Blog Feature

By: Jennifer Devitt on April 24th, 2016

My thoughts on the Apple Watch one year after it's debut.

It has been a year since the Apple Watch debuted. A year and a day actually as the watch went on sale on April 24, 2015. When it was released a lot of people were skeptical, a lot of people were excited and a lot of people were naysayers. When the Watch first came I out, I was on the fence. Dave knew he wanted one right away, and outside of it fitting our business model and clients were inquiring about creating software for it, he really didn't know why he wanted one, just that he did. Me, it took me until August 2015 to decide to get one. As I mentioned in my early review back in August, my reasons for getting on the bandwagon were varying. I needed it to have discussions with clients. I wanted to use it for fitness, I was/is interested in SYDCON developing apps for the device. A year later the reviews are still as mixed as was the anticipation early last year. There are users who love it and wear it daily, and users who have left it to collect dust in a box. And then, there are those that believe it didn't live up to the hype. How do I feel about it a year after release? Let's take a look

1. Usage. I wear my Apple Watch every day. I use it daily for fitness and work, I wear it all day. I have zero issues with battery life.

2. Style. I like that the Watch has bands that are easy to change and come in a variety of colors and styles. I can easily dress it up or down depending on my needs.

3. Durability. I have only had mine 8 months, but it still looks brand new. Dave has had his 1 year and had to have his screen repaired (well they actually just replaced the watch) because he dropped it on ceramic tile. Otherwise, no issues.

4. Fitness. I use my Watch to track fitness goals, monitor heart rate, communicate with other apps I use for fitness tracking. I find it to be overall pretty accurate. I do wish you could customize more goals. I feel as though targeting goals for 7 days a week every week is not wise from a fitness standpoint. All bodies require recharging, muscles need time to recover. Working out and hitting all the goals every day of the year is not ideal and in most cases unrealistic. I have several ideas for an SYDCON developed an app in this genre.

5.  For business. While apps for the Watch are slower to catch on. It is evolving. The possibilities for development in fitness and healthcare are tremendous. As Apple opens up more of the functionality to developers, the possibilities will grow.  As custom software developers we need to have a complete hands-on working understanding of the devices we develop on. I think what's at the core for those who don't understand the device is that they just don't understand that it is an accessory. It was never intended to be a stand-alone or to replace your iPhone. It was intended to work with your iPhone. To enhance your iPhone. For those who say it was a failure, a recent article in Cult of Mac stated that the Apple Watch outsold the iPhone 2 to 1 in its first year.  I still believe that as the device is incorporated more in the healthcare field you will see an increase in sales. In its first year alone the device has been credited with saving several lives just by the continuous heart rate monitoring feature. The device has the ability to make us more in-tune with our bodies, allows us to keep our iPhones stowed in a pocket or purse and instead receive notifications we deem as important on or wrists which minimize interruptions. Is the device for everyone? No, not yet. Will it be, hard to say? It's still in its infancy stage and the possibilities are endless just as they were/are with an iPhone or iPad.  What is important to understand is that it is not so much what Apple can make it do for us, but what companies and developers can develop on the device to take it to the next level. Do you have an Apple Watch? What are your thoughts one year later?

 

 

 
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