Apple's SNEAKY plan: COPY ANDROID. Hello iPhone 6, Watch

Apple's monster event has now been and gone – revealing two new iPhone 6 models and an Apple iWatch Watch, just as everyone expected. First, there was the introduction of new iPhones. As rumored, Cupertino delivered a pair of larger models: the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the phablet-like iPhone 6 Plus, which sports a 5.5-inch …

[cambsukguy]

That side-on picture of the phone looks just like...

...the edge of a Lumia 925, the knurling near the corners especially brought it to mind.

Still, lawsuits on design elements only allowed one way I suppose - the corners are more curved after all.

I honestly thought the watch would be a stylish bracelet affair, flexible, unbreakable, waterproof thing.

This one looks much less attractive than the new curved Samsung - the previous one was awful to be sure.

Not that any of them are on, or will be on, my shopping list.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That side-on picture of the phone looks just like...

I thought the thing looks remarkably like a Galaxy.

[Chet Mannly]

Re: That side-on picture of the phone looks just like...

Especially the gold one - styling-wise it's a dead ringer for the white version of new galaxy tab s - at least from the side...

Lawsuits ahoy! LOL

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

Re: That side-on picture of the phone looks just like...

"I thought the thing looks remarkably like a Galaxy."

Nah, most galaxies are more elliptical or sport nice spiral arms, you rarely see any remotely rectangular ones (although the Small Magellanic Cloud is a bit rectangular).

I'll get me coat. The one with "Turn Left at Orion" in the pocket please

[Vic]

Re: That side-on picture of the phone looks just like...

most galaxies are more elliptical or sport nice spiral arms,

Are they fashionable?

Vic.

[Will Godfrey]

Re: That side-on picture of the phone looks just like...

Nah. Common as muck.

[bri]

Re: That side-on picture of the phone looks just like... (@ cambsukguy)

...you mean Nokia N9, surely?

[Van]

Re: That side-on picture of the phone looks just like...

That's because you obviously consider a wrist watch to be an item of jewellery for showing off with.

Wrist watches were clocks invented for the Navy, depth gauges and Altimeters followed suit by conveniently being wearable on the wrist.

At some point in the future, when all of our tech can be miniaturised to the size of, errrr, a wrist watch lets say, there's going to be a clash of interests. Although I imagine a complete nobber somewhere will wear a Rolex on one arm and computer/communicator on the other though. Either that or stay in the dark ages carrying a slab around in the pocket.

[Drat]

Re: That side-on picture of the phone looks just like...

That's because you obviously consider a wrist watch to be an item of jewellery for showing off with.

Sounds like a definition of an Apple product to me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That side-on picture of the phone looks just like...

Or HTC One M8. Even has the same gunmetal colour.

[thechanklybore]

Square watches

Square watches are aesthetically unacceptable when produced by Samsung & LG. Is the inevitable outpouring of appreciation for this particular square tantamount to racism?

I suppose the whatever-the-fuck-it's-called on the side will make the square design suddenly brilliant?

[LarsG]

Re: Square watches

Still not acceptable, round watch please Mr Ive, that doesn't need charging for a month.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Square watches

LarsG, which similar gadget are your expectations based on? IIRC the original ipod was 10 hours.

[Andy Hards]

Re: Square watches

Um ,I don't think he did say there was one that lasts for a month, he simply said it would be a nice thing to have, rather than a silly little screen that does the same as the other similar devices on the market. People were expecting to be wowed and filed with awe with a game changing bit of kit from the mighty Apple, not a crappy bit of iCatch-Up with a big knob on the side, and I don't mean Mr Ive boom tish!

[Neill Mitchell]

Re: Square watches

"LarsG, which similar gadget are your expectations based on? IIRC the original ipod was 10 hours.IIRC the original ipod was 10 hours."

The original ipod was not a watch you relied on to tell you the time. The last thing I want is a watch that is dead when I look at it at 12pm to see if I've got time to make the last tube train.

A watch is not a watch if you have to charge it overnight.

[Paul]

Re: Square watches

I see the big iKnob and wonder WTF were Apple thinking???

Couldn't they have put a touch sensor on the side, like the HTC Vision (T Mobile g2) or a trackball like the original HTC Desire?

The rest of the watch is OK - even kind of like the Asus Zenwatch which I like for its somewhat elegant simplicity

[ChrisB 2]

Re: Square watches

Square/rectangular designs for watches have been around for a tad longer than any smart watch:-

Cartier Tank

Bell & Ross

Baume & Mercier

Richard Mille

Round vs. square is simply personal preference and sod all to do with tech fanboyism of any flavour.

[lurker]

Re: Square watches

That actually surprised me, I'm not an apple fan but didn't expect them to come out with something so.. pedestrian. The moto watch looks loads better, costs less, and I still wouldn't want one.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Square watches

A round watch is round for one reason, it uses hands. If you watch doesn't have an analog face then it doesn't need to be round.

[lurker]

Re: Square watches

"A round watch is round for one reason, it uses hands. If you watch doesn't have an analog face then it doesn't need to be round."

All quite accurate from the perspective of pure logic. But anyone who thinks that the value of a watch is determined by function alone clearly knows nothing about watches.

Round watches look nicer. And you would expect Apple of all companies to know this, after all, they practically exist in their modern form as a result of having rounding the corners off computers and gadgets!

[Adrian Harvey]

Bah humbug

I'm annoyed that both the new phone models are bigger. I don't want a bigger phone. I understand some do, and the plus-size model will be a good addition to the range, but why oh why did they have to make the base model larger too!

And no sapphire screen either. So apart from NFC there's not much to reccomend it over the 5s :-(

[Lost in Cyberspace]

Re: Bah humbug

The 5s is still a pretty good phone, but given the choice I'd go with the 6 for the extra performance and features despite the size increase.

Hopefully the 7 will come in 3 sizes, without the smallest model being crippled with only 8-16GB.

[Dominion]

Re: Bah humbug

Yay!!! Exactly why I bought a 5s last month! Small form phones rule!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Bah humbug

Yep, I am too a member of the please-don't-make-it-even-bigger crowd, with an extra sigh reserved for making it yet again thinner instead of leaving it at 5s levels and thus give it more space for a battery. Honestly, don't these people actually USE their phones?

