"TL;DR"
I wrote this for my own entertainment, but thought I would share for anyone interested:
I have worn watches most of my life. Starting with one that featured a crocodile saying "no worries mate" on the face. Another one had a "Heinz 57" pickle logo. Much later, a WWII replica, then an over-sized Bulova. I like watches. I don't know why. I don't even check the time that much. In fact, sometimes Ive caught myself looking at my phone to see what time it is, even though I had a watch on. I'm just used to having something on my wrist, and I guess it's a good way to add a subtle touch of personality.
Smart watches are a different story. They're usually big, bulky, techy; a minified smart phone strapped to your wrist. No one needs a smart watch. No one needs an Apple Watch. When it was rumored and later announced, I groaned. I even ridiculed it on social media. What changed? Why is there one on my wrist right now?
I'm not big on New Year's resolutions, but if I had an unofficial goal for the year, it was simply to live life just a little more. To get off the couch and away from my desk more often, so I dont end up stranded in Obese City without a map. I decided to start looking for a fitness tracker to help me figure out exactly how lazy I am and try to improve that. I didn't want to replace my current watch, so I was just going to get a simple band for my other wrist. About two weeks before the Apple Watch launch, my nice Bulova watch broke. That's when I realized I needed both a watch AND a fitness band, and maybe it made sense to consider the Apple Watch.
I started consuming web articles and videos and kept thinking that I don't need a lot of its features. I don't travel a lot, I'm not the big city on-the-go type of person they keep showing doing big city types of things. However, the look of it started to grow on me, and I decided even if I didn't use all of the features, there was enough to give it a shot. I would pre-order the Apple Watch Sport as soon as pre-orders start at 3am local time on April 10th!
The evening before, I set the alarm on my iPhone, but messed it up. I startled awake two hours late: 5:04am! I quickly grabbed my iPhone and managed to open the Apple Store app without my glasses, which I didn't have time to locate on the night stand. I browsed to the Apple Watch Sport 42mm with black sport band, and read "Ships June". How could it take that long? It's only April 10th! I surely can't wait that long! I began feverishly browsing the other models looking for any that ship on the launch date (April 24th). No luck. The best I could find was May 13-28, and I would have to drop an extra $200 on stainless steel. Naturally, I was thinking clear enough at this early hour to make that decision, so I placed the order for the stainless steel Apple Watch with black sport band. I received a confirmation email at 5:13am. The next month was brutal.
I would have been more patient if I hadn't seen news that Apple was shipping watches earlier than expected. I probably checked my order status an average of at least five times every day, and followed threads on macrumors.com where hundreds of other like-minded early adopters shared their experiences, knowledge, predictions and grief as they waited for updates in their order status. Forum members were analyzing flight patterns, and building spreadsheets to help determine when our specific watches would ship based on our order time and model of watch we ordered. It's pretty sad, really.
On Sunday May 10th, I noticed my order status had changed to "Preparing to Ship" sometime in the wee hours of the morning. I got a shipping notification and tracking number the next day. I logged into UPS.com and changed the delivery location to the UPS Store so I didn't have to deal with signature confirmation, and the chance that they wouldn't deliver it. My lovely wife picked it up for me when it was delivered to the UPS store on May 12th. The box was surprisingly heavy. The packaging is superb, as it always is with Apple, but even more impressive with the Watch.
One week later, I do not regret my decision. It's hard to argue against it being a nicety more than a necessity, but it tells time, looks nice, and the fitness features are proving to be worth using. The reminders to stand every hour are great, and so far I have been obeying consistently. I like using the Remote app to control the Apple TV that I lost the remote for, and notifications and controlling music from my watch is pretty rad. The biggest surprise, and the reason why I think the Watch is worth keeping, is it keeps me focused on what I'm doing while still knowing I'm not missing an interesting email or message. Many notifications don't require immediate attention, but I am used to, okay addicted to, checking my phone many times throughout the day, and it's very easy to get sucked in and wasting time reading things that aren't important. So far, I would estimate that I've cut my iPhone usage by half. This is a good thing.
Other important things to note: The watch feels surprisingly solid and well-built, but not heavy. The sport band is comfortable, and not hard to put on after the first try. The haptic feedback is pretty neat; it feels like something tapping on your wrist, rather than a vibration. Paying at McDonalds with my watch worked great. Aside from the clock (if you consider that an app), the most utilized apps are Fitness, Music, Remote, and the MLB At Bat app I downloaded. Battery life is better than expected. I have gone two full days on a single charge more than once. I don't have any interest in playing games on my watch, and have not found a lot of other apps that I have wanted to download. This sounds weird, but the watch is the best thing you don't want to use. You will rarely spend even a full minute at a time using it. Most of the time you will use it for a few seconds at a time, and the rest of the time it's just looking pretty on your wrist. This might be a disappointment for some, but not for me. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Apple Watch continues to evolve with software and hardware updates, but for now I think it's great just the way it is.
