One also spends hundreds more for a computer/laptop and it's the same kind of situation. As I see it I will get my use out of my AW which I use everyday and Love it. Anything tech will have a limited lifespan. Kind of sucks since most of it will be in good shape otherwise. That said I'd certainly don't want to still be using my Macintosh cx. Life moves on. Embrace what you have and get the most out of it. If you sit out on the sidelines, well watch time march on and others using it I guess.
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The merged "I returned/sold my Apple Watch because..." thread
- Thread starter jeek
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One also spends hundreds more for a computer/laptop and it's the same kind of situation. As I see it I will get my use out of my AW which I use everyday and Love it. Anything tech will have a limited lifespan. Kind of sucks since most of it will be in good shape otherwise. That said I'd certainly don't want to still be using my Macintosh cx. Life moves on. Embrace what you have and get the most out of it. If you sit out on the sidelines, well watch time march on and others using it I guess.
I would assume the Apple Watch gen 1 should be able to get software updates much longer than 2 years. I don't think iPhones can't get software updates after 2 years. More like 4 years I think. But this is gen 1.
And this not directed at you
I hate when people compare the AW to a mechanical watch. Do you compare your iPhone to a home phone? Why replace the iPhone every 2 years or 4 years when the home phone can last 20 years? Stop comparing the AW to a mechanical watch. They only do one thing the same. Tell the time and maybe the date without help.
No one thinks of an mechanical watch as technology driven. I replace my laptop every 3 years max and mine costs $1700ish. Why replace my MBP every three years when my old desktop lasted 5-6 years. At least that is a fair comparison.
The thing is that the core of the Apple Watch and the mechanical watch is to tell the time. Further there is considerable jewellery value in the mechanical watch and certainly some in the Apple Watch.
Although the Apple Watch does many other things as well, they have competition in many devices such as Fitbit. I know someone who wears a mechanical watch on one wrist and a fitbit on the other.
I like the Apple Watch, but the time telling is a nightmare, ie you have to raise you wrist with a minimum speed. A casual time glance is out of the question and this is difficult for me when I am jumping from meeting to meeting.
Finally the charging is a pain. Yet another device with a different charging lead as well.
IMHO the Apple Watch needs to hit a weeks charge and have a permanently on basic time display to start to compete in the watch functionality.
Although the Apple Watch does many other things as well, they have competition in many devices such as Fitbit. I know someone who wears a mechanical watch on one wrist and a fitbit on the other.
I like the Apple Watch, but the time telling is a nightmare, ie you have to raise you wrist with a minimum speed. A casual time glance is out of the question and this is difficult for me when I am jumping from meeting to meeting.
Finally the charging is a pain. Yet another device with a different charging lead as well.
IMHO the Apple Watch needs to hit a weeks charge and have a permanently on basic time display to start to compete in the watch functionality.
Comparing the Apple Watch to a mechanical watch that holds it value is not the same thing at all. The Apple Watch for jewelry value isn't there. I'm not talking about the edition as that is a collectors item maybe. A mechanical watch with jewelry value is an expensive watch that you keep for many years. The Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch compare to a Sekio Kinetic watch and a few other $200-$500 watches only and they are worth about $50-$100 in 2-5 years. You sell any of these watches after 2-5 years, you would be lucky to get $50. Comparing the Apple Watch to a Rolex or similar $3000-$30000 watch just doesn't compute.
I don't understand the raise the wrist not working unless you move you arm slowly. I just tested raising my wrist as fast as I could and as slow as I could and it always worked. The only time I have trouble is when I am laying down or hands behind my head. Overall, I would say the raise your wrist to see the time is 95% or higher success. It's just rare that it fails. Some people literally have a tantrum if they have to touch the screen to get the time.
Your last comment about charging being a pain makes me realize you are grasping. Take watch off wrist, set it down. Done. Week charging would be awesome but I charge my devices daily so I don't care. Do you use Bluetooth headphones? Do you hate them because they need to be charged daily or do you just plug them in after using? Who cares if other watches can last a week or several days. I would still charge daily. They last longer for a reason. Cheap quality.
Ok now I guess I have a legit reason to post in this thread. I returned my (original) AW because it kept losing BlueTooth (BT) connection with my phone. I was on with AppleCare doing a "set up as a new watch" when it lost BT in the middle of setting up as a new watch. I have already had my iPhone 6 replaced for BT issues. It was losing connection to my BT earpiece (Plantronics M70) randomly during calls. The replacement iPhone 6 has not done this once. I assumed my AW BT issues were related to the issues with the phone but when I kept waking up the past few weeks having to put in my passcode more and more frequently rather than simply unlock it with my phone, I decided it was time to open a support case.
