I've had my SS Apple Watch for almost exactly 48 hours as of this writing. What were YOUR first impressions?
Let's get to it:
It's not as convenient to read as my regular watches, namely my Citizen and Seiko 009, early in the morning. I've taken to wearing a watch with good lume into bed so I can see what time it is between alarms from my phone. The Apple Watch is on the charger, of course.
The AW is also impossible for me to read if I have to carry my coffee in my left hand. Only my G-Shock, even with its automatic turn-to-activate backlight, is similarly difficult during my predawn walking commute.
I got to answer a couple texts via the Watch while walking in this morning, which was pretty awesome. I can imagine doing this often. I used a canned "OK" response and dictated another, and it worked well.
Somehow, though, I missed my wife's text asking if I could pick up some bread on the way home. I've said before that this would be a perfect AW scenario, but I missed this first opportunity. Not sure yet if it was user error or an app problem.
Dictation can be rough in a noisy downtown environment. Between work trucks, buses, and a demolition site, I couldn't be bothered to try saying anything to the Watch.
Apple Pay is awesome. I have a 5S, so I never got to try it until yesterday.
The Taptic Engine is the bee's knees.
I had the Watch give me directions while driving and while walking. How it taps for direction changes is cool: tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap for right turn, tap-tap..tap-tap..tap-tap for left. It also nudges gently when I should just go straight/not take an exit. Now that I think about it, this is how my wife and I communicate while we're walking and holding hands; changing direction or stepping off for a green light, we tap each other with our fingers. It's kinda weird that they've made the Watch also do this… but somehow natural and cool.
Third-party app writers are confused. Give them a year or two to figure out the best use for a Watch app, or if they should bother building one. I let mine configure itself with every compatible app, tried them all out, then uninstalled half of them. I had several camera apps, for example, then removed them because the native Apple camera remote was smoother, cleaner, and launched the iPhone camera from the Watch; the others required me (for now) to go to the phone and launch their parent apps.
News apps are hit-or-miss. Right now, I'm keeping the AP and NYT apps, and uninstalled the Washington Post and Flipboard apps. Look for your preferred balance between short headlines and just enough reading material. Hopefully, local news outlets are paying attention and will write their own AW apps.
The music controller is slick. We were having dessert, and I made my iPhone magically start playing. I'll set it up with our Apple TV later.
The Activity app, as I see it, is just a starter fitness app. I added (but haven't yet used) a couple 7-minute workout apps, and I've also got the Under Armour Record app waiting for my next workout. I don't plan to use MapMyRide or several other common fitness apps. I don't mind Activity being so basic, then, because if it were configurable to everyone's tastes, it would be way too complicated. My Garmin was complicated, and I want to get away from it.
(still, I think I need to adjust my Activity goals, because yesterday I filled all three circles, one three times around; I fear the day when I switch to a job which is so inactive that filling these circles would be a challenge)
The included faces are all beautiful, and plenty are configurable. I spent the first day using Astronomy, and have settled into Simple and Utility most of the time. It'll take some design geniuses to come up with third-party faces that look any nicer than these. (most of the examples I've seen in Android Wear are just horrid, to put it mildly)
The Sport band is very comfy for me. I'm using the S/M size on my 170-175mm wrist, and I've got it on the second-largest hole. But, it's just a smidge loose, and the Watch has prompted me for the passcode a couple times today. One notch smaller is too snug to be long-term comfortable.
I've got one game on it, and it's "Rules!" It's a little sequential tapping game, and perfect for half a minute on the tiny screen. I wouldn't ever consider a big title like Gears Of War.
Speaking of "half a minute":
Drill this into every app writer's brain:
SHORTER INTERACTIONS ARE GOOD. LONGER SUCKS.
It's really weird to hold my arm at this angle for much longer than ten or twenty seconds. I didn't think about my personal limit until I tried reading an entire news story. It sucks. Forget videos or scrolling through a Facebook feed.
Battery life was enough for me on my first full day. Starting at 0530-ish, it finally hit 10% at 2300, and that was with frequent fiddling and three workout sessions. I'll bet I can stretch it a lot longer if I switch it to airplane mode when my phone is out of range.
Final verdict? Are you kidding? I've only had it for two days. I'll use it all this week, take it off for a day or two, and see if I miss it. Then I'll put it back on.
Now, if you're cool with taking care of short, important tasks via your wrist, and leaving out other common mobile activities (such as posting on web forums… ahem), you might enjoy an Apple Watch. But if not, then you don't need one. You could probably try a friend's AW if you're not sure; un-pairing the Watch and pairing to your iPhone can be done over a lunch break.
