Author: Matt

Apple Watch Notes – Part 2

~ Matt

This is a follow up to Part 1:

What I’d really like is more tweaks to the software.  Not a lot, but just a couple that might help:

1 – I’d like complications to be more more useful.

2- I’d like additional, expertly crafted watch faces.  (I’d buy separate watch faces if Apple offers them.)

Right now, complications are both an ‘at-a-glance’ information delivery method, and they are also a short-cut to the full app.  I really like that – I think they are much better than the app picker screen.

BUT, I’d like to put them on another screen and be able to arrange them in a useful and (to me) pleasing visual arrangement.

I don’t use glance’s much at all, except to force a heartbeat read once in a while.  I really try to avoid going into the horrible app picker of circles….  Complications could solve both issues:

There are no actions assigned to right or left swipe from the main watch screen…

There are no actions assigned to a right or a left swipe from the main watch screen.  How about if a swipe left takes us to a user curated grid of complications – and a different screen for a right swipe?   I can have my most important information available – and I can pick more than 3-5 complications in total.

I’m in ‘like’ with some of the current Apple watch faces, but I’m not in ‘love’ with any.   They’ve started customizing the watch faces with the Hermes face and band – what if they did the same for other famous watch faces?   Rolex, Panerai, Bell & Ross, etc.

A super curated watch face store could be the start of something big for the watch – what a jumpstart over the Android watches!

My dream would be to have a Bell & Ross watch face on my main screen, unadorned with other complications.  Just minimalistic and beautiful all day long to tell me the time.

A simple swipe to the right and my 2-4 personally picked complications show – giving me the little bit of extra information I need at that time.  A swipe to the left would have taken me to a different screen of complications I had set up.

How to handle the screens of complications ?  I have a thought on that too:

Apple could give us 2-3 different layout’s to choose from for each side screen – could be a grid of 4 (2×2), or 2 across the top with one full width on the bottom.  Or 2 horizontal’s…

Either way, Apple gives stock layouts, developers design complications (widgets) to fit into the clearly defined sizes, and then user’s pick the layouts and then the complications to fill them in.

There you go – my suggestion on making the software both more usable and well as easier to figure out.

 

Apple Watch Notes – Part 1

~ Matt

I like my Apple Watch (42mm black Sport model) a lot.  I have been wearing it exclusively on my wrist for almost a year now.  It is a very compelling blend of hardware and software that is a very good Version 1.0 of a product.  I won’t go into all the things I like about it here, but, there are enough of them to keep it on my wrist for about a year.

But, it needs some help.  Rumor is that the might be a new watch of some sort this fall, but, in the meantime here are my observations:

It is too slow.  Period.  I think it’s a hardware thing first, then a software issue.  So, I guess I’m saying that I feel it’s underpowered.  There are too many times where it doesn’t register a wrist turn, or a tap on the glass to wake up.  Simply checking the time seems to take too much time, way too often.  Asking it to show some info from a compilation can take way longer than it should.

I really hate the times where I will swipe on the screen and nothing happens – I’m not sure if it is the sensor hardware on the glass, or if that is the CPU not handling the input.  But too slow.  It doesn’t happen all the time, but each time it does, it registers as an annoyance.

The software on the watch doesn’t respond quickly at times, but I believe most of those instances are to be blamed on the communication between watch and phone.  Could communications be sped up with a faster processor ?  Probably.

I wish it had more hardware – GPS would be a great start for me.  I’ve  read a lot of people asking about additional sensors:  Glucose, skin perspiration, temperature, etc.  Those sound well and fine, but also seem too fringe to me.

Apple has to appeal to the masses to drive adaptation – and right now, the most compelling use of the watch has to be the fitness aspects.  I think Apple will add the GPS chip and a much faster CPU to the next watch.

I don’t need a camera (I think) unless Apple has some new use case for me that I haven’t thought about yet.

In the next part, I throw out some suggestions on how to improve the software (at least according to me…)

 

Remember – we all have burdens

~ Matt

Everyone you meet or interact with has their own story, their own “stuff” going on.  Sometimes it’s amazing, sometimes it’s scary, and sometimes it’s nothing but different from your stuff.

It’s important to remember that we never know what the other person is currently dealing with, or has had to deal with in their lives.  Sometimes there is a very good reason the other person was short with us, or didn’t seem interested in interacting with us.

If we are open and inquisitive, sometimes we can get other people to open up a little and tell us about their story.  These times can be magical to help us remember that we are all so much more similar than we are different.  We have hopes and dreams, heartache and heartbreak, triumphs and failures.

In today’s desperate dash to keep busy, we could all do with a pause to bond just a little with our fellow humans – to give our time and attention to their story, to learn, to realize we are all in this together…

Electric Cars

~ Matt

Today, Tesla introduces their Model 3.  Probably the most anticipated car over the last several years, at least since Tesla introduced the Model X.

This introduction, for a car that won’t ship in volume for another 1.5 years, is causing a frenzy that is more like an Apple product launch than anything I’ve seen before.

Tesla allowed customers to go into stores today and will open up online reservations later tonight.  From all accounts and pictures, tens of thousands of people gave up their day to wait in line and give $1000 to a company for a product they won’t see for at least 18 months.

Tesla is taking online reservations for the car tomorrow.  By putting $1,000 down, you will reserve your future car.

People don’t even know what the car will look like, or what options will cost.  That info is supposed to come tonight when founder Elon Musk gives a presentation.  We don’t know how much info he is even going to tell us, but we do know that he won’t answer all the questions – we WILL have unknowns tomorrow…

GM has announced that the Chevy Bolt will ship in 2016 – and they are testing the production line now.  Another 200+ mile car for around $35k.

I have an all electric car – the Kia Soul EV.  I never thought I’d drive a Kia, but now I don’t see myself driving an ICE (internal combustion engine) as my daily driver ever again.  It’s not about the brand on the car, but instead, what the drive system is.   I really like my Kia.  It’s not perfect, there are things I’d change if I could.  But I really like electric cars –

I am driving the future and I am convinced that we will all have electric cars someday.  There are just too many positives and the negatives are quickly going away –

Back to writing…

~ Matt

Yep.  It’s been long enough.  So, here I am.

Thought for today:

Sometimes things happen or people do things just because.  Because it is who they are, because they don’t think about how we might take it, because they just do.  You know what I mean, right?  The comment, the look, the interruption, or the coffee that spills…

Why do we assume that the thing was done TO us?  To hurt us?  To shame us?  To smart-ass us?  We tend to assume that the universe has targeted us directly with these things.  We take on ownership and responsibility for them.  We give them a life on their own.

I’ve got news for you:  The universe doesn’t care much about us.  Other people tend not to care much either.   Things happen.

If we can smile, acknowledge the action, and then move on – our lives are simpler, easier, and much less stressful.

I think that the real test in life is in how we react those things we cannot control…