The Apple Thread

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I still have to find a use case for any smart watch, and I usually don't need a lot of encouragement to go out and buy gadgets. I just don't want an extra device with me. And as an accessory, I find it too expensive, since you can get really nice looking and extremely well built Swiss watches for the same price or even less. And those have the added value of not everyone having one.

Maybe this will change after a revision or two and once there are a few decent apps out, but I won't be buying one until then.

Exactly. The lack of use case puzzles me. I accept that I'm an Apple fan, in a home with many Macs, AirPort Extreme, Apple TV, iPods, iPads and the latest large iPhones. The use cases for all of these were quite obvious to me.

Not so the Watch.

It requires an iPhone to be nearby yet seems not to be able to do much that an iPhone can't.

So I'm sitting on the fence.
 
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Hmmm, it seems Apple might have a manufacturing problem with the watch as they have unusually not released first week sales figures and there are no figures for shipments or how many were in stock (it was out of stock almost instantly). This is leading some analysts to believe they may have only been under a million available at release.

Yields with smartwatches seem to have been a problem, maybe they take longer to assemble because the tech is new and they are smaller to work with at the factory. The Microsoft Band when launched only had 30,000 available which lead to it being instantly out of stock.
 
CNET writer accidentally buys a Xbox One using an Apple Watch.


That's pretty funny! :lol:

Shows everything that's wrong with a stupidly small touch screen. I can imagine so many people are going to book or order things by accident using smartwatches.

Also as reviewers have stated the OS looks painfully slow, probably due to the fact the info has to be downloaded to your phone then beamed to the watch and vice versa. It's like early broadband speeds!
 
Tried one out today. 42mm is smaller than I thought it would be. Really well built as well (compared to my brother's LG G something).

Covetous me says 'I do want one.'

But sensible me says 'wait until Gen 2.'
 
I find this watch now to be really a waste of money. There is no real reason someone w/o an iOS device would buy it.

I had to get a digital watch because I needed an alarm when I went camping, and my phone wouldn't last long enough for a week and use it for an alarm. Now it's acting up by randomly resetting to 12:00:00am and the date to 2009.... Of course it has dropped a few times at quite the height (about a three story waterfall and travelling a few hundred yards), but it doesn't help much either to know that the manufacture has "temporarily" shut-down...

I'd like to prolong this one as long as possible and get a Tag Heuer (don't know what type...), as I've only just replaced the battery (it's about 4 years old)...

But I don't see why I'd need a digital, let alone a smart watch anymore... It does seem quite useless unless you have an iPhone too, which I'm never going to own one...
 
But sensible me says 'wait until Gen 2.'
I guess that's another reason I'm not going to buy a smart watch. All the watches I've bought are timeless (hah! :P), in the sense that I bought them and can use them whenever I want. With this new smart watch hype, Apple/Samsung et al have introduced 'planned obsolescence'. Which means you're going to shell 600+ euro on a watch, and it will be completely worthless in 2 years when the new models are out and no apps are being developed that support your model.

On top of that, I still don't see the use cases for a smart watch, especially since most functionality requires you to carry along your phone with it.
 
I'm staying clear of the 1st gen watches. I was on the fence but I've read reviews and seen them up close and I can't see any need for one other than to say I have one.

On a similar note my local Game store have two for sale second hand already and they've marked them up by £100 extra over new ones.
 
New iPhone SE has been released. http://www.apple.com/iphone-se/

It's basically an iPhone 5 but with the internals of the iPhone 6s. Looks pretty cool and seems like a pretty cool idea to me.

If they had the same exterior styling as the 6S it would have made more sense. Why stick with the 5's exterior? Unless they wanted to continue using exsisting tooling. I have to say though the 5 looked more premium with it's sharp edges compared to the rounded 6.
 
If they had the same exterior styling as the 6S it would have made more sense. Why stick with the 5's exterior? Unless they wanted to continue using exsisting tooling. I have to say though the 5 looked more premium with it's sharp edges compared to the rounded 6.

The 5 flat out looks better in my opinion, and thus the SE looks great though I wish Space Gray was darker on the sides. I went completely mad and got the 64gb model in Rose Gold and I'll post some proper pictures tomorrow. It is worth noting the Rose Gold on the SE has a different tone than the 6s models

p7DBWLw.jpg
 
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Azuremen
It is worth noting the Rose Gold on the SE has a different tone than the 6s models

I'm surprised at that, you would think Apple would have a set colour for their rose gold so all accessories like the dock match. Maybe they are using a different production facility or supplier for the SE.
 
They did the same with first and second generation space grey colouring too, opting to make it closer to silver with the newer models.

I'm very tempted to sell my 6 and get the SE as it's really the phone I wanted all along. Never have been a huge fan of the size of the 6 but the difference in performance between it and the 5S was too big to justify the older model when it came to upgrading from my 4.
 
I'm surprised at that, you would think Apple would have a set colour for their rose gold so all accessories like the dock match. Maybe they are using a different production facility or supplier for the SE.

They may do this to help deter fraud in the resale market.
 
