Tag: watch

The Withings smart watches, for people who want their watch to look like one

While I am a big fan of the Apple Watch, I know some people are put off by the look of it. If you are one of those people, then consider the Withings ScanWatch 2. It’s a good alternative for those of you who want a smart watch that has a more traditional look to it.

Even though it looks traditional, it seem it can do all the health monitoring of an Apple Watch as well. Plus, it has a long battery life and it comes in different materials and colors and has a variety of bands. Nice.

If you need a less expensive version, Withings has a variety of watches at different price points. Lots of  other smart products, too. Check it all out, here, on their online Store.

P.S. It’s interesting how closely the product page for the watch resembles an Apple Product page. I’m sure that’s no accident.

 

Five time pieces that aren’t an Apple Watch

Once I got an Apple Watch, it was hard to wear any other time piece again. In some ways that’s great, since my Watch can do anything other wearable time pieces can do. And then some. That said, I do miss wearing other time pieces.

For example, the Timex Ironman watch. When I was seriously into running I wore my Ironman until it literally stopped working. I’m glad to see Timex still sells the versions of the ones I had, the original TIMEX IRONMAN Flix 100 Lap watch  and the updated TIMEX IRONMAN watch. I liked the updated version, but the original was a watch I loved.

Another watch I loved was the Pebble. It too was an original, as far as smart watches go. Then Apple released their watch and like many people, I swapped my Pebble for Apple. Some time after that, the Pebble company itself disappeared, until now. As the new developers proclaim: We’re bringing Pebble back! For fans of it, and even those curious, check out that link.

Another smart watch — as in design smart — is this Casio sauna watch with 12-minute timer (shown above). It’s a watch I didn’t even think I needed, but fans of saunas likely will.

Finally, this device from the flipper zero creators (shown below) seems almost too smart. But for people who work constantly in an open office and need to get people to leave them alone while they focus, it could be just what they need.

 

 

 

The way to make your Apple Watch more useful is to change your App View

If you want to make your Apple Watch more useful, you want to change your App View. Here’s how.

On your iPhone, find the Watch app icon and click on it. Look for App View and click on it. From here you can change the view to Grid View. (Grid View looks like the watch in the photo above.) Now click on Arrangement.

Once in Arrangement, hold your finger on an icon of something you use often. Drag your finger tip and the icon to the top left. Keep doing that so all the Watch apps you will use the most are on the top rows. Once you have it the way you like it, exit the Watch app.

If you are stuck as to what to put on top, my top apps are:

  1. Stopwatch
  2. Workout
  3. IFTTT
  4. Weather
  5. Text
  6. Phone
  7. Calendar
  8. Heart rate monitor
  9. Activity
  10. Maps

I have a few dozen more Watch apps, but those are the ones I use often.

If you want to see what you can have on your Watch, go back to the Watch app on your phone and scroll down to see what apps are installed on your watch and what ones you can install.

Once you rearrange the Watch apps,  press in the crown on your Watch. You will now see the Watch apps organized the way you want. I bet you start pressing your crown more to access and use the apps you have installed.

The Apple Watch is great. Squeeze more greatness from it by taking advantage of the Watch apps you have.

Reflecting on the Apple Watch while reading how the Apple VisionPro might flop

How is the Apple Watch doing, you might wonder? Well according to this piece, pretty pretty pretty good. Check out these stats:

Pretty much on every measure it is a big success, especially on the annual sales side.

Looking at those numbers, you might find it hard to believe that when the Apple Watch first came out, it was…a dud. As the same piece shows:

(The) First Apple Watch, announced on September 9th, 2014, and released on April 24th, 2015, was initially a flop, with an 85.7% drop in sales from April 2015 to July 2015. The reason was that the Apple Watch Series 0 simply wasn’t good enough. It was neither fashionable nor performed well as a fitness watch. Apple, later on, shifted to focus on fitness features instead of simply making their watch look good. By the time Apple released Watch Series 3, people were already hooked.

Yep. I was hopeful for the Watch back then, but many people were dismissive. It was too complicated, too big, too expensive, etc.

I was reminded of all this as I was reading some “nervous nellie” reaction from Yanko Design and the New York Times about the Vision Pro. They hedge their bets (and they should), but the focus is on how it could fail.

And it could fail! Or more likely, it could be a dud. It could be like the Homepod or Apple TV. Remember TVOS? I thought people would jump on that and start developing apps for it. Well other than Apple, I don’t see too much happening with that device. Both those devices are…fine, but not game changers.

That said, I think the Apple Vision devices will be game changers. I suspect Apple will play the long game, just like they did with the Apple Watch. Watch this blog as we track it’s progress. 🙂

P.S. More on the Apple Watch written by me, here. More on the history of the Apple Watch from others here and here.