As for features: meh. I'm OK with what iOS 8 and Yosemite will bring (was that even mentioned today? I didn't watch as I cannot stand people using words that are alien to them like "fantastic" and "exciting"), and as predicted, the iWatch is really not for me.

[Paul]

Re: Bah humbug

worst time to buy!

you should have waited till the new model and price would have come down further

[chris 17]

Re: Bah humbug

if you waited a month you could have got a nice discount on that 5s

[Paw Bokenfohr]

Re: Bah humbug

"wrong time to buy" / "if you'd waited a month"

No, he bought at the right time, assuming he wanted to buy new, and he wanted the 64GB version.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Bah humbug

People are getting bigger so phones are getting bigger.

It's a fat thing.

I also don't want bigger, I want cleverer. Stuff this into a 5S shell and I be very happy.

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Re: Bah humbug

And just last week 4 inches and 326 pixels/inch was perfect.

[Blank Reg]

Re: Bah humbug

Well they had to leave something "revolutionary" and "magical" to put in the iPhone 7.

[MrXavia]

Re: Bah humbug

I have an sgs4, its a large phone, but to me its the perfect size phone for my hands, i use it one handed easily...

but I can see the market needs multiple size phones, and they should not skimp on spec for the smaller ones...

oddly enough, i find women carrying the larger phablets more than men....

[Breen Whitman]

IPhone 6 looks suspiciously like a Samsung.

Well, as the the old saying goes - stealing designs to leverage off the success of Samsung is the greatest form of flattery.

[Gezza]

what - like Samsung, HTC, etc, etc didnt have an iPhone to start from in the beginning?

[MrXavia]

The others are much more like the LG Prada than the iPhone really... and the iphone is not the first smart phone out there, the only good thing Apple did was stick the capacitive touch sensing into the screen... and to do that they brought out a company that made amazing keyboards....

other than the screen, the iPhone was naff.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah - compare it side-by-side with an S5 - hard to tell them apart, other than the shape of the home button at the bottom.

[Vector]

"hard to tell them apart, other than the shape of the home button at the bottom"

I always find this rather humorous. When the touchscreen is the dominant feature and the primary interface point, you're going to end up with a rectangle, possibly with a few hardware buttons sprinkled around the remainder. The only other real question is how thin can you make it.

Of course they all look about the same. Until someone comes out with a foldable screen, they're going to continue to look about the same. Once those foldable screens come out, they'll probably all look like mini portfolios.

[Anonymous Coward]

iPhone didn't used to look like Galaxy. iPhone 5 doesn't look like Galaxy.

Just sayin...

[Anonymous Coward]

Pssst! Andy! Your fandroid is showing...

[Anonymous Coward]

No. Nothing like a Samsung. Exactly like a LG or even cheaper handset though!

[Dana W]

But When Samsung was copying wholesale it was merely coincidence.

[Matt Bryant]

Perfectly put.

"It's an iPod-minus-minus-minus on your wrist!....." You would really need to be a fanboi to not realise that is almost exactly what it is, only eight times as expensive. On a purely design side, the fact it does not have a raised bezel means the screen is going to get scratched very quickly and easily, and the weight on your wrist is going to get tiring real soon!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Perfectly put.

"the screen is going to get scratched very quickly and easily, "

That will be a feat, since presumbly it's saphire glass. If not then that might be an issue

[Darryl]

Re: Perfectly put.

Many watches have had sapphire crystals since the 1960s and they still get scratched.

[Steve Todd]

Re: Perfectly put.

But not quickly or easily, which is why they make the faces out of sapphire.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Perfectly put.

No, they don't, actually.

[GregC]

So the watch then..

El Reg says:

It's certainly a nice-looking bit of kit, as we've come to expect from Apple

Really? The design of the watch face on the display is OK, but the hardware itself is decidedly meh, at best. Compared to the round Motorola and LG offerings it looks very dated. Even if you like the rectangular form factor, the newest Samsung looks nicer to me.

[Paw Bokenfohr]

Re: So the watch then..

Kind of depends, doesn't it.

Perhaps (and we won't know for at least 4 months or so) this is absolutely the pinnacle of style *for its abilities*.

Perhaps it has more, and better sensors than others. Perhaps the screen is better than others. Perhaps the battery life is better than the rest. Perhaps a lot of things, but at present, we all know that form has to be traded against function with the smallest gadgets, because we can only miniaturise so far right now, especially thinking of batteries, so when it's actually released we can all judge whether this watch strikes the right balance for us or not.

But it's pretty much all down to the ecosystem anyway. If you have an iPhone, you're hardly likely to buy a Moto 360, and if you have a Nexus 5, you're hardly likely to buy an Apple Watch.

Really, when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter whether the Apple Watch is better than the Moto 360 or the Galaxy Gear or the LG G Watch or any other Android Wear based device. For an iPhone owner, it's the right choice. For n Android owner, well, that's where the others compete for business.

[Frank N. Stein]

No Sapphire screen, wireless charging or nano-coating to resist water? BLAH. YAWN!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple Watch. Oh well.

If only they'd put the watch in a round case. So many of the UI elements are frickin circles after all.

The oblong Apple case looks rather odd actually. A round case would've been aesthetically much better and would have complemented what I've seen of the UI far more. Surprised Mr. Ive missed that.

And the whole look, 'Digital Crown' and all, has already been tried and dropped by Braun - http://forums.watchuseek.com/f8/braun-bn-10-made-germany-617206.html

The Moto 360 looks so much nicer, but Motorola screwed the pooch by giving it a lousy lo-res screen, crappy software and an ancient battery-hungry SOC. At least Apple have got that right.

Still, we'll soon be sent both models on skinny wrists serving the finest single estate coffees up and down the land. And I'll still be wearing my Rolex.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Apple Watch. Oh well.

"If only they'd put the watch in a round case."

Sure, but then again that wouldn't be ground breaking like a rectangle with rounded corners.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Apple Watch. Oh well.

