Steve Kovach January 19, 2016 at 08:59AM
The biggest problem with the Apple Watch is the app selection.
Thousands of developers have built apps for the Apple Watch, but most aren't very good. They run slowly and aren't as useful as their smartphone counterparts.
It's as if developers decided to cram the smartphone versions of their apps onto the tiny watch screen. (After all, do you really need to squint at slow-loading Instagram photos on your wrist?)
I almost always recommend that new Apple Watch owners ignore the apps, and just use the watch for simple tasks like checking notifications.
But this weekend I found an excellent Apple Watch app, and it's a good example of a developer thinking outside the box to use the unique features of the watch to do something that's actually useful.
It's an app called Just Press Record, a simple voice recording app for the iPhone. It's not much different than the Voice Memos app that comes with your iPhone, but it does come with the bonus of a really nice Apple Watch app. The app uses the watch's built-in microphone to make recordings and then transfers the audio file to your iPhone using Bluetooth when you're finished.
It even lets you create a shortcut on the watch's main screen. Just tap the microphone icon and you can immediately start recording. I tested it, and it works perfectly, even if you have the Apple Watch's microphone far away from the person you're recording.
I realize Just Press Record isn't the kind of app everyone will need to run out and download. It's perfect for me because I record a lot of interviews, and it used to be kind of annoying and distracting shoving my iPhone in someone's face. Using my Apple Watch to record is much more discreet and useful for what I do.
But I do think the app shows the promise of smartwatches and how developers could start thinking outside the box. They've all but mastered h0w to make a killer smartphone app, but no one has quite cracked the formula for a killer watch app. I think Quartz's Dan Frommer put it best: the Apple Watch is a "stalled platform" with very little innovation from developers.
If smartwatches are going to take off, developers need to start thinking more like the people behind Just Press Record and find ways to use the watch's hardware in clever ways that wouldn't be possible with just the phone.
SEE ALSO: Report: Apple won't release a major Apple Watch update in March
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This is one of the best uses for the Apple Watch I've ever seen (AAPL) from Business Insider: Steve Kovach
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