The Apple Watch - Not a rant.. I promise!
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2016-05-06
·
1,959 words · ~9 min read
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i actually decided a couple weeks ago not to review the apple watch
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yet not because it isn't an important product or because i couldn't get one or
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whatever but because i felt like this piece of technology straps to my wrist
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was in such a state of early access that given apple's recent announcement of
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watch os 2 i should probably just wait
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then i realized that watch os 2 is coming in the fall and apple
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legitimately expects people to buy this thing and use it for months before those
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improvements materialize so while i might still take another crack at it
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with more emphasis on functionality once that software update arrives i've
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definitely got some words to say in the meantime
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Corsair delivers real mecca oh here i have one huh real mac or nothing with
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their new strafe mechanical keyboard featuring genuine german made cherry mx
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keyswitches click on manchin to learn
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more i'm going to move my chin now just the three for a loop
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i know i know i've teased this one before but i'm really releasing it soon
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this time drop a like on the video if uh you want to see us build a pc inside a
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mini fridge it's going to be awesome for today though
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the apple watch it's available in an umpteen bajillion different model so
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let's start with some of the things that differ between them you can get a 38
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millimeter or 42 millimeter face to suit your wrist size a 350 dollar to 17
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thousand dollar price tag to suit your wallet size a variety of construction
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materials ranging from aluminum with ion x glass on the sport models to stainless
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or gold with sapphire crystal glass on the more premium ones and enough strap
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options to choke a horse ranging from plastic to leather to stainless steel
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then there's the similarities there are body sensors on the bottom of all models
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in fact the hardware is identical down to a mere eight gigabytes of on-board
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storage actually kind of funny if you think about it they've all got two
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buttons a lower one for frequent contacts and the upper crown for
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bringing up the home screen and for scrolling vertically which is a funny
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throwback to my blackberry days actually
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funnier still because it comes from apple the inventor of momentum based
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touch on everything because scroll wheels
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anyway though i picked up a 38 millimeter apple watch non-sport
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non-edition with a milanese loop band because i thought it looked kind of cool
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so some of my comments will be specific to this skew but most of my feedback
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will be general observations about apple's first wearable that is to say if
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you don't count tricked out ipod nanos the fit and finish of the apple watch
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isn't perfect my crown button is a little spongier than it should be
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especially when you gotta double tap it sometimes but overall i would say it's
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outstanding it's worlds better than the moto 360 the shining hope for Android
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wear enthusiasts who wanted a really premium feeling option and it makes the
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lg g watch r still my personal favorite smart watch feel like a geeky gadget
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rather than a piece of jewelry particularly because of its plastic
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screen and you know what maybe that's the point here isn't it if we evaluate
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the apple watch as a smart wrist mounted wearable a category that
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it appears to be trying to invent in spite of arriving somewhat late to the
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party it falls short of the functionality delivered by smaller
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companies months or even years ago and if we evaluate it as a watch you know a
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time piece then i don't know about you but the fact that i can't check the time
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with a discreet glance at my ARM when cornered by a talkative neighbor or
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during an unsatisfactory sexual encounter where i'm on the bottom
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without it being extremely obvious that i'm bored
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is simply unacceptable i mean sure it can be woken a number of ways by
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gesturing double tapping or pressing the crown but if a real watch company
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released a watch that required any of that kind of
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to find out what time it is we'd laugh them out of town which doesn't mean that
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it's all bad it's a very forward-thinking product and i'll say
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more on that later but for now navigation with subtle vibes when turns
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are coming up is solid the wireless charger is a nice finally apple
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inclusion the ability to set the watch facetime a few minutes ahead felt like
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they really designed this product for me personally phone conversations are
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surprisingly easy to hold with the on watch speaker and microphone with
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facetime support coming and the 272 by
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340 pixel OLED display a first for apple
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is very sharp with retina class pixel density and super high contrast making
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it easy to read in pretty much any condition and easy to forget where the
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lcd ends and the border begins gorgeous
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it's just too bad that the battery life sucks the big one without enabling power
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reserve which lasts a very long time but turns off literally all functionality
