nhughes

Soli said:

sog35 said:

The real trick is Apple needs to negotiate with the carriers to allow the LTE Watch to piggy back on your iPhone plan without any additional charges. Its an absolute no go if you have to pay an additional $10-$20 to use an LTE Watch on your cell plan.  

The "real trick" is making the HW small enough, cheap enough, and use considerably less power.

$10–20 per month would be a great deal when adding a line is already $20–40 without even considering voice, text, or data usage. If they can make it $10 per month without any other costs if you also have a smartphone on the account, I'd probably consider it even though I don't like using my Watch for internet or phone calls.

I believe Verizon and T-Mobile charge $5 per month to add an LTE smart watch to an existing shared data plan. AT&T is at $10. I doubt very many people are paying for these plans, so there isn't exactly a price war — yet. But you can be sure that if and when the Apple Watch gains LTE, all of the carriers will probably fall in line with similar pricing.

$5 per month seems fair to me, especially if they aren't going to add any gigs to your data cap. If you're going to charge $10 per month, give me an extra 2GB for the data pool, or something.

wlym said:

Did I miss something or does this comparison/review not even mention the fact that you cannot adjust the volume or skip tracks while using the AirPods without your phone or Apple Watch? This is a pain in the butt if you're busy running, biking, lifting weights, etc! If, like me, you run with only your AW and bluetooth headphones (leaving the iPhone at home was the reason I bought the AW2) then SIRI doesn't work, even for volume and track changes, for lack of an internet connection.

This means that to change tracks or adjust the volume while running/working out I'd need to 1) unlock my AW (and wait 5 seconds while it does its little water expulsion thing), 2) change the screen from Workout to Music or Now Playing, 3) adjust the volume or skip a track, 4) jump back to the Workout app, 5) swipe right to the screen with the controls including Lock Screen, 6) hit Lock Screen. With the PowerBeats that annoying wire has the volume and track controls. By the way, I lock my AW while running in weather that requires sleeves or gloves as I found that when damp the material (especially Marino wool) can trigger false screen touches and end the workout!

Seems like this should be mentioned in the article. 

Valid point, thanks for adding. Lack of inline volume controls will certainly be a dealbreaker for some.

Truth be told, I really don't adjust the volume or skip tracks while running, biking or lifting weighs. I put in my headphones, select a playlist or album, adjust the volume to my liking, and then I'm off. That's why it didn't even really occur to me while writing this. And the same goes for a call quality comparison — I don't want to answer a phone call while I'm at the gym, and actually prefer to run with just my Apple Watch, without my phone on me. I don't put my watch in waterproof mode, and I have my watch set to show last app on screen wake within 1 hour of last use.

Since I frequently exercise without my phone (which means no Siri support), one key change I would recommend for AirPods + Apple Watch users is to dive into the Bluetooth menu on your iPhone and change the double-tap function to play/pause, instead of invoking Siri. That would be infinitely more useful for minimalist exercisers.

That said, I am hopeful that there is a firmware update for AirPods that allows some form of physical volume control with the touch-sensitive earpieces. Perhaps one earpiece dedicated to Siri/play/pause, and another for volume?

Soli said:
I wonder if it's possible to use the iPhone's female Lightning connector to let a device connected to it pull power into a battery that can then charge the Apple Watch.

Apple does not allow accessory makers to draw any sort of meaningful power from the Lightning port. Concerns about battery life, of course. So you won't see an accessory of that type anytime soon. 

ericthehalfbee said:

They should rename CES to HES - HomeKit Electronics Show.

Seems like everyone is introducing HomeKit devices.

As noted above, Alexa support is more prevalent than HomeKit among devices at this year's show. That's largely because of the security chip and licensing fees Apple requires to sell a HomeKit-certified device. However, to your point, smart home devices and the so-called "Internet of Things" are the most common theme at CES 2017.

Metriacanthosaurus said:

Please tell there is some kind of legitimate medical use for constantly monitoring blood alcohol level, and this is not just the ideal strap for someone who desperately needs a different lifestyle than a daily flirting with drinking and driving.

I reviewed the BACtrack mobile a couple of years ago, and like you, I was extremely skeptical of the product (why does a breathalyzer need to connect to my iPhone?). Admittedly some of the features of their app are superfluous or stupid, such as sharing your BAC on Twitter, and one is kind of terrifying: optional cloud storage — thankfully disabled by default.

However, there are elements of it that surprised me beyond the obvious "Am I good to drive?" scenario. If you really wanted to get metrics on how your body absorbs alcohol and how quickly it leaves your body, this is an extremely valuable tool. In that respect, it's really no different than any other "quantified self" health product.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/12/07/review-iphone-connected-bactrack-mobile-breathalyzer-with-healthkit-support