The iPhone and iWatch Reveal

The iPhone and iWatch Reveal

     So Apple finally pulled the trigger with their take on this new generation of hardware along with the newest iteration of the traditional tech. Before I give my thoughts on the thing going on my wrist, I have a few things to say about the thing going in my pocket. The new iPhone 6 was presented in the way Apple does best: delivering a stunning, state-of-the-art presentation of the industry's most middle-of-the-road technology.

    The video was beautifully crafted and made it look super pretty. However, one must strip away the pretty wrapping paper and compare the phone to the competition.  Literally every piece of that hardware (aside from the fingerprint scanner) has been substantially lapped. 1334x750 pixels on a 4.7 inch screen? Phones smaller than that have had 1080p full HD screens for a year and some change at this point. 2GHz dual-core 64bit processor chip? The phone currently in my pocket, nearly a year old, is rocking quad core 2.2GHz 64bit. 8MP camera? Samsung Galaxy phones have had 13MP cameras since the Galaxy 4 was announced ages ago. However, like I mentioned earlier, it's top notch presentation, but also application of said technology too.

   Though this technology is dated, it's time tested, easily accessible, and malleable enough at this point to put it into an extremely attractive package. Sure, other smartphones have internal components that would run circles around computers from just a mere few years ago, but often times phone companies have to make it a piecemeal job to stuff it all together. With Apple, they have made a truly seamless (in many places literally) experience with dated technology which in itself is impressive. The hardware itself looks like it doesn't have edges; not just a lack of corners and angles but actually lacking creases and places where two different materials meet. The software (which I have played around with) finally could stop playing catch up to Android and allow for control of your device in ways yet to be seen by consumers of any camp. Apple is, again, delivering a stunning, state-of-the-art presentation of the industry's most middle-of-the-road technology, and there isn't necessarily anything wrong with that. Only time will tell how much of a wave this version of the world's favorite phone will make, but my guess is it will be the software that will be producing conversations.

Now as for this watch...

      I honestly can't make heads or tails of it. There are a lot of really innovative design features and options like the slew of easily removable wristbands, the digital crown interface, and the magnification style software. They all work in tandem to make a seemingly easily navigable and fantastic LOOKING product, but if you couldn't tell by my caps, I have my skepticism with most first iterations of almost every piece of tech, and Apple is no exception.

      After seeing all the software side of things, I have yet to see anything it can do worthwhile that a current smartphone cannot besides be on my wrist and throw a few gimmicky things at me (I'm looking at you, weird drawing widget thing). It may be a reservation with the idea of the watch concept all together at this point, but then again I don't feel nearly as hesitant with Android watches. They are much more open to inclusion of third party influence, which will result in a faster growing ecosystem of watch specific features that will make the piece more standalone. The iWatch, and most things Apple for that matter, never had that same openness. If Apple wasn't making the drastic changes in how the user interacts with the software of its products, then tough s***, you have to wait until Apple churns out an "official software update". All that being said, this smartwatch is laying down the groundwork for something potentially groundbreaking, but until Apple or one of its approved associate companies breaks said ground personally (think Nike), all it's going to do is providing a limited experience and saving you the .7 seconds needed to pull out your phone.