Apple just unveiled the availability of their Apple Watch, it is beautifully made and the display is gorgeous, but does a display like this really belong on the watch? It comes with some basic communication options that we’ve seen on the likes of the SamsungGear such as toggling Siri and replying with voice messages, or even answering calls with the built in mic. The bands are replaceable (which you have to purchase from Apple) and the watch itself comes in stainless steel, brushed aluminium and 18K gold. Yup, you read it right: 18K Gold. It promises all-day battery life and will enhance your life with it’s mere presence on your wrist — promised Apple’s Tim Cook.
I don’t bash a device for what it is, I bash a device for what the manufacturer says it is without thinking. I have to give it to Tim Cook, he uses words like “personal” and “intimate” so enthusiastically that it borders on sociopathic. There are so many things the Apple Watch does that current smart watches already do. Apple talks about how their watch works like it’s the messiah that Apple fans have been waiting for to take them out of the oppression of Pebble. Sure, Apple wants to create a watch that enhances people’s live. They even go as far as to say “We want people to be more healthy by being more active”. Sure, but you’re gonna need to pay about 349USD to 17000USD for such “intimate” and “personal” care. (Did I mention the Pebble Time is 159USD on Kickstarter right now?)
First, let’s go through what I think about the Apple Watch aesthetics. Do you really need a full color IPS display on the front of the watch? The problem with full-color LCDs is that you need them to be dim enough to not blind you (and the people around you) in dim situations as well as bright enough so that you can read the time in sunlight. You can even see in the photo above that this display appears super washed out in what appears to be florescent lighting. Since Apple has declared this as a watch that will aim to keep you fit and even got Christy Turlington Burns to run a half marathon with it on her wrist, it makes me wonder if that she had to do that shade thing with her hands just to tell the time or see her statistics under direct sun light. It looks extremely bulky from the side and I don’t think really like how you interact with the display touchscreen. Just to note, this is just by observation and watching how they were interacting with the watch during the Apple event.
This is certainly the most advanced time piece that Apple has ever created, because it is the only time piece that Apple has ever created. It is advertised to be extremely accurate — Although, seriously what watch that uses an RTOS processor isn’t? — and has different watch faces which is able to express time like never before. To note that an animated LCD screen is definitely not the way you want to see the time on your watch, except if you only plan on looking at your watch once ever 4 hours. If Apple were to go e-ink, but keep all their functionality, they would be able to slim down their device and still bring the user experience they have been famous for. Sure, the Apple Watch has a gorgeous shell, but the display could’ve been more reliable and easy on the eyes. They should’ve just called it the Apple Wrist and tell people it’s an advance monitor you can have on your wrist.
The apps you find pre-installed on the Apple Watch is pretty gimmicky as well, you want things on a smart watch that does not distract you as much but informs you well. It also tries to be something it is not. The Apple Watch tries to make you do stuff on your watch rather than on the phone, like sending replies and “getting other people’s attention” by sending over poorly drawn graphics or sending your own heart rate to someone using the watch (all of which will suck the life out of the iPhone in your pocket and the Apple Watch on your wrist). Sure, it’s cute and cool and everything, but that’s like sticking a Bluetooth speakerinto a fish and then selling it, telling people you can use the fish to talk to people at a distance via Bluetooth. It’s cool and all, but unnecessary. You’ll spend your first few days showing it to friends, messing around with the moon-phase app, showing them the floor thingie magicky, Mickey Mouse dancing on your clock face and that will be it, you’re going to revert back to using the plain old watch face with the notifications in the end.
My vision of a smart watch is something to tell you what is going on in your phone without having to actually look at your phone. It tells you the time and gives you notification based on priority and severity but that’s all. It’s something you can politely look at in the meeting room and then handle under the desk without appearing rude (like dismissing a notification with the touch of a button). It has to be something that works without having to interact with it too much. So far, the only product that has come close to realizing that would be the Pebble Time, but they too have still much room to improve. A full day battery life as promised by Apple is not something I want to rely on for an every day driver, it just means I have an extra device to charge every night before I go to sleep — then again this can be said about almost all smart watches actually. Maybe a better daily companion would be the COOKOO 2.
In the spirit of trying to be something it’s not, Apple Watch tries its best to be a health and fitness tracker, annoyingly updating you when you’re sitting down for too long, sleeping for too long, walking for too long, or doing something for too long. If you really need a device that costs more than your health insurance, to sit on your wrist and tell you how to be healthy, it just proves that we live in a generation full of idiots who don’t know how to take care of ourselves — and again, it’ll cost a minimum of USD349 to get this kind of care. Also, if the Apple Watch was such a great fitness tracker like they so marketed it to be with the Christy Turlington Burns video — no offense to Cristy Turlington Burns, I have no idea she is but I’m pretty sure Apple put her up to this — why didn’t Apple give it to a real athlete to push it to the limits. A watch should be a watch, give it some ability to display simple notifications and some scrolling information and it’s perfectly basic. Apple Watch has way too much hands in way too many places. Lastly, Apple Pay is just dumb, I could hold up scanner to the watch just to steal information and you wouldn’t even realize you’ve been robbed till it’s too late.
The Apple Watch, I do not know what to feel, except that a lot of Apple heads are going to buy this and say that it is the greatest watch in the world. That opinion is very subjective, so please don’t push it onto others.