Didn't really know where to put this but it's pretty shocking,

Toronto Sun
Person found dead in Apple conference room

An Apple Inc employee was found dead on Wednesday at the company's Silicon Valley headquarters, police said, with local media reporting that the victim had suffered a head wound and a gun was discovered near his body.

Sergeant Andrea Urena of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office told reporters at a press conference that deputies were called to Apple's main offices in Cupertino at 8:35 a.m. PDT(1535 GMT).

"When deputies responded to the campus they found one individual male down and determined he was deceased," Urena said.

"Further investigation determined that no other individuals were involved. We believe this to be an isolated incident and that nobody else on campus or in the public is at risk," she added.

Urena said that Santa Clara County Coroner's investigators would conduct an autopsy to ascertain the cause and manner of death. She said authorities were not searching for any suspects.

The San Jose Mercury News, citing emergency dispatch calls, said initial calls to police reported a man with a head wound.

Dispatch audio posted on the newspaper's website also shows that the unidentified victim was found in a conference room on the campus with a gun.

Urena declined to comment on those reports at the press conference.

A spokeswoman for Apple declined to comment on the investigation, referring reporters to the sheriff's department.

The so-called Infinite Loop campus was calm on a cold and windy day in suburban Cupertino. A vehicle for the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department could be spotted in the parking lot, as well as a handful of white Apple security vehicles with flashing yellow lights on top.

The Infinite Loop campus is the hub for Apple's vast workforce in Cupertino, which numbers 16,000 employees, according to a 2013 report on the company's economic impact. The company is constructing another campus in the city, a massive loop of glass often likened to a spaceship.

Apple on Tuesday reported its first-ever decline in iPhone sales and its first revenue drop in 13 years.

I wonder if the decline in the companies revenues has anything to do with it.
 
I think it's pretty silly, nothing is easier than just plugging your headphones in and they have made it just that little bit more of a faff. Of course being Apple there will be 3rd parties queuing round the block to make Lightning port headphones. It's just a subtle why of them again trying to secure the market to their standards. I having a feeling like the voice control only iPod Shuffle there will be a backlash and it will come back on the 7S or 8.

Also wireless headphones are not the future (as Apple claim), if your an audio enthusiast no wireless format offers the same quality as a wired connection. APTX is terrible and Sony's LDAC although much better is still compressed. Plus you have just another thing to charge.
 
I think it's pretty silly...

if your an audio enthusiast no wireless format offers the same quality as a wired connection.

I don't think it's silly from Apples point of view, less is more. They will take something away and have the ability to charge more.

They've also bundled an adapter in so while not the nicest looking thing is still allows you to use wired mini jack headphones.

As for wireless headphones not being HiFi I agree however Apple don't deal in the high end audio so an analogue component in what is a purely digital device doesn't make sense anymore. Plus their streaming and MP3 centric services don't scream high end audio so there isn't any need.

As for those who want a true Hi Fidelity sound really shouldn't look towards mobile devices after all they are just phones.
 
if your an audio enthusiast no wireless format offers the same quality as a wired connection.
If you're an audiophile, you'll prefer a 3rd party DAC over the crappy DAC in your phone. ;) Which incidentally could be integrated just fine in a Lightning connector. :)

The use case I see for wireless buds is for situations where a wire is inconvenient, e.g. in the gym or when running. But even then I'd probably prefer an in-ear model over the earbuds from Apple. The model from Beats (with the band behind your neck) looks nice, but the quality is probably Beats. :P

But earbuds aside, what do you guys think about the new camera in the Plus? And the auto-bokeh function? I also like the new housing and the new black colors.
 
I feel like it's near universally agreed that the removal of the headphone jack was a dumb move. Just because Android did it first doesn't mean you have to follow suit, Apple.


On the flip side, the Jet Black iPhone 7 Plus is one of the most beautiful smartphones I've ever seen in my life and I need it in my life as soon as possible.

Even though I only got my 6s 4 months ago
 
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Remind that Apple still didnt include the wireless charging for alternative. So if you want to charge while listening music to yourself and you dont have wireless headphones, you screwed basically.

Honestly Im not anti Apple. Their phones despite some shortcomings its still brilliant. However I must raise this anti consumer move, though. Kinda like how Samsung went last year with Galaxy S6.
 
Yeah, I would have preferred them go all-in with wireless, so no cables whatsoever. :D
Yeah, no... can't agree with that. Wired audio is still superior to wireless.

I'm fine with the aux-to-lightning adapter situation, even if it's true that people will lose them and have to buy replacements. My only problems with using lightning for audio are:

1. Not being able to charge and listen at the same time. This could be remedied with a 2nd lightning port, perhaps a feature reserved for the Plus models which presumably shouldn't have much problem squeezing it in. The 2nd lightning port could even be useful in other ways, like allowing you to charge the phone twice as fast by plugging up two chargers to it.

2. Headphones with Lightning connectors instead of aux. I love Apple products, but I'm not a huge fan of the idea of headphones that can only be used with Apple devices. And whether lightning-to-aux adapters will be available remains to be seen.
 
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