How many are getting an Apple watch?

[ControlD]

Well an iPhone is better at taking pictures of food and finding nearby dudes to suck your dick than it is at making phone calls, but people still buy it.

No wonder I never fell in love with my iPhone. I was missing out on its best features.

 

[Ramses]

I hear there is a netflix watch now...

 

[Commodus]

Bad analogy, you are basically saying they have given out some good reviews to some Android devices, therefore they are not bias. So I'll try again, the Verge is not often called iVerge for no reason, their reviews have a history of being crucified for being extremely pro-Apple (especially few of the younger editors). Josh T still has my respect, but I think he can hire better people.

I guess we, the nay sayer must STFU since we don't own one. Got it.
Truth is, a turd is a turd, is a turd. You can polish it all day, it's still a turd.

No, I'm saying that you're basing things on a slanted perception of how The Verge reviews things, not necessarily their real track record. Who's doing the crucifying, too? Are they people who hold no grudges against other platforms, or hardcore Android fans who'd rather fall on a sword than say anything nice about Apple?

I'm not arguing that you should never question the integrity of a review. But when a reviewer says "based on our hands-on experience, we think it's the best" and you reply "you're wrong," you'd better have some evidence to back it up -- especially when you've admitted that the review is largely nuanced and realistic.

 

[poofyhairguy]

After all, Beats are not as popular as you think

For its market its popular. By 2013 Beats had about three times as much sales revenue as Sennheiser.

Using tiny screen on wrist while driving is even more dangerous than using the phone.

As someone who has a smartwatch mostly for commuting benefits you are SO wrong on this one. Not everything can be voice controlled, and Android Auto isn't an option for most cars. So this isn't some magic HUD vs a smartwatch, its using your phone vs using a smartwatch. In that case, the smartwatch is MUCH MUCH safer. Why?

1. It in on your wrist, which is in plain view when your hand is on the steering wheel. A phone requires a hand to hold it in view.

2. It has a small screen, which makes it much quicker to scan for touch targets. Your eyes run across that 2 inch screen like lightening and you find the button, while on a 5 inch phone you have to visually search for a second.

3. The interface is simpler which makes it easier to find the button you need. Some apps have a "driving mode," but most have you hunt touch targets like pause and play on some messy interface full of other buttons. On my Wear device when ANYTHING is playing the control are four things: pause, play, skip back and skip forward. Each takes a fourth the screen, so I can pause things without looking.

4. The watch during navigation mode can give you an idea of the next move and how long until you get there, so you don't get surprised last minutes when the voice asks you to cut over three lanes the last mile before the exit in traffic.

Sure some magic HUD would be even better, but unless you are willing to buy a new car just for its car connections for most people a smartwatch is a practical safety improvement over using a phone.

There are Honda Civics with all the latest and greatest apps, but I prefer my NSX. Having "more function" does not translate directly to "being more functional".

Didn't you admit the other day that a Rolex can't tell time as well as a $1 digital watch? High end watches are jewelry that sometimes gives you the right time. I admire their value, but they aren't very functional overall compared to a smartwatch. Nothing wrong with that at all, jewelry has a value outside of function.

My smartwatch looks like crap. I mean its rough. And its nothing I am going to pass down, its going in a drawer as soon as I get a better one. But the pure functionality I get out of the device makes it worth owning even if its an eyesore. A smartwatch exists for complete opposite purposes than fine watches. It is closer to a calculator watch, or a fitness watch.

You seem to want to go out of your way to give NO credit to smartwatches, like they improve nothing what-so-ever period for everyone and its all a big joke. But they obviously do have some benefits beyond having an ugly watch on your arm, or people wouldn't keep buying them and using them. As someone who wears a smartwatch every day I can say it has improved my mobile experience more than anything since I got a smartphone- I use it way more than my tablets. But part of that is for the same reason I have dual screens on my desktop- I have a lot going on and the second screen is helpful. To me (and many people) my smartphone is the center of my digital universe. It has way more value than the price I paid, and the idea of paying a few hundred dollars to make that experience even better by adding another screen was a no-brainer.

I wish they never called these things smartwatches. They should be smart bracelets or something. They people wouldn't bring all their watch expectations into a whole new device category.

