Apple Watch: 11 Sweet Gadgets To Buy Instead
The Apple Watch is coming soon. Lovely though it may be, there are other nifty devices to consider instead.
![](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt69509c9116440be8/blt47a4ac0b6a664c8e/64cb56ef648762fae91f89ad/applewatch.png?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
When Apple Watch arrives in April, it will not be a flop. It won't be as big a hit as the iPhone, but many people will buy one. I won't be among them, but I wish Apple well as it wades into the wearables market.
In November, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty predicted Apple will sell 30 million of its watches in 2015, an estimate based on the assumption that about 10% of iPhone users will buy one. With the Apple Watch starting at $350, that's potentially more than $10 billion in revenue.
It would be unwise to bet against Apple, a company now at the height of its power, one that has proven naysayers wrong again and again. But I don't see the Apple Watch as an object of desire. It does nothing for me.
First off, I don't wear a watch and don't plan to start. I'm staring at my computer screen most of the day and can read the time in the menu bar just fine. And when not in front of a computer, I can determine the time using my iPhone 6, or the Google Nexus tablet I use as an e-reader. For time-telling and other functions, the Apple Watch is largely redundant.
[ If you do covet a smartwatch, you'll have plenty of options. Read Swatch, Pebble Girding For Apple Watch Fight. ]
More significantly, none of the Apple Watch's applications look compelling. I don't care to share squiggly drawings with people. I don't want yet another channel to receive text messages, email messages, or notifications. And I'm not interested in health data – tracking my activity will not have a meaningful impact on my quality of life.
Also, I have no interest in taking on the burden of charging the device after a few hours of use. By most accounts I've read, battery life will be an issue for Apple Watch wearers.
What's more, the Apple Watch is not inexpensive for a device without a compelling purpose. I've never seen the point in over-spending for the sake of a luxury label, absent some quality or functional differentiation. Then again, compared to a five-figure Rolex, a few hundred dollars represents a bargain. If Apple can convince people to pay many times more than the $350 base price for special editions of its timepiece, it deserves all the revenue it can collect. The notion of a gold-plated iMac sounds absurd to function-oriented tech customers, but watches attract jewelry buyers who accept huge markups.
Ultimately, if the Apple Watch turns out to be life-changing, version 2.0 will be even better. I can wait.
There are, however, a few gadgets I'm keeping an eye on. They may not be as meticulously designed or engineered as the Apple Watch, but I think they're pretty cool. Check them all out on the following pages, and then tell me what you think of my choices in the comments section below.
I've struggled to get consistent WiFi coverage in rooms that are far from my Internet access point. Extending my network signal from an Apple Time Capsule using an AirPort Express has produced inconsistent results. So I'm looking forward to Eero, which promises simple mesh networking and more uniform signal distribution. It's supposed to ship this summer.
(Image source: Eero)
I haven't found enough differentiation between Android and iOS to make me give up my iPhone. But Project Ara, Google's effort to develop a modular smartphone, might just do it. The prospect of user-installable modules is appealing, even if I'll probably never need most of them. Initial testing begins later this year in Puerto Rico. I'm hoping Google will make an early version available to the public before the year's end.
I've become somewhat skeptical of crowd-funded projects, having backed an Indiegogo project in November 2013 that has yet to ship a product. But the Qmote on Kickstarter looks really interesting -- it's a programmable button that allows users to trigger events through services such as IFTTT, or to interact via Bluetooth with mobile or home devices. With shipping slated for April, I may have to pick one up. Once there's actual inventory, that is.
(Image source: Qmote)
WakaWaka Power+ is a small solar charger for electronic devices. It's also a flashlight. Best of all, there's a buy-one, give-one option, to help the 1.5 billion people in the world without access to electricity. These are places where mobile phones may provide the only link to the outside world. Available now from the company's website.
(Image source: Waka Waka)
The Zano drone is another Kickstarter project that looks really interesting, due to its promise of autonomous operation, image stabilization, swarming (controlling several at once), and obstacle avoidance. I'm not sure what I'd use it for, but I could probably think of something. At the very least, it would be fun. Zano is scheduled to ship in July.
(Image source: Zano)
The Air2 Squared is a Bluetooth speaker that can hover over its base, due to a magnet. Regardless of how it sounds, it's hypnotic to look at. If you tire of watching the device defy gravity, you can always stick it to a metal surface magnetically. It's available now from Amazon.com.
(Image source: Air2 Squared)
A curved phone? That's the LG G Flex2. Even if LG hasn't quite grasped the art of elegant product names, it has produced an elegant, powerful phone. (Why use a G when there's an adjacent one on the company name? And Flex2?) It should be available soon, if it's not already.
(Image source: LG)
The Raspberry Pi 2 features a 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU and 1GB LPDDR2 SDRAM. It costs $35 and can run ARM GNU/Linux distributions and Windows 10. It's available now. What are you waiting for?
(Image source: Raspberry Pi)
If the handheld Zano drone does not impress you, maybe the Inspire 1 will prove more appealing. It's capable of taking 4K video at 30fps. Use Zano for selfies. Use the Inspire 1 for filmmaking: It supports two remote controls, one for flight and one for the camera. At $3,399 (with two remotes), it's a professional tool rather than a toy.
(Image source: Inspire 1)
For $199, you can buy a Petcube. It contains a WiFi-capable video camera, so you can spy on your pets from afar through your smartphone; a speaker, so you can converse with them; and a laser pointer, so you can torment them with a fleeting flare of light.
(Image source: Petcube)
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