Months later, how are you finding it?

[jasie02]

Not really a guess and I am not the only one complaining. Many that were written either do not load up or are too slow to be usefull.

But knock yourself out!

I guess you got to join "Apple sucks, but I spend all of my money on them, so I need to complain to justified money I spent" bandwagon.
By the way, I would rather knock someone else out than myself, but if that's what you like, knock your own self out, enjoy it.

 

[jasie02]

Repeated. Deleted.

 

[Newtons Apple]

I guess you got to join "Apple sucks, but I spend all of my money on them, so I need to complain to justified money I spent" bandwagon.
By the way, I would rather knock someone else out than myself, but if that's what you like, knock your own self out, enjoy it.

I am far from being in the Apple Sucks club, I love Apple. The watch just was not for me. That does not mean others will not love it but in my situation the watch did little to fill my needs. Enjoy your watch, if you enjoy, your money IS justified. As far as the knock yourself out, it was just an expression and you turned it into something violent.

Enjoy your watch.

 

[jasie02]

I am far from being in the Apple Sucks club, I love Apple. The watch just was not for me. That does not mean others will not love it but in my situation the watch did little to fill my needs. Enjoy your watch, if you enjoy, your money IS justified. As far as the knock yourself out, it was just an expression and you turned it into something violent.

Enjoy your watch.

Don't join the complain club, join constructive feedback club.
Complain is all negative and target at vending anger and frustration, constructive feedback is both positive and negative, and often come along with recommendation rather than simple "no, it does not work, Apple".

 

[puckhead193]

eh, its not an essential for me to wear. I do wear it but could live without it. The apps are terrible and still take forever to load. The notifications are nice to have but I wish it was a simpler way to delete spam emails when they come in and not have to scroll down...

 

[chasonstone]

I've had it for a while now and the best way I can explain it is I feel naked without it. Could I get by without it? Of course. Do I want to? No. I honestly probably like it more than my iPad. Going iPhone > MacBook > Watch > iPad. And I really like my iPad.

 

[BarracksSi]

…but I wish it was a simpler way to delete spam emails when they come in and not have to scroll down...

Swipe left, just like Mail on the phone.

 

[mario-64]

I've had AW since day one. If I had to summarize my thoughts on it in a word, "meh". It's ok. Apps, even native, are slow and buggy. Frankly the best feature is that it automatically adjusts for DST. I miss having a nice piece of jewelry on my wrist too as opposed to a piece of technology.

 

[poematik13]

Sadly I got rid of mine after wearing it daily since launch day. Apps are too slow, UI lags too much after watchOS 2, and everything else my iPhone does much faster. Don't really see the point of it, will buy the Gen 2 though as I feel like it'll be massively better like the iPad 2 versus iPad 1

My usage with it eventually narrowed down to just fitness tracking and notifications, both of which are not essential to my digital life.

 

[QquegChristian]

I love mine, but do question whether I will stick with it into future generations. I think that once they unveil the next gen or OS3 that I will have a better idea of whether the device is going down a path I want to go down long term.

I would be happy at this point if they just shut down 3rd party apps altogether and made the core functions blazing fast.

 

[profmjh]

I still love my Apple Watch, but mostly as an attractive piece of jewellery that tells the time. (I have the SS with Link strap.) In so far as I think it looks good and it's effective at telling the time, I'm happy. It is a watch, after all.

I have zero concerns about battery life. I'm totally used to the tiny lag between lifting my arm and seeing the clock face. I'm perfectly happy with its performance in this regard, and it stays on long enough, especially with the 70s option.

After endless months of faffing with various options, I've settled down to using the watch for: telling the time, for timing things, as a bedside clock, to check the temperature and to check the exercise rings. (Though these last two are pretty unimportant and I could live without them.) Apps are pretty much a non-starter: they're ridiculously slow and mostly pointless: I have my phone with me. On one of the clock faces I regularly use, I've started using the Calendar complication, though I've discovered that Calendar syncing is not reliable. I stopped it from giving me e-mail notifications as most of my e-mails are boring. I get iMessage and Facebook Messenger notifications, mostly because I can, rather than because I need to.

