I suspect none of us are in the target market, in fairness…
pal of mine has a wristband thing for his Microsoft/Nokia phone. It’s more a doohickey that measures pulse etc and syncs up with some fitness app he has, and it also flashes up incoming text messages, though I don’t think you can send using it.
all told, it’s a nice bit of gear, and if I could get one for fifty quid that married up with my own Android phone, I’d probably (foolishly) spring for one, download the fitness app and then cast it aside after a fortnight.
The apple thing? I still don’t know why anybody would be any Apple hardware in its first iteration…
I’d love one and can’t wait to play with one, but I won’t buy one. Ivan is very right about first iteration Apple hardware. I don’t feel any immediate need for one but I do enjoy watching the birth of a cultural phenomenon, and trust me, you are going to see so many people wearing these things this summer.
As an Apple “fanboy” there’s a lot of deja vu going on as I’m old enough to remember all the mocking that followed the anouncement of the iPod, iPad and in particular the iPhone. They have all done pretty well. This thing has only been on sale for a few hours and it already seems like the biggest selling smartwatch of all time. Like other Apple devices, I’m guessing it will quickly evolve to fill a need that most of us hadn’t recognised before.
I expect the watch to evolve over the next two years into a more stand-alone device. Remember how you used to have to tether your iPhone to a computer in order to get it to work? The Watch will go the same way. Take note of how much communication takes place globally outside of mobile networks (Whatsapp, etc) and the watch is a nimble communicator. Incorporate GPS into the unit so that I can go for a run and listen to music and running stats on my bluetooth headphones: Where do I sign up?
I enjoy Daring Fireball’s writing on Apple products. You might too. As someone who doesn’t wear a watch myself, I agree with his take on watch-wearers versus non-watch-wearers: http://daringfireball.net/2015/04/the_apple_watch
OK, I’m just spitballing for shits’n’giggles here, rather than looking for an argument but aesthetics and pop culture sensibilities aside, can you see a ‘need’ for one of these? And I ask, because this is one heck of an expensive toy. By that I mean that *apart* from the taking your pulse or whatever it might be able to do and *need* to be in contact with your body, is this gadget going to ever take off if it has to be within shouting distance of a ‘parent’ phone?
I mean, I *think* I can see something in a watch that has a Sim card in it, and you hook up your headset to it – remember when Apple brought out the small 1.5 inch square ipod….if that stood alone, worked as a phone/watch/whatever maybe, but right now, is the demand we’re seeing really just evidence of fools being easily parted with their money?
Once you admit to being a fanboi any rational reaction disappears. You “have” to have the new one purely because Apple releases it. The fact that the old one is perfectly fine is irrelevant. It’s about getting it out of your bag or pocket on a train or in a cafe, and the (only) self perceived aura of completeness about having the new “iThing”…why not. One man’s waste of money is another’s essential purchase. Don’t get me started on microphones.
If I was a watch wearer then I’d be amazed if I hadn’t already bought an Android one but as soon as I realised that I had a clock in my pocket all the time I stopped wearing a watch and I’m not about to go back. My phone vibrates in my pocket when I get a text, email or phone call and if I don’t feel it and only realise a while later then it’s unlikely to be the end of the world. Those huge great things people wear on their wrists all the time just look like heavy irritants to me.
There already is one; a sex toy for the ladies linked to a smart phone app. I know no more than that, so you will have to make up the details of what such app might do, other than the obvious ‘vibration’ function. 🙂
No, really! It was a (relatively) innocent browse and then I thought I’ll just have a little click on that link ‘ and then remembered I use my phone too much as it is. Think of the battery drain. And you’d have to remember to switch off all your notifications, etc.
Oh for crying out loud I got a 50% off email from an underwear store and they are also promoting the above-mentioned Apple-vibrating-wanky-app thing plus ‘accessory’ at extortionate cost. Happy now? 🙂 See, relatively innocent.
Completely redundant solution in search of a problem. Why not just drag your f**king desk around with you wherever you go, in fact why leave your chair at all? Stay at work and in touch, online and wired ALL THE DAMN TIME. Your bloody watch can tell you exactly how fast you’re becoming morbidly obese/reaching new heights of hypertension. FFS you have to be one sad mofo to want one of these ridiculous things.
As far as I can tell, “form factor” is to “shape” as “going forward” is to “in the future” but I may have misunderstood.
I like the general look of the watch but it’s expensive for what it does, and I’ll not be getting one until the second or third generation.
There now seem to be as many people wearing their Apple hatred on their sleeve as there are supposed fanboys. I’m an Apple user because I like them. I don’t tend to buy a new device the instant they come out – I’m still on my iPhone 5s and have never really found a use for an iPad – but I’ve loved both the Macs I’ve owned, would put Logic up there above any DAW on the market and really rate their wireless networking products. I’ve no desire to go back to Windows at all.
