Tag: Apple Watch

Uncategorized

New Apple stuff in my life

by bijansabet

Well, Apple just announced their latest earnings and once again they crushed it. 

But this post isn’t about their financials. It’s about some of their new products. 

I’m typing this post on the new 12″ MacBook. It arrived yesterday. I knew I wanted to go with a retina display for my next laptop and the display on this MacBook is stunning. 

The size and form factor is wonderful. Hard to really appreciate it until you hold one in your hands. 

The keyboard is a bit odd at first but I really love it after just a few minutes. I have not done any head to head tests but it feels like I’m able to type 20% faster.

I don’t have a lot more to say about this computer. It’s great and it suits my needs perfectly. 

Lauren’s Apple Watch arrived Friday (mine is delayed until mid-May). It was sent to my office and I didn’t get to pick it up for her until yesterday. It comes fully charged so after pairing it with Lauren’s iPhone 6 she was quickly up and running. 

The reviews for the Apple Watch made it sound like battery life was horrible, with painfully slow performance and a confusing user interface. 

In my quick experience, I found battery life acceptable, performance is fine but the user interface is a little wonky at times. The two physical buttons are confusing. The brilliance of one button on the iPhone is lost with Apple Watch. And there are too many small target touch buttons while navigating various apps. Force Touch is super cool but its unclear which apps/screens utilize it. 

Some other misc thoughts:

  • Siri has improved significantly
  • Messaging is great, while email is a bit silly
  • My analog watch is more beautiful but Apple Watch is better looking than I thought it would be. It’s definitely smaller and lighter than anticipated. 
  • Security is interesting. Apple Watch requires a passcode on the watch but you only need to enter each time you put your watch back on your wrist. After that it doesn’t require it anymore. I would love to see Apple Watch unlock other things in my life (front door, iPhone, online banking, MacOS, etc)

That’s it for now. I am looking forward to getting mine. 

Would love to hear in the comments or on Twitter about your favorite Apple Watch apps so far. Thanks! 

Uncategorized

Less is more

by bijansabet

I wasn’t in the audience at the time, but the very first time I saw the video of Steve Jobs presenting the iPhone to the world I was in awe.

Sure we had plenty of smartphones previously but this was something entirely different.

I pre-ordered mine as soon as I possibly could.

It had nothing to do with my work trying to understand the latest new thing. I wanted it for myself. After I had embraced this new thing, my mind opened up to a world of possibilities, for my personal life and my professional life. 

I pre-ordered the next iPhone and every other one that came out since. And last week I did the same thing with the iPhone 6. It looks like another insanely great product.

Last week, along with so many people around the world I watched Apple introduce the Watch.

It is a thing of beauty. It’s thoughtful, well designed and capable. 

But at this time I don’t have any plans to pre-order it when it becomes available. 

I really don’t want another thing to power up and charge in my life. I don’t want another thing to interrupt my moments.  I don’t want to see any sort of notification when I’m playing basketball in the driveway with the kids.  I am finding the joy of walking into my house, taking the phone out of my pocket and leaving it on the counter. 

I love the miracle of the mobile, high speed internet. But I want to choose my time with and without. 

There is a real possibility that by not getting an Apple Watch I will miss out on important emerging trends. That’s a concern I suppose. Or maybe developers figure out how to innovate and respect our time along the way.

There is also a chance I eat the words of this very post as we get learn more about Watch and as it’s capabilities radically improve as these things always do. 

But less is more in so many ways and this might be another example. At least that’s how I’m feeling at the moment. 

Uncategorized

Some thoughts on wearable computing

by bijansabet

Wearable computing has arrived. 

It’s still early days for sure but even today I have two devices with me pretty much all the time — my mobile phone and a Nike Fuelband. 

I’m excited about the future of wearable connected devices. My Fuelband is powerful but physically clunky, software isn’t great, and isn’t friendly to 3rd parties. Other than that it’s great :) 

Apple and Google are also getting into the wearable game. It’s an opportunity to break the market wide open. 

It’s hard to say when the Apple Watch will ship if ever. The iPhone was commonly called the “jesus phone” for many years while people waited. Do you remember this wacky first attempt. But I hope they ship the Watch. It’s a very exciting category. I pre-ordered the Pebble as well. 

Google Glass is equally interesting and exciting for me. Let me just get this out of the way. I’m buying one as soon as there is a place for me to order one. 

The open question Google needs to answer is whether Google Glass will feel as socially awkward as bluetooth headphones or will it be a revolutionary first step like the bag phone.

As a fan of Ready Player One, I’m so ready to jump into the Oasis.