Someone posted (on this thread?) about the Tag Heuer Connected: http://www.tagheuerconnected.com/product

I think Tag have really missed a trick here. From the reviews, it seems like they've failed to make it a sufficiently luxurious product. The pixel density in particular is poor compared with the Apple Watch. But when the time comes to choose between the Apple Watch 2 and the Tag Heuer Connected 2, I'm making no promises that my two decades of brand loyalty to Apple will rule out the Tag. Whichever's prettiest wins.

Indeed, my brand loyalty to Apple in general has been challenged this year. (Though this might be because I've joined these forums and been influenced by the many complaints people make.) The Apple Watch release was not well managed. The iPad Pro release has been similarly poor (seriously: no Pencils?) Apple's oversights annoy me: split view on my iPad Air 2 is great, but I can't have two Safari windows open in split view. What? No-one at Apple thought of this? The new Apple TV is pretty good, but it's not yet a game changer. There's no iPlayer app yet. Why not? Don't say it's nothing to do with Apple: they've got an unimaginably large pile of cash lying idle -- why didn't they pay developers with must-have apps to have their apps ready on Day One?

All this being said, my MacBook Pro continues to do sterling work, day in, day out. (And unlike previous Apple laptops, I no longer worry about the battery running out. It never does.) Any my iPhone 6+ (especially now I've got rid of the cover and use it nude) is both a thing of great beauty and a fantastically useful piece of technology. My brand loyalty to computing and smartphones has no challenger. No-one's anywhere near Apple.

On the other hand, will I buy the iPhone 7? Probably. I'm addicted. But how much better can it be? The iPhone 6S, despite Apple's ridiculous hyperbole, is barely different from the 6. 3D touch? Really? I think they've run out of ways to make the iPhone better. It is already superb. Any further changes will be marginal at best.

 

[MrJM]

I wear mine everyday. Its great for telling the time. Anything else I just use my phone. Sure its great getting texts/whatsapps on my watch but I always have to get my phone out to reply anyway. Its got to the point where I get a notification on the watch and jut get out my iPhone out and deal with it as its easier. Apps are still slow/unresponsive and totally pointless as far as Im concerned. I got it launch day, I've had numerous smart watches before and I knew what I was getting myself in for before I got it. Im a sucker for a gadget!!

 

[convergent]

Have you tried many of them, most are crap.

I've had AW since day one. If I had to summarize my thoughts on it in a word, "meh". It's ok. Apps, even native, are slow and buggy. Frankly the best feature is that it automatically adjusts for DST. I miss having a nice piece of jewelry on my wrist too as opposed to a piece of technology.

Sadly I got rid of mine after wearing it daily since launch day. Apps are too slow, UI lags too much after watchOS 2, and everything else my iPhone does much faster. Don't really see the point of it, will buy the Gen 2 though as I feel like it'll be massively better like the iPad 2 versus iPad 1

My usage with it eventually narrowed down to just fitness tracking and notifications, both of which are not essential to my digital life.

I keep wondering why I see so many experiences like this... lag, slow, crap, etc., and yet my experience is quite different. Likewise, I see a huge thread in the iPhone forum about how slow and laggy the 6s Plus is, yet mine is blazing fast. Is this a difference in expectations, a difference in how we've set them up, or are there some defective units? Maybe some of each?

Given what's going on with the 6s Plus, I am pretty confident that people must be loading them up with crap or something because mine is by far the fastest and smoothest smartphone I've ever used. I think the AW is probably far more likely to fall victim to having crap loading on it since its resources are so limited, and the percentage of crap apps is likely a lot higher given its short lifetime in a completely new paradigm.

I think there is a lot of confusion about the AW's purpose and what apps would even useful on it. There are a ton of apps for it that I would never even attempt to load because to me, the notion of running those on a watch is silly. Things like media consumption, games, content creation, etc.. are never going to work well on a tiny watch sized screen. The AW is not intended to be a separate computing device, but rather an extension of your iPhone. I don't see that changing. Those hoping for a built in cellular radio and complete stand alone operation I think are dreaming. This misunderstanding and confusion permeates the App Developers as many of them have just thrown things into the hopper that were easy for them to do but have no practical use. If you try to use this stuff, you are setting yourself up for a bad experience.

