Journalists have been given a sneak peek of the iPhone, about a week in advance of the order date (which begins April 10th at 3:00 am, East Coast time).
Now that they’ve played with the phones for a whole week, what do they think? Here’s a review roundup.
Wall Street Journal: Geoffrey A. Fowler
“What’s valuable is your time. The Apple Watch is a computer built to spend it better. And if you can tolerate single-day battery life, half-baked apps and inevitable obsolescence, you can now wear the future on your wrist….With the Apple Watch, smartwatches finally make sense….For now, the Apple Watch is for pioneers.”
New York Times: Farhad Manjoo
“It took three days — three long, often confusing and frustrating days — for me to fall for the Apple Watch. But once I fell, I fell hard….Indeed, to a degree unusual for a new Apple device, the Watch is not suited for tech novices….Still, even if it’s not yet for everyone, Apple is on to something with the device. The Watch is just useful enough to prove that the tech industry’s fixation on computers that people can wear may soon bear fruit….The first Apple Watch may not be for you — but someday soon, it will change your world.”
The Verge: Nilay Patel
“The Apple Watch, as I reviewed it for the past week and a half, is kind of slow….[The] haptic feedback system…feels wildly different from the fuzzy, cumbersome vibrations of other devices.…Third-party apps are the main issue: Apple says it’s still working on making them faster ahead of the April 24th launch, but it’s clear that loading an app requires the Watch to pull a tremendous amount of data from the phone, and there’s nothing fast about it….If you’re going to buy an Apple Watch, I’d recommend buying a Sport model; I wouldn’t spend money on how it looks until Apple completes the task of figuring out what it does.”
Yahoo Tech: David Pogue
“The Apple Watch is light-years better than any of the feeble, clunky efforts that have come before it. The screen is nicer, the software is refined and bug-free, the body is real jewelry….You don’t need one. Nobody needs a smartwatch. After all, it’s something else to buy, care for, charge every night. …In the end, therefore, the Apple Watch is, above all, a satisfying indulgence.”