Gave it a try for a week.

[npolly0212]

i was all excited of an Apple Watch and picked one of last weekend.

After a week there were things I loved such as the fitness apps and whatnot, and text notifications.

But the applications were too slow at loading and truly wasn't worth the 400 dollars brand new for me to keep it, so I am returning it tomorrow.
Sad to say this, but if they work out the speed and whatnot of everything, I will definitely be in for the 2nd generation Apple Watch when it comes out!

 

[gsmornot]

i was all excited of an Apple Watch and picked one of last weekend.

After a week there were things I loved such as the fitness apps and whatnot, and text notifications.

But the applications were too slow at loading and truly wasn't worth the 400 dollars brand new for me to keep it, so I am returning it tomorrow.
Sad to say this, but if they work out the speed and whatnot of everything, I will definitely be in for the 2nd generation Apple Watch when it comes out!

Trying to measure the application speed against the cost of the device was destined for failure. If $400 is too much to spend on something like a watch then its best to use the money were it's needed more. Generation 2 will most likely not be significantly faster but who knows, I'm just taking a guess.

 

[TonyC28]

If $400 is too much to spend on something like a watch then its best to use the money were it's needed more.

I don't want to speak for the OP but I can speak from my own experience about similar posts regarding the $400 price tag. I also returned my Watch and the main reason was the price. It's not that I couldn't afford it or that I particularly missed that $400, it was just that I didn't feel like the value was there. And for me that was the first time I've had that feeling about an Apple product. My point, and again I don't want to speak for the OP, is that it's not like $400 was too much for me to spend on a watch, it's that the watch didn't feel like it was worth the $400.

 

[gsmornot]

I don't want to speak for the OP but I can speak from my own experience about similar posts regarding the $400 price tag. I also returned my Watch and the main reason was the price. It's not that I couldn't afford it or that I particularly missed that $400, it was just that I didn't feel like the value was there. And for me that was the first time I've had that feeling about an Apple product. My point, and again I don't want to speak for the OP, is that it's not like $400 was too much for me to spend on a watch, it's that the watch didn't feel like it was worth the $400.

Modified: If $400 is too much to spend on the Apple watch then its best to use the money were it's needed more.

 

[exxxviii]

But the applications were too slow at loading and truly wasn't worth the 400 dollars brand new for me to keep it, so I am returning it tomorrow.

I am curious about the specific apps and use cases that you thought were so slow that they drove you to return the watch. The stuff that I use is more than fast enough. I wish it would wake about 1/2 second faster when I raise my wrist, but that is about it. The Workout app and other non-Apple apps are fast enough for their use cases, so I do not notice them.

 

[convergent]

The Apple Watch probably isn't for everyone. For me, I studied it pretty well before buying. I had two primary features I wanted... to be alerted for messages from my wrist (I often don't feel my phone vibrate in my pocket) and to be able to track fitness. It does both of those fine. All the other apps are a bonus. Some apps work better than others, and some have speed problems vs others. If they are slow or don't work, then I don't use them. Bottom line is I was OK with the value of the AW, even if I ran no 3rd party apps, so I'm happy. I was already wearing a watch all the time, so that was a given.

All of that said, a week is not really enough time to fully get the AW into your daily life. I'm several weeks in and keep finding little things, tweaks, etc. that make it more useful. For example, I was in Paris this past week and it was really nice to have the current time back home on my watch face. Can I calculate it in my head? Sure. Is it more convenient to have it there. Yes. It was also reassuring to get instant notifications when I used my Amex card for the amount of the charge. On my watch, I see it and had peace of mind. I rarely go back and look at my phone for that kind of thing and it just gets buried in my notifications list. The AW has caused me to get more into what notifications I'm getting where.

I also decided to buy used... value wise since we are half way through the product cycle for the watch, I feel like I got a pre-depreciated product. Given that the AW isn't for everyone, there are quite a few mint used for sale at substantial savings. I was able to pay about 1/3 off retail for a mint watch with AC+.

 

[eyeseeyou]

Overall speed of apps launching is pretty slow tbh.

 

[Night Spring]

I am curious about the specific apps and use cases that you thought were so slow that they drove you to return the watch. The stuff that I use is more than fast enough. I wish it would wake about 1/2 second faster when I raise my wrist, but that is about it. The Workout app and other non-Apple apps are fast enough for their use cases, so I do not notice them.

.

