Huge Apple Fan Who Never had an Apple Watch

[mrmister]

I’m a huge Mac and Apple person…but always avoided Apple Watches.

First, I’m old—so I’ve been around. I didn’t love the reviews and reports for the AW in 2015, and have watched ever since from the sidelines.

Then I decided when they finally get blood sugar scanning, I’d be in—knowing it’s still quite a few years away.

Tonight my girlfriend delighted me with an Apple Watch Ultra 2 with the Blue/Black Trail Loop band with AppleCare+. I’m still shocked.

I’m not a cliff diver. I don’t scuba. Is this too much watch for me? I have big wrists, so I don’t think the size is an issue…but I haven’t regularly worn a watch since the 20th century!

Are there bands people recommend? I think based on reading she chose well for me.

Is it true that only the Ultra is rated for salt water, or is that simply untrue?

I can’t tell you how much I know about all Apple things…and NOTHING about the watch. I feel insane.

What’s the best thing about an Apple Watch? What’s the worst thing?

I’ll be posting about my journey here. As of now I haven’t full opened it or turned it on. A bit overwhelmed.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

 

[stanza.richi]

Well, she pick up for you the most expensive AW in the field. I think it’s a great present, having one since October. You can find a lot of features reading in the forum, I can say for what I use mine:
- notifications on the wrist;
- Apple Pay (far more comfortable than on iPhone);
- stocard app to store all your fidelity cards;
- setting alarm and timer (with Siri);
- weather complications always at your wrist;
- activities tracking (a god motivation to be less sedentary);
- reminder and calendar (again, in my opinion more comfortable on the wrist than on the iPhone);
- navigation during walk in a unknown city.

I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but others will increase the list.

About the band, I prefer Ocean Band, but you have to try the one that is more comfortable to you!

Enjoy it!!

 

[Jackbequickly]

Merry Christmas! Enjoy you new Ultra! You will, I can tell from your questions.

 

[Apple_Robert]

The Trail Loop the watch came with is the most comfortable to wear. It is what I use as well.

Don't worry that you won't need a lot of the features. Not all of us do. Enjoy the big screen and battery life. Your girlfriend got you a great watch.

 

[bricktop_at]

I‘m sure you‘ll love your new watch. As a big fan (and owner) of Apple Watches myself, I wouldn’t want to go without one anymore.

The wealth of health data it provides makes it extremely valuable for me. Of course there are many other little things that help, like the tight integration with your phone or the Apple Pay functionality but I guess you‘ll give yourself some time to get acquainted and find out what’s your way of using it 😉

And there’s this wealth of bands you could get, to have it match any occasion and any mood.

Have fun with it and let us know how it goes 🙂

Oh and about the thought that it might be „too much watch“: Forget that and enjoy the peace of mind it brings, owning a tank of an Apple Watch that can take some (ab)use as well.

 

[jetsam]

I’m a huge Mac and Apple person…but always avoided Apple Watches.

First, I’m old—so I’ve been around. I didn’t love the reviews and reports for the AW in 2015, and have watched ever since from the sidelines.

Then I decided when they finally get blood sugar scanning, I’d be in—knowing it’s still quite a few years away.

Tonight my girlfriend delighted me with an Apple Watch Ultra 2 with the Blue/Black Trail Loop band with AppleCare+. I’m still shocked.

I’m not a cliff diver. I don’t scuba. Is this too much watch for me? I have big wrists, so I don’t think the size is an issue…but I haven’t regularly worn a watch since the 20th century!

Are there bands people recommend? I think based on reading she chose well for me.

Is it true that only the Ultra is rated for salt water, or is that simply untrue?

I can’t tell you how much I know about all Apple things…and NOTHING about the watch. I feel insane.

What’s the best thing about an Apple Watch? What’s the worst thing?

I’ll be posting about my journey here. As of now I haven’t full opened it or turned it on. A bit overwhelmed.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

First, WOW! That's an amazing and generous gift!

I, too, am older, and I have an Ultra 2 with the Blue/Black Trail Loop. (And AppleCare+ on it, because I'm a worrier.)

Cliff diving? I won't even watch that on TV. Scuba? Who am I, Mike Nelson? But the Apple Watch does a good job of tracking my workouts, which are mostly long walks.

The Trail Loops are extremely comfortable, and breath. I've had trouble with other watch bands on other watches. I have nickel allergy, so most stainless bands are problematic, and the silicone bands trap sweat, which gives me a rash. With the Sport Loops on my old Series 6 Apple watch, I was able to wear a watch regularly, something I had given up years ago. In fact, with its extended battery life, I wear my Ultra 2 23 hours a day. (I use the Auto-Sleep app to track my sleep.) With the Trail Loop, there is no irritation to my wrist whatsoever.

If you have any health issues, the Apple Watch is a great help, with heart rate, ECG, and blood oxygen sensor capabilities.

The watch also has both fall and crash detection. It will automatically call 911 if you don't respond after a fall or a crash. After it calls 911, it will call your emergency contact to let them know it called 911.

Since the Ultra 2 is a cellular Apple Watch, it can call 911, even without your iPhone being present, and without requiring a voice plan for the watch.

Watch faces are great fun. You can have multiples, and switch between them at will. My two favorites: the Modular Ultra, because it puts so much data (7 complications) on a single watch face, and the Snoopy watch face, which is just plain whimsical fun.

Please let us know how you get on with your new watch. I think a month from now you'll wonder how you ever managed without it.

 

[SusieS]

What a wonderful present! I second the recommendation for the Snoopy face. For those times when you don’t need a face with weather or activity or the other complications, the Snoopy face is just so much fun. I also like setting up reminders, so I don’t forget medications (for both myself and my two doggos).

 

[Apple_Robert]

What a wonderful present! I second the recommendation for the Snoopy face. For those times when you don’t need a face with weather or activity or the other complications, the Snoopy face is just so much fun. I also like setting up reminders, so I don’t forget medications (for both myself and my two doggos).

I like the Snoopy face as well but, it chews up a lot of battery. I agree about Reminders. It is nice to be able to do that on the watch and have it sync to my other devices. I use my watch more than my iPhone. It is a great device.

 

[Alameda]

This is the face I use. You can customize yours any way you want.
The first thing is, I travel a lot, and I always want to know the time where my family is, in Boston. So it’s at the bottom center. And the date, of course.
I like the Heart Rate feature, so I have that available with a tap, and I can see if I have any new messages, and I can read them as well. Then, to finish things off, I have the Activity feature available, so I can record my outdoor walks with just one tap.

I think the main thing is, familiarize yourself with what it can do, but only use what you want. Don’t get caught up thinking that you have to use it a certain way or you need to use all of the features. You don’t. But, check the iPhone Apple Watch application regularly for updates (My Watch —> General —> Software Update).

 

[cateye]

What’s the best thing about an Apple Watch? What’s the worst thing?

An Apple Watch can be and do many things, but IMO, it's worthwhile to not try to make it do more than makes sense to you. Start small, and add functions and features as they present themselves as useful to you.

First and foremost, it is a fitness watch. You say you don't do EXTREEEEEEEEEEM scuba cliff diving with sharks, and that's ok! Even if you just take a daily walk, try starting a workout on the watch when you begin and stopping it when you stop. Do this every time. Don't over-think it. After a couple weeks, pop into the Health app on your iPhone and take a look at the data its collected. You'll start to see patterns—some days you walked slower than others, some days your got your heart rate up higher, and so on. Suddenly, you'll see trends and ideas you can act on to make your time exercising more productive, efficient, and helpful to you. Don't go nuts—few of us are triathletes, and we're not here to track every metric and bury ourselves in analysis. The Watch tracks so many little things you otherwise wouldn't think about, it gives you a view into your overall health and fitness in a way that allows you to proactively make improvements without some meddlesome doctor yelling at you about it.

Secondly, it is a portal to your iPhone, and in many ways can take over a lot of tasks from your phone—in a way that is more focused, more direct, and less prone to causing distraction. Social media, texts, the web, email... it's all just a tap away on our phones. You get to choose how much or how little of that information makes it way to your Watch, and in what priority it appears. This can be revelatory, especially if you feel like you're constantly drowning in information on a general purpose device like your phone or computer. Narrow in on using the Watch to triage and deliver the information that is most important to you, and then start leaving your phone behind. It's kind of nice.

Begin slowly then branch out as it all starts to make sense.

I was also someone who hadn't worn a watch since I was a kid and has zero interest in the Apple Watch. I thought the way Apple presented it at first, like some techno luxury bauble, was laugh-out-loud funny and complete self parody (like so much that Apple does is: maudlin self-congratulatory marketing B.S. at its worst). Then my wife got one and raved about the stupid thing so I eventually bought myself one on a lark (this was back in the Series 3 era). I liked a lot about it, and hated a lot about it too. But I quickly found it was unlike any other device I had ever owned—in a good way.

All that being said, I have a Series 6 now, and am thinking about getting an Ultra at some point. They have this curious ability of making themselves essential in your every day life in ways that not even an iPhone is.

 

[SuperCachetes]

What’s the best thing about an Apple Watch?

I got my S6 3 years ago for Christmas, but before that I had been somewhat of a skeptic... People in my workplace with smartwatches seemed to use them mostly as notification devices for incoming calls/messages on their phones, which I had zero need for.

The O2 sensor finally "wowed" me enough to buy into the Watch. That in and of itself is moderately useful, as I do travel to high altitudes regularly. Then this past year, I was in an accident that gave me a minor punctured lung (if there is such a thing as "minor" in this case), and awareness of my blood oxygen took on a new significance.

But as I have said since the first year I had the watch, the "killer app" aka "best thing" I have found with it is the constant biometric measuring and trending that becomes available over time. None of it should replace preventative healthcare obviously, but I am more aware of my physical condition now than ever before. I don't know what counts for "older" among forum posters, but let's just say I get plenty of junk mail from AARP, and health awareness will not get less meaningful for me in the future.

Congrats on the new gadget, and for having the wrists to support it!

 

[OrenLindsey]

The Apple Watch is rated for all types of water, not just saltwater.

 

[throAU]

I’m a huge Mac and Apple person…but always avoided Apple Watches.

First, I’m old—so I’ve been around. I didn’t love the reviews and reports for the AW in 2015, and have watched ever since from the sidelines.

Then I decided when they finally get blood sugar scanning, I’d be in—knowing it’s still quite a few years away.

Tonight my girlfriend delighted me with an Apple Watch Ultra 2 with the Blue/Black Trail Loop band with AppleCare+. I’m still shocked.

I’m not a cliff diver. I don’t scuba. Is this too much watch for me? I have big wrists, so I don’t think the size is an issue…but I haven’t regularly worn a watch since the 20th century!

Are there bands people recommend? I think based on reading she chose well for me.

Is it true that only the Ultra is rated for salt water, or is that simply untrue?

I can’t tell you how much I know about all Apple things…and NOTHING about the watch. I feel insane.

What’s the best thing about an Apple Watch? What’s the worst thing?

I’ll be posting about my journey here. As of now I haven’t full opened it or turned it on. A bit overwhelmed.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

My GF (she’s a keeper!) also just got me an ultra 2, but i’m a long term watch user, since s2.

The pros of the watch as i see it as someone who isn’t into extreme sports (i’m in my mid 40s):

1. notifications on the wrist. its so much easier to just glance at your wrist than pull out the phone, unlock, get distracted, etc. i feel much more free instead of being tethered to my phone
2. homekit control of lights, etc.
3. haptic feedback for navigation
4. health tracking - if you’re trying to lose weight, it is a great motivator and the health and o2 tracking gives you a great positive reinforcement that yes, even though you just started out what you’re doing is actually making a MEASURABLE difference! Seriously, even a few days of good behaviour will show a measurable difference in the health app to keep your morale up, before you notice it much yourself! Even if you aren’t doing or recording workouts, but just eating better - you’ll see the differences in resting heart rate, etc. pretty quickly; the watch is continually monitoring your heart. As a poster mentioned above - the huge, huge thing is the trending information. rather than a checkup every god knows when, the watch will track and alert you to unusual things automatically - and you can look through the data yourself if you’re feeling off, or just out of interest. I really wish i had something like this 10-20 years earlier!
5. pair some airpods and get music on your run or ride or whatever with no need to bring your phone!
6. Apple pay! - leave your phone at home! leave your cards at home! if you need money you can just use the watch!
7. Cell service - phone flat? broken? lost? you had an accident/flat tyre on your run/ride/whatever and you need help? you can make calls for help from the watch

Now the cons as i see it (across all the watches i have had)

1. battery life - the regular watches will get you a day, maybe. i’ve had s2, s4 and s6 previously and the s4 was the best of those. the s6 really struggled and is on battery service already whereas my s4 (both owned from new) is still on 84% health. The ultra fixes this mostly, i charged this one overnight the night before last, am not on any sort of battery saving, have always on display on, and its still above 50% at 9:40am the following morning. i really think i’ll get 2 days out of this, without using low power mode
2. durability - i cracked the screen on my s2. the ultra should fix this
3. performance - but the s4 onward fixes this. the s4 was the first watch that performed as i would expect. the s2 and prior were very much preview products in my opinion with severe performance limitations.

It’s not a “must have” device initially but the more you use it, the chances are you’ll find its a “nice to have” you don’t want to give up. Things like weather/uv/rain forecast on the wrist at all times are just gravy.

 

[mrmister]

Well I turned it on the 26th, so it has been three days. I hooked it up for cellular that day bc I am hoping to use it to go do things without my phone.

I think it's comfortable. I worry it is too big, though it doesn't look too big—but the truth is, I think even if it was a Series 9 and much lighter/smaller, I would still have some issues so far bc I have had no watch at all for 25 years, so I'm still getting used to having ANYTHING on my wrist again.

I customized some of the watch faces. I have found that I'm partial to low color watch faces, because they look good with the case of the ultra.

I'm using Messages a lot, and I am watching my fitness stuff more in a new way. We'll see.

I have a Trail Loop, which I like a lot, but wish it was almost longer (I have huge wrists) though it does fit. What are the other most comfortable Ultra bands in people's opinions?

 

[Illinoisappleboy]

Well, although I did not get one of the latest models of the Apple Watch, I have always been interested in them. Was in my home away from home, the Starbucks I go to on a very regular basis and noticed the barista I am friendly with, wearing a new watch, he mentioned it is the AW9. He said you really should try one since you have an iPhone, so I was looking at Facebook market place at apple watches, asked him what he thought of the price of one on market place and he said...."you know, I have a much better deal for you, as I do not need two watches.... granted it won't do all the things the newer versions will as it is the first generation Apple Watch you will be able to get a feel for them, and see if you like them, and no need to be in a hurry to upgrade as it does most of everything I ever used it for and would still be using it if it wasn't a birthday gift from my step dad. Come here tomorrow and I will bring it with and give it to you" said I need to buy a charger as he was keeping the charger as a spare. Went to that Starbucks the next evening, not really expecting him to bring it, people just do not do that in the Chicago area, and when I purchased my coffee, a few minutes later he came to my table with it and said here it is, I charged it last night, but you will need to get a charger for it, and I'm on break so I can help you set it up, which was very easy. was looking on market place again to see if I could find a charger instead of having to fight the crowds in the local apple store before Christmas and surprisingly found someone selling a new aw charger located on my way home for $5.00 and was willing to meet when I was on the way home. met him and bought the charger, and have been using it ever since. it doesn't look like it even has a scratch on the glass, which is a surprise since I believe the Apple Watch first gen was released in 2015, and the battery still lasts easily 15-16 hours with between 15-20% left after 15-16 hours so really cannot complain. only thing I find slightly irritating is the band where you have to get the holes lined up to secure it on the wrist..... but other than that I love it, and it does what I want it to do, and if it starts having battery or other issues I will definitely purchase a new one, maybe not the ultra but one of the current models.they are awesome.

 

[splifingate]

I’m a huge Mac and Apple person…but always avoided Apple Watches.

First, I’m old—so I’ve been around. I didn’t love the reviews and reports for the AW in 2015, and have watched ever since from the sidelines.

Then I decided when they finally get blood sugar scanning, I’d be in—knowing it’s still quite a few years away.

Tonight my girlfriend delighted me with an Apple Watch Ultra 2 with the Blue/Black Trail Loop band with AppleCare+. I’m still shocked.

I’m not a cliff diver. I don’t scuba. Is this too much watch for me? I have big wrists, so I don’t think the size is an issue…but I haven’t regularly worn a watch since the 20th century!

Are there bands people recommend? I think based on reading she chose well for me.

Is it true that only the Ultra is rated for salt water, or is that simply untrue?

I can’t tell you how much I know about all Apple things…and NOTHING about the watch. I feel insane.

What’s the best thing about an Apple Watch? What’s the worst thing?

I’ll be posting about my journey here. As of now I haven’t full opened it or turned it on. A bit overwhelmed.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

She's a Keeper!

So is your (new) watch

It's like having another child in the house, but you don't have to worry about feeding it anything but electricity.

 

[Harmonious Zen]

You’ll love it. The integration with your iPhone alone will be great. I use mine mostly for fitness tracking activities. The occasional notifications are nice as well (although I turn off most of those.) Apple Pay on the watch and being able to take calls in a pinch are probably two of my favorite features.

 

[bricktop_at]

What are the other most comfortable Ultra bands in people's opinions?

You can use any of the 42/44/45/49mm bands with the Ultra. For sports or sleep I prefer Sport Loops as they are perfectly adjustable and comfy as well.
The most comfortable are the Braided Solo Loops, in my opinion at least.

 

[xraydoc]

Well, she pick up for you the most expensive AW in the field.

Just to be “that guy”, the Hermes Apple watches are actually more expensive.

 

[stanza.richi]

Just to be “that guy”, the Hermes Apple watches are actually more expensive.

My mistake.