Daring Fireball: The Apple Watch

Daring Fireball: The Apple Watch.

A long, but seems to be very thorough review of the new Apple Watch.

Regardless of which model you get, the functionality will be identical.  The 42 mm does have a bigger screen.  Also, the Sport edition (starts at $349) doesn’t have the “sapphire” crystal which the regular (starting at $549) and Edition model (starting at $10,000) have..  Here is a link to the Apple site with all the info they want you to know about Apple Watch.

I’m not planning on getting one as I currently have the Pebble Steel (which I bought at Best Buy for $199) and in July will be getting the new Pebble Time Steel which I supported on Kickstarter for $250.

Pebble watches work with both Android and iOS and admittedly have more functionality when paired with an Android phone because iOS is more restrictive as to what they’ll allow devices to do.  Apple Watch will only work with iPhone 5 or later.

I will probably check it out once all of the buzz dies down for it if I go to an Apple Store, but I’ve heard they are encouraging people to order online.  While it looks very enticing from the ads, that’s exactly what ads are supposed to do, make you want the product.  I saw the demonstration at the March 9th event and it looks very good as well  Having an app on my iPhone which I don’t plan on using and can’t delete is kind of irksome though.

I love being able to get notifications from my phone on my watch.  It is so convenient to look at my watch to see the latest weather alert or temperature, when I get an e-mail or text who it is from and decide if I want to pull out my phone or iPad to read the e-mail or text, get Facebook status updates, sports score changes, and see the number of who is calling me.  I also love being able to control the podcast I am listening to right from my watch.  I can pause, fast-forward or back up from the watch.

The Pebble Steel I currently has can usually go for 5-7 days between charges, which is also very good.  The new Apple Watch is good for 18 hours of normal use.  The Pebble Time Steel I am getting in July is supposed to last for up to 10 days.  With the current Pebble Steel, I can charge it with it still on me since the charger connects on the side of the watch.  The new Pebble Time Steel will charge on the back, so I won’t be able to keep it on my wrist and charge it.

As far as the screen goes.  The Apple Watch looks very nice.  My current Pebble Steel is an e-ink black-and-white display with a backlight.  The new Pebble Time Steel will be an e-ink color display (able to display up to 256 colors) and will be always-on.

Here is an interesting article by Jim “The Beard” Dalrymple on the chance of Apple Watch’s success.

I think Apple is taking a risk, which I’ll be very interested to see how it turns out in a couple years or so.  Will I still be wearing a Pebble watch, or will Apple’s marketing work it’s magic and get me buying an Apple Watch.  Only time will tell.