Apple Inc. A multinational technology company headquarters in Cupertino California. Apple designs, develops, and sells consumers electronics, computer software, and online services. I used several websites “listed below” to find facts about Apple and the Apple Watch reviews from www.cnet.com were used in the smart watches comparisons.
I choose Apple because it’s the world’s largest technology company by total assets. According to Apple Inc. In addition to being the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization, Apple Became the first U.S. company to be valued at over US $700 billion. I love their products, my favorite part of their products is the hardware design. Very minimalistic, beautiful and sleek.
According to apple- history.com Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976, to develop and sell personal computers. They had been friends in high school. They had both been interested in electronics, they kept in touch after graduation, and both ended up dropping out of school. That’s shocking and changes the concept of the relationship between education and success.
The name was incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. on January 3, 1977. Steve Jobs had worked during his summer vacation at an apple farm, and at that time he loved the Beatles’ record label, Apple. He also liked apples and believed that it’s the most perfect fruit. He and Steve Wozniak were trying to think of a name for this new company, and they decided that if they couldn’t think of one by the end the day that was better than Apple, they would choose Apple. Apparently they couldn’t think of anything better. So the theory that Apple was named because Alan Turing took a bite of a poison apple when committing suicide is entirely NOT true. According to biography.com Alan Turing was a British computer scientist, mathematician, logician and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science.
Fun Fact: The secret of the “i” before all the Apple products. It originally stood for the internet, but now it pretty much stands for “cool Apple consumer device.”
To be more specific, for this project I choose one Apple product, the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch is Apple’s first entirely new Apple product in five years; it's important because it’s also the first Apple product developed after the death of Steve Jobs. The Apple Watch is the most personal computer. YES, a computer on your wrist! In other words, it’s Mini in a Massive way! An extraordinary small and personal device. It knows when you’re wearing it. You can talk to it. You can poke it and GUESS WHAT? It can poke back.
According to Cherlynn Low on tomsguide.com a blog about technology. The Apple Watch has countless features; a new feature is the Starwood Hotel’s Preferred guests app. The program allows you to make a reservation using the watch, and it lets you use your Apple Watch into a hotel room key. Apple CEO Tim Cook told The Telegraph that the watch is designed to replace potentially car keys. That is very exciting; my favorite part is no need for me to hunt four my key before leaving the house. It’s designed to participate in nearly every moment of your day from the moment you wake up until you sleep. According to Apple’s HongKong official website, the watch can receive and respond to notifications in an instant, track your daily activity, control your music using only your voice, and pay for groceries.
Cherlynn Low also focuses on an important factor of the Apple Watch is Siri. The voice- controlled assistant got more personal since it’s literally on your wrists. You don’t have to click, or lift your finger to check anything, Siri is there to do that for you. Siri is also available on the iPhone, but people are most likely to use Safari on their phones that as Siri. You can just say “Hey Siri” without pressing anything to get the voice assistant to take your command.
According to Low, the digital touch communication is also new. It’s the fun aspect of the watch. You can simply draw a smiley face on the watch and send it to a friend, or be extra romantic and send your heartbeat. Another fun thing to do with your Apple Watch is to use it as a walkie-talkie and share sound bites. Low also mentions on his website that you can also use Digital touch to make watch-to-watch calls to friends that have the Apple Watch.
A very convenient feature is Passbook Integration. Makes your airport experience easy and smooth. Passbook on the Apple Watch allows you to quickly pull up your plane ticket, boarding pass and loyalty cards without having to use your phone. Not only that but when you enter a place where your discount or loyalty cards can be used you will get an alert.
Low also mentions in his website tomsguide.com that you may never have to leave your couch again with the Remote Control Function. The Apple Watch skips through music on your iPhone or iTunes music library, navigate your Apple TV menu, enable “Do Not Disturb” and “Airplane Mode” modes on your phone or turn on/off the smart lights in your home. All from your wrist. According to tomsguide.com Kevin Lynch in an event shows how you can use the smartwatch to not only remotely unlock your door, but through a connected camera, see who enters your home as well.