(I suppose the downside is that I have no idea what’s going on under the bonnet, because I’ve never had to remove malware, defrag a drive, go into the DOS prompt equivalent, fiddle about in the registry or press F1 at startup. I was a pretty accomplished PC mechanic, but haven’t a clue how to fix anything on a Mac. Never so much as had to install a driver, so I’m totally deskilled. And my current Mac – a 2010 MBP – runs as well as it did when I bought it. I’m about to buy an iMac, but that’s an as-well-as, not a replacement. I fully expect the Macbook to last a good while longer, assuming I get it back from BA lost property, having stupidly left it on a plane the other day in a jetlagged haze.)
I consider “Form Factor” to be a catch all phrase that rolls together shape and functions. A standard smart phone with a screen on one face only would be one form factor, one of the fancy new ones with a screen on both faces would be another even though the items are the same shape.
I think it’s fine to ignore anyone that claims to hate all products from a particular company as they almost certainly have dismissed them out of hand without even trying them. Similarly, most people that own only Apple products are rarely in a position to judge them against other products.
Good luck with the retrieval of your laptop, I left a small bag of goodies (including an ipod) on a BA flight about 18 months ago and it eventually turned up in lost property at Heathrow. It took a lot longer than I’d expected for it to get onto the database (it must have been nearly a week and I’d been running the search a couple of times a day!) so don’t give up hope. It was quite expensive to get it back though!
this is true of me as well. I used to quite like fiddling with the guts of Windows*. Twenty years ago we would have been those blokes standing round an open bonnet trying to decide of our big end had gone or not. But fortunately technology came along and saved us from that as I find cars very dull.
*I wouldn’t mind having all those hours back though.
Cars schmars. I’ve no interest at all, beyond how they look and what they’re like to drive. In fact, my old PCs are a bit like my first Renault 5: quite fun, very clunky, spent two thirds of their time on the side of the road with steam hissing out of the top, with me quite competently fixing them. My Macs are a bit like the Audi I’ve got twenty years later: basically a sealed unit that I’ve got no interest in fiddling with because it doesn’t break down. ANALOGY WIN.
And @johnw – I type this on the retrieved MBP. Took 48 hours for it to filter through to the Heathrow lost property people, but once it did, they were efficiency itself. (Despite charging me £20 to get my stuff back.)
Brilliant! Apparently BA cabin crew always do a sweep of the aircraft before the cleaners get in. I get the impression that this isn’t the case with all airlines and is a major contributor to us being reunited with our stuff.
Good news on the lost property @disappointmentbob. I too have both – MacMini for music and PC for other office stuff, mind you I don’t use the Apple software at all. I find their design approach incomprehensible and irritating at the same time, so I only use Reaper on it. I’ve tried to use iMovie or whatever it’s called which is a dreadful bit of s/w but I realise from talking to Mac savvy mates it’s just a preference thing. You either get Apple or you don’t. On the PC, movie files are called movies and are saved as projects. this makes sense to me. On the Mac they are called events and an event nothing until you add media into it, like clips or stills or something. This make no sense to me at all. And right clicking, an intuitive and efficient thing to so, mysteriously adds favourites though I have no idea what a favourite is in the context of movie editing. Right clicking should to things you do a lot, like cut, paste etc. And zooming in/out isn’t available as a short cut anywhere as far as I can see, it’s a tiny little button miles away from the rest of the editing action. Off in forum land there are loads of people moaning about it so it’s not just me. I have to say though, the hardware itself is just fine. Shame about the software.
Never in a million years. Looks like an expensive notification centre to me.
Isn’t it just a mini- smartphone with a strap? An internet ball and chain? So fiddle, widdle, diddle, fuck and throw.
“fiddle, widdle, diddle, fuck and throw”, the original names for the Spice Girls.
Or 5 of the 7 dwarves?
Mahavishnu Orchestra actually
Oh come on, i think it looks quite nice.
http://apple.trendolizer.com/assets_c/2015/04/867718-thumb-288xauto-747444.jpg
I suspect none of us are in the target market, in fairness…
pal of mine has a wristband thing for his Microsoft/Nokia phone. It’s more a doohickey that measures pulse etc and syncs up with some fitness app he has, and it also flashes up incoming text messages, though I don’t think you can send using it.
all told, it’s a nice bit of gear, and if I could get one for fifty quid that married up with my own Android phone, I’d probably (foolishly) spring for one, download the fitness app and then cast it aside after a fortnight.
