I know the device is largely old news but I’ve had my Apple Watch for a month as of the 17th and figured I should say something:
a) It is interesting looking. Beautiful in it’s own way but clunky in the ways that matter most. It’s fine but not for everyone.
b) It is not a great watch – it has a habit of coming up when it wants to and not when you want it to.
c) It is not a good extension of “phone services” and is, in most ways, less convenient than using your phone regardless of your phone’s distance from you.
d) It and its accompanying software are, in my opinion, the best health tracker or Health Gamification system around.
It’s been just over 30 days and:
1) I’ve lost over 15lbs.
2) I feel like a completely different person.
3) I’ve improved on nearly every metric both mentally and physically – gamification has worked like a charm.
My wife Inna has had hers for a few weeks now and while life is still getting in her way a little, I’m sure she’d report similar findings. The only way I can see anyone being truly happy with the Apple Watch is if they’ve purchased it as a Health Tracker that also happens to be a watch and extension of your iPhone. If you’re buying it as a watch you’ll be miserable. If you’re buying it because you think it’ll be cool talk, text and send heartbeats you’ll be even more disappointed. But if all you wanted was the best health tracker on the market – that also happens to do some really cool stuff, this is surely the device for you.
That’s what we wanted and we got exactly that.
What the Apple Watch is not:
It is NOT waterproof. If you’re looking to track your swim time you’ll have to pass on this device.
It is NOT a sleep tracker. Currently the Apple Watche’s battery life (depending on use) will require many users to charge it overnight, every night. If you need sleep tracking, any of the other devices on the market will suit you better than Apple’s solution.
That said, Apple announced that the next major release of the Apple Watch OS (New software on the same device) should extend battery life quite a bit, so it may be possible to use it has a sleep monitoring device on alternating evenings. The watch also takes very little time to charge, so it may be possible to use it for sleep tracking by making minor adjustments to your schedule. (A little charge before bed and another while you do your morning routine. But I haven’t tested this and it seems like far too much effort for me.)
–Jon Hardison
Jon Hardison is co-owner of Palm Coast-based Ha Media, the marketing and web-services firm.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
Not a huge fan of being restricted to apple’s playbox when it comes to what I can do with the device, but it’s an interesting slant to think of it as a fitness tracker. I’d be a little worried about the waterproof issue and heavy exercise though, especially here in florida.
Jon Hardison says
There are moments when Apple’s ecosystem seems a little ridiculous, I agree. :-)
On the sweat issue, it’s fine. Washing dishes is fine. Washing your hands, rain or a splash by a bus in a rainstorm… All fine.
Still water proof to a specified depth would have been preferable to resistance. I still wonder if the real problem was salt. I’m quite certain they could have easily done it, but once you say waterproof the watch must survive the ocean and I don’t think the “digital crown” would have.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
True. It’s too bad they don’t model them after dive watches though, I could see a lot of use in that regard.
Jon Hardison says
Oddly, I’ve done a little digging and it seems some of the same companies that have made cases for the iPhones, many of the waterproof, have begun to do the same for the watch. You remove the band and pop the watching to a case with it’s own band. My understanding is that there will be waterproof touchable accessories for the watch, if their aren’t already.
You can never discount the add-on market’s ability to make a product, well, useful. LOL!