My main issue with smartwatches still is battery life. I just loathe the idea of having to charge it daily, even mechanical watches from decades ago have 48/72 hours reserve whith auto refill. I dont care how pretty it is and how many bells and whistles get crammed into that tiny screen, at the end of the day it needs to revolve around my life without me having to make concessions for it.

the other problem with these things that many (IMO) are not realizing is the battery is going to die in a few years and then they will be shiny showpieces sitting in closets until you give up and ewaste it all. no thanks.

I thought I would also have this issue when I switched to iOS and got the Apple Watch and AirPods.

Turns out I just plug in everything at bedtime along with my phone so it's not much of a nuisance.

I guess the e-waste issue is concerning with all these electronics though.

The phone I agree with mostly, but holy hell AirPod Pros battery life is a terrible joke. I have to charge them basically after every meeting. I'd be super upset if I hadn't gotten them almost for free.

I put my iWatch on the charger when I go to bed. If I wake in the middle of the night I put it on my wrist. If I don’t, I do so when I wake up. I usually have 50% at the end of the day. I don’t feel burdened by that.

I use two watches, because I want advanced sleep tracking as well as daytime use.

It’s easy enough to swap back and forth whenever you wake up or go to bed.

Bland blogger, long since they've jumped the shark, writes bland review on the marginal improvements in the 7th edition of a useless gizmo.

The ‘useless gizmo’ is wildly successful. But yes, the new edition is essentially an incremental update.

What were you expecting from the blogger?

>The ‘useless gizmo’ is wildly successful

Sure. But then again the Kardasians are too!

>What were you expecting from the blogger?

Not much, but I used to read him quite a bit back 20 years ago. His blog has long been a bland wasteland.

> Not much, but I used to read him quite a bit back 20 years ago.

John Gruber started writing in August 2002.

And back then it was mostly about Movable Type Script, OS X Finder issues, some jackasses who wrote how Apple is surely doomed.

I mean if you care about Apple products then AW Series 7 review looks like a good read.

Otherwise I just don't see what you found interesting about his blog 20 years ago.

>John Gruber started writing in August 2002.

Yes, so it wasn't 20 years ago, it was 19 or 18. So? As good as 20. In any case, I've read him during the 10.1, 10.2 and such eras and up to around 2012 (a few years after the iPad) or so less frequently.

>Otherwise I just don't see what you found interesting about his blog 20 years ago.

Coverage of Apple in more exciting times (when it was basically a computer company), more humour, better reviews, more relevant links, less baseball and Kubrick BS, less politics for dummies, less "facebook is bad" for dummies, less open shill and more genuine enthusiast coverage, and so on.

> Coverage of Apple in more exciting times (when it was basically a computer company)

I also miss times when Apple was all about Mac. Not much you can do about that. But back then lots of people complained that Apple is turning into iPod company. It's just Gruber didn't write much about iPod (initially at least).

And considering M1 chips I can't say this isn't exciting times for the Mac. Imagine if Apple used Snapdragon chips (or whatever) and the latest Macs were similar in terms of performance to Surface Pro X... (and SP X couldn't even emulate x64 apps at launch).

> more humour, better reviews, more relevant links, less baseball and Kubrick BS, less politics for dummies, less "facebook is bad" for dummies, less open shill and more genuine enthusiast coverage, and so on.

OK, will not argue about baseball, politics or Facebook.

But I do remember lots of blog entries about how MS Windows is bad (viruses and inept marketing) and Mac is about being a better (and more secure) computer e.g. I wouldn't call that less open shill. Gruber was always (well, most of the time) on Apple's side.

Recently I re-read his PowerBook G4 review (Full Metal Jacket) and comparing to his other reviews regarding modern Intel and M1 Macs can't say I see a huge difference.

I assume we are just happen to disagree here.

Why did you read it this time?

Because it was posted on HN and I opened the link.

Had already exhausted reading the shampoo bottle labels in the shitter...

You don’t have to read everything posted on HN. If you really do feel compelled, it might be a good idea to take a break.

I know. I still did read this.

But this goes both ways: you don't have to read every comment I make. If you really do feel compelled, it might be a good idea to take a break.

I like reading comments on HN. Is there something wrong with that?

I thought it was very interesting and nicely-written, considering it's a review of an incremental upgrade for a mature product

I like his "The Talk Show" podcast. He has a very nice voice.

>He has a very nice voice.

I guess that's the main attraction to his podcast.

> The knock on Series 7 is that there’s nothing new but a bigger display. But it’s a much bigger display. It’s the one new thing that everyone will notice, and it’s very noticeable.

Isn't it a 1 millimeter bigger display? 1/25th of an inch?

No it's 1mm bigger case and the screen takes up more of it by proportion compared to previous models.

Side question: why on earth does Apple bother sending Apple Watches to someone like John Gruber? What exactly does his opinion offer anyone?

Still rocking my Pebble Time, best smartwatch I've ever owned. Battery lasts forever and all it does is tell the time and show me notifications, and it does it very very well.

Who needs a Apple Watch when you can have a gorgeous Lange 1 or JLR Master / Polaris and admire the engineering

(Do have one for app dev though)

As someone who appreciates mechanical watches I think this is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. With the ubiquity of inexpensive, reliable means of telling the time, it's basically comparing a piece of (functional) jewelry to ... well... a literal computer on your wrist.

In addition, the functional aspect is not always well-founded. As you may know, even many basic quartz watches (or certainly radio-controlled options) tend to drift less than some very expensive mechanical movements.

Weren't the radios going to be deprecated in the US ? They also don't work globally. I would like a GPS watch though, like seiko astron. Last I checked, it was still bulky and pricey.

Yeah, you have the Grand Seiko with the spring drive movement

Yes, I don't consider the Apple Watch jewellery. Personally, I find it a boring device. I can admire a beautiful watch movement, the ticking sound, the feel when using the crown. The skill for the decorations

> apples to oranges

admit it, you knew what you were doing here, well played

I greatly dislike smart watches. But even comparing the engineering between an Apple watch and a mechanical watch is really ridiculous. It's not even in the same dimensions. A mechanical watch is trivial child's play compared to an Apple watch.

I prefer a H.Moser over a Apple Watch :D

Who needs an iPhone when you can have a gorgeous rotary landline telephone?

Who needs a Lange 1 when you can have a Patek Phillipe Grandmaster Chime?