This picture is completely inappropriate.
https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/2000/1*cTTsFgbXbah...
He's trying to claim that the watch interface isn't sharp. I don't know if that's true or not (I have never seen an Apple Watch) but it's downright mendacious to illustrate this claim with a grotesquely high-ISO, grainy image which makes the watch display look as bad as possible.
Something finally clicked for me. The OP disses the watch, but buys one anyway so he can write apps for it.
Apple always hypes their products, but they usually lowball expectations. For the Watch, they've really ramped up expectations, really setting themselves up for a let-down. It's been obvious for a while that the Watch was going to be more like iPhone v1 than iPad v1: showing lots of promise, but needing a couple of iterations to nail it and really become a mass market product. So I expect good numbers, but not huge numbers.
So why would Apple risk the Watch being branded a failure by missing expectations? Apps. If devs expect a huge success, they'll jump in heavy. So when gen 2 or 3 rolls around the news stories will be about this watch being the one that rectifies the failure of gen 1, but it will be also be about the killer apps that you can get.
I don't understand this obsession with big sizes watches maybe it's because I actually don't wear a watch but I've ordered the 38mm model (and I'm a man). My reasonning is that the last thing I want is something big on my wrist.
As Daringfireball's review of the Apple watch said, there are two kinds of people: those who currently wear watches, and people who don't.
The first ones have to be convinced to switch to the Apple watch because, as a watch, it's a better watch than the one currently on their wrist.
The others just have to believe the Apple watch will answer a need that isn't met by any other device.
I think the second proposition has a fighting chance (maybe) but the first is an uphill battle. The Apple watch is ugly and, simply, not a real watch. Watch people will probably never switch.
That may not matter much, since they're a small minority anyway; but it would simplify Apple's marketing if it didn't try to talk to them at all.
A consistent thread through reviews of the aWatch is that the sport band is surprisingly awesome-feeling.
Which is a sign for hope from Apple. The truth of the aWatch is that only the success of the $350-$400 models matters. If those sell well and summon up customer enthusiasm, then the watch has at least a fighting chance to be successful. If people don't like the $350-$400 models, then all the enthusiasm in the world for the $1,000-$17,000 models will not create an ecosystem, and the aWatch will be, at best, a tiny niche product.
If Apple has recognized that and not bought into their own marketing hype about premium whatever, and focused all their attention on making the basic model as good as possible, then they're making the smart play.
Ever since reading that article about how dangerous it is to criticize Apple, and how authors always start out by flying their Apple cred... man I notice it all the time in any article that has to say something critical.
That picture of the screen makes it look like a Sega Game Gear. Yikes.
I just viewed them in the apple store and thought the interface was incredibly fluid, screen was very crisp and bright, and the touch screen was impossibly accurate.
I still don't want to buy one as the battery life is too short and I would rather wait for the apps to catch up so it can be more useful, but I don't think it's the failure this guy is setting it up to be.
I just tried one on a few minutes ago. It's bright, sharp, large, responsive, ...just right. While the author is spending time complaining about the leather being so good it's in an uncanny valley of feeling wrong (akin to e-book naysayers complaining about missing the smell of old paper), I'm amazed at how far advanced the core functionality & responsiveness (what you're actually paying for) is beyond other smartwatches.
Perfect? maybe not. But way better than anything else out there.
I don't know what he's talking about re size. I tried on both and the 42 felt plenty large to me. I wouldn't want it any larger.
The screen also isn't nearly as bad as his photo. I have no idea what's going on there. Yes it isn't as sharp as my iPhone 6 but it's not blurry at all.
The only thing that I agree with is that apples bands all look like crap. Their buckles on the leather look very feminine, and everything has a cheap feel. The one that doesn't is the Milanese loop. It looked gorgeous. Too bad it grabbed my arm hair and the sales guys said that was very common. Oops.
I got the cheapest band and will wait for the 3rd party market to do something decent.
His claims may or may not have merit. However the formula of 1) establish your apple cred by naming how many devices you own since the history of ever 2) tell people how excited you are about this product 3) trash it
is tired. For the record, Im not interested in a watch from anyone, I don't like things on my wrist hands or face that didn't come with me from birth. I think it was inevitable that Apple entered this market, and Im sure that for some people it will exceed their expectations, and for some, disappoint.
tl;dr: "If you’re interested in the Apple Watch and are considering buying one, go to an Apple Store and try it on."
Pretty devastating review. I don't know about the sizing but if the screen really looks that bad this is a bait and switch. Where are all the "screen images simulated" disclaimers? I bet only a tiny fraction of buyers see the watch in person before they buy it. Seems like there might be a lot of disappointed owners.
I think this product is an interesting one. When the iPhone, iPod, or iPad came out you didn't have reviewers establishing their credibility as a "MP3 Player" or "Tablet" enthusiast in order to give their perspective merit.
With the Apple Watch you have watch enthusiasts though who come out and discuss why it is a poor comparison to industry standards established for the market. Ultimately I think a lot of "watch enthusiasts" will see through the marketing and be displeased while tech enthusiasts will judge the product on different standards.
I'm very curious to see how the Apple Watch holds up in daily wear, especially the Sport version. I am having a hard time imagining an aluminum and glass watch looking nice after a couple months of daily wear on a wrist. Same goes for the leather bands: if they're like the leather iPhone cases in any color other than black, they look pretty shabby after a short time (and I love broken in leather!).
Yes, it's narrower than watches which have to be round by the nature of their engineering. Someone made the design decision that a rectangle looks nicer on your wrist than a perfect square, and I'm inclined to agree with them.
That picture of the screen makes it look like a Sega Game Gear. Yikes.
alternative headline:
Apple Apologist's guide to avoiding buyers remorse when purchasing your Apple Watch.
tl;dr: The Apple Watch is different from what I'm used to.
It's so "Apple" to that obsessed with pixel densitites ...
Convenient Truth #0: A smartwatch isn't a watch.
Don't compare apples and oranges. Just because you can wear this device on the wrist doesn't make it a watch.
The article has a real-world picture of the watch face in use.[1] The display looks blurry and low-resolution. (It's not the photo; the knurls on the knob are sharp.) It's so different from the ads that Apple may be in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission for misleading advertising, for showing renders on their site that look much better than the actual product.
[1] https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/1330/1*cTTsFgbXbah...
> When Apple first showed off the Apple Watch, I was stunned. It looked glorious and larger than life. Shiny and precision-machined. Like an object from the future that time-traveled back to the present just to blow everyone away.
I too was stunned, but for the exact opposite reason. I thought, and still think, the Apple Watch looks hideous. And no, I'm not exaggerating. I _really_ don't like it. This is coming from a non-apple user who thinks Apple makes beautiful hardware.