Since journeying back to using my iPhone more than anything else I have been stuck in term of wearables. My Moto 360 or G Watch R have been invaluable to me in daily life, allowing me to filter emails from work or just spend less time checking my phone. The pebble is great and all but it just doesn’t cut it when compared to Android Wear.
So I had a choice, learn to live without or stump up and buy an Apple watch, well if you clicked on the link to bring you here you already know I did the later. Unfortunately as I didn’t get in on the initial rush I had to wait for July if I wanted one from Apple — thats never going to happen if you know me.
Luckily I managed to find a reasonably priced one close by, in between the others that expected £600 for a 38mm version! I picked it up yesterday and I have been wearing it 24 hours. Yes I hate these attempted reviews done far to early to, but enough people asked me for some views that I put some down in ink pixels.
Cost Effective
The biggest wow factor I have had already is unboxing the watch, I have gladly paid more than £200 for an Android Wear watch already. However I felt cheated out of the money then, it was made out of plastic and presented like a technology company playing at making a watch.
Everyone knows Apple take pride in the boxing and packaging, but included in the high quality packaging is a travel box for the watch which feels great quality. Along with the usual charge cables, which feel premium and the plug is the best designed adaptor I have ever seen! Unboxing this felt like an experience in itself, I had spent the money and more than other watches it felt worth it.
Running Long
In its very short time with me the watch has been through the whole range of uses, answering calls and texts, through some circuit training and also been for a run. So as I sit here at 48% battery I think it’s done pretty well, I would be clinging onto 20% battery with a Moto 360 — that’s without running with it.
Much has been made of the poor battery life, usually from people that haven’t used it, but Apple’s figures seem pretty spot on — 18 hours of use should not be an issue at all. If you do spend 18 hours wearing it you wont have an issue either, as it is one of the most comfortable watches I have. My initial reservations of the strange fastening of the sport band were forgotten after a few minutes.
One of the issues with Android Wear for me was the first party apps, or lack of. Being able to choose which app you use for actions is one of Android great strength, but I just wish they would build Google fit as easy to use as Apple’s Activity and Workout app. Relying on third party apps to integrate with Android Wear sometime left a bad taste in my mouth with inconsistent ability and ease of use.
With the Apple watch a couple of taps and I had started my run (which can be tailored to tap you on the wrist after a preselected distance or time) and each time I glanced at my watch, the time/distance or whatever I wanted was easy and clear — I ran a new PB too, but lets not give the watch too much credit! The watch also recorded my heart rate every 10 seconds during the run, which seems quite accurate to monitors I have worn before.
Useful Clutter
My only gripe so far has been the OS, if anything it does too much. However I can’t work out if that is subjective due to my extensive use of Android Wear or not. For the life of me I can’t image who is going to scroll through twitter feeds or order takeaway when you can pull out your phone — but hey if you’re one of those people — it does it.
That is not the focus though — if you are not going to use apps the watch work brilliantly as a notification handler. You can even remove apps from the phone if you are never going to use them. One thing I have used more than I thought I would is the activity and health app. I have written before about the danger of sitting too long, and the taps on my wrist is a nice reminder. It’s too early to know if that will continue or be switched of after a few days as an annoyance.
Ok so this is far too long already, more incoming as the days go on.