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10 Good, Bad and Ugly Things About Apple Watch

While unveiling the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in September last year, Apple also announced the Apple Watch. But, the firm made the entire world to wait for the release of the smartwatch and the same happened at the press event on Monday. The Apple Watch is capable of doing all the things that we can expect from a smartwatch. The smartwatch comes in three variants, Apple Watch Sport in aluminum, Apple Watch in stainless steel and limited edition gold plated Apple Watch Edition. Now, let us take a look at the good, bad and ugly aspects of the Apple Watch.

Different Variants – Good

The Apple Watch comes in three variant as mentioned above. These come in two color options. Apple Watch Sport features a lightweight anodized aluminum case in silver and space gray with Retina display that is protected by Ion-X glass and high-performance Sport Band in five color options. The Apple Watch has polished stainless steel and space black stainless steel cases with a Retina display protected by sapphire crystal.

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The Apple Watch collection has three different leather straps – a stainless steel link bracelet and Milanese loop, and a black or white Sport Band. It features cases that are specially crafted from custom rose or yellow 18-karat gold alloys that is claimed to be twice as hard as standard gold. It also features a Retina display protected by polished sapphire crystal and uniquely designed straps and bands with 18-karat gold clasps, buckles or pins.

Looks – Bad

The Apple Watch is the best smartwatch in terms of looks. It features a square face with soft rounded edges that are made using premium materials. This give a gentler look and feel to the device compared to the other smartwatches that exist in the market. The digital crown also contributes to the unique look of the smartwatch. Though all these sound interesting and impressive, the design of the device looks a bit feminine making it not suitable for everyone. Of course, there is a 38 mm option for the women users and a 42 mm variant of the strap for the men users. However, the overall looks are little feminine.


apple watch gold

Fitness Options – Good

Apple Watch supports the wearer to sit less and to keep moving to get some exercise. The preloaded Activity app gives a simple visual snap of the user’s everyday activities with three rings measuring the active calories burned, brisk activity and the person takes a break from sitting. It also provides detailed metrics during workout such as walking, running and cycling via the Workout app. The device makes use of the accelerometer, a built-in heart rate sensor, GPS and Wi-Fi of the iPhone to sense different types of motion and comes up with a comprehensive all-day activity and workout list.

Battery Life – Good

Apple was claimed to compromise on the battery life of the Apple Watch and this was a major concern for the many. But, the firm has managed to fix the battery life issues considerably. The Apple Watch is claimed to render a backup of 18 hours that is backup for almost an entire day. The device makes use of a unique charging solution with Apple’s MagSafe technology that combines inductive charging.

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Apple Pay and Other Features – Good

Apple has integrated the Apple Pay mobile payment solution even in the smartwatch. Apart from usual activities, the device will let users to pay for what they have shopped easily. They can also board flights with the Passbook boarding pass. Siri voice assistant is also present and it can assist in providing turn by turn directions.

Digital Crown – Good

The Apple Watch introduces the revolutionary Digital Crown that provides an innovative approach to scroll, navigate and zoom fluidly without obstructing the display’s view. The crown can be customized to access contacts that were communicated recently as well. Also, there is Force Touch on the Apple Watch that will sense the difference between a press and a tap on the Retina display.

apple watch

Interface Learning Curve – Bad

The Apple Watch is given an iconographic interface as in the Apple TV that was launched last year. Such an interface requires all the users to learn the new typography to get used to it. Also, the initial hands-on of the smartwatch shows that the interface is not as smooth as the one in the iPhone 6. Voice commands are also not integrated as in Android Wear and you will have to depend on limited buttons and small touch space for interaction.

Bloatware – Ugly

Apple watch App will be seeded to iPhone via latest update. Just like Stocks, Newsstand, GameCenter and Reminders, users won’t be able to delete this app even when they don’t need it. This will add more clutter to home screen.

Recommended: Apple Pay will Roll out Starting Monday, WatchKit coming to Developers in November

Limited iPhone Compatibility – Ugly

The Apple Watch is compatible only with a few models of iPhones including iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5 that run on iOS 8.2 or above. This requires the users to update their device to the latest version and also leaves the ones with previous iPhone models.

Price – Ugly

The pricing of the Apple Watch Sport is priced from $349, Apple Watch from $549 and Apple Watch Edition from $1,000 onwards. Such a hefty pricing for a smartwatch is definitely a bad aspect.

Conclusion

These are the good and bad aspects inferred from the smartwatch based on the early prototype. We can get to know more details once the device is available for sale. The Apple Watch will go on pre-order in several markets including US, UK, Australia, China and several other countries. The retail availability of the smartwatch will start from April 24 in these regions.

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Abhishek Bhatnagar

Abhishek Bhatnagar, a known technology blogger & YouTuber from India. A Software Engineer by qualification, now he works as the editor-In-Chief, Webmaster, & Managing Director at Gadgets To Use. He runs a number of other technology websites as well.

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