The apple thing? I still don’t know why anybody would be any Apple hardware in its first iteration…
Not for me! I always ask a policeman if I want to know the time.
Time for you to GETINTHEBACKOFTHEVAN!!
I’d love one and can’t wait to play with one, but I won’t buy one. Ivan is very right about first iteration Apple hardware. I don’t feel any immediate need for one but I do enjoy watching the birth of a cultural phenomenon, and trust me, you are going to see so many people wearing these things this summer.
As an Apple “fanboy” there’s a lot of deja vu going on as I’m old enough to remember all the mocking that followed the anouncement of the iPod, iPad and in particular the iPhone. They have all done pretty well. This thing has only been on sale for a few hours and it already seems like the biggest selling smartwatch of all time. Like other Apple devices, I’m guessing it will quickly evolve to fill a need that most of us hadn’t recognised before.
I expect the watch to evolve over the next two years into a more stand-alone device. Remember how you used to have to tether your iPhone to a computer in order to get it to work? The Watch will go the same way. Take note of how much communication takes place globally outside of mobile networks (Whatsapp, etc) and the watch is a nimble communicator. Incorporate GPS into the unit so that I can go for a run and listen to music and running stats on my bluetooth headphones: Where do I sign up?
I enjoy Daring Fireball’s writing on Apple products. You might too. As someone who doesn’t wear a watch myself, I agree with his take on watch-wearers versus non-watch-wearers:
http://daringfireball.net/2015/04/the_apple_watch
OK, I’m just spitballing for shits’n’giggles here, rather than looking for an argument but aesthetics and pop culture sensibilities aside, can you see a ‘need’ for one of these? And I ask, because this is one heck of an expensive toy. By that I mean that *apart* from the taking your pulse or whatever it might be able to do and *need* to be in contact with your body, is this gadget going to ever take off if it has to be within shouting distance of a ‘parent’ phone?
I mean, I *think* I can see something in a watch that has a Sim card in it, and you hook up your headset to it – remember when Apple brought out the small 1.5 inch square ipod….if that stood alone, worked as a phone/watch/whatever maybe, but right now, is the demand we’re seeing really just evidence of fools being easily parted with their money?
Once you admit to being a fanboi any rational reaction disappears. You “have” to have the new one purely because Apple releases it. The fact that the old one is perfectly fine is irrelevant. It’s about getting it out of your bag or pocket on a train or in a cafe, and the (only) self perceived aura of completeness about having the new “iThing”…why not. One man’s waste of money is another’s essential purchase. Don’t get me started on microphones.
Hmm, I diagnose Gear Acquisition Syndrome. A common ailment amongst men of a certain age.
Lifelong GAS victim. Currently I “have” to have a CAD m179 multi pattern microphone. Do I “need” one? Don’t be silly.
http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i449/charlieboy14/f139aad347fc0cb989688e9906e5cd7b_zpsjkbrusee.jpg
If I was a watch wearer then I’d be amazed if I hadn’t already bought an Android one but as soon as I realised that I had a clock in my pocket all the time I stopped wearing a watch and I’m not about to go back. My phone vibrates in my pocket when I get a text, email or phone call and if I don’t feel it and only realise a while later then it’s unlikely to be the end of the world. Those huge great things people wear on their wrists all the time just look like heavy irritants to me.
Heavy Irritants.
TMFTL
I don’t want one, my arm would get tired.
No doubt boffins are already working on a range of wanking apps.
There already is one; a sex toy for the ladies linked to a smart phone app. I know no more than that, so you will have to make up the details of what such app might do, other than the obvious ‘vibration’ function. 🙂
Dear oh dear. Don’t people have washing machines?
PS. “I know no more than that” – pur-leeese!
No, really! It was a (relatively) innocent browse and then I thought I’ll just have a little click on that link ‘ and then remembered I use my phone too much as it is. Think of the battery drain. And you’d have to remember to switch off all your notifications, etc.
“relatively”…
Oh for crying out loud I got a 50% off email from an underwear store and they are also promoting the above-mentioned Apple-vibrating-wanky-app thing plus ‘accessory’ at extortionate cost. Happy now? 🙂 See, relatively innocent.
I checked updates and saw KFD’s post “A samosa would hit the spot. Or a slice of pizza. Why not a tasty German sausage with sauerkraut?”.
I mistakenly presumed it was part of this conversation.
Boffin’ & wanking. Just me then?
Completely redundant solution in search of a problem. Why not just drag your f**king desk around with you wherever you go, in fact why leave your chair at all? Stay at work and in touch, online and wired ALL THE DAMN TIME. Your bloody watch can tell you exactly how fast you’re becoming morbidly obese/reaching new heights of hypertension. FFS you have to be one sad mofo to want one of these ridiculous things.
