Let me get it out of the way: the hell with the app launcher!
http://i.imgur.com/C5XQcLh.jpg [1] (170mm wrists)
Opening the box, I immediately noticed that this thing is small. Really small. Of course, I had seen the videos, looked at photos posted of people and their watches, but man was I blown away by how compact this thing was. Lifting it out of the box, I was then shocked by how heavy it was. This was not the feather-light Sport model that I was expecting. I had been heavily debating whether or not I should have gotten the SS version, but man am I glad that I didn't. I love the look of the aluminum, and it caught quite a few glances today. Let me reiterate--this thing is dense.
I elected to skip the personal setup session and didn't have the watch sync any apps at first. My first impressions of actual use was that this thing is complicated. And I'm a 21 year old kid with more devices than I can count. I struggled with this thing. I eventually decided to go through the My Watch app item-by-item and explore and set every option to my liking. Some items seemed unnecessarily complicated and others questionably basic. Whatever, it'll make more sense later, I'm sure.
Then I got to the grueling process of actually organizing my app layout. The hell with this thing. I hate it. Let me place my damn apps where I want. I eventually kind of gave up and resolved to do it later. $10 to whoever organizes my apps for me. While I'm on the topic, I'm pretty sure Apple includes so many apps just to give the illusion that it has all sorts of capabilities and functions at the first glance of the consumer.
The haptic engine is pretty neat, I've gotta say. I had to turn the sensitivity to medium, as the highest level felt like my arm was being hit with a hammer. It is certainly a private tap, and I love how I can choose what select few notifications are allowed to alert me, so I know that should I choose to interrupt something to view a notification, it would be for something stupid like someone sending me a sticker on FB messenger.
I find it incredibly awkward to actually use the device, though. I can already tell that I'm going to appreciate the watch for its use in being a notification sieve, but my phone definitely will stay nearby for the time being. Maybe I'll get used to holding my arm up awkwardly.
Some other random observations -
-I still chuckle that there are 4 "time" apps whose icons all look pretty much the same. One app that swipes left-right, Apple. Come on.
-Force touch works really well, it's a breakthrough for UI/UX, for sure.
-The only infuriating thing I've found is that I can't zoom out from the watch face on a wrist raise. It's actually kind of hard/fiddly to hit the crown button solidly. I don't care where the sun is 3 hours from now; take me to the app screen. A flick of the crown is much easier to accomplish than a press.
As a closing first thought, taking the bands off and holding the watch in your hands for the first time is an incredible moment. Something not much larger than a quarter is capable of being an incredibly capable communications device. We've come a long way since 2007. And, yes, I installed a screen protector
http://i.imgur.com/C5XQcLh.jpg [1] (170mm wrists)
Opening the box, I immediately noticed that this thing is small. Really small. Of course, I had seen the videos, looked at photos posted of people and their watches, but man was I blown away by how compact this thing was. Lifting it out of the box, I was then shocked by how heavy it was. This was not the feather-light Sport model that I was expecting. I had been heavily debating whether or not I should have gotten the SS version, but man am I glad that I didn't. I love the look of the aluminum, and it caught quite a few glances today. Let me reiterate--this thing is dense.
I elected to skip the personal setup session and didn't have the watch sync any apps at first. My first impressions of actual use was that this thing is complicated. And I'm a 21 year old kid with more devices than I can count. I struggled with this thing. I eventually decided to go through the My Watch app item-by-item and explore and set every option to my liking. Some items seemed unnecessarily complicated and others questionably basic. Whatever, it'll make more sense later, I'm sure.
Then I got to the grueling process of actually organizing my app layout. The hell with this thing. I hate it. Let me place my damn apps where I want. I eventually kind of gave up and resolved to do it later. $10 to whoever organizes my apps for me. While I'm on the topic, I'm pretty sure Apple includes so many apps just to give the illusion that it has all sorts of capabilities and functions at the first glance of the consumer.
The haptic engine is pretty neat, I've gotta say. I had to turn the sensitivity to medium, as the highest level felt like my arm was being hit with a hammer. It is certainly a private tap, and I love how I can choose what select few notifications are allowed to alert me, so I know that should I choose to interrupt something to view a notification, it would be for something stupid like someone sending me a sticker on FB messenger.
I find it incredibly awkward to actually use the device, though. I can already tell that I'm going to appreciate the watch for its use in being a notification sieve, but my phone definitely will stay nearby for the time being. Maybe I'll get used to holding my arm up awkwardly.
Some other random observations -
-I still chuckle that there are 4 "time" apps whose icons all look pretty much the same. One app that swipes left-right, Apple. Come on.
-Force touch works really well, it's a breakthrough for UI/UX, for sure.
-The only infuriating thing I've found is that I can't zoom out from the watch face on a wrist raise. It's actually kind of hard/fiddly to hit the crown button solidly. I don't care where the sun is 3 hours from now; take me to the app screen. A flick of the crown is much easier to accomplish than a press.
As a closing first thought, taking the bands off and holding the watch in your hands for the first time is an incredible moment. Something not much larger than a quarter is capable of being an incredibly capable communications device. We've come a long way since 2007. And, yes, I installed a screen protector