The release of the Apple Watch was preceded by lots and lots of hype, as is typical for the company whenever they’re introducing something new to the market. And yet, after the excitement died down and people actually got their hands on the device, responses were somewhat mixed. On one hand, people were definitely impressed with what the Watch had to offer in general, but on the other, some apparently felt that it didn’t really live up to expectations as a whole, and that Apple could have done better.
But it looks like the problems weren’t so much in the hardware of the Watch as they were in its software capabilities, as a recently announced update to watchOS 2 could definitely improve the situation for users of the device and introduce many features that were missing or incomplete in the original release.
Apple got into a lot of detail when discussing the new changes to the operating system, and they seem to have managed to grab the interest of many of their users. People have already been talking about watchOS 2 quite actively, and many critics are of the opinion that this release was exactly what the watch needed to make it a truly viable device in its market segment.
Native apps are something that users have been requesting since the device was launched, and now they’re going to get the ability to run apps directly on the Watch thanks to watchOS 2. We can only imagine what kinds of apps the community will come up with as well, as this will be a very attractive development platform for programmers, especially in light of the device’s various sensors and its special input.
“Time Travel” is a new feature that can move time back and forward and visualize the effects that this will have on the user’s schedule, showing them exactly how the different schedule developments will play out hour by hour. Siri will be made more capable as well, and she should finally find some true use as a personal assistant instead of being as limited as we had her before.
All in all, it looks like Apple have been listening to user feedback and have been implementing solutions to some of the most common complaints in their updates to watchOS. There still seems to be some work left to do, particularly with regards to the presentation of the operating system and its layout, but in Apple’s defense this is still a new type of technology and all companies are trying to find the “right” solutions to the most common problems.