No one is more surprised than me– mostly because no one but me cares– to discover that Apple’s big nerd prom today has probably sold me a Pebble Steel. I love my Pebble– it is, hands down, my favorite piece of technology since my first cell phone– but I was fully expecting to trade it in for Apple’s smart watch when they finally got around to introducing one, mostly on account of I’m wearing what looks like a piece of cheap plastic on my wrist. I didn’t want an iWatch because of the functionality; I wanted one because it would look more like a watch a grown-up should be wearing.
Reactions are unsurprisingly mixed, but I love the look of the thing, and I love the word “fluoroelastomer,” but I don’t love the fact that they didn’t mention battery life other than, apparently, claiming that you’d charge it “every night.” I have gotten used to wearing a watch to bed because my watch is also my alarm clock. I don’t ever want to be awakened by a sound again, folks; that’s how much better a wrist vibration is as an alarm clock. It’s wonderful. And if the Apple Watch doesn’t have at a minimum four or five days in between charges (which is about what I get with the Pebble) I don’t want it. I won’t spend $350 (minimum!) on a watch that I can’t use as an alarm clock. That’s half the reason I have a smart watch.
Now, the iPhone 6, on the other hand, is an auto-buy. My phone is reaching the end of its useful life (I’m having to have to have a charging cord with me at all times) and plus I’ve long since accepted the fact that I’m the guy who gets a new phone almost every year anyway. So there is no if dimension to the upgrade, only when. And I could go into the details of the when except I’m pretty sure this post is already nerdy enough. Needless to say it involves deciding whether I’m less pissed at Sprint for having shitty service or Verizon for generically being assholes. I’m tilting toward going back to Verizon except that involves porting my number over in time to still preorder the phone, which is, uh, kinda complicated, blah blah blah nerdwank nerdwank.
What did normal people think about today?
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Woah, the steel looks kind of amazing. It’s square and black and dull, like pretty much everything else I wear… brutal \m/
I’m due for an an update on my iPhone. That’s a no brainer. The watch? Not sure. Mine is 44 years old, Swiss and I bought it on leave in Hong Kong. Besides, you can get email via that iWatch. How the hell are you supposed to reply? Especially with my big hands.
What I’ve found is that getting notifications via my watch makes checking them a lot less obtrusive and it makes me slightly more polite around other people. I do have to pull out my phone if I want to respond to something but it’s much easier to ignore stuff if the notification just happens by vibrating my wrist instead of having to look at my phone, especially if there’s never any noise involved. And this is a very minor thing, but it’s wonderful for listening to music in the car.
Apparently, I don’t think responding immediately is all that important. Except for today during lunch. Sheesh. I think airplane mode is the way to go for most of the day. As far as music in the car goes, we are about to move to yet one more device… something that actually plays lossless music files. Or as close as you can get. The fun never stops.
I love my Pebble. The watchband it came with recently cracked, but I replaced it with a cloth one and kept on trucking. I actually still use a normal alarm clock, though I might revise that opinion. The wrist vibration always catches my attention during the day, why not to wake me up?
I have never overslept with the vibrate alarm, or at least have never managed to ignore it or incorporate it into a dream like can happen with clock radios or ringtone alarms. The best thing is that it just… wakes you up, rather than BLUDGEONING YOU AWAKE NO MORE SLEEP PUNY MEAT CREATURE like a loud alarm can. You’re asleep, then awake, and it’s fine. I love it.
When someone makes a smart pocket watch I might consider one. (Although that’s kind of how I use my phone.) I have the kind of day job that kills wristwatches.
On pure style grounds, I’m totally with you– I love the look of pocket watches, although I’ve never carried one. Functionally, though… yeah, you may as well pull your phone out if you’re gonna dig into your pocket.
I’m right there with you. I love the new design, but I also love my Pebble with its battery life, its customizability, and the fact that I won’t be incredibly heartbroken if I happen to smash it to pieces because the cost to replace it isn’t really that much. The apple watch is a very sophisticated piece of technology. It is beautiful and groundbreaking, and I think I would love it, which is why I’m not getting one. The iPhone 6 on the other hand, to use your words, “that’s an auto-buy”.
Normal people thought about network neutrality.
The wonders of technology…..I better keep up with this things.