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To buy? Please advise

Porterhouse

Porterhouse

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 13, 2011
381
179
USA
All,

I've been reading the reviews and the posts on this forum, which has helped me in the past. I'm hoping that those that have an Apple Watch can give me guidance on my decision to purchase one (mainly brought about by the Best Buy price drop).

I wear a watch everyday already; it's a Philip Stein I bought off eBay in 2009. The lower watch face needs to be fixed at some point, and it's getting pretty worn, although I change the strap daily.

I have an iPad Air 2 and an IPhone 6+, so I can see using it as an extension of the devices I already love. However, I don't care about heart rate or anything of that nature, though, with the possible exception of sleep, and some of the reviews make it seem as though exercise stats are the main function.

Based on my information and any similar experiences you may have had, would I find value in an Apple Watch?

Any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!
 
It sounds like the main value of the AW to you would be reducing the interaction with your phone/pad. You would be able to screen calls/texts/email. You could determine what requires an immediate response and what can wait. You could also provide simple responses to texts if needed.

If those things sound valuable, you might like the AW.
 
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Porterhouse said:
All,

I've been reading the reviews and the posts on this forum, which has helped me in the past. I'm hoping that those that have an Apple Watch can give me guidance on my decision to purchase one (mainly brought about by the Best Buy price drop).

I wear a watch everyday already; it's a Philip Stein I bought off eBay in 2009. The lower watch face needs to be fixed at some point, and it's getting pretty worn, although I change the strap daily.

I have an iPad Air 2 and an IPhone 6+, so I can see using it as an extension of the devices I already love. However, I don't care about heart rate or anything of that nature, though, with the possible exception of sleep, and some of the reviews make it seem as though exercise stats are the main function.

Based on my information and any similar experiences you may have had, would I find value in an Apple Watch?

Any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!
Click to expand...

If the Apple watch did nothing but forward notifications from your iPhone and allow you to interact with them would you buy it? If so, it's a no brainer because the AW does that for it's primary function before anything else and then gives you bonus features you may or may not use.
 
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Thanks to everyone that's answered. I appreciate your thoughts. As I posted, the watch seemed to mainly be a way to chronicle one's exercise, but I'm seeing other functions now.

I think I'm going to go for it; I'm an Elite status member at BB, so I have twice as long to consider the purchase. (That was just twice as long to fall in love with my IPad Air 2; before that, I have an iPad 4 and thought, no, I don't need the upgrade!) I like my iPhone, but I love my iPad! However, I don't think I'll be reading books on the Apple Watch.)

Thanks again for your help!

Newtons Apple said:
Only real way to know if the AW is going to be valued to you is to buy it and use it for a while. Just make sure you make your choice before the return date on you receipt.
Click to expand...
 
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Porterhouse said:
As I posted, the watch seemed to mainly be a way to chronicle one's exercise.
Click to expand...
Exercise and activity tracking are two of the worst features of the watch. They are the least mature relative to market and lack mobile and web app support. The watch does this, and it is a key part of Apples marketing, but it is around 5 years behind the market.
 
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i don't have a watch, but from the reviews i've seen, both friends that have the watch and "professional reviewers" seem to say it "keeps you from getting lost in your phone"

so when a notification comes in, if you pick up your phone, you tend to check other things since you've made the effort to pick up your phone. so you're focused on your electronics for a few seconds at a time, instead of a few minutes.
 
I mainly bought the Apple Watch for the exercise and activity tracking, but that's certainly not all I find useful. A glance at my wrist tells me that the time, that I have a message, that it's 51 degrees and partly cloudy with a high temperature today of 52, that sunset will be at 4:13 p.m., the moon is nearly full, the Standard & Poor 500 index is up at 2056.77, and (for me), those all important activity circles. And that's all without touching a thing or having to reach into my pocket to fire up my phone. When cooking, I raise my arm and tell Siri to set a timer for 30 minutes without having to wash and dry my hands first. I can also tell Siri, "Tell my wife that dinner is almost ready," and she gets a message to that effect. And so on... It's been a very useful piece of kit, and I'm glad I bought it.
 
