Still on the wall on an Apple Watch? Let us help
It's six months after the Apple watch release, and you're still on the wall about it, So were we.
My wife and I were in that exact position not too long ago. Let me shed some light on the good, bad and slow while helping you determine if it’s the right fit and time or if you should just hold off.
Now we're not going to compare Apple watch models as they all function in the same way.
I myself have a 48mm sport black on black and my wife has a 38mm sport rose on lavender.
The first thing right off the bat, people have to understand that the Apple watch is not meant to replace your iPhone but rather enhance it. You're not going to spend hours playing with it as another gadget or toy. This is the first hurtle most people will have to overcome. I tell people to think of it as notifications on your wrist. Once the novelty of setting it up runs out, that is pretty much what you're left with.
Just about any notification you can get on your iPhone can alert you on your Apple watch.
I love the idea of
A mother who has a tendency to drop her iPhone. This mean she doesn’t have to take it out of her pocket book all that often and risk dropping it.
A sister riding public transit doesn’t need to flash her shiny new iPhone around letting everyone know she has one.
But rather in both of these cases, they can just glance at their wrist and see if it’s something that needs their immediate attention or just deal with it later. So to some notifications are an awesome feature and for most the most used.
Siri Integration and dictation go hand in hand here as well.
Raising your arm turns on your display and all you have to do is give Siri a command “hey siri” + “text my wife on the way home”. This works surprisingly well even in a noisy atmosphere. Most applications on the Apple watch also have reply options where dictation takes over, giving you the option to send it as text or an audio file.
A lot of people looking at the Apple watch do so because they're looking for the next fitness gadget.
My wife and I have been long time Nike Fuel band users since the beta days. So we know where you're coming from.
The Apple watch has you covered here and is better than I originally thought it would be. The key selling point that we all know about is the heart rate monitor. Well, that's cool we could monitor our heart rate while we run and make sure we stay in that optimum burn zone, awesome. Well, it takes it a step further than that with goals.
We know there are goals (Move/Calories Exercise/minutes Stand/hours) we can set these within the Activity app. What I wasn’t aware of is how these are calculated. See the Apple watch is pretty intelligent it uses the new heart rate monitor to understand and learn what your normal heart rate is. Then it’s able to distinguish between what is walking around your house or doing laps around the park. By calculating how high your heart rate and for how long it's able to a better Exercise and Calories count. More data points have always meant more accurate results and Apple has done a great job here.
Were not going to go into a ton of apps, but do let us know if there is something you would like us to cover in a later article down below in the comments or just ask us in our community forums.
WatchOS 2 just hit Apple watches a few weeks ago, after just 6months this was a big update.
Prior to the release, all application lived on your iPhone and streamed data to your watch. This was a novel idea but with so many moving variables it made for a sluggish experience and this isn’t what Apple is about. With WatchOS 2 they opened up native apps on the Apple watch making things feel more responsive as they should. Developers are still rushing to update their apps to benefit from being able to run them natively.
We haven’t touched much on applications but here are a few terms you should know
Applications run from a window consisted of circular icons in a honeycomb layout.
Glances is an application screen located by swiping up on the Apple watch screen, you're also limited to 20 at any given time
Complications which is a weird term. I look at them more as widgets they're set areas on the clock screen which can show additional data.
It has been said that another consideration on whether to get a 38mm or 42mm is battery life since the latter is larger.
Longer battery life would be nice, but you shouldn’t have a problem getting through a day. I find myself hitting 20% when I go to bed, while my wife’s 38mm hits 10%. This is also based on 5am wake up times, a techie like me getting tons of notifications and my wife doing 5miles runs with a bedtime of around 11pm.
I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the sports band is.
It’s been said that Apple put a lot of R&D into the materials used and it shows. I thought I would be in a rush to go out and pick up a leather band, but honestly, these bands are so comfortable that I've been in no rush.
I put my watch on when I get up and take it off when I go to bed and do everything in between. The Apple watch is water resistant so you don’t have to worry about washing dishes or sweating.
However, keep this in mind when you sweat you also sweat salt, this will in no way affect your Apple watch but it may be a good idea to take your Apple watch off and rinse your wrist after a workout or a physical activity. This salt could rub against your skin, kind of like a fine sandpaper and irritate it over time.
Final Thoughts:
My wife and I have no regrets we are putting our Apple watches to good use and loving them. It may not be right for everyone, but it defiantly came a long way from its first sluggish release and may warrant another look.
If you're looking to make the move form a Nike fuel band or something similar this may be just what you're looking for.
Are you looking the connivance of notification on your wrist? Go try one.
If you are looking for a phone or gadget to play with on your wrist, hold out another year and lets see where Apple is heading.
Did you find this article helpful, if so odds are others will so please consider sharing. I’m happy to try to answer any questions you may have, please leave them down below in the comments area or in our community forums.
