I noticed that my Apple Watch was helping me out a lot this morning, so took a couple of minutes to write up how. This week I'm traveling on business in London.
First off, my AW alarm woke me up... I have a difficult time waking up, and having both the AW and iPhone there gives me two different types of alarms. In addition, its much easier in the dark to reach over and tap the watch (clock mode) to see what time it is in the dark. This helps me know if I have any snooze time.
When I first put on the watch this morning, I first checked the watch face to see what my first appointment was, and could go into Sunrise to see what was on the day's agenda. I then glanced at Carrot Weather to see that it wasn't going to rain today (shocking this time of year in London) and then tapped into the full app to see that it was only 40 degrees, but how the temp would go through the day. This let me know what coat to wear.
While eating breakfast, I opened my iPhone and used CityMapper (incredible app) to pick a path to my first appointment. I chose a path that involved walking and two trains on the Underground. I'm completely unfamiliar with where I am and how to get to my destination in London, but very confident with CityMapper. I could have taken a taxi instead for about 4-5 times the cost. After choosing my path, I could then put my phone away while getting through the busy rush hour Underground without having my phone out looking like a tourist.
I haven't found that it works that great for guiding me on the walking part of the trip (with CityMapper), but I'm not jammed in with a lot of people walking down a sidewalk either. CityMapper passes the walk route to Maps, but it seemed to pass it in Car mode. I haven't investigated why.
Once I entered the Underground, I could put my phone away and use the AW. I swiped up to the Glance and it loaded my trip and defaulted to showing the ETA. Pressing, it opens the app nearly instantly and I could then scroll right to each segment of the trip. It tells me which line and direction to go to... then tells me where in the train to get for the quickest exit. While on the train, it tells me how many stops, and updates me on which stop I'm at. Then upon exit, it tells me what platform and direction to go to, and/or where to exit the underground for the quickest walking path.
I was meeting up with someone for coffee, and they had sent me a text to tell me they were at the coffee shop next to our office. Again, I was able to respond from my watch with an "OK".
Once we got to the office, I needed to connect to VPN. I logged into Cisco VPN on my computer and up popped the DuoMobile app on my watch in a couple of seconds asking for 2 factor authentication. I hit approve on my watch and VPN connected.
I got various notifications for messages, news, etc.. throughout the day on the watch. I also use a Bible app that gives me a verse of the day to my watch that I check out during notification checks from time to time. I am now using Pedometer++ which gives me a dedicated step count... a little easier to check in on to reach my walking goal.
I didn't use the Music app on the AW this morning, but do frequently use that to control my music via headphones from my iPhone. I can select and change my playing choices from the watch and leave my phone in my pocket.
I see so many people claiming the AW is pretty much useless, or that no apps are useful. I don't get it because I keep finding more and more ways to use it. I will also say that with Watch OS 2.1, I've noticed a performance improvement across the board, particularly with 3rd party apps. Some of them failed to load at all so I stopped using them, and now they are working fine. I didn't have anything today that had more than a couple of second load time.
First off, my AW alarm woke me up... I have a difficult time waking up, and having both the AW and iPhone there gives me two different types of alarms. In addition, its much easier in the dark to reach over and tap the watch (clock mode) to see what time it is in the dark. This helps me know if I have any snooze time.
When I first put on the watch this morning, I first checked the watch face to see what my first appointment was, and could go into Sunrise to see what was on the day's agenda. I then glanced at Carrot Weather to see that it wasn't going to rain today (shocking this time of year in London) and then tapped into the full app to see that it was only 40 degrees, but how the temp would go through the day. This let me know what coat to wear.
While eating breakfast, I opened my iPhone and used CityMapper (incredible app) to pick a path to my first appointment. I chose a path that involved walking and two trains on the Underground. I'm completely unfamiliar with where I am and how to get to my destination in London, but very confident with CityMapper. I could have taken a taxi instead for about 4-5 times the cost. After choosing my path, I could then put my phone away while getting through the busy rush hour Underground without having my phone out looking like a tourist.
I haven't found that it works that great for guiding me on the walking part of the trip (with CityMapper), but I'm not jammed in with a lot of people walking down a sidewalk either. CityMapper passes the walk route to Maps, but it seemed to pass it in Car mode. I haven't investigated why.
Once I entered the Underground, I could put my phone away and use the AW. I swiped up to the Glance and it loaded my trip and defaulted to showing the ETA. Pressing, it opens the app nearly instantly and I could then scroll right to each segment of the trip. It tells me which line and direction to go to... then tells me where in the train to get for the quickest exit. While on the train, it tells me how many stops, and updates me on which stop I'm at. Then upon exit, it tells me what platform and direction to go to, and/or where to exit the underground for the quickest walking path.
I was meeting up with someone for coffee, and they had sent me a text to tell me they were at the coffee shop next to our office. Again, I was able to respond from my watch with an "OK".
Once we got to the office, I needed to connect to VPN. I logged into Cisco VPN on my computer and up popped the DuoMobile app on my watch in a couple of seconds asking for 2 factor authentication. I hit approve on my watch and VPN connected.
I got various notifications for messages, news, etc.. throughout the day on the watch. I also use a Bible app that gives me a verse of the day to my watch that I check out during notification checks from time to time. I am now using Pedometer++ which gives me a dedicated step count... a little easier to check in on to reach my walking goal.
I didn't use the Music app on the AW this morning, but do frequently use that to control my music via headphones from my iPhone. I can select and change my playing choices from the watch and leave my phone in my pocket.
I see so many people claiming the AW is pretty much useless, or that no apps are useful. I don't get it because I keep finding more and more ways to use it. I will also say that with Watch OS 2.1, I've noticed a performance improvement across the board, particularly with 3rd party apps. Some of them failed to load at all so I stopped using them, and now they are working fine. I didn't have anything today that had more than a couple of second load time.
