My first impressions of the Apple Watch (after having it three days or so)
After I posted a picture on Friday of my Apple Watch over on my Facebook page, some folks were asking what I thought of it. Now that I’ve had it for a few days here’s my initial thoughts after wearing (and playing) with it for the weekend:
1. You do need to read the instructions – it’s not an iPad where everything’s so obvious.
2. It’s more thoughtfully designed than I thought. Some seriously clever design went into making a watch computer easy to use.
3. There are more apps than I was expecting at launch, and I’ve already fallen in love with a few (like the Delta app).
4. The sport wrist band is kind of a pain to put on. Once on though, it feels great.
5. I already want more watch faces designs.
6. The movement and feel of the digital crown is just beautiful. It feels like a quality piece of machinery. The pressure screen works really well, too.
7. The charging cable is well designed, but the cable is like twice as long as an iPhone charging cable, which believe it or, seems too long (and takes up a decent amount of room in my laptop bag).
8. I wish it held a charge a lot longer (they say it needs to be recharged every 18 hours or so). Mine hasn’t gone dead yet, but when I saw it was low on battery, I took it off and plugged it in. I’m not used to having my watch off my wrist for two hours.
9. I was surprised how much configuration for the watch is actually done on the iPhone, rather than the watch.
10. The speaker just isn’t loud enough.
11. Texting on it is really slickly done. It’s very usable and handy.
12. It’s a lot more fun than I was expecting. You find yourself messing with it just for the sheer fun of it, and fun is…well…fun.
13. The “contact” portion of it (calling/texting your favorites) is very well done and fast to access.
14. The whole thing takes a little getting used to.
15. The wireless remote camera app (that lets you trigger your iPhone camera remotely from your watch), is pretty darn slick.
16. I’m surprised how convenient it is not having to get my phone out for every little thing. This is perhaps its strong point. It’s raison d’ªtre.
Now just waiting for my black sports band (not digging the white band that came with my sports model).
That’s my first take on it. So far – super diggin’ it.
Hope you have a great Monday!
Best,
-Scott
P.S. The title of this post isn’t “My Apple Watch vs. Your Samsung or moto Watch”so there’s no need to defend your choice of watch, or tell me why yours is better, or how the Apple watch copied yours, or whatever. If you like your current watch, that’s all that matters â” you don’t have to try and prove your is superior. I’m just giving my first impressions of this watch. Also, if you’re not interested, or an Apple watch doesn’t suit you, costs too much, etc., there’s lot of other stuff to read on Internet today â” no need to let us know you’re not getting one.
Yeah, I would wait for the black band too! :)
Question: you mentioned something about different faces? Are all available faces available to any Watch model? How does that work?
This is what i hope for too lol! I dont care about how the rest of the features that canon may try to do on the watch, just give me a shutter release on my wrist lol!
or a light meter too :)
I can tell you’re a gadget man! :-) Actually, I see NO need for a computer watch. Of course, I still use a flip top cell phone! :-)
Dennis
My Casio calculator watch is BETTER!
Thanks Scott. I have been on the fence to see how other techies feel about the watch. Reading an honest opinion makes me want one a little more but reaffirms some of my concerns mainly the battery life and charging time. Much appreciated.
I’m as techie as they come, and I actually really like it. I severely had my doubts about it, but ordered the 38mm one anyways. The screen is incredibly crisp and clear. Just not having to pull my phone out to read a text or respond to one is awesome. The speech to text to send messages works great, I’ve had 0 problems so far, and I’ve even thrown in some strange words and weirdly spelled restaurant names. It charges relatively quickly. The battery for me lasts over 24 hours (that includes sleeping, obviously). The workout app is what hurts it, but I was fully charged this morning, did an hour workout, used it at various times during the day, and at 9pm I’m still at 35%. Yesterday without doing a workout I was at 48%.
Good comment on the sport band. The sport band appeared difficult put on at my Apple store try-on and i decided to pass. My present watch is a link bracelet but I can’t afford $450 for the Apple one.
It just cracks me up that I stopped wearing a watch after I got my first iPhone…. ;-)
whats old, is new again… :)
My favorite part of your review is the disclaimer at the bottom. I’m glad you’re enjoying your watch. Thanks for your thoughts.
As I mentioned on Facebook, I had the exact same comments about everything here. :) Although I’m getting used to the sports band, it’s not as bad as I first thought. The battery so far isn’t bad. I took it off charge yesterday morning at 8am, and when I went to bed at 11pm I was still at 48%. Didn’t charge it until this morning, and even then it was still at 35%.
Battery life should increase a bit after several charge/discharge cycles. Would like to know by how much once it happens with your watch.
As a long-time reader of the blog and someone who rarely comments, these posts always make me cringe because of the nasty comments some people feel obliged to post. While I’m not going to buy an Apple Watch, I’m happy to see you’re enjoying your purchase, Scott! Live and let live. :)
Hey does it heat up on your wrist?
Mine hasn’t at all, and I’ve even used it for a workout.
The medical part interests an old geezer like me, having had open heart surgery. Can it email an EKG to my doc?
What I’d like to read is something on the order of you and one of your friends with an Android phone and watch compare notes. Pros and cons of each system.
I have Apple, Android and Microsoft phones and tablets and just bought an Asus Zenwatch ($150), which is an amazing device as well. We’re still in the 1,0 version with smart watches and I don’t think the genre will really reach its stride until ver 3.0 where software and hardware (prices) will make such devices almost mandatory for most folks.
Oh, and yes, the #1 great thing about a smart watch is not having to take your phone out of your pocket for every little notification, text, email or phone call. Plus all the watch faces are really cool! I have one that shows my speed while driving and another that shows a radar display of rainfall. How cool is that!
How easy is it to see the display in bright sunlight? Do Polarizing sunglasses dim/black out the display?
The worst pain of using a smart watch is having to put on your reading glasses to see anything but the time.
Actually it’s not bad at all. I was really worried about that, especially since I got the 38mm one, but the screen is incredibly crisp, and very easy to read. I thought I’d have trouble, honestly.
Scott,
It is amazing to see the comments people post. Quite frankly I think its due to as great as the internet is for information, it also gives people that would not do so to you face a way to grip about anything.
Scott,
Congrats and enjoy!
Thanks Scott. Perhaps one of these day I’ll bite the bullet, but not for a while.
In the future I see a camera app for the Lumix and Sony Camera’s out there. That would be sweet.