Yesterday, it was the hottest day in July ever recorded in the UK – hitting a sweltering 37 celcius in some spots. It was also the day that I got locked out of my new apartment in London.
The frustration passed – I didn’t forget my keys, they just no longer worked – and a locksmith turned up. I was back inside within a few minutes of him arriving.
Once in, the locksmith started asking what I did for a living, so I explained. He then proceeded to ask whether or not he should buy his 11-year old son an Apple Watch, as he’s been ceaselessly requesting one for his birthday since they were released .
It’s a fair question – and one that many parents will be facing over the coming months.
Let’s take it as a given that parents facing this barrage have already given in and bought an iPhone for their progeny.
1) For a parent, there could be certain benefits in buying your child an Apple Watch – it could make it easier to see exactly where your kids are if you’re the sort of person who uses a tracking app. Having a watch on your child’s wrist makes it less likely that the paired phone will be ‘accidentally’ forgotten or (genuinely) lost, so you’ll always know where they are. Less reason to pull it out of your bag means less opportunity to lose it.
2) If you opt to get your child an Apple Watch, you could probably expect to see them spending less time staring at their phones, but then they’ll probably be staring at their Watch instead.
3) One of the clear advantages of the Apple Watch for adults is the tracking of activity – sure, there are plenty of other trackers out there too, but (just like cameras) the best activity tracker you have is the one you have on you. With the Apple Watch, it’s always on you.
The World Health Organization has identified childhood obesity as “one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century” and increasing at “an alarming rate”.
Gamification of health data, could in theory, help combat this to some extent, and by delivering that gamification of services via a highly-desirable Apple Watch, you might have a chance of keeping them interested. Not only would this potentially help obese children, but it could help stop them becoming obese in the first place.
4) There’s also an argument that by giving kids the technology of today while they’re young, you’re empowering them to put it to best use, to be well-placed to understand technology of the future – and let’s face it, there’s an increasing focus on technology in almost everyone’s jobs now, so it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.
1) Putting brand new technology in the hands of a young child is a pretty bad idea in some ways too – it might be less conspicuous than an iPhone being pulled out of a pocket or bag, but an Apple Watch is a highly desirable item for thieves. Then of course there’s the paired iPhone too. Two devices must be more attractive than one.
2) Despite not being able to think of a particularly good reason to take off the Apple Watch while out and about, kids do have an uncanny knack for losing things. And they tend to get pretty upset if that’s something like a phone, or their brand new Apple Watch. Are you going to buy a replacement, too?
3) We don’t really know what sort of effect constant notifications are having on our sustained attention spans , so strapping something to your wrist that’s designed to efficiently bring you notifications could potentially have a greater long-term effect on a nine-year old than, say, a 40-year old .
4) Kids are fickle. They get bored easily, and allegiances change – and the Apple Watch is not cheap. They might want the Apple Watch now because all their friends have one, but are you going to get them the new model when that’s released in a year or two? Technology companies don’t tend to just stop releasing new models of popular and highly-profitable hardware.
These are just a few reasons why you might or might not want to get your offspring Apple’s newest gadget and there are likely more too – you can let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
For an adult, the Apple Watch is a second screen, it’s a convenient way to glance at notifications and it’s a way to make payments without getting out your wallet or phone. What it is, is convenience wrapped in a fashion accessory.
Of course, many of these considerations and features can be delivered via other devices too, or an Android Wear smartwatch, but you know that isn’t what they really want.
Whether or not you opt to buy one depends on how much value you put on some of these features – the reality of the product is that it’s an early first version that performs best for people with a busy schedule and umpteem notifications to keep on top of, so there’s a good chance your child could just get bored of it too.
If the $350 starting price means nothing to you, you’ll probably cave in and buy an Apple Watch for your kid, if only to stop the whingeing. If your main consideration is a question of value-for-money, I’d have to say the time doesn’t look quite right.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that it’s another technology that you, the parent, will have to get your head around too – when you give a child a connection to the internet, it’s essential to understand how that works, how to lock it down and exactly what it can be used for.
The locksmith that let me into my apartment still hasn’t decided whether he’s going to buy his son one or not, but he has enrolled on a course to familiarize himself with Apple products just to keep up with his kids. Smart guy.
Read next: Pebble’s CEO isn’t worried about Apple Watch because it’s ‘lacking’
Samsung has a giant 18-inch tablet because of course it does
Don’t ask why, but Samsung has a huge new tablet : the 18.4 inch Galaxy View, which features a handle on the back because it’s so ridiculous.
The oversized screen runs Android and is positioned for “content watching” at home with 1080p, stereo speakers and a “video centric” interface.
What’s cool is that interface is designed to get you straight to watching video regardless of the source, which is a nice touch for all you want to do is some Netflixing.
Out of the box you’ll get a 2.1 megapixel camera (2 megapixels? why even bother?) for video calling, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, though a MicroSD slot will let you expand that to 128GB.
Samsung positions it as “powerful and immersive” because it’s giant and features a kickstand, as well as a handle for “easy moving” though I have a feeling my not-so-huge laptop will work just fine.
I could see this as useful in the kitchen, or positioned as a tablet to entertain children, but it feels a little oversized to be useful for much else.
Samsung didn’t say when the View will be available, nor did it provide a price.
➤ Samsung Galaxy View [Samsung Tomorrow]
BQ’s second Ubuntu OS handset arriving mid-June for just under €200
If you’ve been eagerly anticipating the arrival of new hardware running Ubuntu’s multi-platform OS, then today is your lucky day.
BQ’s Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition is the second smartphone from the Spanish handset maker to use the open-source OS, with the first being the cunningly named BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition back in February.
As before, the E5 HD Ubuntu Edition is based on existing BQ hardware but swaps out its Android OS for Canonical’s Ubuntu offering.
Key specs include a 5-inch IPS (in-plane switching, for better viewing angles) 720p display, a quad-core processor, dual SIM slots, 1GB RAM and internal storage of 16GB. The rear camera is 13-megapixels and offers dual flash, while the front-facing snapper maxes out at 5-megapixels.
It’ll arrive unlocked in “mid-June” priced at €199.90 (~$220) across the whole of Europe, the company says. There’s no word on when it might make its way to US markets though.
The two companies said they were now working together on a “convergent device” for the future too.
We’ll be putting the Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition through its paces next week, so check back for our full review.
Read next: Shuttleworth says Ubuntu’s future is more exciting than space travel