Mike Rundle tried on an Apple Watch and came away with three disappointments:
- The Apple Watch is smaller than he expected
- He didn’t like the leather band
- He thought the screen was not as bright/responsive as he had hoped
I think Mike is a smart guy, has deep Apple cred, and lays out his complaints with great logic.
That said, I would read his piece, but I would not let these points stop you from checking out Apple Watch for yourself. That’d be like letting IMDB make all your movie watching decisions. Read his review, keep those points in mind, then make an appointment to check the Apple Watch out for yourself.
Wait till Samsung announce 39mm and 43mm 😉
Apple Watch Plus anyone? 😉
I also experienced the first-generation Apple Watch last Friday. I just finished reading MR’s review. Perspective is everything.
I found the Watch to be smaller than I expected, thank goodness.
The leather band isn’t to my liking either, but there are several other materials and styles to choose from.
The display is simply gorgeous.
I’ve not tried the Watch yet (I remember the vast difference between all 1st gen and 2nd gen Apple stuff and am likely to wait) but I think the Watch might be one of those things where reviews aren’t very useful since it’s so personal. Gruber links to Om Malik’s review and Om loved the leather. Mike dislikes it. Who’s right? Both and neither. It might be objectively big on one person’s arm, small on another… and one person might like the size in relation to their arm, another person with the same size arm might hate it.
Dammit, now I want to go to the Apple store and try one.
Jeez, could this reviewer have taken a picture of the watch screen under any other worse conditions? He deliberately made it look like crap. Looking for traffic, I suppose.
Sorry but any review / op ed that talks about ‘the truth’ with regard to subjective design massively winds me up. All three of these ‘truths’ are entirely subjective and, while certainly valid criticism from an individual’s perspective, are not fact by any means.
Then again that points to an ongoing problem with tech sites in general: a lack of either ability or desire to step away from absolutes. Technology has generally reached a point that it’s “good enough” and purchasing decisions are increasingly being driven by personal preference. That can be for a brand, an operating system, a particular design, specific materials, weight, user experience, retail experience… the list is pretty much endless. Problem is most of those factors are very difficult, if not impossible, to quantify and boil down to a final score so the individual preference of the reviewer gets represented as a fact.
Frankly I’d be much happier if sites dropped “reviews” all together and published opinion pieces instead. Let your writers give an initial overview with all the facts and figures then draw their own personal conclusion. In the long run that’ll likely be more useful to potential customers than whether a product is a 6 or 8 out of 10.
I went to a try on appointment expecting to order the 38mm and found that they were both so much smaller than expected I would have ordered a larger version had it existed.
Ordered the 42mm Space Gray Sport. Four hours later, tried it on. Tried on the Apple Watch black with the link band. Liked the Sport model better, which surprised me.
And yes, it was smaller than I expected. And that’s a GOOD thing!
My advice as a pro photographer to Mike – don’t give up your day job. That was a ridiculous photo to proffer on his readers. Look at the overall photo, not just the screen! Not. Making. Your. Point.
Smart guy? Not so sure. “You know how chicken nuggets are made out of that heavily processed pink chicken sludge?”
Weird assertion to start with, since this:
One of the most petty and superficial “impressions” I’ve ever read. Too small? Hasn’t the internet been whining that it’s “huge”? Oh, and the digital crown is smaller in real life than the massive, full screen macro shots Apple has been using? Really? Color me stunned.
I thought the Apple Watch was smaller than I expected too. Didn’t try on the leather but was impressed with the feel of the “rubber” (not what Apple calls it) band. The Steel Band looked gorgeous but, at $600+, I’ll never buy one. Screen was bright and impressive.
All my humble opinion, of course.
“Now that you know my Apple and watch cred…” Just cause you own stuff doesn’t give you “cred”. And stop using that word – it makes you have less of it.
Don’t give up your day job of designing iOS6 style graphic design Mike Rundle.
39mm and 43mm diameter.
38mm and 42mm are very common and natural case sizes in the Watch industry. The recent oversized watch fad does not make 42mm too small for adult males.
Miniaturization is an achievement. Just because an individual prefers oversized watches, does not make the engineering achievement any less significant. The 38mm (even the 42mm) Apple Watch is in a class of its own in terms of miniaturization in the industry.
This “review” read like the guy has some kind of bone to pick. He took three things he didn’t like and blew them up into a lot of words. I think a lot of people were HOPING these things weren’t as big as they look in the pictures and were relieved to find out that they weren’t. Nobody wants to walk around looking like Dick Tracy. We want the watch to look like a normal watch, at least at first glance.
