[JasonFruit]

I believe that's their point: while each smart device can usurp the function of dozens of single-purpose devices, for any single function the smart device makes tradeoffs that the single-purpose one can avoid. So, while it's cool that the Apple watch can check your email, tell your body temperature, and give you directions, it's less good as a watch than a cheap, dumb ol' watch.

It's a question of whether the tradeoffs are worth it to you. Clearly to you, they are, but for the author and me, they aren't.

[acdha]

Also, you now have the usual software management failures. My Apple Watch 2 is about 7 months old. Every function on it works worse than when I bought it: e.g. Siri has gone from activating 80% of the time to about 30%.

No other industry gets away with such routine negligence of core job functions.

[Retra]

That's because people don't buy these things for their functionality, but for the functionality they imagine they could have. Not coincidentally, that is also how they are marketed. People are always sitting on a park benches on their smooth-screened laptops with absolutely no glare and a huge grin on their face.