I wrote this for my own entertainment, but thought I would share for anyone interested:
I have worn watches most of my life. Starting with one that featured a crocodile saying "no worries mate" on the face. Another one had a "Heinz 57" pickle logo. Much later, a WWII replica, then an over-sized Bulova. I like watches. I don't know why. I don't even check the time that much. In fact, sometimes Ive caught myself looking at my phone to see what time it is, even though I had a watch on. I'm just used to having something on my wrist, and I guess it's a good way to add a subtle touch of personality.
Smart watches are a different story. They're usually big, bulky, techy; a minified smart phone strapped to your wrist. No one needs a smart watch. No one needs an Apple Watch. When it was rumored and later announced, I groaned. I even ridiculed it on social media. What changed? Why is there one on my wrist right now?
I'm not big on New Year's resolutions, but if I had an unofficial goal for the year, it was simply to live life just a little more. To get off the couch and away from my desk more often, so I dont end up stranded in Obese City without a map. I decided to start looking for a fitness tracker to help me figure out exactly how lazy I am and try to improve that. I didn't want to replace my current watch, so I was just going to get a simple band for my other wrist. About two weeks before the Apple Watch launch, my nice Bulova watch broke. That's when I realized I needed both a watch AND a fitness band, and maybe it made sense to consider the Apple Watch.
I started consuming web articles and videos and kept thinking that I don't need a lot of its features. I don't travel a lot, I'm not the big city on-the-go type of person they keep showing doing big city types of things. However, the look of it started to grow on me, and I decided even if I didn't use all of the features, there was enough to give it a shot. I would pre-order the Apple Watch Sport as soon as pre-orders start at 3am local time on April 10th!
The evening before, I set the alarm on my iPhone, but messed it up. I startled awake two hours late: 5:04am! I quickly grabbed my iPhone and managed to open the Apple Store app without my glasses, which I didn't have time to locate on the night stand. I browsed to the Apple Watch Sport 42mm with black sport band, and read "Ships June". How could it take that long? It's only April 10th! I surely can't wait that long! I began feverishly browsing the other models looking for any that ship on the launch date (April 24th). No luck. The best I could find was May 13-28, and I would have to drop an extra $200 on stainless steel. Naturally, I was thinking clear enough at this early hour to make that decision, so I placed the order for the stainless steel Apple Watch with black sport band. I received a confirmation email at 5:13am. The next month was brutal.
I would have been more patient if I hadn't seen news that Apple was shipping watches earlier than expected. I probably checked my order status an average of at least five times every day, and followed threads on macrumors.com where hundreds of other like-minded early adopters shared their experiences, knowledge, predictions and grief as they waited for updates in their order status. Forum members were analyzing flight patterns, and building spreadsheets to help determine when our specific watches would ship based on our order time and model of watch we ordered. It's pretty sad, really.
On Sunday May 10th, I noticed my order status had changed to "Preparing to Ship" sometime in the wee hours of the morning. I got a shipping notification and tracking number the next day. I logged into UPS.com and changed the delivery location to the UPS Store so I didn't have to deal with signature confirmation, and the chance that they wouldn't deliver it. My lovely wife picked it up for me when it was delivered to the UPS store on May 12th. The box was surprisingly heavy. The packaging is superb, as it always is with Apple, but even more impressive with the Watch.
One week later, I do not regret my decision. It's hard to argue against it being a nicety more than a necessity, but it tells time, looks nice, and the fitness features are proving to be worth using. The reminders to stand every hour are great, and so far I have been obeying consistently. I like using the Remote app to control the Apple TV that I lost the remote for, and notifications and controlling music from my watch is pretty rad. The biggest surprise, and the reason why I think the Watch is worth keeping, is it keeps me focused on what I'm doing while still knowing I'm not missing an interesting email or message. Many notifications don't require immediate attention, but I am used to, okay addicted to, checking my phone many times throughout the day, and it's very easy to get sucked in and wasting time reading things that aren't important. So far, I would estimate that I've cut my iPhone usage by half. This is a good thing.
Other important things to note: The watch feels surprisingly solid and well-built, but not heavy. The sport band is comfortable, and not hard to put on after the first try. The haptic feedback is pretty neat; it feels like something tapping on your wrist, rather than a vibration. Paying at McDonalds with my watch worked great. Aside from the clock (if you consider that an app), the most utilized apps are Fitness, Music, Remote, and the MLB At Bat app I downloaded. Battery life is better than expected. I have gone two full days on a single charge more than once. I don't have any interest in playing games on my watch, and have not found a lot of other apps that I have wanted to download. This sounds weird, but the watch is the best thing you don't want to use. You will rarely spend even a full minute at a time using it. Most of the time you will use it for a few seconds at a time, and the rest of the time it's just looking pretty on your wrist. This might be a disappointment for some, but not for me. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Apple Watch continues to evolve with software and hardware updates, but for now I think it's great just the way it is.
