AppleWatch

The Future of Apple Watch (WWDC and beyond)

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This is part 4 in ongoing series of reflections based on my experience with Apple Watch. Previous pieces are: Week 1: You Can’t Put Delight In a Spreadsheet, Weeks 2-3: Its Form Is Its Function, Week 4: A Foundation for the Future.

It’s that time of year again, when Apple critics, analysts, and skeptics release their expectations, analysis, and wish lists for WWDC. In this piece, I hope to approach the pre-WWDC ramp-up somewhat differently. These other approaches are based, typically, off of rumors or personal frustrations with the software. I hope to present a more timeless list of strategic wrist-centric ways where Apple Watch should mature in order for its long-term potential to be reached. Continue reading →

Watchscreen: Lewis Smith, iOS developer & photographer

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I’m pleased to introduce a new weekly series highlighting how different people are using Apple Watch, what apps they’re using, and how its fitting into their lives. Since Apple Watch is an intensely personal product, each person will find different ways to use it. Like sharing iPhone homescreens, I hope this will help you discover apps and tips and tricks along the way.

Without further adieu, let’s look at our first Watchscreen, that of Lewis Smith (Twitter, Web).Version 2 Lewis is a fantastic developer with great design sensibilities. He created the excellent World Time Widget (which I reviewed) as well as a Progress fitness app, and Tagger photography app. So,  Lewis, show us your watchscreen! Continue reading →

Apple Watch Week 4: A Foundation for the Future

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This is part 3 in ongoing series of reflections on my experience with Apple Watch the first months its out. Other pieces are: Week 1: You Can’t Put Delight In a Spreadsheet, Weeks 2-3: Its Form Is Its Function, & Week 5: The Future of Apple Watch (WWDC & beyond)

The expectations we have about a product immensely in shaping our evaluation of it, perhaps more than the quality of the actual product. If, we, as the Little Mermaid humorously did, think that the purpose of a fork is to brush one’s hair, then we will note that it frequently snags hair, has an uncomfortable handle, and is, on the whole, a failed product. If you expected Avengers to be a romantic comedy, you’d be sorely disappointed. And those who expected Apple Watch to replace their iPhone have been disappointed as well.

Can Apple Watch do everything now? No. Can it replace your phone? No. Is it bug-free? No. Is there room for improvement? Yes. Are any of those expectations appropriate for the first generation of any product? Of course not. Apple Watch is not a perfect product, but many people are forgetting that neither was the first iPod, the first iPhone, or the first iPad. Rather than evaluating whether the product is already mature, a better question is to ask whether Apple has laid a foundation on which Apple Watch can grow. The answer, I believe, is a resounding yes. Continue reading →

Apple Watch Weeks 2-3: Its Form Is Its Function

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In my first piece in this series, I wrote that the value of Apple Watch can’t be explained monetarily, but I’ve found in these last weeks that the value is hard to explain in functional terms. Part of the reason is that its delight comes from tiny moments of joy that compound over time, a compounding that outside observers don’t experience.1 But another part of the reason is that what the watch does is so different than what many expect.

This last week, I was on vacation with my family (who gave the watch to me) and at a conference where my watch was noticed (a lot!).2 Amidst the oohs and ahs and  people calling it iWatch, I was repeatedly asked the question, “What does it do?” As I answered that question, I realized that the functions of Apple Watch are unique to its form. It’s an oft-quoted maxim that “form follows function,” but in the case of Apple Watch, I believe the exact opposite is true: the Apple Watch’s form is its function. It is Apple’s discipline to allow the form to dictate its function that has set up the Watch for success in a way only Apple could. Continue reading →

How to get Apple Watch Sport Bands to Fit Perfectly

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Perhaps you’re like me, with a wrist that doesn’t fit perfectly into an already-prepared Apple Watch Sport band hole. If you find that you’re in between hole sizes, with one slightly tight and the next size slightly large, then don’t worry–you just might be in luck. Continue reading →

Apple Watch Week 1: You Can’t Put Delight In a Spreadsheet

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I’ve had the privilege of being one of the first owners of Apple Watch and the last week has been a delightful one. This is the first of six weekly reviews in which I’m going to share my thoughts about Apple Watch. My goal is not to focus on whether you need Apple Watch, the limitations of the device, or how to use it. Instead, my goal is to write from the intersection of technology and liberal arts, that is, exploring how this technology impacts our lives in what it means to be human and to truly live.