 

[openwheel]

I wish they never called these things smartwatches. They should be smart bracelets or something. They people wouldn't bring all their watch expectations into a whole new device category.

Hey, I am with you on that one.

 

[openwheel]

Driving with smart watch: completely disagree. I would like to see how you put your left hand on the steering wheel while using the smart watch on the move. I certainly don't know how you drive, but remind me to steer clear out of your way.

 

[openwheel]

Is this how you wear a smart watch?

 

[ithehappy]

Yes I am going to get one, I have an Omega, a Tissot and a Casio, but I will put them in bin once the Apple watch comes.

 

[preslove]

My smartwatch looks like crap. I mean its rough. And its nothing I am going to pass down, its going in a drawer as soon as I get a better one. But the pure functionality I get out of the device makes it worth owning even if its an eyesore. A smartwatch exists for complete opposite purposes than fine watches. It is closer to a calculator watch, or a fitness watch.

You seem to want to go out of your way to give NO credit to smartwatches, like they improve nothing what-so-ever period for everyone and its all a big joke. But they obviously do have some benefits beyond having an ugly watch on your arm, or people wouldn't keep buying them and using them. As someone who wears a smartwatch every day I can say it has improved my mobile experience more than anything since I got a smartphone- I use it way more than my tablets. But part of that is for the same reason I have dual screens on my desktop- I have a lot going on and the second screen is helpful. To me (and many people) my smartphone is the center of my digital universe. It has way more value than the price I paid, and the idea of paying a few hundred dollars to make that experience even better by adding another screen was a no-brainer.

You mess around with gadgets and htpc's for fun, man, which means you are very very far away from your average smartphone user. Most people buy subsidized smartphones and download a couple apps, ever (most users download fewer than 1 app a month).

I think the smartwatch market is and will be relatively small because you're the average smartwatch user, a tech geek. The apple watch will certainly expand the number of purchasers because of the apple brand, but I think apple is in for rude awakening once they start shipping. All the rich people who like iPhones because "they just work," are going get a piece of tech that requires tinkering.

The nytimes review's title puts this best: "Apple Watch Review: Bliss, but Only After a Steep Learning Curve" http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/09/t...r-a-steep-learning-curve.html?rref=technology

Apple has been so successful precisely because their gadgets don't have a steep learning curve. The iPhone and iPad were so successful, not because they had good reviews from tech sites, but because of good word of mouth and they were so much easier to use than their predecessors in the smartphone and tablet markets. I think word of mouth is going to seriously cap the sales of the apple watch and the smartwatch market, in general. There's just no way to make them "just work."

 

[poofyhairguy]

Is this how you wear a smart watch?

While I am driving yes. It works great! That way the screen is in the same field of view as the road.

I am not trying to win style points on my commute though, I just want to skip ads in my podcasts without it being a pain.

 

[poofyhairguy]

You mess around with gadgets and htpc's for fun, man, which means you are very very far away from your average smartphone user.

Sure I am not normal, but I know a lot of non-nerds that are bigger smartphone users than me. My sister for example gets way more notifications than me, and she can't wait to have an Apple Watch to start managing them. But I have shown her me doing that, so she is motivated to want it.

The issue is that the best part about smart watches are hard to sell in a commercial. Its that time the grocery list your wife texted you is on your wrist while at the store, or the time you left your phone in your coat pocket when you got home but you still didn't miss an important call, when the benefits are clear. Anything that is hard to sell is usually not a wild success, so you may be right these are niche products.

The hope I have been holding onto for months is when the Apple Watch hits a brilliant developer is going to create a new use case we can't imagine now that is a killer app for the platform. Then every other smart watch copies that and the ball gets rolling. If that doesn't happen and in two years a smartwatch still does all the same things this market will be minimal for sure.

 

[preslove]

The hope I have been holding onto for months is when the Apple Watch hits a brilliant developer is going to create a new use case we can't imagine now that is a killer app for the platform. Then every other smart watch copies that and the ball gets rolling. If that doesn't happen and in two years a smartwatch still does all the same things this market will be minimal for sure.