Long story short, my replacement AW has not done this once. Every morning I put it on, see the little blue padlock, unlock my iPhone 6 and my AW instantly unlocks. Kinda like things were working the first few months I owned my AW.
So I don't know if my experience is entirely appropriate for this thread which is more about people taking it back for good, but the fact I got mine replaced has me thinking I should post here so anybody with similar issues might consider support rather than simply giving up and returning their watch once and for all. Believe me, when in the midst of this issue, I gave thought to simply going back to a different watch. I've already decided to use a Garmin Forerunner 220 for tracking my runs and I thought about making that my only watch if Apple was unable to figure out how to get my AW working as I expected it to work. Hopefully my BT issues are permanently behind me. AW is far from perfect but when it is working, I like having txt messages, appointment reminders, caller id and driving directions show up on my wrist. I've turned off stand reminders which are somewhat useless to somebody who runs 4 or more miles a day but there are still enough things to like about my AW, I'm happy to keep it and wear a second (dedicated running gps watch) when I'm going for a training run or a race.
Long story short, my replacement AW has not done this once. Every morning I put it on, see the little blue padlock, unlock my iPhone 6 and my AW instantly unlocks. Kinda like things were working the first few months I owned my AW.
So I don't know if my experience is entirely appropriate for this thread which is more about people taking it back for good, but the fact I got mine replaced has me thinking I should post here so anybody with similar issues might consider support rather than simply giving up and returning their watch once and for all. Believe me, when in the midst of this issue, I gave thought to simply going back to a different watch. I've already decided to use a Garmin Forerunner 220 for tracking my runs and I thought about making that my only watch if Apple was unable to figure out how to get my AW working as I expected it to work. Hopefully my BT issues are permanently behind me. AW is far from perfect but when it is working, I like having txt messages, appointment reminders, caller id and driving directions show up on my wrist. I've turned off stand reminders which are somewhat useless to somebody who runs 4 or more miles a day but there are still enough things to like about my AW, I'm happy to keep it and wear a second (dedicated running gps watch) when I'm going for a training run or a race.
I have a small scratch on my Apple Watch Sport, on the aluminum right where it meets the glass. It's not really noticeable but it bothers me because I always see it. Is there anything I can do or do I just have to learn to live with it?
My first watch would simply fail to unlock using my phone. The weather would stop updating. I hardly use Siri (except for responding to texts) so I don't know the answer to that question since the connection to the watch must be intact for me to be responding to a text in the first place. I haven't had to use Siri on the new watch yet but I don't expect there to be a difference.
I do know that if I glance at my wrist any morning since getting my new watch, the weather is updated and the padlock is gone as soon as I unlock my phone. This issue had plagued me while I was running last summer and fall. My watch would lock while on a run and I would be asked to punch in a code with sweaty fingers while on a run just to observe my pace and other stats. At the time, Apple blamed it on losing wrist contact and advised me to tighten my black sport band. I tightened it so much my veins would bulge. Too much. Coincidentally this failure to unlock with phone became markedly worse a few weeks ago when I bought the woven band which has a setting in between "too tight" and "too loose" holes on my old BSB.
I just returned my watch at Target. It worked perfectly but I don't NEED it. For someone with a lot of money I guess it's not too bad but to spend most of a week's paycheck on one didn't feel right for what it does. Hell, my used iPad mini 2 cost less. Not a bad gadget but it wasn't "me".
I've had both the sport and the stainless steel versions and I've either sold or returned both for the same reasons.
The thing that keeps drawing me back is not missing notifications. Since I still have the money from the last time I sold one, so I may buy again in a few weeks. Maybe...
I loved the notifications. Texting with Siri while driving was a blast. I may pick up a used one once the 2nd generation comes out. The current price is ludicrous. You can pick up a brand new iPhone 5S for $100 less.
Anywhere. Apple takes off $100 for each device when a new version of it comes out. Typically the low end iPhone is $200 subsidized, next gen comes out that phone becomes $100, next gen comes out it's $50, next gen comes out it's either free or no longer sold.
Ok, then you are talking about iPhone pricing with contract, which isn't the real price of the phone, because the cost of the phone is distributed through your monthly service fee payments.
Yes, and yes it is not the real price but that is how people are talking $100 for a phone. I'm glad you understand that as a lot of people (probably not found on these forums) do not get it.
Ah. eBay. I was looking for it on Apple and authorized retailer websites.
I was able to find some refurbished 5S's for even cheaper. My point is that for a notification reader Apple Watch is way overpriced. And there are much better/cheaper fitness trackers.
