How many are getting an Apple watch?

[WelshBloke]

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.

Or you buy a cheap Bluetooth steering wheel control for your phone, or, gasp! use the built in radio.

You really shouldn't be dicking around with any touchscreens when you're driving. Particularly one that's strapped to the arm that's supposed to be in control of avoiding all the other traffic on the road.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Or you buy a cheap Bluetooth steering wheel control for your phone, or, gasp! use the built in radio.

Bluetooth controls are incomplete, but you are right the long-term answer is a new deck for my car with Android Auto. That is the best case scenario, but I want that market to mature some.

Your "You just don't need to do it" made me wonder if I stumbled onto an Apple forum by accident.

 

[WelshBloke]

Bluetooth controls are incomplete, but you are right the long-term answer is a new deck for my car with Android Auto. That is the best case scenario, but I want that market to mature some.

I was thinking of this sort of thing.

http://www.cnet.com/uk/products/isimple-bluclik/

Your "You just don't need to do it" made me wonder if I stumbled onto an Apple forum by accident.

But what you're doing is dangerous, and as much as I may not show it, I'm actually quite fond of everyone here and would hate for anything bad to happen.

 

[openwheel]

Seriously, stop messing with wrist strapped tiny computer while driving. All that awkward wrist bending and tiny screen touching are the perfect recipe for disaster.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I'm actually quite fond of everyone here and would hate for anything bad to happen.

That is very nice of you Mr. Bloke. I appreciate your contributions as well.

I am going to stop derailing the thread with my one smartwatch use case (that is debatable) example though lol.

Have a nice day sir.

 

[Oyeve]

NM

 

[core2slow]

Never understood why anyone would want a smartwatch that can't make/receive calls. I mean, short of the Samsung Gear, all the smartwatches out right now are useless. I don't need an extension of my phone on an even smaller screen, and for most people, their phones are within arm's reach 95% of the time.

 

[touchstone]

Seriously, stop messing with wrist strapped tiny computer while driving. All that awkward wrist bending and tiny screen touching are the perfect recipe for disaster.

lol so now I am endangering you by buying a smartwatch? you should start a public awareness campaign, even on reddit I haven't seen anybody try to make that argument.

 

[Ns1]

Never understood why anyone would want a smartwatch that can't make/receive calls.

because most people don't use their phones for calls?

 

[RussianSensation]

because most people don't use their phones for calls?

This must be a new generation of North American life-style/culture / loners?! For most people who are not anti-social, even if you use What's App/WeChat/iMessage/Viber, traditional text messages etc. for daily correspondence while working/being busy, eventually people call each other to confirm meetings/going out/plans or to discuss things. It may be shocking to the the work obsessed culture of US/Canada, but in many cultures all over the world, it's often impolite to not call. In fact, when you start doing work with people who are important, not only do you have to call, you have to meet in person. While it's not a requirement to use a traditional phone number calling vs. VOIP/Skype style calling, it's more or less a requirement in many countries in the world to call if you want to get anything done in a fast and productive manner. Of course there are always exceptions. If you are going to use the argument that calling isn't even important on a smartphone, then I'll use the argument that having a smartphone isn't important at all because everything I can get done on an iPad Air 2 or my laptop destroys the smartphone. E-mails, work/productivity, typing, screen real estate space, media consumption - everything is better on those 2 devices. If the smartphone couldn't call, its utility would diminish greatly!

Do you realize that as you get promoted in an organization or you have your own client business, you'll receive 100-200 e-mails per day? Who wants to waste time reading that, unless you hire full time secretaries to weed through all that for you? That's where phone calls really start to matter because they re-emphasize priority. My view is the opposite of yours - if someone doesn't call and/or leaves a voice-mail - whatever it is they are asking is not important/urgent enough.

