[whynotminot]

> silicon tech being years ahead of the competition is one that is hardly a factor for the smart watch category.

What? This doesn't even make sense. This is by far the most important lead Apple has.

Their ability to put performant and efficient chips into tiny devices is why they have such a software edge. Other Android wearables suck because the underlying hardware is not able to power the experience without significant compromises.

It's not an accident that WatchOS is vastly better than competing Android offerings. It's hardware driving software possibilities.

[aphextron]

"People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware"

[GeorgeTirebiter]

what folks don't seem to grasp is that hardware is (conceptually) software, except it much harder to change...

And it works the other way, too, c.f. Lisp Machine.

And then there were mainframes B6700 had loadable microcode that 'swapped in' different instructions depending on the higher-level language being run: http://www.retrocomputingtasmania.com/home/projects/burrough...

[smoldesu]

I don't really agree. I've owned a Fossil Carlyle 5 smartwatch with WearOS and an Apple Watch 3, and Apple's lead is definitely on the software side of things. I actually really dislike the material build of the Apple watch. The screen is designed to expose as much of the surface area as possible to scuffs and scratches, while the body of the watch feels larger than any other smartwatch I've used. The Apple Watch got hotter than the Fossil, somehow, and the sensor bump is also much more pronounced.

Anyways, it's not like this is up for debate anyhow. Ask any analyst who's watched the industry for the last decade, they'll still tell you that Apple's advantage is in the software world. If iMessage and MacOS were available on other hardware, Apple would be selling two crazy handfuls of nothing to customers. The average consumer doesn't care if their laptop has faulty graphics, a keyboard failing en-masse or soldered storage. They just want the little blue bubble to pop up when they send a message from their computer. Recognizing that, Apple arguably makes more compromises than anyone else in the industry. Their concept of "iteration" really only involves bringing their product to the next most common denominator.

[whynotminot]

> I don't really agree. I've owned a Fossil Carlyle 5 smartwatch with WearOS and an Apple Watch 3, and Apple's lead is definitely on the software side of things.

I don't disagree that the lead is in software. I'm saying it's also in Hardware too. You're making comparisons to the Apple Watch 3--that came out more than three and a half years ago. It's not helping your point that you feel the hardware for your android watch is in the same ballpark as Apple's oldest supported piece.

> Ask any analyst who's watched the industry for the last decade, they'll still tell you that Apple's advantage is in the software world

Please don't willfully miss my point. I'm agreeing with you that Apple has a software advantage. I'm telling you the software advantage exists in no small part due to the hardware advantage. Apple's SoC prowess is a massive advantage.

>If iMessage and MacOS were available on other hardware, Apple would be selling two crazy handfuls of nothing to customers.

Are we talking about the watch or not?

>They just want the little blue bubble to pop up when they send a message from their computer.

Damnit. If you had started with this line I would have known to not bother reading more of your post.

[tinus_hn]

Note that iMessage only became a thing in the US ‘pay to receive SMS’ market. It’s mostly irrelevant in the rest of the world. Yet they have that same lead outside the US.

[smoldesu]

I mean, I did voice my gripes about the hardware of the Apple Watch in my comment. You can't expect me to be surprised/offended/owned when you've willfully ignored my argument too.

[coldtea]

>The screen is designed to expose as much of the surface area as possible to scuffs and scratches, while the body of the watch feels larger than any other smartwatch I've used. The Apple Watch got hotter than the Fossil, somehow, and the sensor bump is also much more pronounced.

None of those are about the build quality and even less about the hardware capabilities.

To me it sounds more about a "pea under the mattress" list of complains.

[Aaargh20318]

> Apple's lead is definitely on the software side of things.

It’s their lead in hardware that makes that software possible.

[smoldesu]

I mean, that's never been true. Hell, MacOS runs fine on pretty much any computer, as evidenced by the cakewalk that is the modern Hackintosh. In the Intel era, Macs consistently lost outright price-to-performance battles with equivalent PCs, and the same goes for the PowerPC era.

Instead of arguing with you though, I'll propose an amendment to your phrase: "Apple's lead in software makes their hardware profitable."

Does that contextualize things for you?

[whynotminot]

Why do you keep talking about macOS in an Apple Watch thread?

[smoldesu]

Because you expanded the scope to "Apple's software", which includes MacOS. You could have said "Apple Watch hardware drives WatchOS" if you wanted to talk about the Apple Watch, but it sounded to me like you were addressing Apple, not their watch.

[whynotminot]

You're grasping. I've been very clearly talking about the Apple Watch this entire time. Read my posts. You're the one going down blue bubble rabbit holes.

Though since you're adamant on expanding the scope here, I do believe Apple Silicon has long been driving their software advantage in not just the Watch, but all their mobile offerings. And now going forward, with the arrival of the M1, we're starting to see similar performance and battery life advantages for the Mac.

Seems to me like you're just looking for opportunities to rail about Apple in general. Everyone needs a way to blow off steam, you do you brother.

[fomine3]

What I'm not satisfied is why Apple won't make their Watch to make battery life longer. It still just enough for a day even though they have most advanced technologies.

[nradov]

The high-resolution always-on OLED display is a major power drain. In order to get significantly longer battery life Apple would have to downgrade the display, or make the device thicker to fit a larger battery.