I got my 42mm SS WSB model from UPS on Wednesday afternoon. I used it a little bit then and then yesterday on a pretty normal day. Here are some things I noticed. I'd love to hear about other people's experiences.
Watches are heavy after not wearing one for a decade. I don't think I've ever worn a watch that came even close to qualifying as a "big boy" watch, and I'm 37. The most recent ones I can think of were just $40 or so Casios with a lighted background, maybe alarms and such. I did have one with a calculator when I was younger and that was the thing. Anyway, it will take some adjustment. I used a Fitbit for a few months before I got the rash thing. I adjusted to that quickly and felt naked without it. Of course this thing is larger and weighs more.
Battery life doesn't seem to be an issue. My first day I started with 67 percent out of the box at about 4 p.m. Maybe eight or nine hours later, it was down to 5 percent. Note: That was on the original OS, not the update. Thursday I used it for about 11 hours. Went down to 38 percent before I put it on the charger. So 18-hour life sounds about right, and that's with Hey Siri and the on when raised features on.
On when raised (I don't recall the actual name) is awesome. It would probably suck to have to push a button each time you wanted the screen to come on since part of the point of this product is quick notifications. It's pretty good at not coming on when I'm not really needing it -- driving, typing. It does sometimes, but that's to be expected. It does seem to be kept to a minimum.
I have no clue if the heartbeat monitor is accurate. I honestly don't. Just walking outside it was in the mid-80s. Next time I hit a doctor I'll probably get my pulse taken and compare it to what the watch says. It at least seems to be more accurate after the OS update.
I hit my watch with my seatbelt buckle getting out the car. Watch came out unscathed. Thank goodness for quality engineering. I just went through a destroyed iPhone screen.
Apple Pay kinda works. It worked at the vending machine without much issue. At Firehouse Subs, I'm not sure if I was doing it wrong or what. If the face needs to be down toward the POS device, that's not gonna work. On a related note, the tiny code you can use for Starbucks worked fine.
There is a huge learning curve. I could not recommend this to my parents yet. There are new names for things that are kind of related to iPhone features -- think glances. There are no names on the icons, so you must go on memory. That's fine for Music, Target, Clock and Starbucks. TuneIn Radio and Ancestry aren't quite as recognizable. Learning the button combination features also takes a little learning as does Force Touch. I've never used an Apple device so close to its initial launch, so I guess I'm helping guinea pig it.
My watch took four screenshots by itself. Maybe it's a button combo or something I accidentally pushed. I'm just glad there's not a camera on there with such an easy shutter button.
The apps need work. This is obvious with any first-gen product. The stock ones seem to be better thought out, which isn't surprising. Some third-party apps are quite useful, such as Starbucks and Target. Some either aren't or I didn't learn how to use them -- hello, Fandango. Chipotle looks like I can place a recent or saved order from my watch. That might be awesome.
On a related note, I think tying the watch to the phone was a smart move. Right now you have a larger-screened phone as a safety net to manage a lot of things. I'm able to view the Activity app in more detail on my iPhone 6. I think I'm liking the rings and it's challenging me to do better, but I just haven't had time to work up to even my measly goals. At least I reached the step goal on my first day. Thanks, yard work!
My overall impression so far is I guess about an 8/10. I think there's a lot of promise with the device. The hardware seems fine for a first-gen model. You'll always want more speed and more battery life at a cheaper cost in a smaller package. What I've got seems fair. It's time for developers to get creative with their apps. I'd love to see many more watch faces, and my credit union really needs to step it up. Barclaycard lets me get a quick balance of my card from the watch. My CU makes me put in a username, password and security question to see anything. I'd also like to see some better health data analysis in some apps. The only way I can see my heartbeat measurements is to look at each data point in Health. Someone could surely write an app that at least lays that out like a spreadsheet chart.
On a side note, I think the "overpriced" moniker is a little exaggerated. The Sport models look like they were much more carefully designed and thought through to make them look nicer and be an easier experience than the competitors I have seen. If you've seen the Pebble models, they're probably useful but good lord those graphics.
So that's my initial impressions. I still felt weird paying $600 for the model I got, but it really impressed me from the look and eventually I'd like to get a leather loop and/or Milanese loop. But, you know, one major credit card hit at a time.
