seeing why I'd want to purchase this over priced watch that just relays the info from the phone on my hip. I'd just use the phone instead since it has a much larger display and provides all the advanced features missing from the watch. I don't think this iWatch is going to be a big seller.
  • 0 Hide
    sportfreak23 , September 10, 2014 8:19 AM
    Still waiting for a watch that you don't need to pair with phone. Otherwise I rather get a Gshock MR-G
  • 0 Hide
    canadianvice , September 10, 2014 8:35 AM
    That moment when the artist's mockup is superior to the end result. On another note, what did Tim Cook do for you in a back room to get you to write this fanboy tripe?
  • 0 Hide
    zahoome , September 10, 2014 9:15 AM
    Quote:
    "In other words, I was asked to marvel at it. And I did."

    You lost me right there.... I mean, you sound like a hypnotized goon and I feel everything beyond that point is going to be embellished rubbish because you're eyes are glossy over it being Apple.

    Toms has extremes. You mock Motorola before you even try it but then you post an Apple article like this.

    Combine that with the next sentence:

    "The Apple Watch represents distinct, compelling steps forward for this nascent technology category — steps that, once again, Apple proved only it can make."

    and you can just see the fanboy drool dribbling down his chin. That first paragraph definitely sets the tone for the article as something extremely biased.
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