Frankly, in certain jobs calling is a requirement the more responsibilities you have/gain. Did you ever try negotiating air freight from one part of the world to the other using a Boeing 747-400 or Antonov AN-124 without calling? Did you ever try managing teams of 100-150 workers across various projects/construction sites ONLY by e-mail/text message? Did you ever try planning a big event like a wedding, business development conference or a volunteer event without calling? Did you ever try to create a marketing campaign for your own business without calling? I can think of 1000 examples where calling is mandatory if you want to succeed in business/maintain good social relationships.

 

[Ns1]

I would put good money that in terms of percentage use, everyone with a smart phone spends far more time using the apps/data than talking on said phone. Seems that way in Mumbai too - at least for those who can afford data plans.

And I much prefer email over phone at work. And yes when I got back from a 5 day vacation I returned to 400 emails but only 5 voicemails.

 

[core2slow]

I would put good money that in terms of percentage use, everyone with a smart phone spends far more time using the apps/data than talking on said phone. Seems that way in Mumbai too - at least for those who can afford data plans.

And I much prefer email over phone at work. And yes when I got back from a 5 day vacation I returned to 400 emails but only 5 voicemails.

All it really tells me is that your role in the company is of little importance if the majority of your correspondence is dealt through emails. And they're either spam or part of a distribution list.

 

[Ns1]

All it really tells me is that your role in the company is of little importance if the majority of your correspondence is dealt through emails. And they're either spam or part of a distribution list.

Lol no. And my experience is the norm in my company. And quite frankly it's the norm for those in my age group (say 25-35).


You don't know shit about me or the company I work for.

also:

European telecom giant O2 has released a study showing that smartphone owners seem to be using the telephone much less frequently than they do other apps, ranking the telephone as the fifth most used "app" for smartphone users in terms of daily usage. In terms of minutes of use per day, phone calls trail Internet browsing, checking social networks, playing games, and listening to music, which caused at least one author to wonder if it's time to take the word "phone" out of "smartphone."


Here are the raw statistics on smartphone usage, broken down by function and minutes-used-per-day:

Activity/Time Spent (In Minutes Per Day)
Browsing the internet: 24.81
Checking social networks: 17.49
Playing games: 14.44
Listening to music: 15.64
Making calls: 12.13
Checking/writing emails: 11.1
Text messaging: 10.2
Watching TV/films: 9.39
Reading books: 9.3
Taking photographs: 3.42

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/smartphone-usage-stats_n_1643761.html?

:whiste:

 

[RussianSensation]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/smartphone-usage-stats_n_1643761.html?

I am guessing none of them who calls for only 12 minutes a day is on this list:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erincar...billionaires-on-the-forbes-billionaires-list/

Back to the iWatch -- because it loses a lot of its functionality without an iPhone, what exactly is the benefit of it when you already have to carry the iPhone with you most of the time? I guess if you are in your backyard/went to mow the lawn and left your smartphone in your house, you can receive messages/notifications on your smart-watch?

In essence for me the smartphone was support to combine many of the features of other devices thus making them redundant (such as an iPod). For me, the smartphone makes a smart-watch a redundant device.

 

[Ramses]

I sell vintage European car parts world wide, including LTL, truckload, moving whole cars, and regular ground/air shipments on top of sales and running our new parts bit and ordering stuff for our repair/resto facility. Been doing it 7 years or so, it's all email and txt for the young folks (35 and under), the old guys use phones and it's a disruption in workflow bigtime. In fact there is an unofficial up-charge for anything that makes us pick up a phone. Our foreign customers are especially good about digital commo, the time difference is a thing often times. The shipping end alone I can't imagine having to do it over the phone. When I first got into this stuff twenty years ago we still did that with UPS, had a big log book and freight was done on the phone. It was hell. Anyone still doing that stuff on the phone isn't being as productive as they could be by a long shot. We do everything we can to encourage customers to use digital commo. The only catch is you have to be on your game to keep on top of it, I field a couple hundred emails a day in our busy season that I usually have to defer to gather info and respond to later, and I do that for myself and my boss, and it works. Phone calls are an annoyance for a modern small business ime. And I do this the last three years from 3000 miles away from my office/warehouse. Our warehouse staff carry ipads or android tablets and use IM/E-mail between the sales staff and occasionally customers even. I talk to my Mother on the phone still though, she isn't very computer-ey. Honestly it'll be such a relief when the old folks get out of the way and quit bogging down progress. I mean that in the kindest way possible but there isn't a nice way to say it.