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adamhenry said:
It sounds like the main value of the AW to you would be reducing the interaction with your phone/pad. You would be able to screen calls/texts/email. You could determine what requires an immediate response and what can wait. You could also provide simple responses to texts if needed.

If those things sound valuable, you might like the AW.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with this response. I'm usually not a watch wearer. Period. However, when the AW initially came out, I was not interested in the least bit. Visiting my local Apple Store, I got a firsthand look at all it could do (along with trying it on), and I was immediately hooked. I wear my AW every single day. I love how it's an extension of my iPhone. Like Adam mentioned, you're able to screen calls/texs to see if you need/want to respond right away (I don't want email on my watch).

Considering you wear a watch presently, I think you'd probably enjoy the feature AW has to offer.
 
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I agree with comments to give it a shot and see if you get use out of it, then return it within the return period if you don't. I love the GPS direction features (getting taps on my wrist when I'm supposed to turn is very helpful) and the ability to customize my watch faces to see various, constantly-changing categories of information that are important to me on any given day.

One thing to think about: I was able to get my sport watch at Target for effectively $150. Their current promotion is retail price + a $100 gift card. I asked them to price match best buy and they sold me the watch for $250 and still gave me the $100 gift card. Stores have been told not to include the gift card with the price match, but some stores haven't gotten the memo and are still doing it. It might be worth a shot!
 
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Qqueenie said:
I agree with comments to give it a shot and see if you get use out of it, then return it within the return period if you don't. I love the GPS direction features (getting taps on my wrist when I'm supposed to turn is very helpful) and the ability to customize my watch faces to see various, constantly-changing categories of information that are important to me on any given day.

One thing to think about: I was able to get my sport watch at Target for effectively $150. Their current promotion is retail price + a $100 gift card. I asked them to price match best buy and they sold me the watch for $250 and still gave me the $100 gift card. Stores have been told not to include the gift card with the price match, but some stores haven't gotten the memo and are still doing it. It might be worth a shot!
Click to expand...

I still don't know how you were able to get that deal. I went to a target store in they won't even budge on it.
 
lyngo said:
I still don't know how you were able to get that deal. I went to a target store in they won't even budge on it.
Click to expand...

Just lucky. There's been a lot of talk about this on reddit and someone noted that, according to target employees, the system automatically prompts the customer service person to scan a gift card when processing the sale even if there's been a price adjustment, and the CS rep needs to know to manually void it out. I'm wondering if the fact that I got my price adjustment very soon after Best Buy dropped its price was the reason for my luck --- the policy hadn't been broadly disseminated yet?

Anyway, a few folks have posted on Reddit that they were able to get the AWS for effectively $50 by buying online for in store pickup and asking for a price adjustment upon pickup. Due to some technical glitch, the system reduced the AWS price by an extra hundred (seemingly subtracting the value of the gift card) this ringing up at $150, and then these guys were still getting a $100 gift card emailed to them from target.com. I tried it yesterday (figured I'd get a second watch for my sister) with no success :-(
 
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Armen said:
If the Apple watch did nothing but forward notifications from your iPhone and allow you to interact with them would you buy it? If so, it's a no brainer because the AW does that for it's primary function before anything else and then gives you bonus features you may or may not use.
Click to expand...

Wow, you said it perfect. This is the reason why I enjoy mine so much, even with min use its great and with all the bonus features it becomes personal and thats the best part of the Apple Watch.

I find if you try and convince people they need it they will look at you with a face that says why, I just don't bother. Your better off reading some reviews, checking all the features and asking yourself if you will benefit from all the features
 
ResolUtion: I decided to bite the bullet and get one. However, Best Buy was not having that; they were sold out of all but one of the 42mm faces. (So was Target, etc.) I was waiting for BB, but I found a really good deal on eBay, and here I am, the new owner of an Apple Watch!

I've now had it for two days. I bought the 38mm; I've got a small wrist, and looking at this, I suspect the larger one would dwarf me.

Thanks to everyone for their opinions and thoughts! I briefly entertained getting the Motorola Mota, but it seems mostly geared for Android users.

Now, it's time for bands. . .
 
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