Apple Watch vs. Samsung Gear S vs. Pebble Steel
Samsung launched their smart watch “Samsung Gear” two years before the Apple Watch. To properly assess the Apple Watch, here’s comparison between the two, cnet.com added the Pebble Steel to the comparison as well since it has similar features. Here’s a table to help represent the comparison according to their website:
 |
| Apple Watch |
 |
| Pebble Steel |
 |
Samsung Gear S
|
Apple Watch
|
Samsung GearS
|
Pebble Steel
| |
Compatible with
|
iOS only
|
Android only
|
Both Android and iOS
|
Shape
|
Rounded square
|
Square
|
Square
|
Material
|
Steel, aluminum, or 10k Gold
|
Plastic
|
Stainless steel
|
Default strap
|
Varies
|
Rubber
|
Stainless steel
|
Water resistance
|
Yes
|
Water resistance for 30 minutes, 3 feet
|
Water resistance up to 50 meters
|
Connectivity
|
Bluetooth 4.0 LE only
|
Bluetooth 4.1 LE, 3G, and Wi-Fi
|
Bluetooth 4.0 LE only
|
Charging
|
Included charging cradle
|
Included charging cradle
|
Proprietary cable
|
Color options
|
Stainless steel, black, yellow gold, rose gold, silver, gray, and aluminum
|
Black, and white
|
Black, and Silver
|
Extra features
|
Heart-rate monitor, accelerometer, remote camera
|
3G, Wi-Fi, heart-rate monitor
|
Pebble apps
|
Price
|
Starts at $350
|
$299
|
$250
|
Band
|
Removable Band
|
Removable Band
|
Removable band
|
The mobile wallet
Before the Apple Watch, Apple Pay turned the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus into a mobile wallet. It’s the same technology that used for years with Google Wallet; also according to cnet.com the only difference is that Google hasn’t made it compatible into Android Wear, that means you can’t use the Gear S for any payment. Pebble Steel doesn’t have the payment options either. Which makes Apple Pay an outlier.
Fitness
Cnet.com also mentions that the Pebble Steel is the least capable fitness tracker; it had a very limited utility since it relies on third-party apps. On the other hand, both the Samsung Gear S and Apple Watch have more potentials when it comes to fitness. Both are packed full of tracking tools, including accelerometers, and the heart rate monitor. It’s important because Google Fit and AppleKit will collect all of the data and serve it up to you, this helps the user to track their activity and see if whether if they're reaching their fitness goals or not.
To be fair, Android was the first out to apply the fitness tracking technology. The Samsung Gear S shows you the number of steps you’ve taken and works with various apps such as Runkeeper to report your exercise routine. Apple’s implementations are also advanced the built-in Activity and Workout apps give you a quick glance at how active you are. You can craft your workout too; this is perfect for burning off the calories and make the best results off of your workout.
Design
Cnet.com says that the most obvious difference between these smartwatches is in their design. This makes a lot of sense since all companies are hoping to appeal to as many people as possible. The unique thing about Apple is that it offers two sizes; 38mm (1.4 inches) tall and 42mm (1.65 inches) tall. The smaller option is far more appealing to anyone with a small wrist; it’s also more compact than the other smartwatches. The Samsung Gear S is larger than the Apple Watch, which makes it a better fit for larger arms. The Pebble, on the other hand, falls between the Apple Watch and Gear S making it a medium fit.
Speaking about style, the Apple Watch has the most style options, three different models, six finishes, and six watchbands. This adds to it the fashion accessory aspect for both men and women, proving that technology and fashion can meet. I agree with cnet.com when saying the Pebble has more of a masculine design, and the Samsung Gear S looks like a tiny smartphone embedded into a watchband. It’s massive!
If you think about it, no one “truly” needs a smart watch. It’s an eye catchy fashion statement. Even though smart watches display information that’s already available on smartphones, smartwatches are still so awesome, and it can make your life slightly easier. Needless to say you can expect to see smartwatches everywhere in the near future, they may even substitute smartphones too.
One more reason to love Apple Watch According to theverge.com
Every so often, the Apple Watch thinks about your heartbeat.
References
- http://www.biography.com/
- http://www.cnet.com/news/
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