4 days with the Apple Watch, then?
Published on 28 April 2015
On the day of Apple's keynote announcing the Apple Watch, I had a somewhat mixed impression of the product. I was both excited by the announcement, and at the same time fairly disappointed. I mostly tended to tell myself it wasn't really a product for me. The reality is actually different, and a few details aside, I can say it today: the Apple Watch is clearly made for me. As usual, I'm not going to get into pointless technical details, and just tell you why it's cool, and why it's rubbish. Okay?
Why is it cool? It's cool because it's a new and surprising product, you really get the feeling of taking a little leap into the future. It's cool because it's a beautiful object, people are curious about it, and the watch is pleasant to wear. It's cool because it saves a crazy amount of time, in particular when a good part of your existence, especially professionally, is based on "notifications." Being able to glance at it with a flick of the wrist is a mind-blowing time-saver.
Why isn't it cool? Because it's really expensive, even if honestly the aluminum version is affordable, it remains a luxury product. Because a lot of apps aren't compatible yet, for example Facebook, Snapchat, etc. You do get the notifications on the watch, but you have to grab your phone to view them. A little patience, then. Because it's sometimes complicated, in particular when you try to understand how the Activity app works, and figure out how to connect all that with the "Fitness" or "Health" apps, especially the ones that don't come from Apple. So I'm going to dwell a bit on a few points.
Battery life. Let's not kid ourselves, 100% of non-Apple-Watch users are huge pains about this point. "Ugh, but you buy an €800 watch that has 2 hours of battery life, ridiculous." I'm going to answer this question simply: go screw yourselves. Done? Concretely, the first 2 days, using it heavily all day long, I ended the day with 20% battery. In practice, with normal/intensive use, I have 40% left at the end of the day. Absolutely no problem at that level, then. Charging is done by induction via a rather elegant charger.
Why do you wear it on the right? Are you left-handed? No, I'm right-handed. And not only do I wear it on the right, but with the crown on the right too (everything is configurable so it suits everyone). Honestly who cares, stop asking me this question. A watch, you put it wherever you want, dammit. It's funny actually, but the 2 other people I know with Apple Watches do the same as me, right wrist and crown on the right.
For sports? Health? For sports, the connected apps aren't very effective yet, quite a few lags on the watch, so it's not great. On the other hand, the "Workout" apps provided by Apple really do the job. For now the right approach seems to be launching your usual app on iPhone, and the "Workout" app on the watch. You can also run without your phone, but in that case you lose GPS tracking and precision. I also use a health app that lets me remember my medical appointments and medication doses. This thing kind of changes my life (considering I have a treatment I have to take several times a day).
What else? Well, not much. In the end the main use remains viewing notifications, and short replies to texts and emails via voice dictation (you get used to it). I caught myself making a few calls directly from the watch, very handy. The most fun functions are social, sending little drawings or your heartbeat for example, it's really funny, but of course your recipient has to have one too. Beyond notifications, the weather, and health-related apps, I had a few favorites, the first is the Yelp app which works really well on the watch, same for ordering an Uber, or Shazam which shows you the lyrics of the song playing around you right on the watch. Less convinced by navigation though, but since it goes through Apple's "Maps" app, which isn't great, that doesn't help.
That's the gist of it. In summary, I completely endorse the Apple Watch, even if everything isn't quite dialed in yet, it's already become indispensable to me. I also invite you to check out the little post written by Lafilledelacom, who also received her watch :).
Photo credit: Apple
By Paingout