The thing is, neither the iPhone and iPad needed a killer app. Having Safari in your pocket and on the couch, plus maybe youtube, was what initially sold both products. The first iPhone didn't even have an app store.

The big problems with the apple watch are the lag (especially for waking up the face) and the fact that all the notifications are all turned on by default. Your average user isn't going to easily figure out how to turn off notifications.

I really think the whole you-have-to-tinker-with-it vibe that is coming from the reviews is a ticking time bomb. Once people who aren't tech site reviewers get them you're going to see tons of social media about how hard it is to use, and word of mouth will hurt it, too.

Your random real estate broker, lawyer, whatever, who likes apple products because they just work are going to be pissed off when they've spent $349-$10,0000 on something that makes them have to think. They buy apple products because they're simple.

 

[vi edit]

I'm not an Apple fanboi in the sense that I lap up everything that they toss at the market. But I do respect them a lot of their products and the influence they have on the tech industry. I'm really on the fence on how I feel about some of the initial feedback we're seeing on the Watch. On one hand (see what I did there!) it's their first shot at this and we have to consider it a gen one product and most of the complaints can be addressed through updates and tweaks. But on the other hand they announced this thing almost 7 months ago. That's over half a year to tweak and adjust it. And even now it's still laggy mess for the Apple curated reviewers.

I don't want the to fail because they are Apple. But if it's a mess then they deserve to fail for pushing a product that wasn't ready for prime time and they had so long to get it right.

The whole watch thing felt like an unnecessary reaction and forced for them. I understand that it's one of the first "original" post Jobs products...but it's just not really and Apple feeling product right now.

 

[Commodus]

Well, I'm officially a guinea pig. Ordered a 42mm Watch Sport in space grey.

It might not arrive until May, though -- even if you were right on the ball at 3:01AM Eastern, shipping times slipped quickly for most models. Either Apple really didn't have much stock (entirely possible), or it just crushed most of its smartwatch rivals in minutes.

 

[WelshBloke]

While I am driving yes. It works great! That way the screen is in the same field of view as the road.

I am not trying to win style points on my commute though, I just want to skip ads in my podcasts without it being a pain.

I'm still not seeing how a watch is safer.

My phones in my field of view on the dashboard all the time (I use it for satnav). I can control it by talking to it or by tapping it.

Your watch is on your wrist so it's not in your field of view most of the time and if you need to tap it it involves both hands (the one doing the tapping and the one wearing it that has to stay still and angle the watch towards you).

 

[kpkp]

IMHO the watches are inferior to phones for practically everything that is more then a glance or voice command. As soon you have to touch it, the phone wins every time. However this may not be true for people that place their phones in hard to reach places.

That's why pushing the fashion angle seems like a "rational decision to push the irrational", together with sending heartbeats, tapping people and similar gimmicks that are supposed to revolutionise the way we communicate. The watch is all about an emotional connection and trying to make you forget that is just a cold piece of metal (filled with a bunch of transistors) on your wrist and you aren't anymore special or loved because of it.

Disclaimer: I am anything but your typical customer and my views are hardly reflected by the market, so keep in mind that's just my detached opinion.

 

[ponyo]

Well, I'm officially a guinea pig. Ordered a 42mm Watch Sport in space grey.

It might not arrive until May, though -- even if you were right on the ball at 3:01AM Eastern, shipping times slipped quickly for most models. Either Apple really didn't have much stock (entirely possible), or it just crushed most of its smartwatch rivals in minutes.

I just ordered the 38mm Watch Sport in white for the wife and it's not shipping til June. Couple weeks ago she told me she didn't want the Apple watch. Last night she told me to order her one. Typical woman.

 

[touchstone]

I figured this issue would come up with shipping times, so my solution was to shotgun a bunch of orders for as fast as possible using multiple apple IDs on multiple devices and then pick the one I liked. It worked.

38mm SS w Black sports band April 24 delivery

Out of the 6 orders I placed, only this one got launch day shipping, which is unfortunate because it is not the one I wanted.

 

[Commodus]

I just ordered the 38mm Watch Sport in white for the wife and it's not shipping til June. Couple weeks ago she told me she didn't want the Apple watch. Last night she told me to order her one. Typical woman.

