The Apple Watch: Viable Radio Replacement or Silicon Valley Snake Oil?

The Apple Watch has released a new upgrade that allows to watches to functions as walkie-talkies.

Many in the tech industry are saying the Apple Watch has revolutionised the industry, and have made radios obsolete. While it’s also clear to see these people have no idea what they’re talking about.

To show the apple watch cannot hold a candle to a modern radio, we’ve decided to compare it with one of our own, the DigiX Liberty.

Battery Life

Let’s begin with a rather simple one, battery life. Our own DigiX Liberty has 10 hours of battery life on standby.

The Apple Watch, on the other hand, claims to have 18 hours of battery life… As long as you only use it for 45 minutes and check your watch 90 times.

Convenience

The Apple Watch, admittedly, is convenient sitting on your wrist, and its strap is specifically designed to fit many wrist sizes and stay on snuggly.

Although the DigiX Liberty is not without its convenience. Supplied alongside the radio is both a lanyard and belt strap, so you can stay hands-free and still have the radio on your person.

4G Required

The DigiX Liberty doesn’t require 4G connection and runs on over 128 analogue and channels.

The Apple Watch doesn’t run on either analogue or digital. And that’s the most important thing. Essentially, it isn’t a radio.

It’s ‘walkie-talkie’ function is based on facetime, requires a 4G connection, and you need permission from the other watches to send messages.

For that reason, Silicon Valley still has a long way to go before they can make bold claims of making radios obsolete.

Price

Finally, it’s worth saying about the price. The Apple Watch weighs in at £399.00, which is on the pricier end of the spectrum for a walkie-talkie that tells the time – although admittedly it does have other functions – another question arises; is buying your employees apple watches necessary, or would a walkie-talkie suffice?

The DigiX Liberty, however, is available to both buy and rent, depending on your company’s situation. Our pricing structures are plain and simple, and if you’d like to learn more please contact a member of our team today.