 

Smartwatches: more than just the Apple Watch

 

There was a flurry of smart watches coming on the market a few years ago. But that seemed to have died down. Now after reading this,
Innovative smartwatch designs that are the perfect culmination of form, functionality and style! | Yanko Design, I wonder if there will be a new outbreak of smart watches. Apple’s Watch is great, but it can’t be all things to all people.  To see what others are doing, check out that Yanko Design post. (The braille watch, shown above, is one example of smart watch design that is unique and brilliant.)

Apple Watch 101

I continue to be a big fan of the Apple Watch. For one, it allows me to put away my phone and still not miss notifications. It’s the remote control for your phone you didn’t think you need. Still I am glad for this, because I need to get more out of my watch: 20 Most-Wanted Apple Watch Tips and Tricks – Hongkiat. 

If you are maxing out all the features of your watch, that’s great. Otherwise, take a peak at that link and get more out of it.

Don’t discount the Apple Watch, for two reasons

Reason #1: Apple is seeing growth in sales of the Watch, and plans to give it cellular capabilities will drive growth further. If cellular networks allow you to share your number across your phone and watch, it could really support people who may want to go without their phone from time to time.
Reason #2: is my belief that the Watch will provide Apple with a platform to develop miniaturization. Having different platforms and different scales allows Apple to innovate and gets their partners like Intel to do the same. This will support Apple in being either first or best in the areas they have products.

I'm glad to see the Watch continue to grow. I would not be surprised to see some of the features we once saw in the Shuffle morph into the Watch. That would make up some for the lost of that other once great platform of Apple, the iPod, which was loved and now lost.

With the new announcements, Apple reinforces their affordable line of products


Apple took a turn towards something I was hoping they would do: (relative) affordability. You can see it in this piece from  Business Insider:

Apple introduced an iPhone with a smaller screen on Monday called the iPhone SE. The best way to think about it is as Apple’s current top-of-the-line iPhone specs in a smaller body. It costs $399 without a contract — a surprisingly low price for a new iPhone. …the older iPad Air 2 got a price cut to $399…. While the Apple Watch didn’t get a hardware update, Apple did unveil new nylon bands and cut its starting price from $350 to $299.

I was wondering if Apple was going to try and offer some affordable products or reposition itself as a luxury brand. I am glad to see they went with affordable. There are now lots of products from Apple at a wide range of price points, starting with the iPod (at $59). I have always been a fan of the lower priced iPods, and I am glad to see Apple still offers them. Likewise, the iPad Mini 2 is an excellent tablet and the iMac mini is an excellent computer. Relative to the market, they are priced competitively and yet superior technology. Now the new Watch and the new SE phone join them.

For people who want to spend lots of money, Apple has a product for them. By offering the lower end products, they both force their competitors to offer better products as well as allow more people to have access to their excellent technology.

P.S. I realize for some people, even these relatively low prices are not affordable. In the context of this post, affordable is in context to the rest of the marketplace an Apple product competes within.

Pebble and their smart watches are not going away yet

After the Apple Watch came out, I wondered how this would affect Pebble, the company. Turns out, instead of folding, they have plans to evolve and grow. For evidence of this, check out their latest watch (in the photo, as well as here: Pebble Smartwatch | Smartwatch for iPhone & Android). They seem to be aiming to finding a market for those wanting some of the features of the Apple Watch without all the functionality (or cost).

With the watch above, you can see them adopting higher end materials and also getting thinner (and round). It is more expensive than the original Pebble, but likely better quality. And still much cheaper than Apple Watch.

I have a Pebble and I really like it. It does what I want, which is send me notifications without having to get out my phone, which is great in meetings, at events, or driving (carefully). And you can even easily write code for it. Finally, it is a great watch that needs to be rarely charged.

Needless to say, the Apple Watch is a great product. Depending on your needs, it could be a better choice than the Pebble. But the Pebble is a good product too, and I think there is a place in the market for a range of watch makers. Get one that suits your needs. With the Pebble, now you have more choice.

