MEGATech Reviews: Apple Watch Review Round Up Dylan Duarte April 10, 2015 MEGATech Reviews It wasn’t that long ago that smartwatches were nothing more than an idea in the heads of a few forward-thinkers. Once they became a reality, everyone began chomping at the bit to get their devices out of the factory and onto our wrists. Apple jumped into the smartwatch race with the enthusiasm of a WWE superstar, determined to change the smartwatch game before it even started. It’s a tricky situation, because Apple is tasked with not only selling people on their device but selling people on an entirely new concept. For most, this will be their very first smartwatch, and the Apple Watch does not come with a cheap entry fee. So what’s the verdict? Did Apple join the race and instantly start leading the pack? Tech Radar “I’m not a fan of the interface though, as I felt I spent too long looking at the watch when I needed to do something…Probably one of the best smartwatches on the market – but still not enough to convince us this is a real category.” Read Tech Radar’s review. The Verge “There’s no question that the Apple Watch is the most capable smartwatch available today. It is one of the most ambitious products I’ve ever seen; it wants to do and change so much about how we interact with technology. But that ambition robs it of focus: it can do tiny bits of everything, instead of a few things extraordinarily well. For all of its technological marvel, the Apple Watch is still a smartwatch, and it’s not clear that anyone’s yet figured out what smartwatches are actually for.” Read The Verge’s review. CNet “The Apple Watch is the most ambitious, well-constructed smartwatch ever seen, but first-gen shortfalls make it feel more like a fashionable toy than a necessary tool.” Read CNet’s review. Re/code “It is a well-designed piece of technology that will go through a series of software updates, until one day, years from now, when the lithium ion battery can no longer hold much of a charge and it won’t seem as valuable to you…Smartwatches are still unproven, but Apple has made a pretty strong case for them.” Read Re/code’s review. Stuff.TV “You can’t say it’s greater than the sum of its parts because we don’t know what all of the parts are. Some derided the iPhone at its launch. Almost no-one saw the point of the iPad when that was announced. And I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that those have both been rather successful since. That’s because Apple had built not just desirable devices, but also powerful platforms full of opportunities for the world’s app developers. The right now of the Apple Watch is pretty great. But the future of Apple Watch is really amazing.” Read Stuff’s review. Bloomberg “So Apple has succeeded in its first big task with its watch. It made something that lives up to the company’s reputation as an innovator and raised the bar for a whole new class of devices. Its second task—making me feel that I need this thing on my wrist every day—well, I’m not quite sure it’s there yet.” Read Bloomberg’s review. Wall Street Journal “For now, the Apple Watch is for pioneers. I won’t pay the $1,000 it would cost for the model I tested, only to see a significant improvement roll in before too long. But I plan to pay $400 for the 42mm Sport version once it’s on sale. That’s worth paying for a front-row seat for what’s next in tech.” Read The Wall Street Journal’s review. Quality That We Might Not Need It seems that literally everyone who reviewed the Apple Watch agrees that it’s the best smartwatch ever made, yet most of them still question whether or not a smartwatch is something that we need. This is the first generation of a new device and as such setbacks and hiccups are to be expected. Many criticize the price, which is something that will no doubt go down as the technology is perfected. Some reviews cite performance issues which, again, will be among the first things to improve in later generations. The question is whether Apple can improve the device enough to validate the existence of yet another screen we’ll be carrying around. At this point, there’s no where to go but up, and Apple can climb pretty high. Share This With The World!