Even running stand alone apps at all on the AW is not something I see myself doing much. That said, I use glances, complications, and notifications a lot; and to me that is "using the app", but not in the way many may be using them. This could be part of the reason I'm not seeing big slowness and lags. I rarely open apps other than timers and such. Glances seem to work very quickly for all the apps I use. Notifications and messages are equally quick. And if I do run into an App that has a slow or laggy glance, then I remove it from the watch.

I think that a lot of unhappy AW owners really have expectations that are completely out of sync with the product they bought. The AW isn't going to replace your phone, and why should it? If you look at it being an extension, and really dig into the subtle difference that introduces, and you spend time tweaking and tuning, it can be a useful device.

 

[Newtons Apple]

I would quote the above but . . . . sorry but I feel like I was misled by the advertising when it came to the AW's ability in the fitness area. I had trouble just keeping the sensor going and many times no matter how tight or loose or where is was on my arm. My Fitbit HR sensor is light years ahead of Apple's.

The Apple watch is still a good device but it is not for everyone.

 

[The Game 161]

I get some of the comments here but for me I get alot of notifications so for me I love the fact my watch is letting me know of this things. For one I have had 27 twitter followers today and while not important it's nice to know without checking my phone.

I also find battery life is very good, I guess with the screen not turning on is why. The fact my screen wouldn't keep switching on is big.

I love how I can check my football scores straight from my clock face via onefootball. Love this app

 

[convergent]

I would quote the above but . . . . sorry but I feel like I was misled by the advertising when it came to the AW's ability in the fitness area. I had trouble just keeping the sensor going and many times no matter how tight or loose or where is was on my arm. My Fitbit HR sensor is light years ahead of Apple's.

The Apple watch is still a good device but it is not for everyone.

Its certainly not that great for fitness compared to dedicated devices... no argument there. But for someone like me that has never owned a Fitbit, its fine.... just fine. I have been frustrated at the inaccuracy of it when I'm running, but thus far I've mostly run on a track in the YMCA (indoors), so I don't believe I've given it sufficient time to get calibrated. I'll probably not really get to that point until next summer. I don't see myself running a lot outdoors this time of year unless its while I'm on business trips. So I'm chocking up some of my problems there to a lack of my really understanding it that well and not calibrating it properly.

I haven't had any problems with the sensor losing connection though. I usually warm up on the rowing machine and my watch is lose enough that it flops around a bit and slides back and forth about 3-4 inches on my wrist with each stroke. Its never required me to reenter my password from that. I've been kind of shocked that it hasn't. I've seen a lot of different experiences reported in this area so differences in bodies may impact it.

 

[poematik13]

ut rather an extension of your iPhone.

But nobody needs that. We are already on our phones 24/7. It doesn't bring anything new to the table.

 

[audirs5]

Got it for free: so unbiased opinion (not me justifying a purchase).

Would I spend the money on this, right now? No.

Fitness tracking is horrible. Period. And it's not just Apple, it's in general with most devices across the industry. We aren't there yet. Too many variables can go wrong. You need to be following a perfect routine to get th results advertised.

I can put my watch back on, turn bluetooth on and suddenly I have 15 unread texts.. Even though my phone has zero. The watch syncs, and now I have to go in and read all the messages on my watch again just to get the red dot to disappear.


It's honestly not that comfortable. the watch, IMO, should contour a little with the curve of the wrist. Thats just preference. But I wear various watches, and the most comfortable are ones that curve a bit.


the UI is neat and all, but it's a first gen product with first gen bugs. Lags, bad. dictation is cool, but not perfect, applications for it are useless still.

My .2, take it or leave it.

 

[BarracksSi]

…and now I have to go in and read all the messages on my watch again just to get the red dot to disappear.

Swipe down, Force Touch -> Clear All.

