The watch needs the phone to operate fully. It's an accessory rather than a full stand alone device.

So, there's a great little app for film makers called FilmicPro. It's really very good, and a lot of good stuff has been shot with it (including this ad for Bentley).
The app makers are saying it should be possible to use the watch as a remote for their camera app. This pleases me and makes me smile.

So hang on, can't the phone be used as a remote?
Because buying the Watch to use as a remote when the phone already does it seems somewhat arse about face.

Mark

Well as the app exists on the phone, you'd be firing the app right there... not remotely.
There is a remote app already, so you can fire the app on one phone from another device.

Right, I see now.
Makes sense that it would work that way and if you're shooting alone then you'd not likely have two phones at your disposal to fire one remotely.

Mark

I had a couple of thoughts about the Watch today. As you probably know, you can send your phone back to Apple for a replacement battery. However, the unit you get back won’t be the unit you sent in.


https://www.apple.com/support/iphone/re ... ery-power/

So, if you have any custom engraving on the phone, you won‘t ever see it again.

Now, to the watch - and I got thinking about this because I have my granddad’s gold watch he was given for 25 years of service to the company where he worked (in 1964 this seemed to be the thing to do). It’s engraved on the back. Now, imagine you give, or are given, an Apple Watch with a personal message on it, and you need to have that watch serviced- say the battery needs replacing. If you send that back to Apple, will you get the original watch back? A watch is a more personal thing than a phone is, and if you are going to plonk down £200+ for a time piece, it’s a long term investment, and you expect it to work for a long time to come. Apple were certainly trying to make it look like a premium item of jewellery, so the expectation is that it’s durability is longer than the lifespan of a battery.

I also would like to know how long a charge will last on this thing - I wonder about this, because it seems that a normal watch can keep going for a good year or so on one battery, yet I imaging the Apple Watch will be a daily charge device.

I stopped wearing a watch except for special occasions when I realised just how much I was surrounded by other devices that already let me know what time it is. When I'm working on my computer there's a clock right there in my menu bar. There's some sort of device displaying the time in my kitchen, living room and bedroom. I can't remember the last time I was in a car that didn't have a clock somewhere on the dashboard. And if you are out and about in an urban area there are clocks and displays with the time on them all around you. And this was long before I started carrying a mobile phone.

IMO the watch has become simply a piece of jewellery that also happens to tell the time.

Yup. I advised my brother in law to get his battery sorted but he was worried about it being sent off. As it happens, he got the battery replaced at the genius store without it going anywhere.



Yup have had patients who tell me this is what they got when they retired as a parting gift.


Stupid question but can you get it engraved? As far as I can tell, the back of the watch has sensors.


From what I gather, it'll be like the iPhone - you'll have to charge it regularly.


For you, probably. For me, it's important with respect to measuring things like pulse and respiratory rate without having to resort to my phone.

The back panel is also the charging contact. I suspect having it engraved would be a bad idea. You could in theory get something engraved on the bezel. I don't really see the Apple Watch as an heirloom level thing though, it's not THAT expensive or interesting as a thing. If you want an heirloom watch, buy a nice mechanical.


The rumour, as inferred from something Tim Cook said at the presentation, is that it will last roughly a day.


I have a Pebble smartwatch and a Withings Pulse monitor. This would replace both in one unit. However I find myself not particularly wanting one, from the details we've seen so far. I suspect the black (rather than 'space grey') might attract me a bit if I see it for real but right now... they're just not my sort of thing as a piece of jewellery.