Well this is weird. Quoting myself quoting someone else.
Like a hall of mirrors or something... Anyway...
It turns out my new watch DID fail to connect to my phone. Once. It turns out it is related to whether or not my BT earpiece is connected to my phone or not at the time I happen to be wanting to unlock my watch by unlocking my phone. I reopened my AW support case at Apple to make sure their engineers know that the reliability of making BT connection between AW and phone is somehow affected by other things the phone might be paired with and might or might not be actively connected to.
Just want to share my response to another thread which I think is also appropriate for this one:
I've sold my AW a few days ago. Tried to give it a chance but annoyances outweighed the usefulness of the watch. These are the main reasons that did it for me:
1. From day one, I planned of using the watch with a favourite 'transit app'. It did work some days but most days the app gets stuck in retrieving information and then the darn screen turns off. Updates came and made it somehow work again, but I couldn't understand why the problems come back. As if the developers aren't doing any testing or they are aware of the AW's weaknesses and gave up solving their apps' problems. This happens with most of the apps I use with the watch too.
2. Siri on the AW seems like the beta Siri on the iPhone. It works when it wants to and most of the time, it misses the mark. I rarely use it to respond to texts, and the last time I did was embarrassing. I dictated a short text response while walking, Siri mis-interpreted a word, I cancelled the message, tried again, Siri misses again, tried it again, this time Siri got all my words correctly. But little did I know, the previous wrong messages were all sent to the recipient...arrghh! My contact on the other end even guessed correctly that it was my Apple Watch acting up and asked me why I still haven't sold my watch yet. I gladly acknowledged that there are problems but the usefulness of the watch outweighs the benefits for me. Boy, was I in denial.
3. Not being able to see the time because the screen is off when I flick my wrist is a major annoyance. This happens pretty regularly.
4. Swiping left to dismiss an email or text, right after reading the notification is an extra step that should be eliminated. I learned to hate seeing that red dot on the top because it's just like someone telling me to clean up after my mess. This problem is more of a software update fix and I was hopeful with 2.0. But alas, Apple seemed oblivious and never fixed it...I'm tired of waiting.
Just an FYI that I've tried resetting my watch numerous times in hopes of resolving these problems, but unfortunately, things still stayed the same.
Apple will have to convince me that the next AW is way better than this.
I've sold my AW a few days ago. Tried to give it a chance but annoyances outweighed the usefulness of the watch. These are the main reasons that did it for me:
1. From day one, I planned of using the watch with a favourite 'transit app'. It did work some days but most days the app gets stuck in retrieving information and then the darn screen turns off. Updates came and made it somehow work again, but I couldn't understand why the problems come back. As if the developers aren't doing any testing or they are aware of the AW's weaknesses and gave up solving their apps' problems. This happens with most of the apps I use with the watch too.
2. Siri on the AW seems like the beta Siri on the iPhone. It works when it wants to and most of the time, it misses the mark. I rarely use it to respond to texts, and the last time I did was embarrassing. I dictated a short text response while walking, Siri mis-interpreted a word, I cancelled the message, tried again, Siri misses again, tried it again, this time Siri got all my words correctly. But little did I know, the previous wrong messages were all sent to the recipient...arrghh! My contact on the other end even guessed correctly that it was my Apple Watch acting up and asked me why I still haven't sold my watch yet. I gladly acknowledged that there are problems but the usefulness of the watch outweighs the benefits for me. Boy, was I in denial.
3. Not being able to see the time because the screen is off when I flick my wrist is a major annoyance. This happens pretty regularly.
4. Swiping left to dismiss an email or text, right after reading the notification is an extra step that should be eliminated. I learned to hate seeing that red dot on the top because it's just like someone telling me to clean up after my mess. This problem is more of a software update fix and I was hopeful with 2.0. But alas, Apple seemed oblivious and never fixed it...I'm tired of waiting.
Just an FYI that I've tried resetting my watch numerous times in hopes of resolving these problems, but unfortunately, things still stayed the same.
Apple will have to convince me that the next AW is way better than this.
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I fully erased everything on my Apple Watch yesterday and paired it as a new watch. For now, it seems to be running much better again. I'm not sure if an app that I had was causing problems or what. I'm hoping things don't get worse again. Siri was extremely unreliable for me for a while. It was like there was a connection problem between the phone and the watch.
...swiping left to dismiss an email/text?? You supposed to swipe up aren't you?!
As I can still remember...it's swiping left but I've since sold my AW so I'm not really sure now. Regardless, it's an extra annoying step.