I don’t think Apple Watch is a device you can evaluate in a week. It’s neither technology, nor fashion, nor both; it is something utterly different than we’ve experienced before. You won’t find a “pronouncement” about Apple Watch’s future in this piece and only as time goes by will I offer more of my opinion about Apple Watch and its strengths and weaknesses. For now, let me relate reflections on how Apple Watch has helped me be more fully human in the last week. Continue reading →

Messaging in the Notification Era

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The first Apple Watch units have hit the streets and we’re beginning to get a good sense of how people are finding the watch fits into their lives. A common theme has been that some of the greatest value is that the watch makes it easy to see information that is of high value and importance. As I predicted weeks ago, notifications are as valuable to Apple Watch as apps are to iPhone, but only if they are truly notifications important enough to interrupt us on the wrist. Ben Bajarin put it this way in his excellent Apple Watch review:

Since we engage with the Apple Watch for only a matter of seconds, we need to know the information delivered is extremely valuable. Therefore, the notifications I allow to come to my wrist are ones I have ranked as the highest priority…With the Apple Watch app, you can filter the notifications you want to allow to get your attention. This is the most compelling aspect of the Watch experience.

Apple Watch is bringing to attention to the fact that our world is changing to one in which notifications play a larger role than ever before.1 Unfortunately, one part of the iOS experience is not ready for this new day: Messaging. Continue reading →

Apple Watch: First Impressions

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I was able to spend an hour yesterday at the Apple Store both trying on Apple Watch and testing it out. Here are some thoughts in no particular order: Continue reading →

Apple Watch: Right and Wrong Questions

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My thanks to this week’s sponsor, World Time Widget, an app that puts timezones  in your Today View. Read my full review or why you’ll like it.

Far too much time and energy has been spent in the last days talking about whether or not the Apple Watch is “necessary.” Many of yesterday’s reviews, in fact, addressed this issue specifically. Consider just a few:

Wall Street Journal:

Do I really need another connected screen blinking, beeping and buzzing all day?

CNET:

[M]any manufacturers have set sail with ambitious wearables; very few are bona fide successes. Most people aren’t even sure they need one.

The Title of Bloomberg’s review in fact was “You’ll Want One, but You Don’t Need One“:

So far, the biggest question about wearables—there are already plenty of products on the market—is really: Who needs one?

Its second task—making me feel that I need this thing on my wrist every day—well, I’m not quite sure it’s there yet. It’s still another screen, another distraction, another way to disconnect, as much as it is the opposite. The Apple Watch is cool, it’s beautiful, it’s powerful, and it’s easy to use. But it’s not essential. Not yet.

The question of necessity isn’t irrelevant to a review, as many people will be asking that question themselves. That question, however, actually prevents both reviewer and reader from understanding the true value of Apple Watch. Continue reading →

Apple Watch is about Content Reception (Updated)

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My thanks to this week’s sponsor, World Time Widget, an app that puts timezones  in your Today View. Read my full review or why you’ll like it.

Abdel Ibrahim wrote an excellent piece over at WatchAware.com wherein he writes:

From the Watch Face, you are able to see your Glances and notifications. In order to see apps, you have to engage the Digital Crown. This makes it seem pretty obvious that Apple has purposely designed apps not to be front and center like they are on iPhone. Instead, Apple Watch apps are mere repositories where stored information can be pushed to the user in the form of Glances and via Notification Center.

This may sound a little weird, and I think to some of us it is. We’re used to apps being the focal point. But on Apple Watch, on initial waking, they’re not.

Astute observation. The “home state” isn’t the app screen, it’s the watch face. It’s only seems weird because of expectational debt. But there is excellent reason why it differs, and it relates to what Apple Watch uniquely offers the user. Continue reading →