More like "typical iPhone user who didn't really know about the Apple Watch until recently!" I suspect orders are going to spike after today, since a lot of people were only vaguely aware of the Watch until now.

 

[Ramses]

I'm still not seeing how a watch is safer.

My phones in my field of view on the dashboard all the time (I use it for satnav). I can control it by talking to it or by tapping it.

Your watch is on your wrist so it's not in your field of view most of the time and if you need to tap it it involves both hands (the one doing the tapping and the one wearing it that has to stay still and angle the watch towards you).

They aren't.

The simple fact that the watch face is smaller condemns it in this scenario. The time it takes any person with some age on them to focus from infinity (outside) down to a small device a foot or less away, read or whatever they do, then get back on task is more than long enough to ruin the day of a number of people in a car at any speed or with any unpredictable traffic around them. It's a nice thought that on quick glance(no pun intended) seems good, but it's not.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I'm still not seeing how a watch is safer.

My phones in my field of view on the dashboard all the time (I use it for satnav). I can control it by talking to it or by tapping it.

Its safer because of the last part- tapping. Except for a few apps who have driving modes controlling Android apps while driving is very unsafe.

Consider a music app were the pause or skip forward button is like 5% of the screen real estate of a 5 inch screen. It takes much longer to scan that 5 inches (or more likely the three inch area where you expect the control to be) to find that 5% sized button than it takes for me to find a button that is 25% of the screen area of a less than 2 inch screen. In fact the tap targets for Android Wear in particular are so large I don't even have to look very often to get the result I want. Only real buttons would be safer.

Maybe eventually Android Auto will get hacked to run on regular phones, but until then it is easier to tap and use a watch while driving.

 

[ControlD]

Its safer because of the last part- tapping. Except for a few apps who have driving modes controlling Android apps while driving is very unsafe.

Consider a music app were the pause or skip forward button is like 5% of the screen real estate of a 5 inch screen. It takes much longer to scan that 5 inches (or more likely the three inch area where you expect the control to be) to find that 5% sized button than it takes for me to find a button that is 25% of the screen area of a less than 2 inch screen. In fact the tap targets for Android Wear in particular are so large I don't even have to look very often to get the result I want. Only real buttons would be safer.

Maybe eventually Android Auto will get hacked to run on regular phones, but until then it is easier to tap and use a watch while driving.

You know what's even easier? Having a watch with actual buttons on it that will Play/Pause, FF, RW without even needing to look at the watch to start with. Or having a watch where the face is always active. I think that's my biggest beef with both the Apple and Wear watches. I don't want a watch where the face is dark by default.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The time it takes any person with some age on them to focus from infinity (outside) down to a small device a foot or less away, read or whatever they do, then get back on task is more than long enough to ruin the day of a number of people in a car.

Exactly. That proves my point.

Unless you have a Nexus 6 or something a phone screen isn't THAT much larger than a watch, and has a LOT more going on. When you focus from the road to your phone your brain has to run through the interface:

"Nope that is the status bar"

*eyes down a little*

"Nope that is the podcast title"

*eyes down to the bottom to skip ahead*

"Nope that is the navigation bar"

*eyes up a little*

"There is the skip forward button"

Then it takes you two taps to hit it because the tap target is small.




Compare that to my watch:

"Nope that is the play button"

*eyes down a little (less than on a phone)*

"There is the skip forward button"

And because its a bigger tap target on my watch than it is on my phone I hit it the first try.

 

[Red Storm]

Was staring at my desktop monitor last night refreshing the Apple store page, but even ten minutes after 3:01 it still had the "We'll be back" message. So I grabbed an iPhone and tried the Apple Store iOS app... Took me less than 15 seconds to order one. My ship date is in May though, but not too bad. Should be able to score a nice little profit after selling to a desperate buyer.

Thought I was all done with watches, but then I see today Amazon has discounted the Moto 360, so I just bought one of those too.

 

[Midwayman]

Yes I am going to get one, I have an Omega, a Tissot and a Casio, but I will put them in bin once the Apple watch comes.

I know, right? Who wants to wear a excellently machined mechanical watch when they can strap on some gizmo that will be obsolete in a year at best.