Why I like the Apple Watch

[AfroCreame]

I would consider myself open minded when it comes to technology - especially when it comes to the whole Apple vs. Android debate. I've owned the Pebble Steel, Moto 360, Gear, Gear 2, Gear S, LG Urbane and now the Apple Watch.

Other than the Apple Watch, my favorite devices were the Pebble Steel (for ruggedness and battery), LG Urbane (for looks) and Gear S (for functionality). So I went ahead and swapped out my S6 Edge for an iPhone and picked up a SS 42 Link and here are some of my thoughts on why I dig the Apple Watch vs Android Wear...

- Better build quality. For example the Moto 360 is nice, but it’s just a plastic watch surrounded by a metal ring. You won't find a cracked plastic backplate on the Apple Watch. *Cough moto*
- Higher quality apps. Developers are cranking out new apps daily.
- Ability to customize clock features on the watch itself. (Time, weather, battery, etc.)
- Ability to control your iPhone camera remotely out of the box
- Ability to use your watch to make mobile payments via NFC (Apple Pay). Also works without an iphone, data connection or bluetooth.
- Ability to play audio clips and video received through iMessage
- Ability to place and receive calls. Tizen does, but not Android Wear offerings.
- Best implementation of fitness tracking
- Ability to store your favorite photo album (75mb or 500 photos)
- Force Touch
- Taptic Engine
- Accurate gyro. I've rarely needed to move my wrist more than once to get the screen to come on.
- Handoff. Open an email on your watch and access it as soon as you pick up your iPhone.
- Apple Watch has 8 GB of storage vs. 4 on most Android Wear devices.
- Support. If you have a problem you can go directly to the Apple Store vs. shipping your watch off.
- Notifications aren’t duplicated. The Apple watch knows if it’s off your wrist or if you’re looking at your phone.
- I no longer have to deal with "Unfortunately, XXXXXXX has stopped" messages that routinely popped up on my Android Wear devices.

What are your favorite features?

 

[friedmud]

Thanks for the interesting post. I'm firmly in the Apple camp... so I dont have any cross-platform experiences to relate. But I'll give you a list of things I like:

In addition to several of the things you mentioned (in particular the non-duplication of notifications is awesome):

1. Instant view of my upcoming appointment. It's already saved my butt!
2. Activity Rings. Just by eating less and finishing the rings every day I've already lost 7 pounds (I bought a Withings scale to kee track of that too). Those rings are pretty addictive!
3. Email app. Surprisingly... it works really well. The swipe gestures for archiving emails are efficient and using the crown to scroll through email feels natural. I've been using this to just remove a lot of the crap-mail I get while I'm on the move... leaving the important stuff to deal with once I get to a computer (or, switching over to my phone using Handoff like you say).
4. Weather. The built-in weather app is good. It loads fast and I like that you can touch the "wheel" to see temperature and precipitation forecasts for the rest of the day. I also have Dark Sky and it does a great job of forecasting the near future in a glance.
5. Controlling Music. I use Spotify... And while there isn't a Spotify App the Music glance does allow you to control any currently playing music, including Spotify. I like to start Spotify on my Phone with it Airplaying to my stereo in the living room. I leave the phone there and go about my business around the house... controlling the volume and skipping songs as I do housework. It works REALLY well.

There is a lot more... but I'm interested in seeing what others say...

 

[Shinigami301]

Build quality, comfort, reliable behavior, easy to read screen, rock solid connection to the phone and good battery life are things that come to mind immediately.

I was very much on the fence about this, especially as I really like my mechanical watches, and hated my experience with an original Pebble, but after a couple of weeks living with it, I feel this is a very natural extension of my phone.

What I didn't expect was how much less I find myself actually pulling out my phone. It occurs to me that in the past two days I've needed the actual phone screen twice at most. That is something I did not anticipate at all.

 

[papbot]

What I didn't expect was how much less I find myself actually pulling out my phone. It occurs to me that in the past two days I've needed the actual phone screen twice at most. That is something I did not anticipate at all.

I've found that I probably go to my phone 50% less than before the watch. I even take calls from my wife frequently on it. I've been surprised at how loud she sounds on it. I couldn't go without it now.

 

[redman042]

It is surprising how well Apple nailed the reliability of the connection to the phone. I know that the engineering behind this could not have been easy. I still have reliability issues with AirPlay for example. But with the watch, pairing with the phone was both super easy and amazingly slick (with the sci-fi movie like animation and all). And it has never lost a connection or failed to join the same wifi network as the phone. I quickly forget that the watch is using the phone for everything.

Also another little thing that I love: the OLED display. I love how perfectly black the background is, and the amazing contrast. I also noticed that polarized sunglasses don't degrade the image at all. It's slightly darker but there's no distortion like there is with the iPhone display. Great for outdoor use. Here's to hoping Apple is ready to make the switch to OLED on the iPhone this year. The technology is finally ready.

 

[01silver4]

I love how I don't have to reach for my phone all the time or carry it around with me, especially when I am home. Now I answer calls respond to texts all from my wrist.
I never knew how convenient this would turn out to be.

Also I was very impressed with how on par the workout app was compared to my Garmin 500 bike computer HR, calories burned, average MPH etc. now they need a weight lifting feature in the workout App. I am using other for weight lifting now. I am sure this will be added along with other things in future updates.