By Apple users whose arms have grown weary from carrying around a cell phone will only have to wait one month for a solution to their gadget-akin woes—the Apple Watch.
Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook announced last week at a special event in San Francisco that the company’s first wearable device is coming to the U.S. on April 24. The new product will be the first brew to the Genius Bar under Cook’s title.
On April 10, consumers can make an appointment to try on the smart watch to decide if they want to pre-order the device online.
“I think it’s a fantastic piece of technology, but it’s very expensive,” Brandon White, a senior business economics major at California State University of Long Beach, said.
Although White is a fan of what he’s heard, his reservations stand strong on the product.
“I also can’t get over the fact that the watch needs to be charged every day,” White said, commenting on the daily charge maintenance of the watch’s 18-hour battery life. “The combination of those two is a turnoff to me.”
The Apple Watch will boast the price of $349 for the most basic model. Customized, gold designs reach above $10,000. Competitors such as Samsung have their Gear 2 at $299 and the Pebble Steel at $199 on the market.
Brian Cook, a senior kinesiology fitness major at CSULB, doesn’t think users will get enough bang for their buck with the Apple Watch.
“I think it’s all marketing, a money scheme,” Brian Cook said. “Their products are really good but I don’t think its worth how much they’re asking for; I think they’re over pricing it by a lot, but they can because they are Apple.”
Brian Cook also thinks that smart watches face too many limitations to be useful at the moment but he said that his friend enjoys using it to sneak text messages at work.
For some, the decision is not which technology company will make the new, wearable technology; rather it is whether to get one at all.
Consumers like Kelly Ngo, a sophomore pre-exercise science major at CSULB, are not convinced that anyone needs more than a phone.
“It’s basically pointless. The screen is super small, and why buy something with a small screen when everyone is already on their phones?” Ngo said. “It’s just another reason to waste more money.”
For those that will be purchasing the Apple Watch, they can look forward to performance from the device in three main categories.
First, the company describes it as “an extremely accurate timepiece,” claiming that the device can keep time within 50 milliseconds of the universal time standard, Coordinated Universal Time. Users will also have “millions of possible configurations” when it comes to customization of the watch face.
Second, the device will serve as a fitness monitor. It will accurately track the user’s activity throughout the day, record calories burned and offer personalized activity goals based off of recorded user data.
Lastly, Apple promises ease of communication with the watch. It allows the user to respond to text messages, emails and phone calls coming from their iPhone as well as the ability to purchase products through Apple Pay, getting on a plane with Passbook or striking up a conversation with Siri.
Apple claims in the press release that “the possibilities for Apple Watch apps are endless.” There are top developers working on new apps and software, constantly creating new ways for the watch to interact with the user’s environment.
Despite criticisms, Apple seems to have impressed Brandon White.
“I think the Apple watch is far, out and beyond anything the competition has produced.” White said. “I wouldn’t settle for anything less … but I will be much more interested in buying the second generation when I have more disposable income and the battery lasts longer.”