 

[nightcap965]

It's the first thing I put on in the morning and the last thing I remove at night. I've been an Apple Fanboi long enough to not expect too much from rev. 1 of any product. (Remember the iPhone didn't have third party apps and depended upon compliant websites. The original iMac -- well, let's not even go there.) That said, I see most of the info I need at a glance. I pay for my groceries with it. Thanks to the Activity app and Lark, I've lost 60 pounds and am still going strong. On the strength of my greatly improved health indices (blood pressure, A1c, etc.), my doctor bought one for himself and now recommends it to patients like me. There are a few apps I'd like to see, but I have no doubt they'll be along.

 

[akosnitzky]

I enjoy the watch and use it every waking hour. I look forward to future development.

 

[convergent]

But nobody needs that. We are already on our phones 24/7. It doesn't bring anything new to the table.

So you are the spokesperson for everybody? If millions of people have bought and are happy with their AW, then clearly you are wrong.

Not sure how you have concluded it brings nothing new to the table. You can do everything on your iPhone that could be done on an iPad, so it brings nothing new to the table by your logic. The AW brings a lot of new in the "how" you do things. If you aren't interested in that, then fine... but concluding that "nobody needs that" is pretty ridiculous.

 

[douglasf13]

But nobody needs that. We are already on our phones 24/7. It doesn't bring anything new to the table.

That's essentially like saying no one needs an external monitor, because we already have a computer screen on our laptop. The Apple Watch is an iPhone accessory screen, more or less, and it's all in the name of convenience. I'd guess that my Watch cuts the amount of times that I get my iPhone out of my pocket by 75%, which I really like. It's not unlike how people decided to strap clocks to their wrist, because they wanted to see the time more easily, rather than getting out a pocket watch all the time.

Now, if you constantly have your phone in your hand, even when (illegally) driving, I guess the Watch may not be all that useful, but it's fantastic, for me.

 

[AndrewR23]

I love mine, sucks for the many in this forum who have incredible expectations on a first gen product.

Don't set yourself up to be disappointed.

Remember its a 400$ + watch whose main goal is to tell time + other things.

It wasn't until the iPhone 3G or 3GS when people really started using it as a tool for phone + safari etc.

 

[DougFNJ]

Months later, I am still happy with the experience, to put my money where my mouth is, I just upgraded my Space Gray to Space Black. It looks fantastic, the display is beautiful. Deep blacks that match the black on the watch, it all flows so nicely. That's the aesthetics.

Regarding functionally, I am also happy. I am a watch nut, and I have always enjoyed having as many features in a watch as I could. From my old Casio Databank from many years ago, to my ABC Pathfinder with Altimeter, Barometer, and Compass.

I knew Apple would be releasing a watch, I was on the fence to get one pending looks, fit, and feel. They won me over there. Functionally, I am good with simple. The notifications are my primary use for the Watch, and the haptic notifications are precisely what I was searching for. I have 3 email addresses and get a lot of emails during the day. I like the convenience of choosing from my watch if a text or email warrants grabbing the watch, and particularly like sending a quick reply. The Calendar complication synchs perfect for me, and those reminders are very handy for a busy day. I would buy it again everyday for notifications alone.

The apps are fine, being a Mets fan, baseball scores were nice to have during the race before they pulled away. My fantasy football scores have been just as handy. I have been having fun with the watch faces and swapping them out by mood. The maps are great as well with the turn features, it keeps my eyes on the road.

Like any item, you will find those that love them and those that hate them. The watch is a very personal device and very individual regarding taste, needs, features, lack of features, complaints, and compliments. What do you see yourself using it for? How important and useful are those features for you, and is it valuable enough to spend your hard earned dollars to have? Nice thing about waiting is you have a wide range of references to go by from web forums and reviews that you should be well armed with enough information to make the ultimate decision. And if you are still on the fence, you have the luxury of a return period if you change your mind after, even longer now because of the extended holiday return periods. Hopefully if you decided, you took advantage of one of the Black Friday deals. Either way, I don't think we have heard from you since you started the post......have you decided either way?