Apple Watch Event “Spring Forward”

Just like almost everyone in the technology world and beyond, I spent time watching the liveblog of the Apple Watch event a few days ago. First things first, the new 12″ MacBook looks great. It fits in great with the current product line, and it will be a great replacement for my MacBook Pro 17, when combined with an iMac 27 Retina.

I’m not too sure I care much about the color, the gold one leaves me kind of feeling meh, I will get the beefed up version in a couple of months, when it’s released locally in Taiwan. It always takes them a few more months to get it here because there is no local Apple Store. The closest one is in Hong Kong.

The Apple Watch will be priced from $349 to $18,000 US. For a smartwatch, that’s a bit much. Even for a fitness tracker, the lowest price is in the range of a Garmin Fenix 2, which promises much more, except the direct tracking of your heartrate without a belt.

However, having had a fitness tracker before, I lost my Sony Smartband in Vietnam a few weeks ago, I have to say that I’m looking forward to the passive features of the Apple Watch, like tracking how well you sleep, how many steps you take in a day, etc. This and the novelty factor, of it being probably the most advanced smartwatch on the market, makes me think that I’ll probably opt for the 42mm Sport edition. I’m not too keen on spending a grand on a watch that will need to be replaced in a year. However, since I’ll be getting an iPhone 6 Plus, it seems like a good plan.

For people who have never experienced a smartwatch or an advanced fitness tracker, they can be viewed as extensions of your phone. Since I got one, my phone was always silent. I could change tracks of my music while running without fiddling with my phone. I could stop alarms immediately by the press of a button. I could use the vibrating feature of the band to wake me up in the mornings. The band tracked how well I slept, and just having this metric, it made me aware of how to correct my sleep cycle and get better rest.

To compare the Apple Watch Edition with luxury watches from Cartier, etc, is completely ludicrous. Sure, you pay a lot for a Cartier Roadster Chronograph, but you won’t have to change it next year. By definition, this kind of technology has a shelf life, on top of that it’s a short one, so I won’t be spending a lot on it.