And the whole look, 'Digital Crown' and all, has already been tried and dropped by Braun - http://forums.watchuseek.com/f8/braun-bn-10-made-germany-617206.html

I have two "ordinary" watches that have that on account of having electronics inside:

- a Pulsar analog-digital watch (one of the first analog watches with digital date display, its crown adjusts both electronics as well as mechanics)

- one of the early editions of the Rado ceramic (black shiny thing that still looks good despite its age, has analog display but background contains digital stuff which is adjusted via the crown)

And no, I don't collect watches as such, they're more memories. I personally see no reason whatsoever to buy an Apple watch - I'd rather buy a Pebble or something.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: Apple Watch. Oh well.

The oblong Apple case looks rather odd actually.

I don't know if that isn't the point. I'm not sure who's going to be buying these things but the supersized watches that are fashion accessories often have distinctive shapes. I'm pleasantly surprised by the designs but I wonder if the attraction isn't in the ability to change the screen. If so, mightn't we soon see a bundle of cheap unsmart watches with lots of screen designs? There might even be a market for them like there once was for dial tones.

My big worry for Apple is how are they going to manage the inventory? The range looks a bit more difficult to manage than the I-Pods in different colours.

[Mr_Bungle]

I barely can be bothered to mock the tripe they have released this time. However -

Who ever coined the name 'digital crown' for a fucking dial, is a terrible c**t, and should be launched into the sun to ensure their death.

[toadwarrior]

You do realise the face of a clock is called a dial which originates from sun dials. So calling the knob a dial would just look stupid.

[Richard Street]

So you're saying it should have been 'Digital Knob'??? ;)

[Captain DaFt]

"So you're saying it should have been 'Digital Knob'??? ;)"

I think that's the normal person's name for 'wearable tech enthusiast'.

[I ain't Spartacus]

How about floggle-toggle?

Left hand down a bit!

[amanfromearth]

Ignorance seemingly not bliss..

The thing which ordinary people call a "winder", is actually called a Crown.

So, digital crown is not a stretch at all.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ignorance seemingly not bliss..

The thing which ordinary people call a "winder", is actually called a Crown.

So, digital crown is not a stretch at all.

I think it's traditionally not capitalised on account of not really being associated with a Royal House - but you did hit on something with that.

From a marketing perspective, those two words are almost perfect because of their secondary associations - you *did* get it right re. crown, and "digital" is still associated with hi tech, despite digital watches being joked about since the late Douglas Adams wrote the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Personally, I abhor all the fancy wordplay because it also gave us that wonderfully nebulous "Cloud" thingie which means that now every man and dog feels qualified to blab about it. But hey, it sells.

Just not to me.

[johnnymotel]

Re: Ignorance seemingly not bliss..

Oris Big Crown, have one, lovely watch....

[toadwarrior]

Yeah the nexus has all these features that weren't terribly useful at the time they came out so they were pretty much a non-event. Even when the iPhone 6 comes out NFC won't be as useful as it should be.

But at least the iPhone won't feel cheap and have a battery that goes to pot after a year like Android phones so I'm quite happy to wait for the features if it means I get it built in a quality way rather than being built of plastic and sadness.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been using android since version 1.0 and never had a single battery issue so I have no idea where you got this load of codswallop from.

Been using the Nexus 4 since release and it is as good now as it was when released, still runs 100% perfectly, still has all updates, still way up to the task of all my requirements. Every time a new phone comes out I just have to ask what more can it add and the answer is very little so I pass.

So currently at 21 months, have no doubts will see me to 2 years, probably 3 or more.

Initial investment £240 or £280

£10 a month unlimited data contract

so £480 to £520 total cost of ownership for 2 years of phone usage.

I have no idea how much TCO for iphone 6 would be but I recon for 2 years your probably looking at double this. I have much better things to spend my money on than to be part of a trend so GL and HF.

[Shannon Jacobs]

Battery problems prevail?

Actually on my 5th Android device now, and the only one with severe battery issues was the HTC, beginning when the phone was about a year old. The Toshiba tablet's battery is acting somewhat thermally suspicious, but it's more than 3 (or 5?) years old, so I think that's not unreasonable, if a bit scary. Too soon to say about my Samsung, but the previous Huawei was quite satisfactory, including the battery. If the carrier hadn't gone to pieces, I might have stayed with it for a while beyond its normal two years...

[russell 6]

Re: Battery problems prevail?

My HTC One S started having battery difficulties after 18 months. Even light usage would kill the battery in about 12 hours. If the battery were replaceable I would have kept it as it had everything I need in a phone. No more phones where I can't change the battery so I just got the LG G3

[Paul]

"won't feel cheap and have a battery that goes to pot"

jealous of people with swappable batteries?

have another go.

[Unicornpiss]

Battery issues?

As someone who is tasked with supporting hundreds of iThings, among other duties, I can say that Apple devices, including their batteries, are pretty tired and worn out after about a year and half of use in an enterprise environment. Oh, except for the somewhat fragile screens, they are built pretty well, but I have a drawer full of iPhone 4s and now some 5c devices that have crummy battery life and that exhibit erratic behavior like random reboots, lockups, unresponsive screens, poor radio reception, etc.

To be fair, when we had Blackberry devices, we had a drawer full of those too, though at least you could easily change the batteries and backup/restoration of data was not an exercise in frustration (well, not as much anyway) like it is with iTunes. With BB you could at least selectively backup and restore, not the "all or nothing if it feels like working" that you get with iTunes.

I'm sure if we had Samsung or other Android devices company-wide, we'd have a bin full of problem children too: Enterprise devices see hard use and are not treated as gently as consumer devices.

The iPhone 6 looks a bit fragile to me. The myth that Apple builds better quality hardware than others is only true when compared to the cheapest offerings from other companies.

[heyrick]

" But at least the iPhone won't feel cheap and have a battery that goes to pot after a year like Android phones " - what a load of bollocks. My phone is an Xperia U, a phone so inexpensive that it came with my two year contact. I will replace it when I renew in January. But, well, I make this phone to be a year and nine months old. Battery works fine. My previous (Xperia Mini Pro) is a year older and is now doing service acting as a modem for my iPad on another network (because I'm paying a lot of money to Orange yet this isn't enough to allow tethering). Battery fine, and that is a phone that I used to listen to MP3s and streaming radio until the battery ran out...

Given some Android phones cost as much as an iPhone, they aren't all plastic and sadness - and there are also special ruggedised phones that would leave an iPhone (and its owner) broken. But, hey, you have already proven you know not of what you speak...

[Anonymous Coward]

A car show without prototypes.

