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Goodbye Apple Watch, Hello Again G-Shock

This article is more than 8 years old.

This has been a brief love affair.

When Apple introduced the Watch to the World it was their first gadget that I didn't want to own immediately. After dabbling with a Pebble I understood that the smartwatch was a part of the wearables technology industry that still had some growing up to do. Initially I did order one only to cancel it a day later. Foolishly, I reordered it again and waited for 3 weeks until it arrived. Now after spending less than 48hrs with it my initial beliefs have been confirmed.

This is a device that is desperately seeking a purpose.

IDC has recently reported that the total volume of smart wearables will reach 25.7 million units in 2015, boosted by the Apple Watch. "Smart wearables are about to take a major step forward with the launch of the Apple Watch this year," said Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC, but I suspect that while sales of the Apple Watch appear to remain healthy, there is a hidden returns trend we are not being made aware of by Cupertino HQ.

So why am I returning mine after such a short period of time ?

The Apple Watch is the first device that I've had to Google (irony) to find out whether there is more to it. There isn't. This is iPhone 2007 but without the simple user interface and revolutionary leap forward. This is not an intuitive smartwatch to use, and perhaps this is the Achilles Heel of all tech with such a small form factor struggling to find a place in your life and on your wrist.

Set up is painless enough once fully charged and after spending 20 minutes getting everything the way you want it, the watch becomes invisible. But herein lies the problem: it's so invisible there's little point to it.

Not all invisible technology is great technology

I don't find the activity tracker particularly useful, it's not a motivating factor to become more physically active, nor is it effective as a tracker either. In fact, when I did exercise it was inaccurate, and because the watch can be set to respond to you raising your arm to glance at the time in general, more often than not, simple exercise will trigger this off constantly (therefore becoming a bit more of a battery drain)

Yes, you can toggle this feature on/ off but why should you ?

Another aspect, and one which I believe all smartwatches should have from now on, is the capacity to convert activity into energy. The unhealthy obsession of slimming down every iteration of an iDevice means that simpler technology such as a kinetic capacitor is ignored, and these smartwatches with their extremely small battery life are crying out for it. This is 2015. I owned a watch with solar tech in 1985. I would rather have the goal of recharging my smartwatch through activity than merely tracking the calories. Having watch straps with more embedded battery technology actually feels like regression to me, this is merely a third party market capitalising on a problem instead of addressing the root cause.

Apple loves that though.

Glances, which you can set up as common reference functions on a swipe, are pretty much redundant if you create a watch face with information you need quickly. Again, this points to creating functionality to make a smartwatch seem useful, but in fact it's glossing over the fact that it struggles to be so.

Crowning glory ?

For the record, the Digital Crown is ok. It's really there to appease watch lovers who would miss one, and frankly it's a product of the square design of the Watch itself. A rotating bezel on a round watch would be far more interesting a proposition. But we are stuck with square, because Apple wants us to be. It might be hip to be square in The Bay Area, personally I prefer more options to being hammered by Apple into the round hole. The trouble with the Crown and button that sits beneath it is that you are constantly fumbling around on both, trying to remember what they're for and what functions they invoke.

I've read reviews that state you subtly adjust your life and habits around the watch, that the iPhone remains in your pocket as you quickly check for and dismiss incoming notifications. This is by far the most useful aspect of the Apple Watch. But it's not worth the expenditure for it.

And if you are one of many who live their lives using their smartphone, and the device is rarely out of reach or rarely not in hand, then the Watch becomes even more pointless. You can point to adjusting your life and your phone habits all you want, but if you need to respond to a situation you simply can't with the watch alone. Not quickly.

Death by notification, not by PowerPoint

We are, in 2015, drowning in notifications. Whether by email, Twitter , Facebook, Snapchat, LinkedIn , the constant distraction and vying for your attention can be tiresome. A smartwatch adds to the noise rather than signal however, and the prevailing issue with devices this small is being able to take action on a notification. Replying to a message with the Apple Watch really is rather pointless: you can send a canned message, an animated emoji, or talk to Siri and dictate one. Seeing someone at a dinner table tapping out a text response is bad enough, but society really isn't ready for the manners of diners speaking into their Watch. Oh, you can't send a heartbeat (why would you...) or draw a picture (why would you...) unless your recipient has an Apple Watch too.

So, all those 'cool' touches you saw at the Keynote aren't available unless you can convince others that spending money on a watch just to draw a smiley face is worth it.

A watch that will never be timeless

This is a statement for all smartwatches. We are in the form over function stage with a lot of consumer accessible wearable technology. There is not one single killer use case that screams 'buy me, wear me', this is like the days of the Casio Databank all over again, and like I said before feels like iPhone Gen1. We already know the rumour mill is rife with news of Apple Watch v2, and this alone should make consumers and purchasers think twice about splashing out on a wearable device with such a limited shelf life.

Remember, a watch is seen by some as a personal statement, and this is a statement that will be outdated sooner than you think.

For me, I'm requesting a refund. I'm quite happy to discuss via Twitter my experience with anyone, this is an opinion after all. I don't feel it's a hasty decision either, 48 hours is long enough with a device of this kind to feel that it should have a purpose and use in your life. The Apple Watch doesn't. Not yet.

Goodbye Apple Watch. Hello again, my trusty G-Shock.

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