We have already highlighted the best bits from the Apple Watch write-ups posted today but text alone is not enough to fully appreciate the scope of the Watch’s functionality. We have collected all the video reviews of the device, which offer a visual appreciation of the Watch’s feature set. Moreover, with something as personal as a wearable, the videos also show you how the Watch looks worn on people’s wrists.
Follow along below for our video roundup:
The Verge:
Bloomberg Business:
The Telegraph:
New York Times:
CityTV:
Wall Street Journal:
Recode:
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I never realised what a complete idiot Niiley Patel is. When he isn’t being wildly negative just for no reason, he’s completely misconstruing things. Sometimes he does both.
In what way is he “misconstruing things?” Just an FYI, not only did Patel comment on the “slowness” but Gruber did too.
I’d have to go back and re-watch it, but I’m pretty sure when he’s talking about notifications he says something along the lines of, “unfortunately, it’s all or nothing and there are no granular controls” and then seconds later highlights how you can go in and select/unselect notification settings on an app-by-app basis.
I’m neutral on Nilay, he’s got opinions and they seem to be somewhat consistent.. makes it easier when I’m trying to evaluate something through other people’s opinions.
@Jonny I didn’t see the video review, I read the long form review which IMHO is one of the better reviews on the Apple Watch out there. It’s clear (even if you read other reviews on Apple Watch) that this is clearly a 1.0 product with a needed software OS update to address much of the lagginess.
Why some here get overly defense on a product they have never used before is beyond me?
I found Niley’s video review awkward (the bit with the woman at the bar was kind of rude) and several of the things he said were misleading. All the stuff about notifications for instance. He just seems to be really confused in general by the Watch and that’s just stupid IMO. The UI is very simple and very straightforward as far as I can see.
The Bloomberg Business review surprised me as the best of the lot. It was accurate and generally positive, but didn’t gloss anything over or make anything up.
@Abraham I’ve got the written review in my Instapaper queue so I’ve yet to read it. I think Nilay just gets a bad wrap because he’s got a strong opinion that people are going to disagree with. The defensiveness is weird and unnecessary but in the same way, arguing that it needs software updates and speed improvements is equally as unnecessary. Of course it does :) Seems like with most news (not just tech), there’s no room nuance or subtly; it’s either great or terrible, the best or the worst, perfect and needs a re-write.
Comparing with other Apple launches, this seems like a good 1.0 product. Far from perfect and requires improvements, but likely something that will still have impact on daily activities in its current form. Compared to other smartwatches, the consensus of these reviews seems (at least from these snippets) to put it a generation or two ahead of the other devices in terms of utility/abilities (though if you cherry pick on things some of the competition will be well ahead – Pebble’s battery, fitness tracker’s GPS, etc).
@Gazoo Bee – you took the words right out of my mouth! Nilay can get on my nerves so much! He argues about how there isn’t any granular control over notifications and then argues that theres too much control over notifications when choosing which ones to see. Which is it?
He argues that it’s hard to understand, when it’s really pretty simple. The scene at the bar was soooo annoying and felt like just a plug for the other website.
The speed is definitely the only issue I see that is a concern. I won’t care. But it definitely seems slow, which I noticed during all the keynotes.
I miss Topolsky and was happy to see he did a review on Bloomberg. I was surprised at how much I liked the WSJ video too. It was cheesy and funny, but really informative too.
Not exactly the type of reviews Apple was expecting.
Yes! Historically these are actually AWFUL reviews. I can’t remember another Apple product ever debuting to WORSE reviews than this. Yet everyone (including some on this thread) is saying that they are “great.” I think the reality distortion field is in full effect today.
I’m still going to buy one, and probably multiple bands as well, but one would truly have to have blinders on not to see that this is one of the most problem fraught Apple launches ever and that the product itself both lacks the polish of other Apple products, and is only minimally functional.
I mean they are talking about rushing out software updates before it ships just to make it work properly! You’d literally have to be blind, stupid or heavily biased to see this as a good launch or any of these reviews as very positive. Every reviewer instead seems to be saying some variation of, “it’s not quite ready.”
Interesting take. Here’s what I saw:
It does what they say it does, some 3rd party stuff is slow. As I’m a dev, I know *why* this is and expect post launch updates to improve the issue – it isn’t the watch per se. It is quite a different experience to develop for and certain flows require optimizations that aren’t apparent the first round.
Some of it is basically the reviews style choices in how they report. What I perceived is a ‘pushback’ against ‘Apple Marketing Hype’ – this is a good thing. Apple should probably tone it down a little, but Apple is Apple.
The most important thing – they ALL agreed that it was in fact best in class, but the problem was more of a ‘do I need this?’ one, which is a legitimate question. Not everyone lives in the Valley, such as myself and people have had *7 years* of getting used to smartphones and the behaviour around them in general.
For a device that is meant to give you “only the most important” blah blah blah, Apple dropped the ball on the companion app UX. The default should be EVERYTHING off, turn on what you want, not the way it is now.
No reviewer had the “it isn’t quite ready” impression you claim. The claim was generally it isn’t perfect, but it is the most perfect to have been created thus far.
AWFUL and WORSE did not come across. I can see how someone pre-disposed could construe this, but someone who is “either way” would see a balance.
i somehow just got the justification i needed, that V1 is not the one i am buying. hope V2 let’s us really make the Apple Watch personal (like removing the emojis). and hoping it has more health sensors.
interestingly, nobody (on the videos) stated that the battery life is “bad”.
I love how the american reviews all have stylist videos and the telegraph video is some guy behind a counter. How very British and boring.
The only problem I have with the verge video is that leather cuff he wears on his other wrist.
As usual, The Verge has the most lightweight, uninformed, useless review.
Did you actually read it? because the longform read article is one of the best. Or, are you prejudging reviews based on a product you have never used?
I agree. Ever since Topolsky left I feel they have gone down in quality. When they started out I waited for their reviews. They don’t even have David Pierce anymore and I liked his reviews. I only really liked Nilay when he was paired with Topolsky and Miller.
Yeah, of course my opinion means nothing, but I’m definitely not a fan of Nilay’s approach. I think at this point he’s really just trying to be overly critical. Not that he didn’t say relevant things, but I like what Kai Cherry said about the reviews being a response to “Apple product hype” it definitely seems like he is desperately trying not to be impressed by the device. I personally am sort of bored with these reviews from tech bloggers. I would rather see a more practical example of how it works, from an average person. I definitely don’t like the Verge staff, especially after listening to their podcast and seeing how they regard “normal people” like what is up with that. Not to use this as a platform against the Verge. I’m simply trying to say that I can’t really relate to any of these reviews, and I would like to see a review that is less focused and by someone that is younger and generally more normal. These are all power reviews which are cool but I just don’t think the tech blogger perspective is addressing my concerns about the watch.