The big car shows usually have some prototype/futuristic model of some sort that is really cool, but will never be produced. Without that, I personally feel the whole event is a sleep walk viewing of upgraded interiors and steering wheels. I know car shows are not mobile gadgets, but is this Apple event really that different?

[Jah]

Re: A car show without prototypes.

Never known Apple to present a concept product with no firm schedule for availability. I think they were forced to respond and show that they have "new products" and "innovations" .

[Darryl]

Re: A car show without prototypes.

And let's face it, if Samsung had shown off a new device that doesn't look a lot different than what others have on the market already and refused to give important details like battery life and release date, the iCrowd would be all over them for having a 'me too' device.

[TheProf]

At the third stroke

"When you get down to it, lifting your wrist to your face is not much more convenient than reaching into a pocket."

When I get down to it, yes it is. Reading my wristwatch is easy. If I'm standing it's left arm up, glance at analogue display, left arm down. I'm typing this on my laptop and I can see the display if I just tilt my head to the left.

If my phone is in my pocket it's reach into pocket, extract slippery phone, rotate phone around several times to put the screen at the front and the power button on the left, press the power button, wait for that slight delay while it fires up and then read the time. Put phone back in pocket.

Still it's not as if people get mugged flashing expensive phones in public.

Oh and the Apple watch looks boring.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: At the third stroke

Indeed... wristwatches became popular during WWI when GIs worked out that it was much more effective to check the time (to synchronize military movements) on their wrist vs. pulling out a pocket watch.

I don't see why things would be any different today. Checking the time on a cell phone is effectively the same as checking it on a pocket watch. But slightly less convenient.

[Tac Eht Xilef]

Re: At the third stroke

>"wristwatches became popular during WWI when GIs worked out that it was much more effective to check the time (to synchronize military movements) on their wrist vs. pulling out a pocket watch."

Apart from them being favoured by British officers (and therefore not GIs) before the time of the Boer War (and therefore 20 years or more before WWI), you're absolutely correct.

[Philip Lewis]

Re: At the third stroke

"The Boer Wars (Afrikaans: Vryheidsoorloë, literally "freedom wars") were two wars fought during 1880–1881 and 1899–1902 by the British Empire ..." wiki (phwewt)

A slight math error, say "about 40 years" then.

"Wristwatches were first worn by military men towards the end of the 19th century, when the importance of synchronizing manoeuvres during war, without potentially revealing the plan to the enemy through signalling, was increasingly recognized... " wiki (phwewt)

[DropBear]

Re: At the third stroke

I too find it infinitely more convenient to glance at my wrist than fumble with a pocket - especially considering said pocket might have a zipper to undo (since I don't fancy my phone slipping out of it) and/or might be deeply buried under other layers of clothing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: At the third stroke

>"When you get down to it, lifting your wrist to your face is not much more convenient than reaching into a pocket.".

Unless you are swimming. Or sailing. Or cycling.

It's also a damned sight easier to blearily push your arm into your face when you wake up in the morning than trying to work out which way up you are and where your phone or alarm clock is in relation to you...

[Boothy]

Re: At the third stroke

Quote: "Unless you are swimming. Or sailing. Or cycling."

Or in the pub with a pint in your hand :-)

[exanime]

Re: At the third stroke

... so when are you planning to charge this thing if you plan to sleep with it on your wrist?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: At the third stroke

Re: At the third stroke

... so when are you planning to charge this thing if you plan to sleep with it on your wrist?

I'm going to mount a couple of Tesla coils and see if that charges it remotely. It will also destroy reception in quite a radius, which is IMHO win win. It may, of course, fry the electronics, but that's under warranty (provided I wait until it has stopped smoking).

[BlueGreen]

@Author

Don't normally fuss but just some pickings with your English

"will have thinner profiles" - I'm pretty sure this means "will be thinner".

"price points" - is this something other than an old-fashioned "price" or does it mean something additional or different?

"and promises to securely handle your card data without exposing it to loss or abuse" - Hmm. Surely this is tautological. In contrast, would this make sense "and promises to securely handle your card data while possibly exposing it to loss or abuse"? I don't think so.

As Orwell was wont to say, mutch moar bettar english plz kthxbai

Separately, I don't have nor want a 'smart' phone, so I'm curious whether the eternal promises of thinner, so heavily advertised on every new iteration, makes a whit of difference past a certain point. In fact I suspect if I bought one I'd go for thicker for strength and additional battery life - any thoughts, anyone?

[Fred Flintstone]

Re: @Author

In fact I suspect if I bought one I'd go for thicker for strength and additional battery life - any thoughts, anyone?

100% with you on that. If they had kept it at the 5s thickness they would have probably doubled its battery life, which makes it just about useful.

[wolfetone]

I would guesstimate that there are several million handsets in consumer products already that have the ability to make "pay-by-bonk" payments. The only difference between those phones and the iPhone 6 is marketing. Again. Now all the little sheeple will think "fantastic! I can now use my phone as a wallet!".

Newsflash: My BlackBerry Z10 had this feature from day one, but I don't use it. I don't feel it's safe to have a credit card attached to an object that would be more appealing to thieves. I don't even use my "pay-by-bonk" credit card for the fear that there is no security with it if it's stolen. By the time I realise it's gone there could be £20/£40 gone out of it. Not exactly a lot I know but the day before payday that is a lot of money.

And as for the iWatch (f**k you Apple I'll call it what I like - sue me), how can people be excited by it? I'm genuinely confused. To me it's not masculine, so I wouldn't wear it. I like a watch that looks like a proper watch that could take a smash with a hammer and keep on ticking. That thing, doesn't look like it could withstand a splash of rain water. I'm sure it can, but it doesn't look like it can. And, for the women,I won't try to guess what they think, but I know my girlfriend saw the watch and thought it was horrid.

So, fair play to Apple's marketing department for this wonderful tour de force of product wonder. How much do they charge by the hour?

[Anonymous Coward]

Two important differences for Apple Pay

1) Apple Pay is using one time codes for payments, so the retailer's insecurity (or any potential MITM attack on NFC payment devices) doesn't affect you, nor does the retailer gain any info such as your name/address/etc. so your purchases are as anonymous as if you used cash.

