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Shem
·I got my 42mm Sport Space Grey last Friday. I'll give a summary of my thoughts here, a couple days in.
- The build quality is spectacular, and the Swiss could learn a lot from Apple's straps and bracelets. It's by far the most comfortable watch I've ever worn. Seriously, Apple's straps and bracelets, including their end-link attachments and sizing design, make the Swiss look lazy and negligent for forcing us to use crappy and unreliable spring bars and pins/screws.
- I bought the "Sport" version because I intend to use it at the gym and because I didn't want to spend any more than necessary on a limited-lifetime device. That said, if I weren't a watch collector and I were buying my only watch, I would almost definitely buy one of the "Watch" models, probably the one with the link bracelet, and perhaps get a Sport strap as well for use at the gym. The "Watch" version would be more versatile and goes better with the other types of straps and bracelets, while I feel the dark grey anodized aluminum case of my Sport version really only belongs on the black Sport fluoroelastomer strap.
- The screen is beautiful and almost seems to transcend the idea of being a "screen." It feels like a moving painting almost, as though a printed page just magically transforms.
- Both the built-in software and third-party apps are buggy. I would expect this to be fixed over time, but it's kind of a big deal as it makes the watch much less usable. For example, map navigation worked great the first time I used it, but when I tried to get directions home, the Start button to initiate guidance wouldn't work, and there was no way to fix it. Siri has also been hit or miss; the dictation is very accurate, but activating it is a bit unreliable right now, and it crapped out last night forcing me to reboot the watch. This is also a big deal because Siri is a primary way of commanding the device.
- I'm a software engineer, so I picked up how to use the device in seconds, but I can see how normal users may find the interface unintuitive at first. The criticism leveled against the UI in the tech press is way overblown, though, in my opinion. It's not hard to use once you get used to a couple new conventions (digital crown, force touch) and the overall system layout.
- The limitations of the hardware's performance are apparent as some apps are slow. It's "fast enough," but just like the very first iPhone, I think subsequent versions will put the slowness of the first in sharp relief.
- I paid using my watch (Apple Pay) at a couple places including Whole Foods, and it was glorious. Didn't have to take anything out of my pocket, just two button presses and hold near the terminal. Boom.
- The fitness tracking is great, and the heart rate sensor, while not instantaneous, seems reasonably accurate.
- Having the weather and temperature available with a glance at my wrist has been more useful than I expected. Nice.
- Of all the "faces" they provide, I find Modular to be my favorite despite its distinctly modern and digital appearance. The other faces are beautiful, but I don't need my Apple Watch to look like a traditional watch. I would rather have the most info presented the best way at a glance, and Modular fits the bill.
- Calling someone using the watch and Siri feels like the future! It's sci-fi right here, right now, and it works nicely.
- Despite Apple's heavy emphasis on these features, I find that the new ways of communicating -- drawing pictures and sharing your heartbeat -- are gimmicky novelties and will probably be forgotten only a few minutes after trying them out. The screen's too small to draw anything useful or interesting, really. The heartbeat sharing might be nice for a family member away from home on travel or something, but I can't see it being used day-to-day.
- Text/iMessage using Siri works well enough, but having to confirm new messages and replies by hitting Send breaks up the flow a bit. Also, while the watch can display SOME images received in messages, in other cases it just says "this message contains an image, and you can view it on your iPhone," which defeats the purpose.
- The watch battery life is just fine, even with frequent use. Yesterday, with relatively heavy use, I only got it down to about 50%.
- However, the iPhone's battery life is significantly reduced as it's doing the heavy lifting for the watch. My iPhone 6 Plus almost didn't make it through the day.
Tentative conclusions:
The Apple Watch is beautiful and useful, and it has great potential. Not unexpectedly, though, it suffers from being the first one of its kind. As software bugs are fixed and third party developers start making imaginative new apps, it will continue to improve, though I suspect that the device as a concept will benefit greatly from faster hardware in future revisions. Overall, I find it to be a convenience and a novelty, but it really doesn't do much that my phone doesn't already do better, and hardware and software limitations (including bugs) make it less reliable and less smooth a flow as I suspect it will be once those issues are worked out.
These criticisms aside, I think it's a great device and that it's worth the price. For people who would buy a watch under $2,000, or who want any other digital or "smart" watch, I think it's a no-brainer to get the Apple Watch. It's a truly remarkable device despite its Rev1 drawbacks, and I don't think there's anything the Swiss, Japanese, Koreans, or anyone else offers that can touch it in that price category. For those who love traditional mechanical watches, I think you're safe for now, but it won't be long before the issues holding the Apple Watch back are fixed and new capabilities yet undreamed of are implemented by third-party developers. I still believe that wrist wearables will begin to edge out mechanical watches as people won't want to give up the functionality they provide, but I don't think that day is here quite yet.
I don't think I will miss the watch too much when I choose to wear a mechanical, but I do plan to use the Apple Watch at the gym, when traveling, and when I might otherwise put my real watches at risk. That is if I don't sell it on eBay for a profit, ha.
