Nothing. I think it's a novelty that'll sell really well when it first releases, then it'll taper off and turn into more of a novelty item that everyone realizes they don't want or need. It could be great for exercise, but I don't see much more use besides that.
Tappin and Talkin from my iPhone 5
I used to agree 100 percent but after getting into activity monitoring devices I started thinking how much could be improved.
First off let me say that if you asked me a year ago, I would not want or see a need for an iWatch. Now I can definitely see the use. With so many activity monitoring services available it makes sense for apple to join the party. I currently own a fit it and love it however I can see the need for improvement as well as advancement in this area. Kne key thought is this should NOT BE A SMARTPHONE...
The possibilities of an iWatch are many, however in think fitness will play a major role here. If apple can get a hold of some great tracking capabilities they can incorporate many of the current technologies. However apple will need to advance their abilities to be competitive. For instance, if apple wants to create a built in health app, they need to consider ALL the ways people incorporate a healthy living style. This means not only tracking steps, sleep, and calories burnt, but tracking other movements, having easy ways of adding many types of activities, ways of not only monitoring food intake, but incorporating some of the most popular ways to diet such as carb diets or weight watchers. For activity tracking, it would be nice to use special timers (to time certain walks and runs), use GPS to save trails, and more intense competing options such as individual activities, several time rankings (1, 2,3 ect days) that way you can be pushed by your friends. Not only this, there should be challenges, goals, and achievements that you can share. You should also be able to control ALL info and settings from a smartphone app and easily view some on the watch. Also maybe monitor temperature if possible?
In order to truly make the iWatch useful it will need to be able to be used by other apps and third parties. Not only that but possibly other smartphone manufacturers. I own an iPhone and this it wouldn't be an issue for me, but to grow the user base apple will need to be smart on this. What apple can do is have some advantages for iPhone users such as using the m7 along with the watch to gain more types of data?
Aside from activities, the iWatch can do some things like be a simple GPS locator. For example, if I leave my iPhone or ipad somewhere, I can find them with my iWatch. I should also be able to initiate a Bluetooth call on my watch, check notifications from my iPhone, accept certain types of requests. However this device should NOT take pictures, video calls, initiate calls without a bluetooth headset, send or receive texts, emails or pictures. These are all phone activities and would drain battery.
One area that the I watch COULD be useful for is an a-wallet. This could make electronic payments easier. However, maybe the screen can be a fingerprint reader for protection?
Siri would be the main feature of the I watch and should be voice activated similarly to how the Moto x activates google now. This would allow for many features to be done without pulling out a phone or having to touch a small screen. However I do think Siri sti needs major improvements. Many times she still doesn't have answers that don't use the web, she doesn't always understand natural language and while this may sound stupid, it would be nice if it was fluid enough to understand not only your current commands but previous ones. Here's an example
Hey Siri set an alarm for me to turn in my test.
Siri confirms and you accept. Five minutes later you realize you didn't add a day or time. You then say
Siri! I forgot to add a day and time to my last reminder. Siri should then tell you your last reminder (and if that wasn't the one you wanted Siri can cycle through until it is) then you can simply edit, change or even delete.
If people weren't so freaked out about devices constantly listening I would say that it would be cool if Siri could remember conversations and if you say forgot something someone said, you could ask Siri.
Anyway the main points are, an I watch should
be advanced sports gear
Stylish
Have great companion apps on smartphones
Be an advanced digital assistant (Siri 2.0)
Show basic info like notifications, weather, health stats and time
Have basic functionality like initiating bluetooth calls or using gps tracker to find things
NOT BE A SNARTPHONE
Be water proof
Possibly be e-wallet (maybe a fingerprint scanner on screen or even just a pin you type on the machine.
Sent from my iPhone using iMore Forums mobile app