 

[holden j caufield]

Did the watches come out today. Was there much fanfare or was it ghost town like?

 

[touchstone]

Did the watches come out today. Was there much fanfare or was it ghost town like?

It doesn't come out until the 24th, last night was the start of pre-orders. Apple isn't allowing for lines, you have to make an appointment and they can't be purchased in store.

 

[RussianSensation]

The shipping end alone I can't imagine having to do it over the phone. When I first got into this stuff twenty years ago we still did that with UPS, had a big log book and freight was done on the phone. It was hell.

I think you didn't understand some of the big points. No one says you should be performing logistics and procurement primarily over the phone. However, the most important aspects of logistics and procurement such as price negotiation, getting the most favourable terms for demurrage/detention and solving the most complex paper work issues you might run with at customs often requires a combination of phone + e-mail/text. For example, when I had 70 tons of materials going into the DWS airport in UAE at 5am and it was subjected to a random search that required opening custom built protection on the shipment, I had to call carpenters from the factory to assist with their tools. Guess what, if I sent an e-mail/text at 5am, they are sleeping and would have never gotten to the airport on time and the entire airfreight could have been delayed, costing thousands of dollars of incurred costs.

In other words, you can gather all the data and keep track of data on a computer but the human factor of discussing/negotiating/problem-solving in person or over the phone often brings even better results.

I've worked in 3 different professional industries across 3 continents and so far in all of them, using a phone was a requirement and more so the higher up you move. I am well under 35. Interestingly enough, the social skills become even more integral should you happen to meet Directors, VPs, CFOs, CEOs and start being in charge of business development, etc. Usually the #1 complaint new businesses have is younger kids graduating today have very weak soft skills. You can be the smartest guy in the room but if you have horrible soft skills and can't be a leader, team-build and don't have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, it's very unlikely you'll get the promotion you think you deserve. Fact is, there should not even be a discussion if you should or should not use the phone. An employee should use any device/means of communication that makes him/her more productive and if that happens to be a phone call, it should be exercised. I can't count the number of times phone calls saved time, money and far more effectively communicated the urgency of the situation than any e-mail or text could.

Not only that, but if you ever have a chance to work in a remote location where you might have a cell phone connection, but your Internet connection is simply awful, you will truly understand the value of a phone call. If you ever ask the guys who work for the U.S. DoD / in 3rd world countries, that happens a lot, which makes phone calling absolutely mandatory, no matter your age.

Anyway, back to the topic. What does an iWatch/smart-watch do that a smartphone can't that warrants a $400-500 purchase? I guess for young kids growing up that never had a traditional watch, the smart-watch will be the bare minimum standard.

 

[Artdeco]

snip

So by your logic, we should all go back to flip phones?

I don't think anyone is arguing smartwatches make you more productive, or that they're anything more than a want than a need.

For me, when I'm out of the house, I use the hell out of my smartwatch, and over time, I think you'll see they'll be much more useful/functional/practical.

 

[Ramses]

I think you didn't understand some of the big points.

I get the scenarios you propose and I don't doubt a bit the example of at 5am in the UAE you need to make a phone call to get a carpenter or such. But there is a significant portion of the business world that does not work that way anymore, and it's growing. I'm incredibly thankful to be part of it compared to the alternative.

 

[Commodus]

Did the watches come out today. Was there much fanfare or was it ghost town like?

Apple started the pre-order and in-store preview campaign on the 10th. It was pretty hectic -- I saw a few stores flooded with people checking it out, including the Watch-only boutiques at places like Selfridges in London. It was busy even when I got my demo at 6PM that night.

