Apple today released watchOS 2 to the public, making the first major update to the watchOS software available to all Apple Watch owners. The update requires iOS 9 and can be downloaded over-the-air through the Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General –> Software Update.
The support for native applications is a big deal.
But is the watch still useless?
“…requires iOS 9 … iPhone…”
Sounds like it.
But no seriously, this watch in and of itself (and all smartwatches) are not particularly useful. They are however a neat gimmick, a toy to mess around with.
For some people, that is probably enough.
Edited 2015-09-22 06:58 UTC
I suppose that depends on how many notifications you get on a daily basis. I don’t get very many, so wouldn’t be useful to me. But if I were getting alerts all day long at work (or whatever) that I *had* to look at, I could see it being a lot more convenient than pulling the phone out every time …
It’s still butt ugly.
Can’t wait for Gear S2 Classic to get released… what a beauty.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
That not what Apple Watch owners are saying
https://techpinions.com/the-state-of-apple-watch-satisfaction/41126
I assume your own low opinion of its usefulness is not based on any actual first hand experience of using an Apple watch – if that is a wrong assumption please do correct me.
I own one. I don’t find it all that useful. I forgot to put it on one day last week and I didn’t find I missed it at all. All I use it for is alerting me to texts and phone calls. Its fitness features are terrible. I’m sure it’s OK as a step counter, but if you’re running or cycling long distances it’s tracking features are awful, the activity reports have very little detail and offer no useful information.
The only time I actively use it (as opposed to passively receiving texts and phone calls) is to check email in situations where I have a few seconds of waiting on something (like a coffee machine) where it’s not worth taking my phone out.
I work as an iOS developer, own a MacBook Pro, and an iPhone, so I’m not anti-Apple and that’s an honest review.
I think at this point most things the watches can do are better done on other devices, but that will continue to change. Pulling a phone out of your pocket, swiping on, and performing your task is a workflow that is outdated and ripe for replacement.
I don’t have a watch yet, and I agree it would be something we all could easily live without, but having a sensor array and messaging system on your wrist is yet to really be exploited by some killer apps.
Sounds like the software for fitness tracking is half-baked. I wonder if Apple is purposely letting 3rd parties take the lead here or just putting out garbage software? Should be easy enough to do something like MapMyRide.
I’m more interested in the watch’s interaction with databases and custom solutions, and our company has an iOS programmer who is quickly learning watchkit to explore wrist interfaces on our existing products.
I’m also interested in the general day/time/habit management stuff the watch is capable of. Something telling me I’m lazy from my wrist could be far more effective that telling me I’m lazy from the desktop or pocket.
I think at this point most things the watches can do are better done on other devices, but that will continue to change. Pulling a phone out of your pocket, swiping on, and performing your task is a workflow that is outdated and ripe for replacement.
Don’t sit on the fence. Tell us what you think should replace this?
Personaly, I hate anything on my wrist. This goes back to circ 1970 when my leather wrist watch strap got caught in a machine.
If Apple were to release a fob version or even a half hunter then I might buy one.
Otherwise? Fat chance but I am intrigued to learn what you propose for the phone swip replacement?
Edited 2015-09-22 18:55 UTC
I don’t have a smart watch yet so I will wait until I use one myself to determine if its the future of quick, compact digital messaging.
I never got a watch stuck in a machine when I was a kid. I can understand your hatred of them but you know that doesn’t apply to all of us. Thats more like a phobia of yours.
I think the slab-phone in your pocket/purse will be retiring soon. Replaced by what, I don’t know, but I’ve had a smartphone in my pocket for almost 20 years now and I’m pretty sick of them.
I just need a tablet, a workstation, and some quick way to notify me if those 2 things need my attention. I rarely make/take a voice call so the ‘phone’ aspect of the slab is not that important to me. Those that do contact me are often on iOS so they can FaceTime. Plus theres Skype, VoIP, etc.
The watch features that interest me are the reminders, the health trackers, the haptic notifications, and the input by movement. Hooking that sensor array into a database like FMGo could lead to some very interesting apps for personal and business use.
Without that killer app I haven’t been able to find $400 for one yet.
Re: the phone –the value is now in the phone number and the radio, not the shape/size of the device. It might have been the first pocket computer, but tiny computers are everywhere now and the smartphone is being asked to do more than it should, IMHO.
I’ve got one. I use it quite a bit. Calendar reminders, text messages, caller id – those are the obvious things.
However, the things that it is really helpful for are linked to Siri and voice recognition. The watch allows you to do those things without pulling out your phone.
For example, when I’m cooking I often just hold up my watch and say “hey siri, set a timer for ten minutes.” This is really helpful when I’ve got dirty hands, and it saves me time. Also if I think of something that I need to do when I get home I just say “hey siri, remind me to do (whatever) when I get home.”
Using voice recognition to send text messages is big too. I can fire off a quick text to my son without any effort at all.
The watch does have its annoyances. Having to take it off and charge it every night is a pain. WatchOS 2 seems to have much better battery life, so it’s possible I’ll get two days out of it. I have a Pebble too, and THAT thing lasts a week on a charge. However, the pebble only does the stuff mentioned in the first paragraph, so has much more limited value.
1. It just came out today. How can anyone know?
2. From what I heard about the betas it is quite the opposite and that makes sense because the watch is now used more. At this moment the Apple Watch seems the most expensive and least battery efficient smartdevice there is. If I go somewhere for a weekend I want my watch to keep working without bringing a charger. My phone does that and so should every other device
Do you have any source for your “MUCH better battery life”?
My source is myself. I’ve personally been using WatchOS2 since July, and yes the EARLY betas were bad. Beta 4 which I started using in August and the GM which was released to developers on the 6th have been very good. Anyone who has been using it can know fairly easily.
So “much better battery life” compared to the beta version of the same OS ?
is it like saying, my Firefox is so much stable ( compared to the time I installed the nightly release )
Much better than WatcbOS 1 and much, much better than the betas.
You’re really trying hard to make something bad out of something that isn’t.
Edited 2015-09-24 20:46 UTC
I still don’t know what I’d ever actually do with any of these smartwatches. I have this thing called a real life, and real people I deal with on a daily basis. Unless you’re a connection junky, I really don’t get it.