I'm not the OP, but I do agree with them that many apps are too slow. For instance, weather often takes several seconds to come up, and in that time, I could have taken out my phone and swiped down the Notification Center to look at the temperature.

I do use the watch for fitness tracking, which suits my needs very well, but I've pretty much given up on using apps on the watch for now.

 

[sean000]

App reliability and speed can vary all over the place. I changed some of my apps to ones that work better according to reports on this and other websites.

During the first few weeks I owned the watch I tried a bunch of apps, and either deleted or stopped using most of them. It wasn't always because the app did not work well. I just found that I didn't find it useful on the watch. Over time I have found that the best uses for the watch (for me) are silent notifications and information I can get at a glance using complications (time, date, weather, next appointment, activity ring status, etc.) I launch two of my most used apps from the complications (Carrot Weather and Fantastical calendar). I usually reply to texts from my wife using a default reply that I can just tap. I find "Hey Siri, remind me to" and "Hey Siri, text my wife..." to be very useful. I don't use Siri every day, but I'm glad for the convenience when I do. I don't actually go to the app screen that often, but when I do it is usually to launch my grocery store app (Bring) or some other app I only launch once or twice a week.

Personally I don't see smartwatches ever being platforms for lots of apps, even once the speed and reliability of apps are solid. I keep checking the app store for new or interesting watch apps to try, but most of what is there doesn't interest me. The five or six apps I use regularly are reliable and responsive, and combined with other watch features I feel like it adds up to a device that was well worth the price.

Sean

 

[jasie02]

.... probably isn't for everyone. For me, I studied it pretty well before buying. I had two primary features I wanted... to be alerted for messages from my wrist (I often don't feel my phone vibrate in my pocket) and to be able to track fitness. It does both of those fine. All the other apps are a bonus. Some apps work better than others, and some have speed problems vs others. If they are slow or don't work, then I don't use them. ....

Sorry for editing your comment, but I just want to point out, if you read above statement again, it could either apply for other 1st ten smart watch, or 1st gen iPhone.

1st gen electronic is never for everyone. But for anyone welling to put up with it, reward is still better than effort, if and only if $$$ spend is considered as extra money for 1st gen electronic toy, and one will not try to justify or compared with other more mature electronic device.

If you have to justify $$$ spend on any 1st gen electronic device, they are not for you, wait for future gen.

 

[BarracksSi]

Personally I don't see smartwatches ever being platforms for lots of apps, even once the speed and reliability of apps are solid. I keep checking the app store for new or interesting watch apps to try, but most of what is there doesn't interest me. The five or six apps I use regularly are reliable and responsive, and combined with other watch features I feel like it adds up to a device that was well worth the price.

Sean

I use my AW much like you do, mostly launching quick info from complications and only occasionally using the app screen (Remote, News360, and Clear are my usual apps).

The comment I bolded I actually agree with, too. Because of its size, it's automatically limited in its abilities. Say that it gains infinite battery life, a multi core system chip, and a terabyte of storage, all in a package 5mm thin. It's still going to be a pain in the ass do something as mundane as adding new contacts to your address book. You'll never enjoy Angry Birds or Words With Friends even if they were somehow ported to the Watch.

As it is now, though, I still love using mine.

 

[npolly0212]

Trying to measure the application speed against the cost of the device was destined for failure. If $400 is too much to spend on something like a watch then its best to use the money were it's needed more. Generation 2 will most likely not be significantly faster but who knows, I'm just taking a guess.

I guess I will hit and see with the gen 2. I am hoping it comes with more apps and better speed and whatnot..

I don't want to speak for the OP but I can speak from my own experience about similar posts regarding the $400 price tag. I also returned my Watch and the main reason was the price. It's not that I couldn't afford it or that I particularly missed that $400, it was just that I didn't feel like the value was there. And for me that was the first time I've had that feeling about an Apple product. My point, and again I don't want to speak for the OP, is that it's not like $400 was too much for me to spend on a watch, it's that the watch didn't feel like it was worth the $400.

Its not that I couldn't afford it also, I just feel the device wasn't worth what most have said and I speculated it to be also. I have also never had this feeling before in my life..

I am curious about the specific apps and use cases that you thought were so slow that they drove you to return the watch. The stuff that I use is more than fast enough. I wish it would wake about 1/2 second faster when I raise my wrist, but that is about it. The Workout app and other non-Apple apps are fast enough for their use cases, so I do not notice them.