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Let's get to it:
It's not as convenient to read as my regular watches, namely my Citizen and Seiko 009, early in the morning. I've taken to wearing a watch with good lume into bed so I can see what time it is between alarms from my phone. The Apple Watch is on the charger, of course.
The AW is also impossible for me to read if I have to carry my coffee in my left hand. Only my G-Shock, even with its automatic turn-to-activate backlight, is similarly difficult during my predawn walking commute.
I got to answer a couple texts via the Watch while walking in this morning, which was pretty awesome. I can imagine doing this often. I used a canned "OK" response and dictated another, and it worked well.
Somehow, though, I missed my wife's text asking if I could pick up some bread on the way home. I've said before that this would be a perfect AW scenario, but I missed this first opportunity. Not sure yet if it was user error or an app problem.
Dictation can be rough in a noisy downtown environment. Between work trucks, buses, and a demolition site, I couldn't be bothered to try saying anything to the Watch.
Apple Pay is awesome. I have a 5S, so I never got to try it until yesterday.
The Taptic Engine is the bee's knees.
I had the Watch give me directions while driving and while walking. How it taps for direction changes is cool: tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap for right turn, tap-tap..tap-tap..tap-tap for left. It also nudges gently when I should just go straight/not take an exit. Now that I think about it, this is how my wife and I communicate while we're walking and holding hands; changing direction or stepping off for a green light, we tap each other with our fingers. It's kinda weird that they've made the Watch also do this… but somehow natural and cool.
Third-party app writers are confused. Give them a year or two to figure out the best use for a Watch app, or if they should bother building one. I let mine configure itself with every compatible app, tried them all out, then uninstalled half of them. I had several camera apps, for example, then removed them because the native Apple camera remote was smoother, cleaner, and launched the iPhone camera from the Watch; the others required me (for now) to go to the phone and launch their parent apps.
News apps are hit-or-miss. Right now, I'm keeping the AP and NYT apps, and uninstalled the Washington Post and Flipboard apps. Look for your preferred balance between short headlines and just enough reading material. Hopefully, local news outlets are paying attention and will write their own AW apps.
The music controller is slick. We were having dessert, and I made my iPhone magically start playing. I'll set it up with our Apple TV later.
The Activity app, as I see it, is just a starter fitness app. I added (but haven't yet used) a couple 7-minute workout apps, and I've also got the Under Armour Record app waiting for my next workout. I don't plan to use MapMyRide or several other common fitness apps. I don't mind Activity being so basic, then, because if it were configurable to everyone's tastes, it would be way too complicated. My Garmin was complicated, and I want to get away from it.
(still, I think I need to adjust my Activity goals, because yesterday I filled all three circles, one three times around; I fear the day when I switch to a job which is so inactive that filling these circles would be a challenge)
The included faces are all beautiful, and plenty are configurable. I spent the first day using Astronomy, and have settled into Simple and Utility most of the time. It'll take some design geniuses to come up with third-party faces that look any nicer than these. (most of the examples I've seen in Android Wear are just horrid, to put it mildly)
The Sport band is very comfy for me. I'm using the S/M size on my 170-175mm wrist, and I've got it on the second-largest hole. But, it's just a smidge loose, and the Watch has prompted me for the passcode a couple times today. One notch smaller is too snug to be long-term comfortable.
I've got one game on it, and it's "Rules!" It's a little sequential tapping game, and perfect for half a minute on the tiny screen. I wouldn't ever consider a big title like Gears Of War.
Speaking of "half a minute":
Drill this into every app writer's brain:
SHORTER INTERACTIONS ARE GOOD. LONGER SUCKS.
It's really weird to hold my arm at this angle for much longer than ten or twenty seconds. I didn't think about my personal limit until I tried reading an entire news story. It sucks. Forget videos or scrolling through a Facebook feed.
Battery life was enough for me on my first full day. Starting at 0530-ish, it finally hit 10% at 2300, and that was with frequent fiddling and three workout sessions. I'll bet I can stretch it a lot longer if I switch it to airplane mode when my phone is out of range.
Final verdict? Are you kidding? I've only had it for two days. I'll use it all this week, take it off for a day or two, and see if I miss it. Then I'll put it back on.
Now, if you're cool with taking care of short, important tasks via your wrist, and leaving out other common mobile activities (such as posting on web forums… ahem), you might enjoy an Apple Watch. But if not, then you don't need one. You could probably try a friend's AW if you're not sure; un-pairing the Watch and pairing to your iPhone can be done over a lunch break.
View attachment 573341
View attachment 573342