2) Apple doesn't get the retailer's name or what you bought and even if they wished to, won't be able to use this to amass an even larger store of personal information to use against you pushing ads in your face like Google. Nor are they taking a cut from the transaction like the carrier NFC efforts do (or at least are trying to do in some countries)

Basically they've killed anyone's efforts trying to use NFC to take a cut of the payment for themselves, so those trying to do so are probably hating life today, no doubt having calculated that Apple would try to take a cut and they could get by taking less. Google/Samsung's efforts will still be alive and well, but I suspect they'll eventually be forced to use one time codes to secure their solution even though it means giving up all that juicy personal data, meanwhile Apple haters will still claim that Apple "copied" others by adding NFC.

I've always said NFC is a "solution looking for a problem" since using it rather than swiping a card provides no benefit. However, the lack of anonymity when swiping a card has always been an issue with me that sometimes has me using cash, but for purchases I want anonymity for using NFC, while no faster than swiping a card, is faster than counting out cash and waiting for change that rattles around in your pocket all day until ending up in a big jar back home.

[Mike Bell]

Re: Two important differences for Apple Pay

Nor are they taking a cut from the transaction

The rumour is that Apple will be getting a small kick-back from each Apple Pay transaction. However, that will come out of the transaction fee levied at the retailer. And since Apple have negotiated lower transaction fees for Apple Pay, neither the consumer or retailer should pay any more.

Easy money for Apple.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Mike Bell

Where did this "rumor" come from? I've not seen this in the press.

It might be true, Apple would have such a high transaction volume they could shave 0.10% off to pay for their infrastructure. But if they did it wouldn't be a source of profit for them. Apple makes their money on the hardware, they don't need to make money on the transactions or from collecting data on the transactions themselves. Much better that they destroy Google's ability to collect data on the transactions, as the power of Ad Words would be unrivaled if Google was able to track people all the way from first search all the way through to purchase. Apple destroyed Google's business model for Google Wallet yesterday.

[Peter Gathercole]

Re: Two important differences for Apple Pay

I've found a use for NFC. I have smart-tags scattered around the place that changes the mode of my Sony Xperia depending on where I am.

When I'm in the car, it selects car mode, with big icons and the phone automatically in speaker mode. When at work, it turns the phone to silent mode with vibrate on.

And so on. I'm still finding uses for it, although setting up the actions is a bit tricky. It's really a useful feature, and doesn't appear to affect the battery life too much.

[Van]

Ideally Apple would have designed it for the military (like the original wrist watch) and tradesmen, who no doubt will find a smart watch/communicator/notifier very convenient, but Apple want to sell their products to the mass consumer.

I reckon the likes of DeWalt, CAT and Dockers will eventually make the "masculine" device you so desire.

[cambsukguy]

Says it is for right handers only

Or the control knob is on the inside and hard to get at - buuuut...

Can't it just be worn upside down and the button and control knob would be the other way up. A magnetic clasp would work both ways (wouldn't trust that on a sports watch myself).

Can't see it as a serious issue, it is 1/7 of the general population pissed off or twisting their arm horribly otherwise.

[jonathanb]

Re: Says it is for right handers only

I'm right handed. I don't normally wear a watch, but when I do, it goes on my right arm, so this is the wrong way round for me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Says it is for right handers only

>>I'm right handed. I don't normally wear a watch, but when I do, it goes on my right arm, so this is the wrong way round for me.

Oh wow. You do realize that right-handers wear their watches on their left wrists, right? I mean, don't you want to be able to operate the watch with your dominant hand? Also there's the issue of possible damage to your watch if you swing it around more, which you would do if it were on your dominant wrist.

But also... why wouldn't you be able to wear the watch on whichever wrist you wanted?

[jonathanb]

Re: Says it is for right handers only

Yes I do realise that most right-handers wear their watches on their left wrists. I don't. I use my left hand a lot more than most right-handers, typically for things that require strength rather than dexterity.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Says it is for right handers only

I would be shocked if there isn't a configuration option to flip the interface and allow wearing it on the other wrist. I'm sure Apple had more than a few lefties involved in the design and they wouldn't overlook something so obvious if for no other reason than Apple hates adding SKUs and having a second version of everything with 10% of the market share of the first wouldn't be how they'd address this.

[Mike Bell]

Re: Says it is for right handers only

Unsurprisingly, there is such an option.

[M_W]

Re: Says it is for right handers only

Yep - this was the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw it.

Apparently, Apple say there will be an option to choose orientation when you first boot the watch, so you can have it 'upside down' and the orientation be OK. Also, the straps can be fitted either way, so you can just have the crown bottom left rather than top right.

[King Jack]

Re: Says it is for right handers only

Do lefties wear girls blouses too? The buttons on male clothing must be a huge problem for left handers. I really hope they don't play a piano, all the keys being in the wrong place for lefties. What about driving? Do they insist on driving a lefthand drive car on the other side of the road? No?

This lefthanded bullshit has to end. We have two hands, use them. How difficult is it to put a watch on the left arm?

Yes, I'm left handed but I'm able to use my right hand when needed. Think about it you have to learn the action in the first instance, so just learn to use the other hand for some things. It balances both sides of the brain too.

[jonathanb]

Re: Says it is for right handers only

Playing the piano, or typing on a keyboard, requires dexterity in both hands. Playing a violin requires dexterity in your left hand. Driving a car in a country where you drive on the right requires a minimal amount of dexterity in your left hand.

[heyrick]

Re: Says it is for right handers only

"Do lefties wear girls blouses too?" - some might. I don't.

"I really hope they don't play a piano, all the keys being in the wrong place for lefties." - well, as far as I know, nobody has produced a backwards piano so it is hard to tell if it would be more appropriate. Don't you kind of need both hands to play a piano?

I did string up my guitar back to front, but, well, I suck either way.

"Do they insist on driving a lefthand drive car on the other side of the road?" - I live in France so, that's already been sorted.

More realistically, some things are extremely difficult for left handed people. Not because they should be, but because objects designed to ergonomically favour right handed people has a tendency to make the device correspondingly less useful for us lefties. By way of example, consider a pair of scissors. Try imagining those ones with the nice shaped handles that fit perfectly into your hand. Now think of how awful it would be to hold them with your left hand. You will find that "We have two hands, use them." does not apply for the majority of people, just as we can write with one hand but scrawl (just) with the other. Likewise for scissors. It is certainly possible to cut with either hand, but if you want accuracy and care, most people will need to use their dominant hand. When I buy scissors, I buy ones with basic rounded handles that everybody can use.

