Friday, June 26, 2015

Not another review of the Apple Watch?!


Well, I had one since like forever so I figure I should write something about it.  haha.  I got it at the end of April and honestly, I can't say everyone should run out to get one.  I think it's one of those working in progress type of thing that eventually it will be one of those must have item.  I'm one of those people who do not read manuals so my watch can probably do a lot more than I know of right now....

Pros:

The packaging.  I'm not one of those who go on youtube and watch other people unwrap their Apple phone so when I got mine, I was blown away by the presentation.  I know Apple is good at packaging since I have ipad, imac, macbookpro, iphone, etc etc but I guess the Apple watch packaging really takes it up a notch.  I was sooo impressed by the thought that went into packaging Apple watch.

Talk on the watch.  So while I was in my hotel room, all of a sudden my watch started to ring.  Turned out that I can talk to people on my watch! Very Inspector Gadget!

Give directions.  So the day after I got my watch, I traveled to Spain for the first time.  I input my hotel address on my iphone and put the phone away in my pocket.  I was surprised that my watch started to give me directions!  This is a big plus for me as I think it's more convenient to look at my watch than trying to read off a bigger screen while crossing streets.

Receiving and sending texts.  For the longest time, my watch wasn't receiving texts like I thought it would.... but all of a sudden once I returned to US, it stated to receive texts few weeks later.  Not sure what that's all about.  But I do find reading a quick text is easy off Apple Watch and replying is also very easy.  I just speak to my watch and it will either send a voice text or a written text.  So far, every time I speak the text, my watch had gotten every single word correct!  Very surprised since my iphone had not been able to!

Activity Monitor.  This thing has been somewhat cool.  I like that it tells you how many calories you had burned doing move, exercise, and stand.  It even gives you an hourly breakdown of calories burned which I think is helpful.  I don't have a fitbit so one of the reason I bought this watch is to keep track of my activities.

Remote control.  The watch can be used as a remote control for you to take selfies or turn on music on your phone.  If you take a lot of selfies, this is very helpful. 

Friends and family tab.  You can have 12 close friends and family tab.  The cool thing is you can hand write doodles to them. 

Cons:

Talk on the watch.  I have to say the quality of sound isn't that great and had I been walking on a busy road, I doubt I can hear much. 

Activity Monitor.  I wish I can wear this watch when I swim to monitor my heart rate.  Also this watch gets in the way when I lift weight and wear a glove.  The round circle nub on the side of the watch keeps on getting pressed by my glove when I lift weight and the watch would constantly goes on and off as I lift.  I ended up have to loosen up the strap so that my watch doesn't get activated constantly.

Remote control.  Doesn't work nearly as well as a selfie stick.  You will have to station your phone somewhere and prop it up to take your selfie whereas a selfie stick can take a picture of you at any angle you want... but then you have to carry a selfie stick.

Friends and family tab.  The downside is they have to have an Apple Phone to receive the doodle. 

Habit.  I have stop wearing a watch several years back.  So it's a bit odd to be wearing one again.  I find myself wanting to unstrap my watch when I get home so that doesn't help if I want to keep track of my activity monitor.  While the watch is quite light, perhaps few generations out, it'll be so light that I would not mind having it on my wrist constantly even at home.

Overall I think it's a good effort on Apple's part.  Do I think it's the best thing ever?  Far from it. But do I regret getting it? Definitely not.  I got the Sports version as I figure they will most likely be updating it yearly... no point of getting the more expensive version IMO.  I may want to switch it out a few years from now.  The way I see it is this watch is costing me about $1.20 per day if I get the newer version in a year or $.60 per day if I get a new one every other year.  Sure, I don't need to spend that money but at the same time, I don't think I'm being extravagant.  And who knows... 50 years down the road, I may be able to sell this watch more than what I paid for it.  haha. 

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