Ten ad hoc thoughts on the Apple Watch from me

  1. It already looks like the Watch is a big success. If anything, what has surprised me is that Apple doesn’t seem to have sufficient quantity in stock to meet the demand. I am not surprised by the success: I am surprised by the breakdown** in the supply chain. (** Further reporting may show that to be not true).
  2. The timing of the Watch is perfect. What do you think will make a great present for young people as they graduate from schools and universities? Yep. Who do you think doesn’t own a watch currently? Yep, same group.
  3. The size of the Watch will likely be a non issue, now and in the future. I’d like it thinner myself, but there have been previous Apple devices that I thought were not ergonomically ideal, and they did just fine. Plus, we have become spoiled: the original iPod and iPhone slimmed down over time, but were still successful in various formats. The same will be said for the watch.
  4. The price is a non-issue too. People pay $179 (in Canada) for a Nano and $249 or more for an iPod Touch. The watch is another price point, but not all that far away from them. What is interesting is that Apple has products from under $100 (the Shuffle), to the Nano, the Touch, to iPad,  the Watch, to the iPhone, to the laptops. If you consider the Apple an aspirational product, that is smart. You can acquire an Apple product at different price points, and once you get them, you are likely to be more inclined to get the new product from them. That happened to me: I went from having no Apple devices to having a shuffle, then a touch, than a phone, then an iPad. I expect to eventually get a laptop from them too. You get used to the quality and the interoperability.
  5. The benefit of the Watch, which I have seen with my Pebble, is that I can keep aware of alerts without looking at my phone. I expect alot of people will love that.
  6. People who think the Apple Watch is just a watch likely think the iPhone is just a telephone. As we all know, the iPhone is a small computer that allows us to make phone calls but really does so much more. The Apple Watch is an even smaller computer that tells us the time but really does much more.
  7. Application developers will drive the Watch to greater success. The new device will drive new applications that couldn’t be written on other devices. The apps will make the watch go from Nice to Have to Must Have.
  8. Copycat hardware makers will also drive success. You can bet that Korean and Chinese hardware manufacturers will be coming out with their own watches soon (and some already have). Soon smart watches will be as common as smart phones.
  9. Expect an explosion of watch bands and other accessories for the watch. Also, you will see that people will own more than one Watch (something they are unlikely to do with other tech, like phones or laptops).
  10. As for the future? If you still believe in Moore’s Law like I do, eventually the Watch will not need the iPhone to work. Also, the future will only see more wearable technology, and I expect the Watch to play a big part in that.

” The Apple Watch Is Going To Flop” articles are here, and …

…and I recommend you bookmark one or two to go back and read towards the end of the year to see how poorly they did and why they were wrong. This one, for example, You Guys Realize The Apple Watch Is Going To Flop, Right? | Co.Design | business + design, touches on a lot of things that are likely to be problematic about the new Apple Watch. Yet, the author makes the same two mistakes authors have been making about Apple since Steve Jobs returned: 1) looks at the failures of the competition and 2) looks at the limitations of the current technology. These are mistakes, because 1) Apple has a base of purchasers that has not let the company down in some time and that the competition will never have and 2) Apple has a way of having people focus on the potential, not the limitations.

The Apple Watch will be a success. I have no doubt. Wait and see.

(P.S. image sourced via a link to the article).

Eight quick thoughts on the Apple Watch: its more than watch, more than IT.

Here’s eight quick things I concluded while watching Apple talk about their latest product: the Apple Watch

  1. In the future, you won’t own one Apple Watch, you will own several. For the record I have two shuffles and a number of iPods. I can see the same with Apple Watches.
  2. I expect Apple to experiment with different face types over time. The only thing that changes more than IT is fashion. So expect a steady stream of changing Apple Watches, which will embed fashion and IT.
  3. I also expect Apple to launch partnerships with an array of other companies like high end fashion houses. Just like others make sunglasses for Tom Ford, Prada, etc., I expect Apple to make watches for them. They will be able to use higher end materials, like gold and expensive leather. They might even come with high end apps. Jony Ive was right to say that high end watch makers should be nervous. Apple can work with others to make high end watches that have sophisticated IT: not many (any?) can claim the same thing?
  4. This is also tough for copycat IT companies like Samsung. Apple can now move at the pace of fashion, which is faster than the pace of IT. Plus fashion is about taste, which is an essential part of Apple. It is in their DNA, so to speak. Not so with other mobile device makers.
  5. The Apple Watch is not simply a watch, any more than the iPhone was simply a phone. There is alot of emphasis on the watch part right now, just like there was alot of discussion about the phone part of the iPhone at first. I expect that to change over time.
  6. Right now the Apple Watch depends on the iPhone or other device: it is secondary. I expect the Apple Watch will become the primary device over time, especially with advances in IT. It will be possible to become primary and that makes sense, because you don’t have to carry it: you simply wear it.
  7. Apple has two wearable devices right now: the Apple Watch and Beats. Expect more and more. I expect even Apple eye wear. Unlike the fiasco that is Google Glass, it will be done correctly the first time. And like the watch, you will have more than one pair.
  8. I don’t expect Apple to make a wide range of wearable computing devices. Apple tends to focus. They have a limited range of personal computing devices: I expect them to have a limited range of wearable devices.

P.S. The Apple Watch is not the iWatch. A small shift. Also, this has been a good day for Tim Cook. He is an understated CEO, but he has transitioned Apple from Steve Jobs very well. His first priority was to steady the company. Now he is charting a new course.  Apple shareholders are lucky.

Lastly, these are my opinions only, and not my employers.