Apple Watch

[Joshua Caldwell]

This is absurd, the top end Apple Watch Edition is $17,000 with another $500 for a steel band identical to that on my $30 Timex. This watch does nothing that the $350 Watch Sport version doesn't do, the tiny amount of 18k gold that you're paying $16,650 extra for at current gold value is about $50.

You can either buy this watch, or fund two and a half Elios, that is absurd.

 

[Chaz]

But it is an Apple watch, just that triples the price. There is nothing ground breaking about this watch. How many idiots are going to be sleeping outside to be the first to get one? I don't understand the Apple fanatics, I wouldn't wait inline more than a few minutes to buy anything.

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

But it is an Apple watch, just that triples the price. There is nothing ground breaking about this watch. How many idiots are going to be sleeping outside to be the first to get one? I don't understand the Apple fanatics, I wouldn't wait inline more than a few minutes to buy anything.

Actually, there is. Incorporating NFC into a watch for payments & other uses isn't something that I have noticed elsewhere and the price of the base model is in line with Android smartwatches from other companies with similar capabilities. The prices of the models above base are absurd and so are the wrist band prices. $100+ being a common price for wristbands? really?

 

[Chaz]

LG for me has taken the lead with watch that is actually a fully functional phone. This watch is in addition to your IPhone already having NFC built in. How does that really help? I guess taking your phone out of your pocket is too hard for people now a days.

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

Only the iPhone 6 and 6+ have NFC, the Watch also supports the iPhone 5, 5C, and 5S. It will be about 2-3 years until nearly all iPhone users have the 6 or something more modern and until then this is a real advantage. I love Apple Pay on my iPhone thanks to it's unique card # every time after having replaced my own credit card 4 times in the past year due to information breaches at various stores.

 

[Chaz]

Why would someone buy this and still have an old phone? A phone cost less than the cheapest watch if you get it like most people do with a contract. It is all hype but, hey that is what Apple does lately no real innovation anymore.

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

I work for AT&T and while some people still buy it under contract (which is a stupid move if you have a plan with 10GB of data or above FYI), the majority buy the phones via installments at the manufacturer's full price. The cheapest usable iPhone (5S 16GB) is $549.99.

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

So, what's the argument FOR the watch?

Honest question.

 

[Chaz]

Kit

So, what's the argument FOR the watch?

Honest question.

It's made by Apple (nothing more)

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

So, what's the argument FOR the watch?

Honest question.

I don't have one that is worth $350, or even $99 for a Pebble. I impulse reserved a Pebble Time, only to realize that I didn't have a single use for it as my phone is always on me, and canceled the reservation. I can see the point in fitness watches that have GPS, accelerometers, and heart rate monitors and since you need the computing power for that you might as well throw in some Pebble style notifications - the best example of this would be the Basis Peak. I don't however see the need for anything between your basic Timex Ironman and the Basis Peak, or anything beyond the Peak.

FYI: that was not an endorsement of the Peak, the hardware is great, the software is buggy as hell, during the month I tried it I was forever having to reset the thing and would go days at a time where the watch and the phone simply refused to communicate with each other + its bluetooth connection drained my phone's battery down to 40% every day, without it my battery was still around 90% by the end of the day.