I’m not a fan.
Even better, stay at home, in touch, all the time.
I do.
Standard.
If I had that sort of money to spend on a watch, I’d buy a really nice watch.
Plus I still don’t like the form factor.
What does “form factor” mean?
It (and other smart watches) are 80s mobile phones. In twenty or thirty years wearable tech is going to be awesome. These are just the growing pains.
As far as I can tell, “form factor” is to “shape” as “going forward” is to “in the future” but I may have misunderstood.
I like the general look of the watch but it’s expensive for what it does, and I’ll not be getting one until the second or third generation.
There now seem to be as many people wearing their Apple hatred on their sleeve as there are supposed fanboys. I’m an Apple user because I like them. I don’t tend to buy a new device the instant they come out – I’m still on my iPhone 5s and have never really found a use for an iPad – but I’ve loved both the Macs I’ve owned, would put Logic up there above any DAW on the market and really rate their wireless networking products. I’ve no desire to go back to Windows at all.
(I suppose the downside is that I have no idea what’s going on under the bonnet, because I’ve never had to remove malware, defrag a drive, go into the DOS prompt equivalent, fiddle about in the registry or press F1 at startup. I was a pretty accomplished PC mechanic, but haven’t a clue how to fix anything on a Mac. Never so much as had to install a driver, so I’m totally deskilled. And my current Mac – a 2010 MBP – runs as well as it did when I bought it. I’m about to buy an iMac, but that’s an as-well-as, not a replacement. I fully expect the Macbook to last a good while longer, assuming I get it back from BA lost property, having stupidly left it on a plane the other day in a jetlagged haze.)
I consider “Form Factor” to be a catch all phrase that rolls together shape and functions. A standard smart phone with a screen on one face only would be one form factor, one of the fancy new ones with a screen on both faces would be another even though the items are the same shape.
I think it’s fine to ignore anyone that claims to hate all products from a particular company as they almost certainly have dismissed them out of hand without even trying them. Similarly, most people that own only Apple products are rarely in a position to judge them against other products.
Good luck with the retrieval of your laptop, I left a small bag of goodies (including an ipod) on a BA flight about 18 months ago and it eventually turned up in lost property at Heathrow. It took a lot longer than I’d expected for it to get onto the database (it must have been nearly a week and I’d been running the search a couple of times a day!) so don’t give up hope. It was quite expensive to get it back though!
this is true of me as well. I used to quite like fiddling with the guts of Windows*. Twenty years ago we would have been those blokes standing round an open bonnet trying to decide of our big end had gone or not. But fortunately technology came along and saved us from that as I find cars very dull.
*I wouldn’t mind having all those hours back though.
Cars schmars. I’ve no interest at all, beyond how they look and what they’re like to drive. In fact, my old PCs are a bit like my first Renault 5: quite fun, very clunky, spent two thirds of their time on the side of the road with steam hissing out of the top, with me quite competently fixing them. My Macs are a bit like the Audi I’ve got twenty years later: basically a sealed unit that I’ve got no interest in fiddling with because it doesn’t break down. ANALOGY WIN.
And @johnw – I type this on the retrieved MBP. Took 48 hours for it to filter through to the Heathrow lost property people, but once it did, they were efficiency itself. (Despite charging me £20 to get my stuff back.)
Brilliant! Apparently BA cabin crew always do a sweep of the aircraft before the cleaners get in. I get the impression that this isn’t the case with all airlines and is a major contributor to us being reunited with our stuff.
No. I have a nice watch and a mobile phone.
An utterly pointless gadget to keep the first world occupied while other stuff goes on. Paranoid? Moi?
Good news on the lost property @disappointmentbob. I too have both – MacMini for music and PC for other office stuff, mind you I don’t use the Apple software at all. I find their design approach incomprehensible and irritating at the same time, so I only use Reaper on it. I’ve tried to use iMovie or whatever it’s called which is a dreadful bit of s/w but I realise from talking to Mac savvy mates it’s just a preference thing. You either get Apple or you don’t. On the PC, movie files are called movies and are saved as projects. this makes sense to me. On the Mac they are called events and an event nothing until you add media into it, like clips or stills or something. This make no sense to me at all. And right clicking, an intuitive and efficient thing to so, mysteriously adds favourites though I have no idea what a favourite is in the context of movie editing. Right clicking should to things you do a lot, like cut, paste etc. And zooming in/out isn’t available as a short cut anywhere as far as I can see, it’s a tiny little button miles away from the rest of the editing action. Off in forum land there are loads of people moaning about it so it’s not just me. I have to say though, the hardware itself is just fine. Shame about the software.