Now consider a tin opener. After years of what feels like an incredibly awkward action, I gave in and bought an electric tin opener.

"Yes, I'm left handed" - please tell me you're not one of those people that turns a page 90 degrees and writes towards yourself. I mostly taught myself to write (having missed the early fundamentals for reasons too long/boring to explain here) and so, thankfully, I was saved from being taught to write in what appears to be the most ass-backward way imaginable. I simply rotate my entire hand about ten degrees counter-clockwise (so as not to drag my hand through what I have written) and then I write across a page.

[Unicornpiss]

Re: Says it is for right handers only

I live in the US, and am left handed, so I do rather insist on driving a left-hand drive car. When I used to wear a watch, I wore it on my left wrist. Oddly, I keep my phone on my right hip and usually use my right hand to operate it. And for other things...

[Philip Lewis]

Re: Says it is for right handers only

It's not odd at all. Leftness, contrary to popular belief is not binary.

I am a goofy footer but right footed and right handed. Open jars left handed, use eating utensils left handed. There are a very large number of lefties who play sport right handed (my mum for one). The classic cricketing combination of left arm bowler and right handed batsmen is a perfect example.

[Captain DaFt]

Eh?

"When you get down to it, lifting your wrist to your face is not much more convenient than reaching into a pocket."

Wristwatch:

1.twitch wrist

2.glance down, see time

Phone:

1. reach in pocket, pull out phone (try not to drop it if moving)

2. activate screen

3. hold phone up to face, see time

4. put phone back in pocket (try not to drop it again if moving)

Um, I think the wristwatch wins this one.

[Richard Street]

Re: Eh?

As the owner of two 'smart watches' may I offer an alternative:

Phone:

1. reach in pocket, pull out phone (try not to drop it if moving)

2. activate screen

3. hold phone up to face, see time

4. put phone back in pocket (try not to drop it again if moving)

Wristwatch:

1.twitch wrist, noticing how the thick rubber wristband has made your lower arm hot and sweaty

2.glance down and realise you forgot to charge the watch last night

3.try to find cable and realise this is at home/in desk/bottom of bag/lost

4.charge watch for 45 minutes wondering if it is worthwhile

5.restart watch and pray bluetooth connects

6.do happy dance when connection happens

7.wait as watch updates slowly over bluetooth with 57 missed email headlines

8.give up and use phone

9.add watch to box labled minidisc player, palm pilot and beta max video

[Captain DaFt]

Re: Eh?

Mind, I was talking about a real watch, not one of those inconvenient wrist wearable phone accessories with no battery life, day blind screen, and a dozen functions few people'll ever use

[Martin-73]

Re: Eh?

Umm, whatever you're describing isn't a watch...

[P. Lee]

Re: Eh?

More likely:

1. While walking road along looking down at phone keyboard for updating twitface, look a few inches up and see the time at the top of the screen.

See, its easier!

[Anonymous Coward]

Oneplus One

'Finally it can catch up with android'

Can it?

http://oneplus.net/

Okay, it's not available to all at the moment, but it's well spec'd and very competitively priced.

I think apple's days are numbered as a premium brand in the phone/tablet market.

[VinceH]

Re: Oneplus One

The Oneplus looks okay... but they've instantly put me off by taking the fact that it's availability is still limited, and marketed that fact such that it becomes membership of some kind of exclusive club, with those who have one being able to send out a certain number of "invites"^* and it's receipt of an "invite"^* that allows you to buy one.

^{* Yeuck. Even if I knew someone who wanted to send me an invite, I routinely turn down invites, though I sometimes accept invitations. Except when it involves becoming a member of an exclusive (or, as in this case, faux-exclusive) club - whether it's an invite or an invitation, they always get binned. Wake me when the phone is more generally available, and I'll see how it compares to the competition and decide then.}

[JLV]

>reasonable (by Apple standards)

depends on your definition of that word.

Apple.ca, unlocked, 16/64/128, CAD$:

4.7" - 749/859/969

5.5" - 859/969/1079

Ouch. A $1000+ phone, before tax. Wonder how usable a 16GB phone is, if you use 6-7 gb for mp3s?

My $399 32gb, unlocked, Nexus 5 may stick around for longer than expected. Not that I am all that fond of its battery-guzzling ways, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: >reasonable (by Apple standards)

6-7GB of MP3s? I like my music and happily travelled to OZ with a 4GB Sandisk clip and a candy bar phone, didn't need to pull out a charger for 4 days.

[Tony Paulazzo]

Re: >reasonable (by Apple standards)

Nexus 5 ... its battery-guzzling ways

Lower brightness on screen, advanced wifi - switch off when phone sleeping (altho I have unlimited 3g internet allowance), push apps only every four hours or so (facebook, email, twitter etc), check battery to see worst offending apps - delete 'em if poss, do you need gps on all the time, bluetooth, NFC? disable when/if not required (Android will still poll rough location from transmitters).

I actually downloaded battery doctor just to see what was the worst battery draining problems (then uninstalled it), deleted the twitter app (I barely use it - get my twitter feed thru Flipboard, but it was running all the time).

The Facebook Messenger app is also a battery killer and invasive with what it can do to your phone, kill it with fire. I deleted it and the Facebook app, turns out in all the notifications it gave me, not one was a life or death situation that required my immediate attention, I just use mobile facebook on my browser.

I now get (assuming not many phone calls), a little over two days battery use with my Nexus 5, and that's still with Malwarebytes, Silence Premium (only allows family calls thru at night) plus a few other necessary apps running all the time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: >reasonable (by Apple standards)

"Lower brightness on screen, advanced wifi - switch off when phone sleeping (altho I have unlimited 3g internet allowance), push apps only every four hours or so (facebook, email, twitter etc), check battery to see worst offending apps - delete 'em if poss, do you need gps on all the time, bluetooth, NFC? disable when/if not required (Android will still poll rough location from transmitters)."

I don't know why people accept phones that require this level of maintenance to get acceptable battery life.

Just get an iPhone.