I guess I’m in the minority, but if you think of it as a “watch” the Apple Watch is definitely not small at all. It’s HUGE, it’s FAT, and it barely fits on most peoples wrists.
You only have to look at all the images being published form the try-ons to see this. People that think it is “small” are having some serious cognitive dissonance IMO.
70mm!
Have you tried one on yet?
Not meaning to cut into you here, just curious. My impression is it’s a huge honking thing, too. (But I haven’t tried one either.)
“People that think it is “small” are having some serious cognitive dissonance.” How so? My girlfriend, not a tech person at all, tried one on and she commented on it’s “small size” too. For the record, she is perfectly average sized. 🙂
Haven’t no. But I’ve been to see them in person and play with them. for that treason I think the author is entirely wrong about the screen. To me, it actually seems to “pop” much more than an iPhone, probably because of the OLED.
Luckily for Apple, the entire watch industry – at least in men’s watches – has been pushing “oversize” clunky watches for about a decade or so. In that sense, most customers won’t care about the chunkiness because they will be replacing their already chunky Rolexes, etc. Most will want one a watch that takes up the entire top of their wrist, even though it’s “wrong” because it’s what they are used to.
That’s why the picture in the article makes it look “small.” All those other watches are examples of the recent trend in gigantic men’s watches.
Interesting. My impression was that it was much smaller than what I expected it to be. Not in a bad way, just as a matter of perception.
Well, I’ve waffled on enough here I think. Check what I said above to Steven Fisher though. It depends what you are used to, and whether you follow the “proper way” to wear a watch or whether you don’t care about fashion.
I think a lot of folks see this as just a device and “the bigger the better.” To each their own.
I’m not built – as he says he is – like a linebacker and over 6 foot, so I’m all about a 38mm.
I like smaller watches, and think the men’s watches of the past few decades are ludicrously oversized.
De gustibus, and all that.
Smart and well-informed are different things.
“But I saw this video on Facebook that said pink sludge!” is … lazy, but lazy is not the same as stupid or even not-smart.
Smart people can make all kinds of lazy mistakes or category errors and end up believing things that are hilariously false…
(I might even do that, too! Though obviously if I do, I don’t know about it…)
Sure, but smart people generally factcheck assertions, right? Otherwise, it cuts a truck-sized hole in the argument.
I share the preference for a smaller watch – my dress watch is a Timex Easy Reader that’s a “tiny” 25mm – but I’m not sure you can make a useful smartwatch much smaller than 38mm.
Nor am I sure it’s “wrong” to want a bigger watch – my preferences aren’t moral absolutes… usually.
(And of course the Timex is round, not square.)
It’s small in the sense that the screen is relatively small. However, it is also very fat.
I’m significantly bigger than he is and trust me – the 42mm would look just fine. 🙂
likewise — i was so pleasantly surprised at how much smaller it is in person that i had to cancel my early pre-order, unfortunately….
the linked bracelet is $449.
you haven’t tried one on, have you? i can tell from your post. i have. in fact i fully expected the 42mm to be honking huge, but was stunned at how small it was in person. so surprised i immediately canceled my April 24th delivery of the 38mm i had pre-ordered.
try something before you go on about it, next time; you’ll look less stupid.
completely. i was stunned.
i share your opinions on oversized watches, so pre-ordered the 38mm. but after trying one on i realized my mistake and canceled, re-ordered a 42mm, knowing id be giving up my spot in the delivery line for months now. the 38mm is very small.
The Apple Watch is smaller only in comparison to the current trend of very, very large watch faces.
The 42mm Apple Watch is, in fact, larger than the 41mm Tag Heuer I’ve worn for 12 years, though definitely thinner.
There’s no need for the personal insults.
Not in Canada it’s not.
“Inconvenient truths”? How about “My personal opinion about things that I dislike about the Apple Watch”?
Everyone is a critic. It’s not enough to not like something and realize “maybe it’s not for me, but other people might like it”. Now it’s an absolute (“Apple’s leather bands feel terrible”).
The fucking pretentiousness kills me.
“has deep Apple cred”
Being a competent software engineer for Apple computers means literally nothing in this case.
Ditto. A coworker fondled a watch last week and is committed to buying one. He flat out called bullshit on Rundle’s horrific, obviously tweaked photo.
The recent oversized watch fad does not make 42mm too small for adult males.
Someone had to say it. it’s like guys are intent on wearing chrome Cuisinarts on their wrist.