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Am I the only one who wants an Apple Watch without the whole health hardware?

2 pointsandraganescu2y ago14 comments

I have an Apple Watch ultra. It's bulky but it is made to last so ok. But the health stuff I don't use. My use case is: leave my bulky brick iPhone at home but still enjoy digital life - payments, messaging, apps and music on the go. It works great - but I have to ignore the bulk that I don't use.

How come nobody makes a watch that has LTE, payments, App Store integration - not only Apple - without the health tracking - which would result in a nice slim, normal watch that does not bruise my wrist if it's too lose or my arm if it's too tight :)) you know like a normal watch experience?

Is there no market for such a thing ?

14 comments

11 comments · 5 top-level

seanmcdirmid2y ago· 2 in thread

The health stuff doesn’t add much compared to the LTE and base hardware you need anyways. It is cheaper for Apple to just make one board with everything then to separate the health stuff, which is mostly software on top of cheap sensors.

It works like that for everyone else also. The health stuff is easy to add and conveniently usable on your wrist, so it gets put in by default.

andraganescuOP2y ago

Yes I think you are right except that it comes at the cost of a device that is anti-anatomy :) a bulge on your wrist to wear 12h ...

Maybe they'll refine and refine those sensors to make it flat? They still add weight I think?

seanmcdirmid2y ago

The casing and screen are much of the bulk, but the LTE is no slouch either. If you are ok with e-ink display and no LTE, I’m sure something really thin is possible. But I don’t see something like that with LTE as possible yet. By the time it is, probably the health hardware will be small enough to go along with it.

night-rider2y ago· 1 in thread

Get yourself a PineTime[0] and avoid Apple's vendor lock-in:

[0] https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/

andraganescuOP2y ago

Never seen one. Says "Heart rate sensor" on the description - does that entail the tip of a sphere design on its back? Can I use contactless payments with it?

I didn't mean to make my post about Apple - but generally about a specific feature set watch:)

jqpabc1232y ago· 1 in thread

What I want is a cheap, slim watch that will support data storage and payments.

Strapping data to my arm is an effective part of a backup strategy that I have already solved by 3D printing an addition to the strap to hold a micro-SD card. The data is as safe as I am.

The payments part is a little harder.

Connecting to my phone is just a gee-whiz marketing gimmick with little real, practical value to me.

andraganescuOP2y ago

Indeed :)) the modern watches connect to phones for no reason other than to not cannibalize the phone. I accept that price - it'd be horrendous to market otherwise. But at least I'd love a device that is dumber but makes using it a better experience for me.

odysseus_ithaca2y ago· 1 in thread

Interesting. Health hardware is one best thing about the Apple watches. What is your reason for not liking them?

andraganescuOP2y ago

It's great at doing what it does: if you want it. I don't want it, nor its function, but I do have to use a device affected by it - bulky design, non ergonomic shape (nothing that attaches to a wrist for hours should have a bulge).

I want everything other than the physical tracking stuff. Maybe that will be solved by some super smart design.

zem2y ago· 1 in thread

it's sad that people have just accepted that phones are now bulky bricks that you don't want to carry around and are looking for alternatives, now that it's clear manufacturers are not going to supply an actual good phone.

andraganescuOP2y ago

Yes. I think the market for a watch that is just a small comms device is tiny for the big players but not tiny for a smaller one?

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