Watches are heavy after not wearing one for a decade. I don't think I've ever worn a watch that came even close to qualifying as a "big boy" watch, and I'm 37. The most recent ones I can think of were just $40 or so Casios with a lighted background, maybe alarms and such. I did have one with a calculator when I was younger and that was the thing. Anyway, it will take some adjustment. I used a Fitbit for a few months before I got the rash thing. I adjusted to that quickly and felt naked without it. Of course this thing is larger and weighs more.
Battery life doesn't seem to be an issue. My first day I started with 67 percent out of the box at about 4 p.m. Maybe eight or nine hours later, it was down to 5 percent. Note: That was on the original OS, not the update. Thursday I used it for about 11 hours. Went down to 38 percent before I put it on the charger. So 18-hour life sounds about right, and that's with Hey Siri and the on when raised features on.
On when raised (I don't recall the actual name) is awesome. It would probably suck to have to push a button each time you wanted the screen to come on since part of the point of this product is quick notifications. It's pretty good at not coming on when I'm not really needing it -- driving, typing. It does sometimes, but that's to be expected. It does seem to be kept to a minimum.
I have no clue if the heartbeat monitor is accurate. I honestly don't. Just walking outside it was in the mid-80s. Next time I hit a doctor I'll probably get my pulse taken and compare it to what the watch says. It at least seems to be more accurate after the OS update.
I hit my watch with my seatbelt buckle getting out the car. Watch came out unscathed. Thank goodness for quality engineering. I just went through a destroyed iPhone screen.
Apple Pay kinda works. It worked at the vending machine without much issue. At Firehouse Subs, I'm not sure if I was doing it wrong or what. If the face needs to be down toward the POS device, that's not gonna work. On a related note, the tiny code you can use for Starbucks worked fine.
There is a huge learning curve. I could not recommend this to my parents yet. There are new names for things that are kind of related to iPhone features -- think glances. There are no names on the icons, so you must go on memory. That's fine for Music, Target, Clock and Starbucks. TuneIn Radio and Ancestry aren't quite as recognizable. Learning the button combination features also takes a little learning as does Force Touch. I've never used an Apple device so close to its initial launch, so I guess I'm helping guinea pig it.
My watch took four screenshots by itself. Maybe it's a button combo or something I accidentally pushed. I'm just glad there's not a camera on there with such an easy shutter button.
The apps need work. This is obvious with any first-gen product. The stock ones seem to be better thought out, which isn't surprising. Some third-party apps are quite useful, such as Starbucks and Target. Some either aren't or I didn't learn how to use them -- hello, Fandango. Chipotle looks like I can place a recent or saved order from my watch. That might be awesome.
On a related note, I think tying the watch to the phone was a smart move. Right now you have a larger-screened phone as a safety net to manage a lot of things. I'm able to view the Activity app in more detail on my iPhone 6. I think I'm liking the rings and it's challenging me to do better, but I just haven't had time to work up to even my measly goals. At least I reached the step goal on my first day. Thanks, yard work!
My overall impression so far is I guess about an 8/10. I think there's a lot of promise with the device. The hardware seems fine for a first-gen model. You'll always want more speed and more battery life at a cheaper cost in a smaller package. What I've got seems fair. It's time for developers to get creative with their apps. I'd love to see many more watch faces, and my credit union really needs to step it up. Barclaycard lets me get a quick balance of my card from the watch. My CU makes me put in a username, password and security question to see anything. I'd also like to see some better health data analysis in some apps. The only way I can see my heartbeat measurements is to look at each data point in Health. Someone could surely write an app that at least lays that out like a spreadsheet chart.
On a side note, I think the "overpriced" moniker is a little exaggerated. The Sport models look like they were much more carefully designed and thought through to make them look nicer and be an easier experience than the competitors I have seen. If you've seen the Pebble models, they're probably useful but good lord those graphics.
So that's my initial impressions. I still felt weird paying $600 for the model I got, but it really impressed me from the look and eventually I'd like to get a leather loop and/or Milanese loop. But, you know, one major credit card hit at a time.