Sales are tricker to pin down. Apple sold out of launch day stock almost immediately, but we don't know whether it sold 100,000 units, a million, or something in between. Either way, it sounds like the Apple Watch could outpace Android Wear pretty quickly (the entire platform managed 720,000 units in its first nine months).

 

[Commodus]

My quick impressions of the Apple Watch after having tried it on and used the interface (without trying to rehash what you already know):

The first thing that I noticed: the Watch is smaller than you think it is just by looking at photos... and that's a good thing. One of my biggest beefs with the current Android Wear crop is that tendency toward gigantic designs, like the Moto 360 or ZenWatch. They're fine if you have thick wrists or can pull off the oversized watch look, but many people can't. If you're an average adult male, you'll probably want the 42mm.

The Sport models look and feel nicer than you think -- you quickly realize why they cost so much. Even the Moto 360, as nice as it is, feels a bit cheap. The Sport band is also probably the best rubber strap I've worn so far. It's not going to make you forget about leather or steel, but it's comfortable, looks nice and won't catch on your clothes.

Of the bands on the steel models, my favorite so far is the leather loop. Comfy, easy to put on and comes in nice colors.

The interface (what I could try of it, anyway) is the surprising part. At least with native apps, it's supremely fast. It doesn't feel like you're making do with a low-power chip, like you do on most other smartwatches. The crown isn't absolutely essential, but it's definitely nice to have. And the haptic (sorry, "taptic") feedback is freaky. If the Moto 360 gives you an annoying buzz, this is more like a gentle-but-noticeable thump.

This definitely isn't a real-world test, and I know there are teething issues with battery life and third-party app performance. But it's pretty promising, and it feels like Android Wear has some catching up to do.

 

[touchstone]

Stopped by local store, was greeted by pimply 22yo idiot in blue shirt. I told him which two models I still had pre-orders for, one 38mm SS w Black Modern Buckle and one 38mm SS w Black Sports Band, and his response was 'but that's the small one'. Yes, it is, I said. Can you show it to me? He goes 'would you like to look at the 42mm Space Grey Aluminium?' No I want to see the ones I F'n pre-ordered. He opens several drawers into the legs of other customers searching for one of my two watches then halfway through the experience a coworker interrupts his bumbling and vicariously embarrassing efforts to ask where some item is, afterward apologizing to me profusely. Whatever. I eventually managed to get it out of him that the black modern buckle was nowhere to be found in the entire store. Wonderful. I try on the blue modern buckle and it is in my opinion the best strap, fits together easier and is more attractive than the rest. The other straps are nice, the sport band is probably the most comfortable. I would not advise the milanese but thats just me.

The 38mm SS and it is very, very nice in person, appearance wise. Hard to fault apple on the feel or look of the thing, it looks like it's worth $600. The Aluminium models not so much, but they don't cost $600. Fact is, they work just as well so you are paying for the finish. In my opinion it is worth it but I could totally see why somebody would stick with the cheaper option considering how this thing might be a paperweight in 12 months. The operating system runs about as well as an iphone 5 runs ios 8. so not perfect but not terrrible at all, it works. I was not terribly impressed with the apps but they were running in a demo loop and didn't have all that much functionality.

I hate the Apple store. I don't like iOS and I don't like 'geniuses' or any of that. It is a pretty impressive watch, I advise you to go take a look. It is TINY... I can't think of a better example of modern computer technology than this.

I'm glad I pre-ordered because if nothing else, I can sell my pre-orders for at least double what they cost me. They are going for 2k on ebay right now, for the better watch versions.

 

[Artdeco]

I'm glad I pre-ordered because if nothing else, I can sell my pre-orders for at least double what they cost me. They are going for 2k on ebay right now, for the better watch versions.

LOL, I already have mine listed, (should have pre ordered 2) sold 2 iP6's, and one 6+, paid for the used ones I bought 6 months later

 

[QueBert]

I want one, but JB'ing iOS 8.3 is a looooong way off, if ever. I won't use iOS without it being Jailbroken.