[Tony Paulazzo]

Re: >reasonable (by Apple standards)

I don't know why people accept phones that require this level of maintenance to get acceptable battery life.

Just get an iPhone.

LOL

Nexus 5 (32GB) £290 with the freedom to run the phone how you want

iPhone 5s (32GB) £499.00 with the freedom to run it how Apple wants

You're right, no contest!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: >reasonable (by Apple standards)

>>Ouch. A $1000+ phone, before tax. Wonder how usable a 16GB phone is, if you use 6-7 gb for mp3s?

Very usable. The OS takes 1.62GB. The rest is unified space that can be used for apps, photos, videos, etc.

Apps are small, I have 73 right now and they're taking 2.13GB on my phone. If I put 7GB of mp3s on the phone, I'd still have over 5GB free for whatever.

[Paul 135]

zzzzzz

Sony Z3 Compact for the win!

[jubtastic1]

Say what you like

But those phones and watches are going to sell like fucking hot cakes.

My personal opinion: the side on view of the 6 reminds me of surface tension, I don't like the look of the bands on the back but I think the attention to detail is going to be way beyond what most people have experienced, that may seem irrelevant but at this point smartphones all do pretty much everything, the subjective quality of an item that you're literally going to carry around for the next couple of years should be taken into account. The watch seems like a good match for the 5" phone, less so with the smaller phones.

I like some of the watch combinations, I expect most people will like some of them, for a new untested product line there's a staggering degree of customisation. Like the phones, this looks like a device you can't properly appraise until you've held it in your hands. A lot of features are designed to work between watches, I'm pretty sure I can't afford one for the wife as well, and certainly not the tiny gold one she would pick.

[Michael Thibault]

Regulations, regulations, regulations...

On apple.com:

"Apple Watch has not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained."

Quoi?

[Shoot Them Later]

Re: Regulations, regulations, regulations...

@Michael Thibault - Presumably because they wanted it to be a surprise. FCC approval means submitting detailed documents. I understand that some can be restricted on commercial confidentiality grounds, but it raises risk of leaks and exposure. Similarly bulk manufacturing nowadays seemingly guarantees supply chain leaks - hence we will wait to 2015.

While the announcement of the watch was hardly unexpected, I think its appearance and functionality was kept well under wraps.

[MrNed]

chocolate teapot

Working chocolate teapot announced on the same day as the Apple Watch...:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-29126161

You couldn't make it up.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: chocolate teapot

and indeed the chocolate teapot works for 2 mins to brew the tea, and then presumably will melt. Likely there's a read-across there in terms of battery life of aforementioned iWatch

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: chocolate teapot

We charge our windows phones religiously every night, with flight mode turned on to boot. I really don't see the fuss in taking a watch off and plugging it in to that loose wire on the bedside table. We also have wall clocks/temperature monitors in 3 rooms.

I'l be consolidating my tech into a wearable somewhere down the line, I'm not going to knock innovation in the meantime like the majority seem to be doing. Just as I didn't knock the early smartphones because they wern't a patch on that notebook/netbook in my rucksack.

[J 3]

"lifting your wrist to your face"

Methinks someone needs an appointment with the eye doctor. I ain't no spring chicken, but I sure can easily read my watch -- running faithfully since 1989, battery lasts a couple of years -- from half a meter away...

[Frankee Llonnygog]

so bitter

Lots of comments hating on Apple for once again opening up a market of IT as desirable consumer goods, thereby expending the IT jobs market for the sort of people who read the Reg.

Thanks Apple - your customers help pay my mortgage

[MonkeyScrabble]

Re: so bitter

The point here is though that they didn't create any new IT market.

They made a phone with a bigger screen - years old.

They made a watch - years old.

They made a contactless payment system - years old.

Nothing here is new in any way, shape of form.

Their "innovation" this year is to copy what everyone else has done and slap that badge on it and gouge people on the price.

It's also not just people here who see that, Apple's share price dropped by 1% at close of trading yesterday. Even satrry eyed investors are seeing the Emperor's new clothes are looking a bit thread bare.

[Spotswood]

Re: so bitter

Your comment isn't entirely accurate - they are bringing security to mobile payments. If you listened to the Keynote (I presume you didn't) you would know that storing your credit card in Passbook, when you make a payment, you are using a new credit card number and security check digits each time you make a payment. That combination can't be used twice, which means that unscrupulous merchants can't pilfer your details nor can miscreants with unauthorised access to their systems. Nobody has done this before and Apple are leading the industry here, and surprisingly, the banks are only too happy to be on board. I thought that was pretty darn innovative and cool.

[Frankee Llonnygog]

Re: so bitter

You mistake create a new feature set for creating a new market. The first is about selling something - the second is about getting people to buy it.

Share prices always drop after Apple events. Analysts don't think like customers.

[Spotswood]

I too would have preferred a round face watch - I guess that's Apple Watch 2. However, going over the specs and marketing blurb for the Apple Watch, it does look rather impressive feature-wise. I'm going to reserve judgement on physical appearance until I buy one. (Hint: Im buying one).

[Anonymous Coward]

Another Angle

Can we please call this whole episode an EVENTFUL NON-EVENT?

It's only f****king 2 new models of phones with not much difference from what I've been using for the last 4 years.(SGS3 at 4.7 inches and other Chinese Dual Sim droids).

These marketing assholes make it appear as the next best thing to mama's milk.

Get on with your lives guys ! And have a life.

[chrishansenhome]

Left-handers are "left" out with the Apple Watch

It seems to only be a watch for right-handers, as the controls are on the right-hand side. Even if I needed one, being left-handed I wouldn't be buying one.

[Fred Flintstone]

Re: Left-handers are "left" out with the Apple Watch

You fit the straps the other way around, and tell it to operate in left-handed mode when it restarts. Easy.

The only issue will be that you have the knob* and button in reversed position, but I suspect that will be a less important issue.

(*) yes, knob. Button, winder. Digital crown is far too rich a name for it IMHO.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Left-handers are "left" out with the Apple Watch

Do you per chance wear women's clothes? The buttons are on the other side too. Do you re-map the keys on your keyboard to suit left-handers? What is so hard in pressing a button with your sub-dominant hand?

[Ralph B]

Thief Magnet

Now that the Find-My-iPhone location/disabling tech has started to reduce iPhone thefts, I can see the next target-of-choice for muggers is going to be that big, shiny & expensive Apple Watch.