There are some apps that would take a good 5-10 seconds to load, and also freeze on me while attempting to use...Best Buy employee said they had heard of none of these problems when I returned and said I may have had a defective device. But my iPhone also has some problems but can't afford to have it fixed right this second so she said that could also cause problems...

The Apple Watch probably isn't for everyone. For me, I studied it pretty well before buying. I had two primary features I wanted... to be alerted for messages from my wrist (I often don't feel my phone vibrate in my pocket) and to be able to track fitness. It does both of those fine. All the other apps are a bonus. Some apps work better than others, and some have speed problems vs others. If they are slow or don't work, then I don't use them. Bottom line is I was OK with the value of the AW, even if I ran no 3rd party apps, so I'm happy. I was already wearing a watch all the time, so that was a given.

All of that said, a week is not really enough time to fully get the AW into your daily life. I'm several weeks in and keep finding little things, tweaks, etc. that make it more useful. For example, I was in Paris this past week and it was really nice to have the current time back home on my watch face. Can I calculate it in my head? Sure. Is it more convenient to have it there. Yes. It was also reassuring to get instant notifications when I used my Amex card for the amount of the charge. On my watch, I see it and had peace of mind. I rarely go back and look at my phone for that kind of thing and it just gets buried in my notifications list. The AW has caused me to get more into what notifications I'm getting where.

I also decided to buy used... value wise since we are half way through the product cycle for the watch, I feel like I got a pre-depreciated product. Given that the AW isn't for everyone, there are quite a few mint used for sale at substantial savings. I was able to pay about 1/3 off retail for a mint watch with AC+.

Yeah, But I also didn't want to wait to long and than be stuck with it in the long run, so decided to just wait it out and maybe spend that money on the iPad pro instead..

Overall speed of apps launching is pretty slow tbh.

VERY!

.

I'm not the OP, but I do agree with them that many apps are too slow. For instance, weather often takes several seconds to come up, and in that time, I could have taken out my phone and swiped down the Notification Center to look at the temperature.

I do use the watch for fitness tracking, which suits my needs very well, but I've pretty much given up on using apps on the watch for now.

Exactly. I had a few apps that were like that..

App reliability and speed can vary all over the place. I changed some of my apps to ones that work better according to reports on this and other websites.

During the first few weeks I owned the watch I tried a bunch of apps, and either deleted or stopped using most of them. It wasn't always because the app did not work well. I just found that I didn't find it useful on the watch. Over time I have found that the best uses for the watch (for me) are silent notifications and information I can get at a glance using complications (time, date, weather, next appointment, activity ring status, etc.) I launch two of my most used apps from the complications (Carrot Weather and Fantastical calendar). I usually reply to texts from my wife using a default reply that I can just tap. I find "Hey Siri, remind me to" and "Hey Siri, text my wife..." to be very useful. I don't use Siri every day, but I'm glad for the convenience when I do. I don't actually go to the app screen that often, but when I do it is usually to launch my grocery store app (Bring) or some other app I only launch once or twice a week.

Personally I don't see smartwatches ever being platforms for lots of apps, even once the speed and reliability of apps are solid. I keep checking the app store for new or interesting watch apps to try, but most of what is there doesn't interest me. The five or six apps I use regularly are reliable and responsive, and combined with other watch features I feel like it adds up to a device that was well worth the price.

Sean

I guess if they come out with another one I will do a lot of research before purchasing..It just sucks having no apple stores nearby to check out and play with before purchasing.

Sorry for editing your comment, but I just want to point out, if you read above statement again, it could either apply for other 1st ten smart watch, or 1st gen iPhone.

1st gen electronic is never for everyone. But for anyone welling to put up with it, reward is still better than effort, if and only if $$$ spend is considered as extra money for 1st gen electronic toy, and one will not try to justify or compared with other more mature electronic device.

If you have to justify $$$ spend on any 1st gen electronic device, they are not for you, wait for future gen.

I use my AW much like you do, mostly launching quick info from complications and only occasionally using the app screen (Remote, News360, and Clear are my usual apps).

The comment I bolded I actually agree with, too. Because of its size, it's automatically limited in its abilities. Say that it gains infinite battery life, a multi core system chip, and a terabyte of storage, all in a package 5mm thin. It's still going to be a pain in the ass do something as mundane as adding new contacts to your address book. You'll never enjoy Angry Birds or Words With Friends even if they were somehow ported to the Watch.