- The build quality is spectacular, and the Swiss could learn a lot from Apple's straps and bracelets. It's by far the most comfortable watch I've ever worn. Seriously, Apple's straps and bracelets, including their end-link attachments and sizing design, make the Swiss look lazy and negligent for forcing us to use crappy and unreliable spring bars and pins/screws.
- I bought the "Sport" version because I intend to use it at the gym and because I didn't want to spend any more than necessary on a limited-lifetime device. That said, if I weren't a watch collector and I were buying my only watch, I would almost definitely buy one of the "Watch" models, probably the one with the link bracelet, and perhaps get a Sport strap as well for use at the gym. The "Watch" version would be more versatile and goes better with the other types of straps and bracelets, while I feel the dark grey anodized aluminum case of my Sport version really only belongs on the black Sport fluoroelastomer strap.
- The screen is beautiful and almost seems to transcend the idea of being a "screen." It feels like a moving painting almost, as though a printed page just magically transforms.
- Both the built-in software and third-party apps are buggy. I would expect this to be fixed over time, but it's kind of a big deal as it makes the watch much less usable. For example, map navigation worked great the first time I used it, but when I tried to get directions home, the Start button to initiate guidance wouldn't work, and there was no way to fix it. Siri has also been hit or miss; the dictation is very accurate, but activating it is a bit unreliable right now, and it crapped out last night forcing me to reboot the watch. This is also a big deal because Siri is a primary way of commanding the device.
- I'm a software engineer, so I picked up how to use the device in seconds, but I can see how normal users may find the interface unintuitive at first. The criticism leveled against the UI in the tech press is way overblown, though, in my opinion. It's not hard to use once you get used to a couple new conventions (digital crown, force touch) and the overall system layout.
- The limitations of the hardware's performance are apparent as some apps are slow. It's "fast enough," but just like the very first iPhone, I think subsequent versions will put the slowness of the first in sharp relief.
- I paid using my watch (Apple Pay) at a couple places including Whole Foods, and it was glorious. Didn't have to take anything out of my pocket, just two button presses and hold near the terminal. Boom.
- The fitness tracking is great, and the heart rate sensor, while not instantaneous, seems reasonably accurate.
- Having the weather and temperature available with a glance at my wrist has been more useful than I expected. Nice.
- Of all the "faces" they provide, I find Modular to be my favorite despite its distinctly modern and digital appearance. The other faces are beautiful, but I don't need my Apple Watch to look like a traditional watch. I would rather have the most info presented the best way at a glance, and Modular fits the bill.
- Calling someone using the watch and Siri feels like the future! It's sci-fi right here, right now, and it works nicely.
- Despite Apple's heavy emphasis on these features, I find that the new ways of communicating -- drawing pictures and sharing your heartbeat -- are gimmicky novelties and will probably be forgotten only a few minutes after trying them out. The screen's too small to draw anything useful or interesting, really. The heartbeat sharing might be nice for a family member away from home on travel or something, but I can't see it being used day-to-day.
- Text/iMessage using Siri works well enough, but having to confirm new messages and replies by hitting Send breaks up the flow a bit. Also, while the watch can display SOME images received in messages, in other cases it just says "this message contains an image, and you can view it on your iPhone," which defeats the purpose.
- The watch battery life is just fine, even with frequent use. Yesterday, with relatively heavy use, I only got it down to about 50%.
- However, the iPhone's battery life is significantly reduced as it's doing the heavy lifting for the watch. My iPhone 6 Plus almost didn't make it through the day.
Tentative conclusions:
The Apple Watch is beautiful and useful, and it has great potential. Not unexpectedly, though, it suffers from being the first one of its kind. As software bugs are fixed and third party developers start making imaginative new apps, it will continue to improve, though I suspect that the device as a concept will benefit greatly from faster hardware in future revisions. Overall, I find it to be a convenience and a novelty, but it really doesn't do much that my phone doesn't already do better, and hardware and software limitations (including bugs) make it less reliable and less smooth a flow as I suspect it will be once those issues are worked out.
These criticisms aside, I think it's a great device and that it's worth the price. For people who would buy a watch under $2,000, or who want any other digital or "smart" watch, I think it's a no-brainer to get the Apple Watch. It's a truly remarkable device despite its Rev1 drawbacks, and I don't think there's anything the Swiss, Japanese, Koreans, or anyone else offers that can touch it in that price category. For those who love traditional mechanical watches, I think you're safe for now, but it won't be long before the issues holding the Apple Watch back are fixed and new capabilities yet undreamed of are implemented by third-party developers. I still believe that wrist wearables will begin to edge out mechanical watches as people won't want to give up the functionality they provide, but I don't think that day is here quite yet.
I don't think I will miss the watch too much when I choose to wear a mechanical, but I do plan to use the Apple Watch at the gym, when traveling, and when I might otherwise put my real watches at risk. That is if I don't sell it on eBay for a profit, ha.
Edited:
