got package Friday evening, fiddled around with it on weekend, and had first full work day today, a few quick thoughts, I have the 42mm white sport:
-not as convenient for quick interactions as i thought: whereas you can truly use your phone one handed (I use a 6) -from taking out of pocket, glancing at the screen, replying if need be, its not so with the watch. With the watch, if you want to interact with it, you're using two hands, one to hold up the watch and one to use it. I live in NYC and do a lot of walking, and this becomes less convenient than a phone in your pocket if you're carrying something with one hand, like a bag. Ive worn it under a light jacket over the weekend and with a business suit today; having to roll up sleeves to look at it was a bit of a hassle.
-haptic - I find it pretty weak. If sitting there, you can feel it but I find just barely, and this is on the stronger setting without "prominent" haptic setting turned on. If Im moving around, I find I typically miss it. Its better with prominent but I feel like this should be the default setting with the ability to set even stronger if desired. I really liked the idea of no audio notification and just getting that tap, I wish we had more control over the intensity
-screen response - i don't find the screen that responsive, especially relative to iPhone/ipad, many times, especially when walking where the tap might not be so precise, i find i need to tap multiple times to register. Same goes for force touch
-battery - so far pretty good. right now at 14 hours and 28% left. thats with 2 half hour outdoor walk exercises, tons of email notifications (50+ throughout the day because of work); this mirrors my experience on Sat and Sun, maybe slightly less but I don't tend to get a lot of emails on weekends.
-digital crown - i naturally try to press it with my opposite finger only, and find its harder to do because you're also pushing the whole watch, which is to say, you have to put your thumb on the other side to be able to counteract the force of your pushing finger. not a major deal but something i noticed as having to hold the watch with your thumb and forefinger didn't seem natural and was downright inconvenient when the watch is peaking out from under a jacket sleeve or shirt cuff.
-speaking of emails - i was a little overwhelmed with all the email notifications throughout the work day; it was overwhelming to be honest; I can see how this would be helpful when I am on the road, but today I was in the office. Will have to figure out whats right for me, maybe just VIPs, but then have to set up a reasonably extensive VIP list which is a pain
-more emails - the default reply color of emails tends to be blue, and when you get a reply email, the dark blue text is almost unreadable against the dark background, especially in daylight; this is something thats pretty annoying
-even more emails - if you open and read an email, you have to scroll all the way to the bottom to get to the mark as unread, trash, flag options. problem is, if you get an email that has a long chain, which I do a lot, thats a lot of scrolling!!! there doesn't seem to be a force touch option
siri - find siri slow much of the time, although if you wait long enough it tends to work; the problem is, if you're in a noisy area, it tends to keep listening for quite a while after you've finished talking. although it does a pretty good job of not picking up background conversations, what would be better is the mic button on the iOS keyboard where you hold it for as long as you're talking and then release when you're done, so theres no ambiguity
siri for replying to txts, etc - i understand why this is necessary as opposed to a keyboard, but i feel really dumb doing it in public; maybe when more people have em it won't feel as strange - i feel especially dumb when I'm holding up my watch waiting for siri to work as described above
-UI - maybe I'm just an idiot but I don't find the OS that intuitive, whereas Ive had no problems with iOS. quick example, it took me awhile to realize that to get back to the watch face, which i think of as the "home screen", you need up to 3 interactions! first to get out of an app, second to center the watch app on the real home screen, then click on the app. Also, you can swipe up/down for notifications and glances unless you're in the watch face, another reason i intuitively thought of it as the true "home screen"
- charger - i got the impression from the keynote that that the charger would snap on and hold on tight like a magsafe, i find my connection very weak. it could be an issue for all these stand prototypes I've seen, many of which, given the angle, seem to anticipate relying on the "magnetic" connection to keep the watch in place.
I still like the watch overall and will likely keep, but I don't "love" it. Im lucky enough that the cost is not a big expenditure for me, if it was, I would likely consider returning it much harder. Its a gen 1 product, I get that. I had the first iPhone and iPad, but those were products that much easier to "love" right away even with their obvious shortcomings. As Apple refines it over time and dev really learn to take advantage of it, Im sure it will all work out, just like iPhone and iPad did.
-not as convenient for quick interactions as i thought: whereas you can truly use your phone one handed (I use a 6) -from taking out of pocket, glancing at the screen, replying if need be, its not so with the watch. With the watch, if you want to interact with it, you're using two hands, one to hold up the watch and one to use it. I live in NYC and do a lot of walking, and this becomes less convenient than a phone in your pocket if you're carrying something with one hand, like a bag. Ive worn it under a light jacket over the weekend and with a business suit today; having to roll up sleeves to look at it was a bit of a hassle.
-haptic - I find it pretty weak. If sitting there, you can feel it but I find just barely, and this is on the stronger setting without "prominent" haptic setting turned on. If Im moving around, I find I typically miss it. Its better with prominent but I feel like this should be the default setting with the ability to set even stronger if desired. I really liked the idea of no audio notification and just getting that tap, I wish we had more control over the intensity
-screen response - i don't find the screen that responsive, especially relative to iPhone/ipad, many times, especially when walking where the tap might not be so precise, i find i need to tap multiple times to register. Same goes for force touch
-battery - so far pretty good. right now at 14 hours and 28% left. thats with 2 half hour outdoor walk exercises, tons of email notifications (50+ throughout the day because of work); this mirrors my experience on Sat and Sun, maybe slightly less but I don't tend to get a lot of emails on weekends.
-digital crown - i naturally try to press it with my opposite finger only, and find its harder to do because you're also pushing the whole watch, which is to say, you have to put your thumb on the other side to be able to counteract the force of your pushing finger. not a major deal but something i noticed as having to hold the watch with your thumb and forefinger didn't seem natural and was downright inconvenient when the watch is peaking out from under a jacket sleeve or shirt cuff.
-speaking of emails - i was a little overwhelmed with all the email notifications throughout the work day; it was overwhelming to be honest; I can see how this would be helpful when I am on the road, but today I was in the office. Will have to figure out whats right for me, maybe just VIPs, but then have to set up a reasonably extensive VIP list which is a pain
-more emails - the default reply color of emails tends to be blue, and when you get a reply email, the dark blue text is almost unreadable against the dark background, especially in daylight; this is something thats pretty annoying
-even more emails - if you open and read an email, you have to scroll all the way to the bottom to get to the mark as unread, trash, flag options. problem is, if you get an email that has a long chain, which I do a lot, thats a lot of scrolling!!! there doesn't seem to be a force touch option
siri - find siri slow much of the time, although if you wait long enough it tends to work; the problem is, if you're in a noisy area, it tends to keep listening for quite a while after you've finished talking. although it does a pretty good job of not picking up background conversations, what would be better is the mic button on the iOS keyboard where you hold it for as long as you're talking and then release when you're done, so theres no ambiguity
siri for replying to txts, etc - i understand why this is necessary as opposed to a keyboard, but i feel really dumb doing it in public; maybe when more people have em it won't feel as strange - i feel especially dumb when I'm holding up my watch waiting for siri to work as described above
-UI - maybe I'm just an idiot but I don't find the OS that intuitive, whereas Ive had no problems with iOS. quick example, it took me awhile to realize that to get back to the watch face, which i think of as the "home screen", you need up to 3 interactions! first to get out of an app, second to center the watch app on the real home screen, then click on the app. Also, you can swipe up/down for notifications and glances unless you're in the watch face, another reason i intuitively thought of it as the true "home screen"
- charger - i got the impression from the keynote that that the charger would snap on and hold on tight like a magsafe, i find my connection very weak. it could be an issue for all these stand prototypes I've seen, many of which, given the angle, seem to anticipate relying on the "magnetic" connection to keep the watch in place.
I still like the watch overall and will likely keep, but I don't "love" it. Im lucky enough that the cost is not a big expenditure for me, if it was, I would likely consider returning it much harder. Its a gen 1 product, I get that. I had the first iPhone and iPad, but those were products that much easier to "love" right away even with their obvious shortcomings. As Apple refines it over time and dev really learn to take advantage of it, Im sure it will all work out, just like iPhone and iPad did.
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