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other than pressing a button to show the time the apple watch couldn't even make
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it past lunch on the second day both times i forgot to charge it and this is
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with what i would consider very moderate use there are just so many compromises
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in this product that all come back to battery gesturing to turn on the screen
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no always listening hey siri the lightning fast display timeout when i
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pause to think for a second while using it the fact that the watch only buzzes
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and avoids turning on the display at all
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to show incoming notifications i mean that last one is what iOS lorded over
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Android for so long apple knew that that
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was important years ago but simply couldn't overcome the engineering
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challenges or at least not in a way that wouldn't force them to compromise on the
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design or vision for this product to
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make that a reality because that's what happened here just like those early
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flash based ipods that held like 50 songs and seemed like a pathetic
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replacement for the hard drive based models that held thousands apple is
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making moves six steps ahead of their opponents they could have pulled out
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wi-fi or reduced the performance of the apple watch's soc to make it a more
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sensible and well-rounded product today but instead they've set the internal
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goal of what a smart watch should be a computer on the wrist and now they're
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just playing a waiting game until the product they want can actually be
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manufactured and i see why they did it because what comes first the chicken the
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you know interactive computer on your wrist that apple is trying to build or
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the egg the software that will run on that computer and make it functional
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either one of them is useless without the other and apple can't sit and wait
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forever while developers only work on you know Android wear or pebble stuff so
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they launched what is essentially a development kit a product
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that can be coded for that's functionally the same as what's coming
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and that allows apple to collect valuable customer feedback like hey it
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shouldn't take two touches to dismiss notification hey being able to interact
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with hangouts or gmail messages in addition to imessage would be cool hey
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starting navigation with siri shouldn't require me to touch the device which is
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super inconvenient when i'm on a motorcycle hey this thing is useless as
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a music remote one of the only things i do with my smart watch until it defaults
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to music control on wake when i'm playing music and supports third party
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media apps like sonos and play music but one that will seem
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like an early adopter toy once the one with the always-on display not to
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mention always listening siri and stuff like that arrives
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okay so then Linus should everyone who bought one feel like an idiot well i'd
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say it depends why they bought it if they bought it to have a great smart
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watch then yes if they bought it as a fitness tracker especially the one i got
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that's telling me i'm progressing in my walking workout when i'm sitting writing
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this review and slips off from sweat when i play badminton
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then yes if they bought it as a fashion accessory that looks good shockingly on
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both men and women with the same design way to go apple and that like white
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earbuds in the 2000 tells the people around them how hip and cool they are
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then i guess not i mean i've seen first hand it's a killer conversation starter
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and not just with my fellow geeks like my other smart watches so
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the answer to that one then is that the value is in the eye of the beholder and
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while many will find better bang for the buck in a 20 sport watch the apple watch
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delivers at the very least an unassailably better value proposition
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than like a high fashion pair of shoes or
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something they'll both be simply dreadful and you won't want to be seen
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in public with them in a year but at least the apple watch will do something
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in the meantime and why don't you do something about paying too much for your
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mobile bill ting.com that's the mobile carrier that's focused on customer
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service why speak to a robot when you call your cell phone provider you can
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get put through directly to a person with ting and you pay only for what you
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use with the average ting bill clocking in at only about 24 dollars per month
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per device and if you're stuck with a contract you can switch to ting and they'll cover 25 of your cancellation
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fee up to 75 bucks so head to Linus.ting.com and try their savings
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calculator where you enter your last few bills and find out hey would i actually
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be saving money on ting or not don't take my word for it do that and also if
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you use our link you get 25 dollars in service credit or towards a new device
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so that's a nice little bonus as well thanks for watching guys if this video
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top five uses for the Intel compute stick a little tiny computer
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it's not that tiny well it's pretty tiny it depends on how you define tiny it's bigger than this one but also quite a
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bit more functional from plastic to leather to stainless
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you