I have now been using my new Apple Watch all day every day for a week.
Here are my 5 reasons I love my new Apple Watch
- It looks cool. Im glad I spent the extra and bought the stainless version with the brown “leather loop”. The sport watch has all the same features but I don’t like the painted iPhone style finish. While I am using it also for exercise, the majority of the day I will be wearing it with smart or casual clothes. The brown leather loop strap is also a quality item and love the way it works. The packaging on the mid range model is also very nice. You feel like you are buying something special.
- It is more useful than you think. It is well known that currently the Apple Watch must be paired with an iPhone for most features to work. In the first version of the watch OS all the apps have to “hand off” the majority of the work to the phone. This makes sense as the phone is much more convenient when you need to look at a screen. However, I have been using Siri a lot since IOS 5 was released. I dictate all my text and regularly use Siri for making phone calls and settings reminders etc. All this can now be done through the watch without taking my phone out. Making phone calls on the watch is also great and very convenient. All your notifications come through the watch and mirror your iPhones notification settings. personally i like minimal interruptions so my watch and phone are always on mute. When I get an iMessage i can glance at the watch and see what it is. With siri i can instantly dictate a reply.
- Exercise features. Before I got the watch, I used the iPhone’s built in features with Nikes running app for tracking run stats. The Apple Watch has its own running app that also reads your heart rate. Combined with the GPS of the iPhone you can get much more accurate calorie burn data. The Apple Watch also gives you easy readouts of how many calories you are burning through the day. As it is on your wrist all day, it records your activity that may otherwise not be counted. Going to the supermarket or walking the dog. You can leave your phone at home and track your run just using the watch. You can also load up some music and connect bluetooth headphones.
- Remote Control features. Quick access to common features is provided by swiping your finger up the watch face. This is very similar to the iPhones notification centre. I particularly like the remote and playback features. If I’m listening to a podcast or watching a film on apple TV from my phone I can pause, fast-forward etc from the watch. This saves me taking my phone out of my pocket or hunting for the tiny apple tv remote. The new OS will include controls for you to remotely control your whole house.
- Apple OS2. I read all the reviews and was aware of the Apple Watch’s shortcomings before I bought it. I expected that it would be fun to own as each OS would have major innovations just like we saw with the iPhone and iPad. at the apple developers conference yesterday, Apple announced that they would be releasing the next operating system this Spring. Possibly even in August. There are too many new features for me to list so I suggest you visit apples page here.
In summary, I love my Apple Watch.
Should you buy one?
If you are a massive Apple fan, thinking of buying a smart watch/fitness tracker, and you can afford it then I suggest you do. Over the next 2-3 years there will be huge improvements on what the watch can do. Third party developers now have access to all the features and can create apps that run on the watch without needing to sync with the phone.
Don’t be under the illusion that it will replace your phone. The screen is too small and it has no sim card tray.
I believe this is the future. Don’t underestimate how many times you take your phone out of your pocket to check the time, see who that message is from, check the weather. Soon the days of zombies walking into each other in the streets because they are staring at their screens will be over.