As it is now, though, I still love using mine.

Yeah, I liked it all except for the slowness of key apps I wanted for it

 

[maflynn]

I really don't use the watch for its apps. Perhaps I'm outside the typical use scenario but its really everything else that interests me, i.e., notifications, watch faces, tracking my fitness etc etc.

I think the apps are slow because for the most part the CPU is under-clocked to a large degree to ensure that the battery life and I guess heat are not issues.

 

[Rok73]

I wish it would wake about 1/2 second faster when I raise my wrist, but that is about it.

1/2 a second? My watch is INSTANTLY on when I raise my wrist since wOS 2.

 

[exxxviii]

My watch is INSTANTLY on when I raise my wrist since wOS 2.

"Instantly" starting from when? I used to wear an analog watch, and I could read the watch face as I raised my wrist. With the AW, I need to wait until my wrist is fully raised before it wakes up. I wish the AW would detect raise a little earlier so I could read it as quickly as my old analog.

 

[Rok73]

Well, I just turn my wrist and the display is on. Dunno how to make it any clearer.

EDIT: added video

 

[exxxviii]

That's about the same as mine. You don't see the slight delay from when it is fully raised? That is part of what I am talking about. But the bigger part is that I am used to reading the time before the watch is fully raised. With an analog watch, I would typically be turning my wrist away before I even read the time on the AW. It is just a matter of changing expectations. My wish is that it was a little earlier so that I could read it faster.

 

[gsmornot]

Well, I just turn my wrist and the display is on. Dunno how to make it any clearer.

EDIT: added video

Your watch has a delay and so does mine. I'm not bothered by the delay and it sounds like you're not either but if you watch the video, you can see it takes until you almost have it fully facing you before its on. That is not defined as instant. Instant would be to turn on when you started to turn your wrist and to be on already once its in view so you could take a quick look and move on. I'm not complaining but understand where @exxxviii is coming from and I think you can agree the delay might bother a few people.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

It took me more than a week to appreciate AW. Apps are painfully slow to the point of useless. I totally gave up on them. Maybe AW 2 will be faster. Regardless, I don't think a week is enough time. I'm now addicted to ApplePay, notifications (esp. news and scores), phone call alerts, everything else that lets me glance at my wrist vs having to dig out my phone. At time of release I didn't think AW was overpriced for what it was advertised to do, but agree now the non-sport versions are. But the Sport models are worth the $100-150 premium over the Fitbit Surge easy.

 

[Rok73]

If that delay, which is by far less than half a second bothers you that much, the Watch just isn't for you.

 

[Cowboy1629]

I think the Watch should sense I'm going to check the time and have it already displaying before I turn my wrist. Is that expecting too much? Come on Apple!

 

[Rok73]

I think the Watch should sense I'm going to check the time and have it already displaying before I turn my wrist. Is that expecting too much? Come on Apple!

You'll need some kind of chip in your brain then. Just be patient a couple years.

But in all seriousness: some people just cannot be satisfied. They just can't.

 

[BarracksSi]

But in all seriousness: some people just cannot be satisfied. They just can't.

I'm not satisfied with the notion that some people can't be satisfied.

hang on a sec….

(park that one with "I #!*& hate negativity!!" and "All generalizations are wrong.")

Should've seen the complaining about Apple adding a 70-second "on" option for waking the screen. It was most likely for medical purposes, making it easier to gauge someone's pulse or breathing pattern. One guy here said that it still wasn't long enough because it often took longer than ten seconds to find a pulse. I said, how about finding the pulse first and then turning the wrist to see the watch? Duh.

 

[exxxviii]

If that delay, which is by far less than half a second bothers you that much, the Watch just isn't for you.

I think you missed the context of my original post. And I am curious why that one clause caught your eye out of the dozens of statements in this thread.

I am happy with my watch. I did not say the delay you observed in your video was 1/2 second.

 

[urkel]

You'll need some kind of chip in your brain then. Just be patient a couple years.

But in all seriousness: some people just cannot be satisfied. They just can't.

And why is that a bad thing?

The business plan of these companies is to sell is a product one year and then sell us the same product with incremental changes the next year.

"Product Satisfaction" is something Apple actively works against because IF they provided a "complete" product and their customers were actually satisfied then they wouldn't keep coming back for more.