The smartwatch that every smartwatch enthusiast has been waiting for was finally announced at Apple’s “Spring Forward” event earlier this week. And upon reading the news releases and information that streamed in about the
Apple Watch, I came to a conclusion: I am never getting one.
If you read this blog, then you might know that I’m not generally an Apple fan–I have an Android in my pocket as I write this–but I do have respect for the company. Apple has a well-deserved reputation for pushing the industry to even further technological leaps with its products, and the Watch was expected to be THE smartwatch to have.
The Watch has some pretty nifty features installed, as you would expect from Apple, including the ability to track your heartbeat or send a recording of it to a friend; support for several apps from the kind of big-name developers that only Apple could pull in for an untested product; the ability to send sketches and taps to friends; GPS navigation and more. The interface is also pretty cool looking, although I haven’t had time to play with it. Many critics say that it isn’t as intuitive as Apple was hoping and uses entirely different gestures than smartphones, making it a steep learning curve. But then again, the same could be said of the first smartphone.
The Watch requires an iPhone 5 or higher to use a lot of the functions, but it is a secondary device–meaning that it does not hook up to cellular networks or Wifi on its own, but must be tethered. This means that you could, theoretically, use it with a prepaid phone. Which I thought was pretty cool.
And then Apple told us how much it would cost.
The cheapest edition of the Watch, the Apple Watch Sport is made out of Anodized aluminum, Ion-X glass and colorful bands like the kind you see on the $10 watches at Walmart. This device ranges from $350 – $400 which is pretty much in line with other smartwatches except that they don’t come with cheesy plastic bands. Still, bands can be upgraded, so this isn’t too bad. Although, I can’t help but wonder how durable aluminum would be.
Then you have the
Apple Watch, or the mid-tier range, which is made of stainless steel and sapphire glass with choices of leather or metal bands. It retails for $600 – $1100, which I think is maybe a little pricey for a secondhand device that requires an iPhone which costs at least that to function.
But the real shocker for me was the 18k gold Apple Watch Edition, which starts at $10,000 and ranges up to $22,000. I could buy a new car for that much.
Needless to say, it was at that point that I decided firmly that I will NOT be purchasing the Apple Watch, even the sport edition which is the only reasonably priced device out of the lot. While the Apple Watch does a lot of things, I can’t help but wonder how quickly it will be outdated and if it will really be worth the money. And that’s not even mentioning Apple’s penchant for releasing first-edition devices that require quite a few updates before being where they ought to be. But maybe that’s my bias talking.
Still, if you’re looking to nab one, the Apple Watch should hit the market around April 24, and Apple is taking preorders right now on its website. Personally, if I decide to foray into the word of smartwatches, I’ll probably stick with the cheaper Android versions, like the beautiful Moto 360, for now.]]>