So, I won't be buying one. :-)

[Tony Paulazzo]

Poor show Apple

I actually thought they were going to say, 'What you've all been waiting for, the iPhone Watch - it's a watch, it's your phone, never misplace it again. The future of wearable tech has arrived!'

With an invisible ear bead / mic and dumb iPad screen, both wirelessly connected at all times (proprietary wireless that barely uses battery), you'd have the best of both worlds, surfing on the sofa / train or chatting to someone whilst reading an epaper.

But no, they just copied Samsung - surprised they didn't unveil fucking VR glasses.

[Crisp]

Penny from Inspector Gadget?

My first thought was Dick Tracy. Maybe I'm getting old.

[Anonymoist Cowyard]

In summary:

Make bigger phones, like Android.

Include a NFC chip, like Android

Do a smartwatch, like Android.

Oh, and a free U2 album.

[Zog_but_not_the_first]

Since the collapse of the reality distortion field...

Apple products are increasingly judged on their relative merits vis-à-vis competing hardware.

Which is only fair.

[Champ]

Wrist better than pocket

"When you get down to it, lifting your wrist to your face is not much more convenient than reaching into a pocket."

This is palpably not true. Glancing at your wrist is significantly less disruptive to what you're doing than fishing a phone from your pocket. As a Pebble user for the last 18 months, I've come to massively value the 'on wrist' notifications of texts, emails and calls.

[Anonymous Coward]

Side view of the iPhone looks like my HTC One M8.

[envmod]

looks nice

android user here on an LG G3, but used to be iphone user so am fairly impartial. i think the device looks nice - people will want this phone. the new features, while maybe not revolutonary or even original are a welcome edition to the iphone - it will also be intersting to see (now that apple have climbed on-board), whether NFC gets the uptake and roll-out across retailers that it's needed for years. if so, i for one, will be pleased about that. screen resolution is slightly disappointing, given that i'm holding in my hand a device with a staggering 538 PPI - i would have liked to have seen apple innovate in this area. the apple watch looks very nice and i do actually find myself wanting one, which i have not felt with other smart watches. all in all i think a nice revision of the iphone and the apple watch i think will be really good by the the 3rd or 4th iteration, so i will be watching that space.

[Anonymous Coward]

Rubbish effort, Apple

Dear Tim -

Just to remind you that Seiko came out with this in ... 2007:

http://www.seikowatches.com/baselworld/2007/press/details/070412_11.html

For more pictures of the precious, see

http://www.uniquewatchguide.com/e-ink-watches.html

[Mad yakker]

Penny from Inspector Gadget?

Michael Knight, surely.

[Korsibat]

Become a muggers best friend

At least with the phone its in your pocket. On your wrist its there for everyone to see. Goodbye $349

[Anonymous Coward]

I doubt very much I'll ever own a smart watch (so perhaps I should stop commenting now) but one of the barriers to wide spread adoption I see is that they all look about a elegant as wearing half a house brick on your arm. There's no way I would wear a lump like that on my wrist and I'm a medium sized guy. I can only imagine how daft it would look on someone smaller which, lets be honest, is about half the population.

I suspect that the current generation of smart watches are a bit like very early mobile phones. A few people will find them useful but most people will just laugh at them for a decade. It'll be interesting to watch the technology improve though, I wonder how thin and lightweight they will be able to make them.

The other barrier of course is a lack of differentiation with the phone in your pocket. Yes, checking the time on my wrist would be a tiny be faster than reaching into my pocket but does it bother me enough to go back to wearing a watch?

[fanboi #451]

Just what your wrist has been waiting for ...

1) Take watch out of box.

2) Strap watch onto wrist

3) Remove picture of Steve Jobs from the box and arrange at suitable watching distance

4) Arrange box of tissues to be easily at hand.

5) I think you can guess what you do next

6) Your Apple Watch is now fully charged.

©1975 Sekonda Watches

[sisk]

Smartwatches, bah

I was really excited about smartwatches when they first hit the market. Then I found out what they can really do, and, more importantly, what they can't. Short version, I've yet to see one that can do anything a phone can't do, which is fine except that you have to be carrying a phone for it to even do that much. So, really, what's the point? I wanted a phone on my wrist, dangit, not a thing on my wrist that talks to the phone in my pocket for me.

[John 104]

Tradition for the win

Wrist Watch:

Move wrist, look at time, go about my business.

Marvel at titanium case and band and so little weight.

Get wet while boating and not cry.

Smack into door jam and not cry.

Drop in garage and not cry.

Never worry about charging - Citizen ecodrive - 5 years strong and still running.

Aside from the frustration caused by the below analysis, number 4 will be the real killers for these things. And 9 will be SO true.

1.twitch wrist, noticing how the thick rubber wristband has made your lower arm hot and sweaty

2.glance down and realise you forgot to charge the watch last night

3.try to find cable and realise this is at home/in desk/bottom of bag/lost

4.charge watch for 45 minutes wondering if it is worthwhile

5.restart watch and pray bluetooth connects

6.do happy dance when connection happens

7.wait as watch updates slowly over bluetooth with 57 missed email headlines

8.give up and use phone

9.add watch to box labled minidisc player, palm pilot and beta max video

You have to wonder if the research and manufacturing investment by Apple and others will EVER get paid back in sales for these device.

[fanboi #451]

Re: Tradition for the win

Every single point you make is valid. They will get the money back though - just wait until the fashionistas really start telling everyone that they are so out of date because they don't have an AppleWatch (can't we call it an iWatch?).

[Anonymous Coward]

Secret Squirrel 1965

Although Dick Tracy had a clever radio watch it was not as Smart as Secret Squirrels. "He's got tricks up his sleeve" (16 seconds)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S_F9U9gNEQ

[Britt]

All this talk

All this talk of battery life, I just sit here with 70% left on my Z2 since taking of charge yesterday morning. Considering I give it fairly high use with web browsing and music it's doing pretty damned well.

Just in the habit of charging it every other day now, still with around 30% left. Don't even run Stamina Mode. Steam is all all the time too. Can't miss a sale.....!

[Big Ron]

What's wrong with a watch with corners? Dick Tracy's 2-Way Wrist Radio had corners.